My birthday weekend went from awesome ... to the hospital

I've been having allergies, so I thought.  Actually, one side of my nose was a little more stuffed. I noticed when I woke up to switch sides in the middle of the nights.  In the morning, I had a little nose bleed a couple of times.  Nothing big, but it's not dry weather, so it was odd.  I still stayed up late every other night editing photos and did my regular routines, just with sections of kleenex stuffed in my nose so I wouldn't have to stop so much.  (I HATE sniffing.)  I wanted to finish one family's photos on Wednesday night before my birthday on Thursday, but felt a little sick with the same "allergy" symptoms so only got about half way through them and went to bed around midnight.  On Wednesday night, I still kept waking up to blow my nose lots and lots.  I finally went down stairs to take some generic pseudafed at 2am.  Steven said that helped me to get some sleep, but he had to go to the couch to sleep the rest of the night because I was snoring really loudly.  I'm not a snorer, but at least I got some Z's. 

I woke up on Thursday to Steven handing me hand-drawn cards from Dylan and Isaac and my 2008 blog books!  He and Kat had created them from my blog.  There were too many pages to fit into one book, so they ordered both of the books for me:)  I sat there with the kleenex and books reading about lots of fun memories of when Dylan was Isaac's age.  I had the same goal for Dylan - to swim and take a breath because he would just glide until he reached something/someone. 

I went to work and was happy that my nose wasn't so stuffed.  I thought it was another birthday miracle that I had prayed for like when Paige got her voice back for a bit on her birthday the week before.  I had gauze under my nose and washed my hands even more and only had to dismiss myself a couple of times to blow my nose and replace the gauze and wash my hands.  My last patient before lunch cancelled, so Jeanine came in early for our meeting and cleaned my teeth.  That's always what I want for my birthday and Christmas.  We had pizza and cake for my birthday at the staff meeting.  They planned my pool party baby shower and we went over instrument organization etc.  I kept glancing at my computer screen tab at the bottom to see my email inbox count climbing - what fun to see all of the facebook birthday wishes piling up.  At 3pm, my 12 hour pseudafed had worn off.  So I told my patient about my allergies - she assured me it was allergies because she was having allergy attacks lately too.  I blew my nose and took another pseudafed and cleansed and went back to work.  Then a headache started.  I felt guilty for taking that medicine because what if it had given me a headache last night but it knocked me out and I didn't notice.  Maybe this would make me drowsy too.  Uh oh.  My nose wasn't running as much though, so I thought that was good. 

I went home and changed, but still looked like I had been at work all day and honestly just felt like putting my sad head to bed.  But it was my birthday, and we had decided to go to Carmelita's with the family and the Crews.  (We had gone there in 2008 for my mom's birthday too, I remembered through looking at my blog book.)  Anyway, I smuggled kleenex in then asked for extra napkins twice.  My headache remained constant and I wasn't in the mood to eat much, but the taco salad was tasy so I did eat some.  My jaw hurt to eat.  I just blamed it on the dang pseudafed.  It was fun having everybody there and I got a "World's Best Mom" shirt that Darren and Corrie made me to go with her "#1 Mom" shirt.  Good one.  Andre and Barbie got me a camera clutch, earrings, and a bracelet.  My mom got me the 1st half of 2009 blog book!!!  Crazy, exactly what I want, of course.  That year has to be in two volumes too, so she got me the first volume.  They are like journals and photo albums and are priceless. 

Well I still couldn't go to bed -  we had cakes to eat back at the house!  We had 3/4 of the round Publix cake from my office, cupcakes from Steven's office baby shower the day before, a home-made flan from Steven's co-worker, and a chocolaty fudge cake that Steven got for my birthday.  We waited for everybody to get there and the kids were wild!  Malia and Noah haven't been over much because Corrie is hogging them to herself so they can all bond with baby Ivy this month.  We sent the kids outside.  I figured my headache was from all of the screaming happy laughter and kids bouncing off of the walls.  I had some cake, of course, but then Steven did all of the dishes and cleaned up.  I went to bed.  Well, I started in bed, but felt bad for Steven having to go to the couch the night before, so when I couldn't fall asleep, I finally took some children's tylenol.  I took the 12 year old dose plus a little more (I finished the bottle).  I rested a little, but didn't get any quality sleep while I sat propped up on the couch.  4 hours later, I took a regular adult Tylenol.  I was able to sort of sleep, but then woke up with a stuffy achey head again and was so tired.  I could take Tylenol again at 7am, so that's where I was that Friday morning, leaning against the fridge with the tylenol bottle in one hand and water in the other hand up to my throbbing head.  I was crying.  Steven told me he was calling in to work and that I needed to go to the doctor.  He called as soon as they opened and got me the first appointment.  He had Paige drive me so he could be with the kids and be here for the electrician.  (We got ceiling lights and a fan for the boys' room and the nursrey - finally!) 

We got to the doctor's office where we waited a bit.  I started feeling sick and went to go possibly puke but got light headded and grabbed the counter and let myself down to the (luckily clean) bathroom floor.  It felt cold and the lights in my head came back on.  I felt so horrible - it was time for my 11am Tylenol dose but I wanted to wait until the OB nurse practitioner saw me.  I was embarassed because they called my name and I was on the floor still.  They weighed me - no weight gain for once.  They took me right to a room and turned off the lights.  I heard them telling the nurse practitioner to see me before her other patient.  They triaged me in, thank goodness.  She took my temp which was a little bit high, asked questions etc and ultimately gave me "baby safe" pain meds and antibiotics.  I stayed quiet and kept my eyes closed all they way home after taking my Tyenol.  Thank goodness Paige was driving. 

Steven filled my prescriptions for me and I felt like I was in a painful fog the rest of the day.  I basically felt a little better right after each dose - every 4 hours, but mostly watched the clock until I could take the next set of pills.  Steven did the laundry, swam w/ the kids, did more dishes, made sure I ate something (a smoothie drink from the produce section), and took the kids to a movie.  I asked the missionaries to come back over to give me a blessing because they said they were still in the area from coming over to talk to Paige.  I know I could have asked for a blessing then, but I was going to wait 'til the new meds kicked in - but they didn't.  I told them I needed to be able to write Paige's baptism talk still.  Elder Moffett and Elder Parker came right over and annointed then blessed me that I would get better and would be able to prepare for the baptism.  I felt more calm and did write the talk.  It didn't take long.  Steven, man of much wisdom, laughed that I was writing a talk and told me that I should get an under-study.  So I emailed the talk to my mom who agreed to read it if needed.  Back to my head: I was aloud to take 1-2 "safe" pain pills every 4 hours - but a max of 6 in 24 hours.  So I took two at 1pm, 5pm, and 9pm.  The last dose didn't take at all.  At midnight I was worried.  I had already taken the max so didn't know what to do at 1am when I was due for another dose.  I looked in our meds box and saw my 3 year old hydrocodone bottle.  There's no expiration date b/c I'm supposed to throw it away after a year.  I had it from when I was still nursing Isaac.  My OB doctor had prescribed it and said it was okay for nursing moms.  (I didn't throw it away because I didn't opt for the neck surgery and didn't know if the pain would come back.  Thankfully I didn't need to take much back then or since.)  Anyway, I looked up on the internet if it was okay to take that while pregnant.  The computer monitor was way too bright for me, so while squinting, I turned the brighness waaay down.  I didn't see anything promising so I emailed one of my pharmacist friends.  I'm not sure why I didn't email my cousin-in-law pharmacist.  I thought about him after I reluctantly took one.  I'm glad I did because while sitting up staring at the cable box clock when Saturday came and rubbing blue emu oil on my neck and head, the headache went away after 15 minutes!  It really did!  So I fell asleep.  For 30 minutes.  That's all the relief I got.  I woke up with stabbing pain worse than before.  I was crying because I didn't know what to do.  It hurt so bad and I was so tired and had no where to turn.  It was just getting worse and I didn't want to take more meds.  Steven woke up to me sobbing and called my mom to come over.  She came over because Paige had to be able to go to her own baptism at 7am and Steven somehow thought ahead.  My mom unloaded dishes, helped with the kids, and even scrubbed the cabinets in the kitchen.  I wish she had just slept or something, but she's a good mommy to me still.

Steven and I went to the close Bardmoor ER.  We got right in and may have been their only patient.  The young doctor was nice, but almost asked Steven if he concurred with what he was doing.  They turned down the lights, had me pee in a cup, took blood, and gave me an IV with benadryl and pain meds.  I felt better.  Not best, but better.  Steven was irritated with me when I told them I was feeling better b/c he could see that I wasn't better.  I slept a little, but Steven said it was only 15 minutes.  Don came and helped by trying to distract me by rubbing my foot or something - it's all blurry.  They dismissed me with perscriptions for benadryl and pain meds. 

We got home in time to possibly make it to the beach portion of Paige's baptism, but of course Steven held me back.  My mom, my under-study, couldn't be at the baptism to give the talk because she was babysitting/cleaning my house.  Don gave the talk to Jonathan to give (Don was giving the other talk on the Holy Ghost.)  I found out later that Jonathan didn't know the 4th Article of Faith whith I hadn't typed all the way out because I was hoping to have my kids recite it and knew that my mom knew it if I couldn't make it.  That's funny to me.  I was going to have sign in pages there too.  We had planned on getting donuts for all of the guests for after the baptism, but that didn't work out.  We had a bunch of little waters in the fridge, so I had my mom take those out to the beach.  But they got left in her car.  Oh well, others took photos of Paige's special morning and others got to go.  She was happy. 

So for the rest of the day on Saturday, I still didn't feel good.  My headache was a little better in the morning, but kept getting worse.  I took the pain meds, but they didn't really take care of the headache.  I slept some barely.  My mom kept the kids.  We kept it dark in the house.  By the evening, I was crying again.  Steven called my OB doctor and the nurse practitioner on call.  She told us to go back to the ER but to go to Bayfront this time.  It was a long drive.  I couldn't let go of my head.  We went in and Steven checked me in.  They gave me a room in the back where they did more blood work, gave me another IV (that went in way too fast, my arm felt cold, puffy, and dead.)  Dr. McNeill was at Disney with his family but he talked to Steven a lot and to his on call nurse practitioner and even called the ER a lot for us.  He was worried.  There was worry in the air that there could be something seriously wrong in my head that could need surgery or that I had viral meningitis.  The pain was really bad.  I couldn't move my head or the tipping would hurt so bad.  They finally had me sign consent for a CT scan of my head.  They wheeled me out of there with a towel over my head.  They wanted me to scoot over to the table and I didn't even know if I could do it.  I did, but they wanted me to lay flat on my back.  That hurt so bad I was shaking.  I was supposed to be still, but my jaw was chattering.  I wasn't cold, just in pain.  It didn't last long.  My high for that night was when the big nurse lady helped me up.  She scooped me up and sat me up and helped me over to my stretcher.  My head was throbbing but it felt better to sit back up again.  They did an ultrasound and I think I asked the lady if I could have a print out.  She was all business and said something about them not doing that there.  I must have fallen asleep and dreamed that she felt bad for being rude and she printed a photo and folded it and stuffed it under my arm.  When I was back in my room, I asked Steven to check.  I knew it must have been a dream, but it seemed real.  That's when Andre and Barbie got there.  I was so out of it.  They were all dressed up and I felt and looked horrible.  The hospital staff had Steven leave so they could do a spinal tap on me too since my white blood cells were up.  They wanted me to arch my back out but of course I have a big belly so it was dificult.  I could tell it wasn't the anaesthesiologist who does the epidurals b/c she didn't seem sure of herself.  It took longer also.  She was careful so I wasn't worried.  It was basically like getting an epidural but there were no contractions to deal with.  Pretty soon after that I think they finally decided to go ahead and give me morphine.  I was able to rest.  They moved us into the crowded part of the ER though and I was next to a girl who kept puking and somebody who might be pregnant.  I was kind of waiting to hear the results of the pregnancy test but they moved us up to a quiet floor to admit us.  Steven was so relieved to be out of those uncomfortable ER chairs.  They weighed me before getting into my room.  I had gained over 10 pounds in a day!  It must have been the IV bags because I had hardly eaten anything.  I was shocked.  The room was quiet.  Steven had his own bed next to me.  I was feeling better.  I slept.  I woke up when it was still dark but felt good enough to stand up to stretch.  I was stiff and sore.  I was able to blow my nose though!  I started blowing and blowing and blowing.  I was happy that we had brought in our own big soft kleenexes.  I used a ton of them.  I was able to finlly clear my sinuses. 

So Sunday morning, they brought me breakfast, and the doctors came to see me.  Dr. McNeill's associate came in and answered questions.  He told us that the CT was normal but it just showed lots of junk in my sunuses.  He told us that the spinal tap was also normal.  He reccomended a pain med and some nasal sprays and a really strong antibiotic.  I had to see the regular hospital doctor who agreed with some of the orders.  The food service girl asked to take our lunch order, but we were excited to be released soon so we declined.  Funny thing, we had to wait for the pharmacy to fill the Rx there and they wanted to monotor me for an hour then we waited for the doctor to give us the final orders so we watched as other guests in the hall got their lunch.  Oh well, we were home in time to get our kids from after church.  I was still sick, but not crying in pain sick.  There were 3 church meetings I missed besides the regular service and Paige's confirmation.  My mom brought over dinner for us.  She and Don were lifesavers that weekend. 

Steven took Monday off because he was starting to feel a little sick from the stress and lack of sleep himself. 

I called in sick on Tuesday.  I slept most of the day.  Paige took the kid swimming and did fun stuff with them because I just slept.  I thought I was going to be okay to go to the dental meeting that night, but besides being tired, I started getting a horrible headache again.  It didn't feel good to be upright.  So I went to bed really early after taking some pain meds. 

Luckily I didn't have anything to do on Wednesday, so I didn't. 

I went back to work on Thursday against Steven's will.  I didn't go to a church meeting that evening.  I left work a little early.  I slept.  I wasn't a bubbly happy person at work, but it was okay.

On Friday, I was able to finish editing photos for a family and felt so bad for taking so long.  I took the kids to the beach early in the morning and just sat in the shade there.  It was beautiful.  I showered and went to the temple with the youth from our church.  I made it on just Tylenol. 

It's one Friday later, August 5th.  And I'm still not 100%, but today I'm happy because I finished those horrible antibiotics which messed my insides up. 

My brother Matt and his wife Hollie had their baby girl, Gracie Hope Gille this morning at 8:28am!  She was 6lbs 10oz, and is 18" long.  She was born by C-section because, like Matt, was breach. 

I get to watch Ivy Crew for the first time right now!  She's 5 weeks old.  She sleeps a lot still.  I get to use the swing and vibrating chair that I got from Steven's and my office baby showers. 

We had the Taylors over to play and swim and eat hot dogs and popsicles today to! 

And next month I'll have my own baby here!