We decided to take a quick getaway to San Antonio. We thought Isaac would enjoy the Zoo, so we went down for the weekend. It was a wonderful trip - quiet, and relaxing. We stayed in a suite at the Residence Inn downtown, which was wonderful because Isaac got his own room! So much better, and MUCH more relaxing for us!
The pictures are mostly of the animals we saw, but there are a couple of Isaac in there as well. Enjoy!
Another month has flown by! Isaac is so busy growing and learning. It's hard to keep up with him, and he's not even walking yet! He is standing for 15-30 seconds, though, so hopefully it won't be long. I would love for him to be walking by his first birthday! He has been so good this month - especially considering that I was sore after my surgery. He tolerated that whole experience really well. I'm so proud of him!
This month he's gained two more teeth, for a grand total of 6 now. He's eating pretty much the same things we eat, and he feeds himself almost exclusively. OMG, what a mess!!! Some days I think my house will never recover from having a child around!
He is signing a lot more, and we've been working on pointing. Right now he uses "more" to mean pretty much anything he wants or doesn't know the sign for! He has also started saying "uh-oh" - his new favorite phrase! He's also able to understand a lot more. He can follow simple instructions - it's so exciting!
In addition to trying to communicate more, he's also playing differently; throwing things harder/farther, filling and dumping containers, playing with simple chunky puzzles, and stacking blocks. Of course, he would still rather knock them over then stack them up any day!
Isaac also likes to "help" around the house. He closes any open door, always wants to turn the lights off, has to push the button to start my coffee every morning, and if someone is playing the piano he has to push the pedals. He also likes to brush his hair and his teeth - after mom has a go at it first, that is.
Now we're working on getting rid of his bottle, which is not easy. He drinks from a sippy cup, and a straw cup really well as long as it's water or juice. He just refuses to take his formula from anything other than a bottle. Oh well; we'll have to keep working on it.
That's it! Another busy month. Next month Oma-Nana is coming to see him for his birthday. We can't wait to see her!
We left Kansas on the Sunday after Christmas, and made it past Oklahoma City before we stopped for the night. The trip seemed to be going off without a hitch, but after we got on the road Monday morning, I started to feel really sick. At first we thought I'd caught the bug Michael had on the way up, but after a while I was in so much pain I could barely tolerate the drive. We stopped at McDonald's for lunch and ended up being there almost two hours because I kept vomiting and having such horrible pain that I didn't want to get back into the car.
Once we finally left McDonald's we stopped at a convenience store for Dramamine - I only had the non-drowsy kind in my bag, and at that point I wanted the drug induced sleep that I usually get from a couple of regular Dramamine. Unfortunately, about 30 minutes after taking them, we had to pull over so that I could be sick again. So much for Dramamine and sleeping. :-(
So, we got back on the road - I just wanted to be home! Poor Isaac didn't know why Mom just kept moaning and crying in the front seat instead of playing with him. Several times I tried to turn around to talk to him, but each time a wave of pain and nausea would hit me and I thought I would pass out!
I believe Michael thought I was just being a wuss. We got home and he told me to take a nap and relax while he unloaded the car and took care of Isaac. After almost an hour of crying and thrashing about on the bed, I got up and told Michael to either take me to the hospital or call someone else to take me. I thought I was going to die!
At the ER they got us right in to triage. The nurse asked me to rate my pain on a 0-10 scale, and I said "12". When she asked me how my pain compared to child birth, she started moving a little faster when I told her it was so much worse than child birth! I'm serious - I'd rather give birth again with no drugs than to experience that pain ever again!
While the ER staff was trying to get all the admitting paper work done and generally seemed to take forever (although now that I'm not in pain I can admit that it probably wasn't really as long as it seemed at the time) Michael and Isaac waited in the room with me. It was so hard for me to have Isaac there because I kept trying to hide how much pain I was in so that I wouldn't upset him. That's probably why Michael didn't realize how bad it was until I wanted to go to the hospital. Then, of course, he knew there was something terribly wrong because I NEVER willingly go to any kind of doctor no matter what type of ailment I might be having.
I finally convinced Michael to take Isaac home. He stepped out for a few minutes to call Tom and Stephannie, who didn't hesitate to stay with Isaac for the night. Michael left for a while to take Isaac home and give Tom and Stephannie care instructions. Even though, I was still in excruciating pain, it was such a relief to me just to know that Isaac would be taken care of!
At some point a nurse came in and I just looked at her through tear-filled eyes and begged her to help me, and I'm not exaggerating! I'm not too proud to admit that even though I normally have quite a high pain tolerance, at that point I was literally begging for pain medicine. She gave me pitiful look, which I would normally hate, but in that moment I was glad for her pity, because maybe that meant that she'd hurry up with the medicine! She gave me some Zofran for the nausea, and then some type of Fentanyl for pain. Within minutes, I was finally able to relax and get a few deep breaths for the first time all day. The doctor came back to examine me again. He had tried before the pain medicine, but at that point I was in so much pain that I hurt EVERYWHERE he tried to touch! Once the pain was a little more controlled, he could do a more thorough exam. He told me that I probably had a ruptured ovarian cyst and that I'd probably be able to go home with pain meds that night. But just to be sure, they would do a CT scan and some blood work.
By the time Michael got back to the hospital the first dose of pain medicine was already wearing off and I was crying again. I know it wasn't easy for him to watch, but he stayed right beside me the whole time. After blood work, a few more doses of pain medicine, and a CT scan, the ER doctor finally came in to tell me that my white blood count was extremely high and that the CT scan showed appendicitis. They would start prepping me for surgery as soon as the surgical team arrived.
Once I signed all the forms and they took me into surgery, I was fine - relieved at least that they were going to make the pain go away for good. That is, until the anethesiologist tried to snap the oxygen mask on my face. The thrashing that started then had nothing to do with pain. I know that logically there was oxygen coming through the mask and I would not sufficate, but that did not stop the ensuing panic attack - guess I should have mentioned those to him before he tried to strap me down and put something over my face, huh? Thank goodness for a wonderful surgery nurse who calmed me down until the medicine kicked in enough for me to relax and not fight the mask. I remember that she asked me about my favorite relaxing vacation spot, and my mind immediately went to the south of France - the week that Michael and I spent there toward the end of our year in Europe was the best vacation ever! It was the last thing I remember before drifting off to sleep.
After surgery, the surgeon came to see me in recovery and showed me pictures of the most disgusting appendix and drainage that I'd ever seen - so glad they got that out of me!
I spent a little time in recovery before transferring to a room. Once there, I really should have tried to rest, but I was finally pain free and lucid for the first time all day. So, the only logical thing to do...Facebook! Isn't that sad?!? I took time to catch up a little and post a status update for everyone who was worried about me before I went to sleep.
I was able to go home the next day. I remember saying to Michael on the drive home that I was kind of disappointed that I couldn't think of anything really bad to say about anyone on the staff who'd cared for me - high praise from this nurse indeed! Michael stayed home the rest of the week so that I could fully recover before taking care of Isaac all day by myself.
Now, I'm fully recovered. I got a clean bill of health from the doctor last week. At that appointment he told me that the pathology report showed that the appendix was perforated, which at least explains the extreme pain and nausea I was having.
So, even though things are fine now, I wouldn't really recommend having an appendicitis attack on the last day of your vacation - or any other time really. I have to say, though, that when you have an emergency, you really learn who your friends are. Thanks again to Tom and Stepho for taking care of Isaac without hesitation and on such short notice. We also had several other friends offer help in a variety of ways - errands, shopping, child care, etc. Thanks to all of you for making us feel so loved! And finally, I have to thank my wonderful husband, who calmly handled the entire course of events and made me feel so much better during the process. I couldn't have gotten through it without him!
Click here if you want to see the surgery pics.
