I am glad to say it's Friday -- the Friday after Memorial Day. 'Cause let's just say, the holiday didn't turn out as we had planned. We were supposed to go to Cago to visit with family, and friends and instead spent the entire weekend -- through Monday -- at the hospital.
I started to feel crummy Thursday night. But I thought I had just overdone it. Being 24 weeks pregnant, I get tired quickly. And let's face it, the pregnancy has been far from easy. So like any other woman, I ignored the pain. Work went OK in the morning. I was still sore, and I wasn't feeling 100 percent but that was nothing new. Ma called me, and was immediately concerned because she said I sounded sick. My boss asked me if I was OK. She thought I looked sick. I knew we were planning on a huge weekend. I wanted to -- I needed to -- go to Chicago. But something inside me told me to call my OB. It made sense, I would call them, get some reassurance and continue with my plans.
30 minutes later I was on my way to the hospital. They were worried I was in labor. 16 weeks early. Yes, I drove myself. This is when it becomes a blur. My parents wanted to come up right away but I was still thinking we'd make it to Chicago. Our friend -- who was supposed to go with us to the C -- came over to watch Jack. I am not sure when Husband got to the hospital. I was just worried about Rex. As soon as they determined he was fine, and I wasn't going into labor, I lost control of everything. The details are disgusting. You can imagine. I fell apart. The pain was greater than when I had Jack. And Jack was 9 pounds 6 oz. 21 1.5 inches ... pushed out in 38 minutes. No drugs.
Apparently I talked to people on the phone Friday and Saturday. If you called me, I am sorry. I have no memory of our conversations.
So there I was hooked up to all these baby monitors feeling like I may not make it. And Rex wasn't happy either. He didn't like the monitors pushing on his area. He kept kicking them. Again and again, we were trying to listen to his heartbeat and we just heard, POUND, POUND, POUND. A good sign, really. He was in there, staying in there and didn't want visitors or interruptions, damn it.
Tests came back. Kidney infection, likely a stone. I would have to have surgery to see what was going on in there. I can't begin to tell you how much kidney issues hurt. I feel for all people who have experienced what I have experienced. I feel for the people who will someday experienced it. It's just so bad.
It took them two days to stabilize the pain. I had my surgery Sunday morning. My parents came up Friday and went back and forth between in our house and the hospital. Poor Jack didn't really know what was going on. He took it well. He's a very good boy and tried to understand why Mama was sick.
Did you know having a general anesthetic when you are pregnant can cause the baby to be aborted? I didn't. 15 minutes before going into surgery, I learned that tidbit. So, I opted out. Though the percentage was small, I wasn't about to lose Rex. So I opted for a spinal. That means I was awake. I was numb from the waist down, but awake. It's blurry how it went. All I know is my stone was huge and my infection was great. The doctor told me that if I hadn't gotten my surgery, the infection would have spread to the baby. My God.
I got out Monday. My arms are completely bruised. I found out my veins don't agree with IVs. Every vein they tried collapsed. Literally, collapsed. I made quick friends with Ruth the IV specialist. She was the only person who could get anything to work. Failed veins makes it difficult to get drugs... this causes more pain. You get what I am saying here. I now have a stent in my kidney to help with function. The doctor told my dad it hasn't worked properly for at least 6 months. It could be a problem for me post-baby.
I went back to work Tuesday afternoon. It was too early. I went back Wednesday for the morning. The nurses had said I would be a new person and could back to work anytime. But I am not a new person. I still feel like crap -- better than the weekend but far from good. Thursday I was home with bleeding. Today I am sore, still bleeding. My stent is poking me, and my baby is having fun kicking me.
But the baby is fine. And that's all that matters.
01 June 2007
22 May 2007
28
It's been a while since I updated on Jack and his 'isms. The kid is a crack-up.
Husband's injury.
For those of you who don't know (and I can't remember if I already wrote about this here) Husband broke his foot in three places and severely sprained his ankle. So, it's been a rough 2 weeks or so. He's been hobbling around on crutches and a scooter and generally out of commission. On Wednesday of last week, I was picking Jack up from school when he told me that we needed to go to the store. I asked him why and he proceeded to let me know that we were, "Out of Cranberry juice." I suggested that we call Daddy and see if he would like to go with us to the store. With that, Jack sighed loudly and dramatically. I asked him what was wrong. And he said, "Daddy walks like this, Mama. He slow. He should stay home." And then he walked across the parking lot limping and dragging a foot. It was hilarious. Daddy wasn't picked up to go to store.
That's her name.
Jack has always had a bit of an obsession with names. Full names. When he introduces himself it's always, first, last middle. When he talks about Daddy, it's first and last. He named my dad Ga and if you call him anything but, he'll correct you. For the entire visit that his Grandmother was in town from Virginia, he called her by her full name. Grandma and then her last name. EVERY TIME. I tried to tell him Grandma would work and he looked at me like I was insane. "Mama! That's not her name!" he'd say. I brought it up to him several times. Why was he being so formal?! He must have had enough because he looked at me square in the face and said sternly, "'Cause that's her name!" I couldn't argue with him.
Hard as nails.
This past weekend we went to a cousin's baseball tournament in Holland, Mich. Jack was thrilled to see his older, 4th grader cousin and play with her for hours. At the park they had a playground with all the fixings. When it started to get cool, I decided he should put his jacket on. So, I walked over to the swings where he was happily playing. When he saw me, he started to run toward me, excited. I saw the fall in slow motion. The kid just slid across the crummy wood chips and ended up eating some. He laid there for a second. I asked him if he was OK. He shook his head yes, pushed himself up and spitting out wood said, "I tough, Mama. I tough."
23 weeks... 17 to go.
Your baby is more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound. He may be able to feel your movements now, so put on some tunes and dance around the house. No matter what race your baby is, he looks red now due to blood vessels showing through his transparent skin. His true skin tone will develop over the course of his first year. Blood vessels in your baby's lungs are developing to prepare him for breathing, but complete lung development will take many more months. The lungs are the last organ to fully develop.
The baby now kicks me if he feels like I have been sitting at my desk too long. He will pound into me until I get up, stretch and walk around for a while. He's very particular about how I sit too. If he doesn't like the postion, he nails me. I am a little worried though. I have 17 more weeks to go and he's only 11 inches, 1 pound. What happens when he's 8 pounds and more?
Husband's injury.
For those of you who don't know (and I can't remember if I already wrote about this here) Husband broke his foot in three places and severely sprained his ankle. So, it's been a rough 2 weeks or so. He's been hobbling around on crutches and a scooter and generally out of commission. On Wednesday of last week, I was picking Jack up from school when he told me that we needed to go to the store. I asked him why and he proceeded to let me know that we were, "Out of Cranberry juice." I suggested that we call Daddy and see if he would like to go with us to the store. With that, Jack sighed loudly and dramatically. I asked him what was wrong. And he said, "Daddy walks like this, Mama. He slow. He should stay home." And then he walked across the parking lot limping and dragging a foot. It was hilarious. Daddy wasn't picked up to go to store.
That's her name.
Jack has always had a bit of an obsession with names. Full names. When he introduces himself it's always, first, last middle. When he talks about Daddy, it's first and last. He named my dad Ga and if you call him anything but, he'll correct you. For the entire visit that his Grandmother was in town from Virginia, he called her by her full name. Grandma and then her last name. EVERY TIME. I tried to tell him Grandma would work and he looked at me like I was insane. "Mama! That's not her name!" he'd say. I brought it up to him several times. Why was he being so formal?! He must have had enough because he looked at me square in the face and said sternly, "'Cause that's her name!" I couldn't argue with him.
Hard as nails.
This past weekend we went to a cousin's baseball tournament in Holland, Mich. Jack was thrilled to see his older, 4th grader cousin and play with her for hours. At the park they had a playground with all the fixings. When it started to get cool, I decided he should put his jacket on. So, I walked over to the swings where he was happily playing. When he saw me, he started to run toward me, excited. I saw the fall in slow motion. The kid just slid across the crummy wood chips and ended up eating some. He laid there for a second. I asked him if he was OK. He shook his head yes, pushed himself up and spitting out wood said, "I tough, Mama. I tough."
***
Baby Rex23 weeks... 17 to go.
Your baby is more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound. He may be able to feel your movements now, so put on some tunes and dance around the house. No matter what race your baby is, he looks red now due to blood vessels showing through his transparent skin. His true skin tone will develop over the course of his first year. Blood vessels in your baby's lungs are developing to prepare him for breathing, but complete lung development will take many more months. The lungs are the last organ to fully develop.
The baby now kicks me if he feels like I have been sitting at my desk too long. He will pound into me until I get up, stretch and walk around for a while. He's very particular about how I sit too. If he doesn't like the postion, he nails me. I am a little worried though. I have 17 more weeks to go and he's only 11 inches, 1 pound. What happens when he's 8 pounds and more?
16 May 2007
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