The Tale of Two Preemies: Calvin

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Thank You

Thank you for all the sympathy for Calvin. I spent most of Friday and part of Saturday in tears. I really just wish I had a chance to say good bye. Pat went to bury him somehow on Saturday. The thought of some animal munching on my dog is just too much for me. I don't know what he did, but he says it's taken care of. I didn't want to see him. The thought of him broken and lifeless puts me in tears. I've seen the stain on the road and my imagination is bad enough. I spent a couple of days in a funk, but am doing much better. We've talked about getting a dog this spring, but we'll see. Neither of us really wants another lab, and that's what most mutts are. I do want a dog of our own. Calvin was really my first pet. We had a dog and cat growing up, but Princess was my dad's dog and Sam was my sister's cat. I picked Calvin out. There were 3 puppies in his litter. A bigger one, Calvin, and a smaller female. Pat kind of wanted the bigger one, but Calvin just kept pushing the others out of the way so he could lick me. I couldn't resist. He was meant to be Pat's dog, but he was really mine. I taught him everything he knew, which wasn't much. I took him for walks and let him sleep in the house when Pat was gone. He was my dog and I'd give just about anything to pet him one last time.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Goodbye Calvin

We returned from our trip to my parents today. We had a good time, and I promise I'll update you on that later. When we got home today we found out our dog, Calvin, got hit and killed by the milk truck yesterday. He would have been 5 in February. I knew it was bound to happen, but I was really hoping it would be Yogi (sorry Hope) that got hit. When we moved both dogs got into the habit of chasing cars. They both did it to an extent before we moved, but got worse as a team. I miss my dog. He was a good dog. We got him as a puppy from the humane society when Pat graduated from NDSU. He chewed everything for about the first two years. I don't know how many garden hoses he ruined. He chewed the windshield wipers off my car at least twice. He chewed through an extension cord that was plugged in. He ripped apart an entire bag of insulation. He did grow out of it and became a pretty good dog. He played quite a few kittens to death, but would get beat up by our house cat, Roy. He loved Cole. He became very protective when we brought Cole home, and the Fed Ex guy was terrified of him. I'll miss watching our boys grow up playing with our dog. We still have 2 dogs on the farm, so I don't know that we will get another one any time soon, but Calvin was our dog and I'm really going to miss him.

Goodbye puppy, you were a good dog.

Cole's Story

Cole was born at 30 weeks 3 days, much to our surprise, in 2006. I went in to the hospital because I wasn't feeling well and was afraid I'd get dehydrated. I ended up being air lifted to a larger hospital where Cole was born 24 hours later. He weighed in at 4 lbs. 2 oz. and was 17" long. He had some developmental delays, mostly due to acid reflux. He also had positional plagiocephaly and was in a remolding helmet for 6 weeks. At 14 months he underwent a cardiac catheter procedure to close his PDA. At 25 months he tripped getting out of his kiddie pool and broke his femur. He was in a cast from his hips to his toes for 4 long weeks. He also broke his shoulder at age 5 1/2. His latest medical drama has been a cyst in his left ear. He's had his adenoids removed and another surgery to remove the cyst. He'll have a second surgery in August. He's been through the ringer, but you'd never know it. He just rolls with the punches. He's 100% farm boy. He wants to know how everything works and why. He loves the farm. Farming is definitely in his blood.

Tate's Story

Tate was born at 34 weeks 2 days in 2008. Since I had a previous premature delivery, I was on high alert for another one. It didn't help. We had ultrasound after ultrasound and everything looked great. Tate, however, was not patient. I was admitted to the hospital with preterm labor. He held off for a couple of days, but was still born early. He weighed 5 and a half pounds and was 19" long. Fortunately he had no problems and was released from the hospital 3 days after he was born. He was born the middle child. He desperately wants to do what his big brother does, but has his own interests and wants Cole do to those with him. He's my trouble-maker, fit-thrower, and snuggle bug.