R a i s i n g C a n e y . c o m

SORRY THAT THIS HAS TAKEN ALMOST 7 WEEKS! Apparently having a baby, buying a new house, moving to a new city, and starting a new job are pretty time consuming. I’ll get to all that later. I’ll start at the beginning.  As a warning, this is a bit long-winded.
On Saturday, 21 March we had our final baby shower for Canaan at our church in Benton. It was wonderful. Over 40 people attended, and we got some amazing gifts for our princess (our car was LOADED down).
As most of you may know by now, Tasha has had problems with gestational diabetes and pregnancy-induced hypertension (high blood-pressure) since she got pregnant. She was hospitalized twice, she was constantly feeling very weak, and she was eventually put on strict bed rest requiring her to withdraw from classes this quarter.
We knew she had some problems, but when we went to her Dr. appointment on 23 February we did not expect to hear him tell us that he would need to induce labor the next day. It was shocking. Tasha was pretty upset at first because she wanted her Mom to be able to come to the hospital, and she wouldn’t be able to on such short notice.
Eventually though, the pending excitement and the imminent arrival of our princess took over. We had Canaan-fever!
That night we made sure we had everything we would need packed and ready to go. The next morning we went to Target and picked up some last minute things that we would need for her arrival (including an awesome stroller/car seat/car seat base travel system).
We went to the hospital at 4pm on 23 February, and they began the process of preparing Tasha for labor induction.
The labor was anything but ideal. Tasha’s epidural fell out, causing her intense pain. They put it back in, but a little while later, while dilated to a 7 Tasha started feeling excruciating pain… They called the anesthesiologist back in, but he argued with Tasha for 30 minutes, telling her she wasn’t in pain… He was telling her it was just pressure, not pain. 30 minutes into her screaming to the guy that she wasn’t lying…her sister, Stormi, pointed out that the epidural drip was EMPTY. Hrm… The epidural fell out on other time, and had to be replaced again.
Canaan decided to come out brow presentation, meaning she shoved her head back and tried to push out forehead first. This isn’t ideal, and so…Tasha got stuck dilated at an 8. After almost 24 hours into the ordeal, they decided to do an emergency C-section.
During the C-Section, I was behind a curtain, but I could see around the edge of it a bit. I could hear them drilling or cutting what sounded like bone, and it smelled like the smell of the tooth dust when a cavity is getting drilled. Tasha starts yelling that she can feel them cutting, and they tell her she can’t feel it. She tells them once again, as they used a scalpel that she can feel them cutting her right then, and so they decide to put her to sleep for the operation. I hear the doctor ask for the vacuum. I can hear the light suction… the doctor tells them to turn the suction up. The nurses tell him it is up. He starts yelling at them that it’s not working right, he can’t get suction on the baby. The idea was to make a small incision, attach the vacuum to Caney’s head, and pull her out. The vacuum malfunction complicated matters worse… He gave up the vacuum and cut her open even wider so he could reach in and grab the baby.
The baby comes out, the someone yells “10:22pm”! They try aspirating her, she isn’t crying, she isn’t screaming…she isn’t breathing. They run out of the room with her. I scream, “WHERE DO I GO?!” The doctor said to stay, the anesthesiologist told me to follow the baby. I ran after my baby. They had her in a side room with a nurse blocking the door. She wouldn’t let me in… The nurses were slapping her belly, flipping her, slapping her tummy…working frantically. No crying. I am screaming, begging the nurse to tell me what’s wrong with my baby, asking if she’s ok. She won’t tell me anything except warn me that she’d kick me out if I didn’t calm down…
Our family and friends are all gathered outside the doors, hoping to catch a glimpse, they send someone running after a respiratory specialist… As the doors open for the nurse to find the specialist, our family and friends see me crying and I just scream “PRAY! PRAY!” …and the doors swing closed.
Finally, a gasp, a whimper, and then…the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard, a cry.
Despite being without breathing for what seemed like an eternity, her oxygen level was great…she was jaundiced, but she was otherwise healthy and doing great. She almost didn’t make it…
All that I could think was…I cannot EVER go through this again…EVER… Despite Tasha and I wanting to have several kids, all that I could think was that this experience was too horrifying, too depressing, too emotional to experience again.
And then that beautiful little girl…her screaming face…so beautiful…she had a bruise on her forehead and a bloody bruise on her nose from pushing against Tasha’s cervix with her brow/nose for over 24 hours, but she was perfect.

Her first scream. Music to my ears.

So, you might think that the nightmarish experience was over.  Well, perhaps the worst of it was, but there was plenty more to come.

The next day, Tasha was supposed to be on an all liquid diet, and we had been told this.  So we were surprised when a woman in scrubs comes in with a lunch full of solids the next day.  I tell her “we were told she’s on a liquid diet, are you sure she can eat solids?!”  She said “Oh, yeah, she can have solids, this is what they ordered for her.”  So Tasha dug in…  the nurse comes in and says “Why are you eating solids?!  You’re on a liquid diet!”  Ah…terrific.  So later that day the same nurse comes in to hook up Tasha’s new saline drip.  Tasha starts feeling extreme stomache cramps.  She complains to the nurse who is at a loss as to why…  A different nurse comes in, and notices Tasha is hooked up to Pitocin, the medicine they used to induce labor.  The bag was still on the pole, and the other nurse hooked up the wrong medicine bag.  So she was having contractions/spasms because the woman gave her the wrong medicine!  So, finally, the next day, they tell Tasha she can take her first shower…the shower is broke.  They had to call in maintenance to fix it.  The room, by the way, was TINY.  It’s definitely not the recovery room they showed us when we toured the birthing center.  The experience was all so terrifying.  Finally, we got released to go home 5 days after we got there.  Nightmare over?!  Wrong…

Tasha went for her 2 week follow-up appointment with her doctor.  He asked if she was having any problems.  She told him her sutures were starting to hurt a LOT and that she thought they might be getting infected.  He asks to take a look.  He’s SHOCKED.  His jaw drops, and he asks “WHY ARE YOUR STAPLES STILL IN?!”  He continues, “Who was your nurse that discharged you?!  They had specific orders not to release you without removing your staples first!  That’s why you’re in so much discomfort!  They were in for 2 weeks longer than they should have been…”  So he removed them, but the scarring is considerably worse because of the incompetence of the hospital staff.

So, my beautiful princess made her grand arrival with plenty of drama, but everyone insisted (and still does) that she’s the prettiest baby ever.  I couldn’t agree more.  Here are the pictures from when she was born (it’s a lot!)…

Tasha with her Aunt Crystal (TeeTaw) before Caney's arrival

Tasha with her Aunt Crystal, Sister Stormi (Aunt Sissy), and her Nana

Tasha with my Momma (Gran Gran) and my Nanna

with Tyler and Copelander

The door that swung open when I screamed for my friends and family to pray...

Tyler... before they knew something was wrong...

Chris... still before they knew something was wrong.

My Dad (Paw Paw) and Ms. Cathy and Chris after Caney came out to the nursery happy and healthy

Thank God...

It's a scary world, huh, baby girl?

First picture outside the scary doors

In the nursery

Notice the blood bruise on her nose...

My perfect little girl...

She was so alert, just exploring everything and everyone

Still in the nursery...

A light-hearted moment after Caney was safely in nursery...

My princesses...

They both fought so hard. I'm so proud of them...

Me with my princess for the first time.

This is heaven...

I was soooo happy...

and a bit excited...?

Perfect.

My girls...

Nom nom nom!

So happy...

A mommy's love...

Gran Gran with Caney

Tasha's Grandpa with his first great grandchild

Still with Grandpa.

and with her Great-Grandma

Great Grandparents

Nanna, a great-grandmother for the FIFTH time!

Nanna with my Girls

Gran Gran helping

MUAH!

Yummy!

Uncle David is a huge fan!

Uncle David and Aunt Brianne, expecting a little girl named Leah in May (Caney's cousin)!

Sleeping Beauty!

Still sleeping

So perfect. So beautiful.

That’s all for this post, but I promise many many more to come!  We love you all…

-Cy

Hello everyone!  So, Tasha and I have been wanting to get maternity pictures taken for a while, but… that usually costs money.  We weren’t able to avoid spending money altogether, but we were able to save a LOT of money by taking them ourselves!  We had to buy a tripod for our camera and some baby blocks (that we wanted for Canaan anyway) and a new set of sheets (we got a really nice set that fit our bed).  We spent a long time taking the pictures and an even longer time editing them, but we love the results (and hope you do too)!  Some of you have already seen these on Facebook, but for those who have not here they are…tell us what you think!

I love them all, but this one is probably my favorite:

We love you all! 23 days left until Canaan is due to arrive…

-Cyrus

While we were in the ER for Tasha, I wrote this poem for Canaan.

My Princess
I know your name
but only because I gave it
Every moment that we share
I desire to always save it
I’m eagerly waiting
for that first glimpse of your face
I count down every moment
but I can hardly keep the pace
That my very Creator
breathed life into you
inspires my spirit to delight
and sends chills right through
Chosen to be your daddy
I am unworthy to be
Yet somehow He’s chosen
to bring a miracle to me
I’m so in love with
the tiny racing heart that beats
and the fluid movements
of your anxious little hands and feet
I’ve seen so little of the girl
in your mommy’s belly, perfect… round
but I’ve felt so much for the girl
who’s got my heart wrapped round ‘n round
Not the day of your birth
but from the moment I’ve known
that you’d be my princess
I gave you that throne
Thank you my Canaan
and thanks to our Lord
for my part in this miracle
and all that is in store

(c) 2009 Cyrus Lee Gerald Robinson

So Monday night, the Chi Alpha girls threw me an amazing baby shower.  I had a lot of fun, we played some games, ate great food (very important to a pregnant woman), and Caney got lots of great presents.  One of the games we played was predicting the measurement of my belly with a piece of yarn.  Most of the girls were way off, but a few came pretty close.  Caney got lots of cool stuff including diapers, wipes, a mirror for the car, a diaper genie, a travel bed, a prayer doll, socks, a baby on board sign, cute little outfits, a picture frame, bottles, an I Love Daddy bib (that her Daddy loves), and a crib dust ruffle.  I really appreciated all the effort the girls put into making my shower wonderful.  It was really touching how many girls were there to show support and love for Caney and me.  Caney is going to love her presents and spending time with all the Chi Alpha girls.

Yesterday began with Tasha and I fighting off sleep at 7am and getting ready for her to get some lab work done. Tasha couldn’t eat or drink after midnight the night before because she would be doing a blood glucose check for gestational diabetes. When she got there she had to drink a cup of some really sweet liquid and wait an hour before they drew blood. We had some spare time so while we were there we pre-registered for her to have Canaan there, and we went and scheduled her next appointment with our baby doctor for Friday.

Tasha had been complaining about swelling in her feet, but that’s fairly normal in pregnancy. The nurse who drew her blood when we got back noticed that her hand was very, very swollen too (around her wedding ring) and told us to make sure to keep an eye on her blood pressure. Tasha had also been complaining of her tummy and head hurting yesterday, and when she went to get her new drivers license yesterday, she had a hard time seeing out of her right eye (blurry vision). We went to Wal-Mart, and while we were there we checked her blood pressure. It was in prehypertension according to her chart, but it wasn’t too too high. To be safe, we called her doctor who told us to be cautious but that it was likely nothing too serious.

Well, we had our first baby shower last night with the Chi Alpha girls (thank you, ladies!) which I’ll discuss in my next post. After her shower, her feet were swelling so much that her ankles began to hurt, and her fingers were tingling…

My Mom warned us of preeclampsia this weekend. Tasha’s friend, Sally, warned us of preeclampsia this weekend. Tasha’s Mom wisely suggested we go to the hospital last night…just in case. So we went to the ER. When we went to check in they asked how many weeks pregnant she was (34), and then told us to come on to the back. They quickly took us up to the Women’s Health Clinic (same place where babies are delivered).

When we got to the Women’s Health Clinic, they tested Tasha for elevated protein levels (preeclampsia indicator), and they were negative…so that’s good. They decided to monitor her heart rate and blood pressure for a while, so they hooked her up to a machine that monitored her pulse, Canaan’s pulse, and took her blood pressure every 14 minutes. The readings went back and forth from very high to just a slight bit high over and over again. The diastolic number was the one they said they were most concerned with, and it kept going fairly high. Also, she was having minor contractions 7 minutes apart during this process (not actually in labor or anything though).

So, they aren’t sure what was causing it, but after a while, it leveled out in that same prehyperstension range we saw earlier that day. They let us come home but told us to be careful and to come back if necessary. They wrote her an excuse for school today so that she could rest and prop up her feet.

Tasha’s doctor called us today, and they told us that Tasha’s glucose test came back “abnormal.” So they need us to come in again tomorrow for more tests. They will be doing multiple glucose tests an hour apart to verify for sure whether she has gestational diabetes or not. If she does…then it will be a very strict diet for the remainder of the pregnancy.

So yesterday was very long and emotional.  It’s terrifying… Tasha was scared, and I was scared too.  I couldn’t act scared though because that would scare her even more (possibly making her blood pressure raise even more).

Things are okay, and we’re trusting that God will take care of everything.  We believe in the power of prayer, so please keep us in your prayers!

Tasha and I go to Fellowship Baptist Church in Benton, La most weekends (whenever we’re in Benton). They are a small church, but they have tremendous hearts. Tasha was a member of the Fellowship youth group when she was in high school (her Dad was the youth pastor), but we just started going back there this year. I got saved at First Baptist Church just down the street from Fellowship, but I had never gone to or known much about Fellowship. I’ve got to say, that we really appreciate the love, support, and encouragement that we’ve been shown at Fellowship. Fellowship agreed to partner with me on my mission to South Africa, and they are making a sustained effort to gather financial support from now until the time I leave for the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (UKZN). They took up a love offering today, and while I have no clue yet how much it was… I feel as though that church has showed me and my wife an invaluable amount of compassion, love, and support. Tasha and I went to the VA hospital to visit her Grandpa who is there for surgery for blocked arteries in his legs and an aneurysm in his aorta. I had the opportunity to have some quality conversation with him about his relationship with Christ, and his heart and his life experience speak volumes about his character. He’s an Army veteran who spends a great portion of his free time, dedicated to continuing to serve other American veterans through the American Legion. I truly respect him and am honored to be a part of his family. Please, keep him and his family in your prayers as he goes through his surgery and medical process. Tasha and I, still in our church clothes decided to take a few pictures tonight…because, let’s face it, we’re one attractive couple (and baby bump)!  So for your viewing pleasure…some pictures of us at 34 weeks pregnant!

My beautiful girls...!

Check out that belly!

I love this one...

and this one...

and especially this one... (I love the smile on her face!)

Here’s something new! The first video on RaisingCaney.com:

Don’t laugh (too much) at my singing… !

What's Tasha's dad doing to that reindeer?! (Marshall, Tx)

Tasha and her Mom at the Marshall, Tx visitor center (it was cooooold!) Tasha and her Mom at the Marshall, Tx visitor center (it was cooooold!)

Tasha and I at the Marshall, Tx visitor center (see my new favorite hat?!)

Making peanut butter rice krispie balls for the cookie competition at the Sumralls

Tasha and I have made a gingerbread house for the past 3 Christmases now. Nice, huh?

More peanut butter rice krispie balls...

Peanut butter is messy...

...but yummy!

Nanna watched us make the gingerbread house and peanut butter balls

She's an angel in disguise...

I should begin by telling you all that there are something like 41 pictures in this post. So the pictures will probably go on after the text is done. Also, the pictures are smaller for the same reason.

Soooo, Tasha and I had a very exciting and busy Christmas! If you’ve seen the movie “Four Christmases” then you know (sort of) how our Christmas was. Here’s how it happened:

-On 21 December we went to Marshall, Tx to see the lights and to ice skate (Tasha is pregnant and my knee is hurt so no skating for us) with Tasha’s family and some family friends.
-On Christmas Eve Eve Tasha and I had our Christmas for each other (and Christmas with my Momma and Nanna).
-On Christmas Eve afternoon we did Christmas with Tasha’s parents and brother and sister.
-On Christmas Eve night we did Christmas with the Sumralls (my Mom’s boyfriend’s family) and my Momma.
-On Christmas morning/afternoon we did Christmas (including lunch) with Tasha’s grandparents.
-On Christmas Evening we did Christmas with Tasha’s extended family at her Nanna’s.
-The Saturday after Christmas we did Christmas (including dinner) with my dad and his girlfriend and my brother and his family.
Soooo, as you can tell…we were quite busy!

We got a ton of smaller gifts/stocking stuffers. I got a bunch of tools and an awesome tool box. Tasha got a digital camcorder (30GB hard drive). We got a ton of clothes and a front-to-back baby backpack carrier for Caney. I also got a new bottle of Armani Acqua di Gio cologne (my favorite cologne which I had run out of). Annnnd we got a $100 bill.

We had an awesome Christmas. We really did get some really cool gifts, but more importantly, we got to visit with both of our families and loved ones.

Opening her first gift!

Trying to figure out why her husband wrapped old CDs with her present (so she couldn't figure out what it was by feeling it, duh!)...

A magnetic cork board/whiteboard for the fridge

Warm hands! (Can be worn with my ROTC uniform too!)

Another gift disguised with something random (the flashlight). Awesome!

Baby Scrapbook Paper

Annnnd...a scarf (a really nice one, actually)!

+2 beanies AND (a much needed) child-protected surge protector. The power is MINE!

My awesome toolbox and my level!

Our Christmas kiss .

Caleb opening his present from us.

Caleb the Pirate!

A new Richard Scarry book!

A princess tiara!

Makeup?! Oh nooos!!!

He had to close his eyes for an unwrapped gift. Cute picture.

A poodle doll for Sidney

and a white tiger for Caleb.

A pirate and his dad...

Arrrrgh!

A Saints football that plays music and makes noises when you hit it!

A bunch of screwdrivers in a utility toolbox. The small ones are perfect for operating on my laptops!

Tasha has to share all of her presents with Canaan so she says she's not eating this chicken noodle soup until after Canaan is born. Hehe.

A big framed picture of our wedding for the house and a small one for her desk!

Every LSU fan needs one of these for the front of their house, right?

I think he's got the pirate look perfected...

Loooots of beautiful Caney clothes!

Another pirate picture.

hehe...2 pretty girls.

Annnnd the princess/diva arrives!

As for our first New Years married, we spent it apart … It was sad, but I got the opportunity to go to the World Missions Summit 2 in Cincinatti. Tasha couldn’t go because the long bus ride would have been terribly uncomfortable for her. I’ll try to post pictures (and maybe some videos) of the WMS2 tomorrow along with a post explaining how awesome this was. God is great.

We love you all. Merry (belated) Christmas, and happy (belated) New Year! Go out and use 2009 to bring glory to God.

-Cy

It’s been a few days since we last posted, but it’s been a pretty busy week!  Thursday we did Thanksgiving at Tasha’s grandparents’ house.  As usual, there was a lot of really great food, and Tasha and her Grandmother actually went out of their way to make me my favorite Thanksgiving/Christmas dish, candied yams.  They were delicious!  On Saturday, our friends, Heather Ashton and Brian Dean, tied the knot.  Tasha was one of the bridesmaids, and it was a very nice ceremony.  The reception was at the Officer’s Club on base, and it was a great reception with really good food too.  Tasha was in the wedding, and she was gorgeous in her bridesmaid’s dress.  We saved $45 bucks on getting it altered by having her Nana tack the shoulder straps for her.  Woohoo (thanks Nana)!  The last few pictures were taken with a camcorder so they aren’t as high quality as the pics here usually are.

I told you she was beautiful!

Canaan Sidney

During the wedding photos

My girls are so pretty ...

She caught me taking pictures

Such a beautiful smile

She makes me...

The bridesmaids actually made the bouquets themselves.

I'm her biggest fan...

annnnd...that's all I've got of my beautiful girls at the wedding.

Then Tuesday night we decided to put up our Christmas tree.  This ordinarily wouldn’t be too difficult of a task, right?  Well, when missing supplies and kittens are involved it gets a bit trickier.  So, a couple of weeks ago we bought our tree skirt, ornaments, and the little ornament hangers.  We found our ornaments and our tree skirt, but the ornament hangers are nowhere to be found.  We started setting up our artificial tree, and after I got the first level up, I decided I would go to Wal-Mart to buy some ornament hangers.  Tasha called me right after I got to Wal-Mart to let me know that Snookerdoodle had decided that she wanted to climb the Christmas tree…

Snookerdoodle is heavier than the fake tree branch will support…so she bent the bottom branch down to the ground.  Fortunately, I was able to bend it back into place…sort of (it’s not technically where it should be but you can’t tell).  Our cats love shiny things, dangling things, and, apparently, tree-like things.  Snooks has caused trouble a couple times since then, but our other kitten, Kilimanjaro (Kiki), is the real Christmas tree menace.  We can’t keep her off of it!  Keeping the cats off the tree should prove an interesting experience.

So, I’m at Wal-Mart, and I discover that they haven’t restocked their Christmas decor aisles from the Black Friday rush…so noornament hangers.  Thinking it would be a simple, affordable alternative, I buy silver thread instead.  Tasha and I threaded a bunch of ornaments only to discover that most of their knots slide right out when we go to hang them.  Sooooo, we spent a lot of time re-tieing the knots (a different kind of knot) on alllll the ornaments.  So what should have been a 1 hour tree decorating turned into an all-night event.  We had a lot of fun doing it though.  We also hung up 2 stockings for ourselves, one symbolic stocking for Canaan, and 2 stockings for the cats.  After hours of decorating fun, we finally completed decorating our first Christmas tree, and we got pictures of our finished product and of me crowning the tree with our star tree-topper.

Our first Christmas tree (before the star was added)!

annnnd the crowning moment! Also, notice our new modular dresser that we recently got from Target. We love it! Oh, we got some new shelves and decorations as well (some of which can be seen in the picture).

Tadaaaa!

We hope you enjoyed another round of pictures, and we look forward to hearing from you all.  We love you, and Merry CHRISTmas!

-Cy

Soooo, it’s almost time for that one day where we all say what we’re thankful for.  In reality, every breath and every day is a blessing.  So we should be thankful every day…we all know this.  However, there’s nothing wrong with setting aside a day to remind ourselves what we are most thankful for.

I can’t exactly show you an image of what I’m most thankful for, but I’ll try to describe it.  Most of us are thankful for our friends, those special relationships that give added value, purpose, and meaning to our lives.  Now for the corny part.  I met this guy who, quite honestly, changed my life.  In fact, He gave me life.  I’m most thankful for the relationship that I have with the very real King of Kings.  Jesus Christ, who gave me eternal life, who is present in my every day life, who answers my prayers, is my best friend and the person that I am most thankful for.

Now, my faith being the most important thing in my life, leaves the second most important thing in my life.  This would be a person too, I guess.  My second best friend, and the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known, Tasha Robinson, is the person that I am second most thankful for.  It doesn’t hurt that she’s taking part in a miracle, creating a life, our first child, Canaan Sidney Robinson.  Pretty amazing, huh?

Here’s a little bit of the beautiful woman that I tricked into marrying me and our amazing little baby bump.

Around 23 weeks with Snookerdoodle Robot Girl

Around 23 weeks with Snooks again

Barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen? (my Dad's kitchen, actually)

Around 24 weeks, I'm clearly... excited (Tasha says nerdy)

These are from today:

Almost 25 weeks... She's beautiful. I love my girls!

Snooks wanted in the pictures with her Mommy.

Tasha and Snooks

annnd again!

OK Snookerdoodle... last one!

My amazing wife

She has waaaay too many scarfs...

haha...she's had enough of this outfit!

My favorite girls!

I'm so proud of this girl.

These two are my favorite (also from tonight):

My best friend...

This gorgeous girl and the baby in her belly are what I am thankful for. They are my greatest blessing from my awesome God.

Most of you didn’t come here expecting a full photo-blog today. So consider this an early Christmas present!  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Don’t forget to thank God!

-Cy

Dear readers!  I apologize in advance.  This post is not a happy one.  Rather, it’s a rant.  If you’d rather not read a rant (about medical care) then please skip this post!

So Tasha’s health care plan only has one dentist within 1 hour that is allowed to work on pregnant women.  His name is Dr. Kirt Touchstone with ArkLa Family Dentistry in Bernice, Louisiana.  His mission statement says that part of their mission is to provide care in a God-fearing environment.  Well, that was certainly a pleasant surprise to read!  So I was optimistic!  Life is never that simple though, is it?

Our first visit to Dr. Touchstone began with him insulting us for not having had regular dental appointments for the past 2 years.  Let’s see, Tasha is 20 years old, and she hasn’t had coverage since she turned 18.  I am recently separated from the military, and I haven’t had coverage since I separated.  When I explained this to him, he insulted us again, telling us that if we were smart we would have figured out a way to pay for it.  OK, so we’re stupid BECAUSE we can’t afford to pay for medical care out of pocket.  We left offended, but we wrote it off as him perhaps having a bad day…or something.

The second visit, he attempted to drill/fill a cavity without anesthetic (because she’s pregnant), and when she responded to the pain, he stopped and said, “We’ll have to do this later with anesthetic because obviously she isn’t enjoying it.” So he wasn’t able to finish that day, although this day was perhaps not his fault.  Another one written off as an unfortunate result of seeking dental care while pregnant?  Sure.

So we went back again today, and he’s write inside the door yelling at some unfortunate young lady that she needs to stop “half-a**” taking care of her teeth.  Well, I’d be insulted and embarrassed if I were her, considering her only path of exit is right through the main door, past everyone who heard the harassment.  Hrmm…interesting.  So, my wife goes back, and they give her 5 shots that are, we guess, supposed to numb the area.  Well, her mouth was not numb…at all.  There was none of the droopy, drooly cheek that normally accompanies such shots.  She told the dental hygienist who gave her the shots, and she told Dr. Touchstone.  He didn’t seem too concerned, as he came in and started drilling anyway.  My wife, feeling every turn of the drill, grimaced, and eventually said “Ow!”  Dr. Touchstone, jerked all the equipment out of her mouth and told her she would need to find a new dentist because SHE wasn’t relaxed enough to not feel the pain.

My wife comes out, crying.  Angry-Mode Cyrus begins.

I tell Tasha to wait in the car, and I ask to speak with Dr. Touchstone.  Now, I’d like to preface this by reminding that I DO agree with my campus pastor, Pamp, that “the motivation for confrontation should be reconciliation.”  He eventually calls me into his office, and I explain to him this series of events that is causing me to doubt his “God-fearing” environment that he claims to provide.  I also explain that he’s the only dentist within an hour of where we live that we can see.  He tells me that “God punishes those that he loves.”  I responded, “Sure! But you are NOT God, and you do NOT have the right to PUNISH my wife.”  He says, “Ok” and looks at me with a blank stare.  After a 30 second stare-off (that I won!  Woohoo !), he asks “Well what do you want from me?”  I said, “Well, for starters, an apology for my wife!”  He then said, “Well, I’m sorry that you feel that way.”  Hrm, he’s apologizing for the way that I feel implying that I’m the one who is at fault.  This is a passive-aggressive attempt to appease my request for an apology without actually having to apologize for his actions.  Frustrating.  It’s clear, at this point that he a)is no longer willing to provide us with any sort of quality medical care, b)is NOT going to apologize for his behavior, and thus c)reconciliation is not likely to result from this exchange.  I walked out, hopeful that I can at least warn other families against his medical practice.  Consider this my personal review of the service (that I will also rate on Google Maps).