A little about me...

A little about me...
My name is Kerri. I am the mother to two fabulous girls - Allie (9) and Boo(4), trainer of an untrainable puppy and wife to one of the funniest guys I know.

I love to read, hike and try to find time to run. I hate crafts, yard work and people who say crap behind someone's back and not to their face. I believe in being honest - if you ask me if this skirt makes you look fat I might say yes. But I will say it in a way that doesn't make me seem like a jerk. I am addicted to Words with Friends and sadly, Candy Crush saga (currently Allie is kicking my butt). 

 I am a die-hard Boston Bruins fan. I have been known to cancel dinner plans, play dates and other events because of a playoff game or even just an important one. 

I am the pickiest eater. My favorite place to eat is in a local Irish pub that has local music on the weekends. I like eating there because when I walk in the door they just pour me a glass of wine without asking and put my burger on burn.  

I work almost full-time in clinical research. I started answering the phones and am now the business operations manager. In my spare time at work, I coordinate cardiac clinical trials. This gives me just enough knowledge to battle insurance companies, therapists and physicians.  All without a nursing degree. The lack of a nursing degree is due to my absolute horror at having to deal with naked people and bodily fluids. Instead I "settled" for a hard-fought business degree. I graduated a month before I had Boo. I think I was the oldest and most pregnant person in the graduation ceremony.

We are parents to Allie, who was that super easy first-born child that makes you wonder why people complain about their kids. I have to say thank goodness Allie was a good baby. I almost didn't forgive her for the 3-day labor, pregnancy induced pneumonia and hearing my husband say during my C-section (thank GOD for C-sections) that it was "just like gutting a deer.” Allie has the best sense of humor and a love of crafts that I just don't understand. Thankfully she has an aunt who takes her on craft-dates.

Boo was born 5 years later. I was a girl who was one-and-done with children. I honestly did not think I had the will, patience or enough love for another child (FYI--I was wrong). You can learn more about Boo's story here. While she may have made us work harder as parents than I ever imagined, I couldn't ask for a better fighter. Boo has made our family complete. Unlike some families where illness or extra needs tear them apart, ours has grown stronger. 

I have never wished for Boo to be different. For her life to be easier, hell yes. But Boo is my Boo.

I started blogging in the summer of 2012. It was a form of therapy. I am so lucky that I have a great network of friends and family. But what I learned was that my friends are sometimes hesitant to burden me with their troubles. They feel I have too much on my plate. Sometimes they feel that they don't have the right to complain about their own children knowing how hard Boo works. I found that I was holding more and more in, in a futile attempt to be seen like I could handle it all.

Blogging became an outlet. A place where I could share without worrying those around me. I never expected to have anyone read this. Well, other than one or two close friends with whom I shared the blog. I was surprised and delighted to find more parents like myself. I thought Boo's undiagnosis was an abnormality. I had no idea how many children face these unknown medical challenges. Unlike having Down Syndrome, autism or cystic fibrosis, being undiagnosed leaves you without a support system or a community.

 
Through blogging, I found my own community. It is a mix of "normal" parents (like I was before Allie), parents of children with special needs, and a great mix of people I would never encounter in the 'real' world.

My blog began with a focus on Boo. It has evolved to encompass almost everything in her life, and now, in mine.  And sometimes the things that fall in between. I hope you enjoy our journey.

 
Feel free to contact me at firebailey@gmail.com with any questions.

Kerri

3 comments:

  1. Love this page! It tells so many interesting things about you that I did not know yet! Wow to your medical job and especially the cardiac clinical trials!! Love you, my friend!

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  2. I came here by way of Kate's 'Another clean slate' because my fiance' and I were born & raised in Sandwich. We live in BBay. I believe we went to school with your husband, or at least his family members as he looks young enough to be the son of the generation we went to school with....Russell graduated in 1980 and I was in 1982. Small world. :) Sorry you hate crafts so much though....I'd refer you to read my blog, Tahoma Beadworks and Photography, but it's all crafts! lol :)

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  3. Thank you for sharing your story! I have felt very alone at times on our journey and we were years without a diagnosis. Finally, after a handful of years we found that our son has Bardet-Biedl sydrome. It has been a long road as I am sure your's has. I just started blogging much for the same reasons you have. It feels strange at times to share so publicly.

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