Bed Rest Update

So this week has been a long one! Bed rest had been going pretty well with my mom staying with me last Thursday and Friday and Mitch taking great care of me Saturday and Sunday. But on Sunday night I started having problems with the vision in my left eye. I didn't pay much attention to it because it just seemed to have a lot of extra light coming into it and the light was to the left of me so I just ignored it. I decided to take my one shower and while in there, it got much worse. I came out and couldn't read or make out most things. I was calling around to my doctors to see if it was something to worry about and checking with my mom when it just suddenly went away. I was in the middle of telling my mom "nevermind, don't worry about it" when my left arm went numb suddenly, followed by numbness on the left side of my face.

Needless to say, we got up and went to the emergency room. Not that strokes are common in my age group but in rare cases it has been a side effect of pregnancy. So I talked to Mitchell the whole way to the hospital so that he would be able to notice if I slurred, meanwhile the numbness came and went in my arm and face multiple times. I will not put you through the details of what we went through at the ER, needless to say it was another negative experience, but they did get me an EKG and a CAT scan, both of which looked good. Roughly 6 hours after we arrived they came in and told us that I had not had a stroke and that they were pretty confident that my numbness was being caused by and Atypical Migraine.

Monday morning I woke up having had the numbness all night. Around 9 my vision started got a big spot in the middle. It lasted about 35 minutes when I started to get an actual headache. It hurt so bad I don't even know how to explain it. I had already set up an appointment for 1:45 with my OBGYN so that they could check the baby, but the intensity that my headache gained before that was crazy. I was literally wanting to bang my head into walls because I just knew that that had to hurt less that what I was feeling. When we got to the doctor's office I was crying. And continued to. They gave me some medicine and told me that the baby sounded great, so we came home and I slept. They also made me an appointment with a neurologist to double check the CAT Scan.

SO Wednesday finally rolls around, the day I've been waiting for so that we could get an update on my uterus and the progress of my bed rest. I had the neurologist first, which was a huge waste of time because we were in his office for maybe 2 minutes in which time he said something to the effect of "Well your CAT Scan was clean and the symptoms you had are classic symptoms of a complicated migraine. There's nothing we can give you for the migraines while your pregnant so we'll just knock on wood that they don't return, but if you're still having them after the baby is born, come back and I'll give you medicine. Have a good Day" And he actually knocked on his desk when he said the whole "knock on wood" thing. LOL

We then headed across the street to the OBGYN's office where they had lost my appointment. They immediately started trying to work me in and while it took about 45 minutes, they did. Unfortunately they weren't able to work me back into my sonogram appointment, because the machine was booked solid all day. But Paula checked me and said that my cervix and uterus were slightly higher, and that my cervix was thicker which is what we wanted. So she changed my bed rest to modified bed rest which rocks! That means that I can pretty much go about my normal life, but I can't drive and I can't stand up/walk for more than 15 to 20 minutes at a time. (but that means that I can run into a store with my mom, or make some exchanges as long as I use a wheelchair in the store! :) ) I am allowed to sit up pretty much as much as I want to, but she said that I need to ask myself in each situation "can I sit for this" and if so sit, and "can I lay down for this" and if so lay down. I still have to spend a significant amount of my day laying down but I don't have to have someone here to walk to dogs or make my food so we're happy.

They set me up another appointment for 2 weeks from Wednesday and they will sonogram the baby at that point and make sure she's good! :) (That will put me at a firm 32 weeks). Until then I am just trying to stay out of trouble and keep my headaches from coming back. (I got another one yesterday, but took the medicine Paula had given me immediately so it never got too bad although it hung around for several hours).

Doctors Orders

Wednesday morning I had two doctors appointments. I went to my chiropractor's office at 8 am and got my back readjusted. She even said that she thinks that I'll be fine, and she'll just schedule me if I feel I need it. That was good news!

Then I ran to my mom's house and picked her up to go to my OBGYN/Sonogram appointment! We met my Grandma Gwen at the doctor's office and had the sonogram! It was very sweet. Brooke was not moving a whole lot, but just enough for us to see her kick a little and open and close her fists. They said her brain, bladder, kidneys and lungs looked great. Her heart was beating and we could see all of the valves opening and closing. It was really cool, but she wouldn't turn her head so we could see her face. We did get a profile however and she looked precious.

I had started having some pains about the time I picked up my mom but, assuming they were indigestion, hadn't mentioned them when I got to the doctors. Since it had been over two hours and they hadn't gone away, I decided to mention it during my exam. Paula came in and felt my stomach during some of the pains and felt confident that my uterus wasn't contracting, so she said everything was fine, and it was probably from that persistent bladder infection that won't go away. Just to be safe she was going to do a fetal-fibernextis (sp?) test to make sure I hadn't gone into pre-labor. When she went to do the test, (which consists of swabbing my uterus), my uterus started bleeding, which makes the test invalid. So she went to check my cervix to see if it had turned (which for those of you who don't know, consists of her sticking her hand into my body and around my cervix, not quite as far as her elbow). Well she attempted to do that, but couldn't get her hand inside because my uterus had dropped significantly, something that happens 2 to 4 weeks before giving birth. So at that point she changed her tune and decided that I needed to go to labor and delivery to be watched for an hour to make sure contractions did not develop. When they were certain of that, they sent me home with orders of bed rest and an appointment to check my kidneys, gallbladder, and bladder for stones the next morning.

So yesterday I went bright and early to the hospital to get an abdominal ultrasound, which turned up no stones of any kind. It did however show that Brooke's head had moved from my right side to directly above the birth canal. Yippee. lol. The doctors aren't worried, so neither am I, but it does make for some long and boring days. Thankfully my mom has been here helping me. My bed rest requires that I lay down as much as possible and allows for me to go to the bathroom as needed, take one shower a day and sit up while I eat. Unfortunately, my doctor has also just put me on a very strict diet because I am hypoglycemic. So I have to have someone to make me food, because of the amount of it I have to eat and the diversity of it that I have to have a certain times of the day. (and in this diet, there is no fast food or junk food, so pretty much everything that I could buy at the grocery store that is 'grab and eat' is out):(

The doctor's office wants to see me Wednesday at 9 to determine if the bed rest is working and will at that point give me a more clear understanding of what this means for the baby (ie will I need to go full term on bed rest or will they take her at 36 weeks, what are my chances of making it to 36 weeks without going into labor, etc) So when I know more, so will you guys!

Brooke's Family Shower

This past weekend (July 18th), my Aunt Betty and cousins Kelley and Laura threw me a beautiful shower for our family! It was so nice to have so many family members in my mom's house. Aunt Betty, Kelley, and Laura did a great job (with help from Becca and Hannah) decorating the house and setting up beautiful food and drink tables!

Just to mention a few of the people who made the trip: My Aunt Doris came up from Gainesville (which is great because she rarely gets to come to Jacksonville) and most of her girls were there too! My Aunt Cathy came (looking beautiful) as did my Aunt Debbie and Grandma Gwen. We had several guys there too, including Mitch, my father in law, my Uncle Bob, and Josh. And there were a few little munchkins running around too (my niece Abbi, and cousins Parker and Jonathan!)

I got so many beautiful gifts and had a great time visiting with everyone who means so much to me! Here are a few pics!

These are my beautiful hostesses, from left to right, Aunt Betty, Jonathan, Laura, Hannah, Kelley and Becca!



The mantle covered in gifts!



Mom, Me, Grandma Gwen and Aunt Debbie



My niece Abbi, my sister Tricia, my brother Josh and my cousin Parker



My Pretty Cake!



Mitch and I with his parents, Jeanne and Wayne.



These are the beautiful dedication gowns that my Aunt Doris crocheted for Brooke



For those of you who know me well, know that family events at with my family always include some sort of unplanned excitement. The excitement at this particular event included Josh, my 4 year old cousin Parker, a four-wheeler and a F-350 Diesel truck. You see, Parker was being a little busy body and kept looking for things to do, so Josh decided that he would take Parker and the other little kids on the four wheeler while I was opening gifts. They took a couple rides and all was fine, but then Josh wanted to grab something inside before taking Parker again. The four wheeler was on, and Josh set Parker on it, feeling confident that Parker wouldn't figure out how to make it go (which includes grabbing and turning the handle while pushing a button with your thumb, something that takes a good amount of hand/arm strength). Josh took one step away and Parker grabbed the handle, and turned it while pushing the button making it jump forward. Josh was close enough to get a finger through Parker's arm and pull his hand off of the gas before he (Josh) fell and the back of the four wheeler ran over his arm. Meanwhile, the four wheeler plowed into the front bumper of my Uncle Alvin's truck and Parker then fell off onto the concrete, coming away with just a scrape on his elbow. Of course it made some noise and Parker was crying, so like pretty much everyone went outside to see what was going on while I sat there with presents in my lap wondering what to do. Josh was definitely upset and still isn't quite over the experience and all the what ifs that are going through his mind. It was over in seconds and everything was fine, but it was excitement none the less!

Brooke's Family Friend Shower

On July 11th, my very good friend, Sasha, threw a baby shower for baby Brooke. It was absolutely beautiful and everything went great! We had it at Sasha's Mom's house, and I am so grateful to Ms Carol for allowing us to use her house! Sasha did a wonderful job, with beautiful invitations, decorations and food. Everyone loved the food and had a great time.

Here are some pictures from the day!

My beautiful hostess Sasha and me!




My Cake! (Sasha asked me for my favorites and made sure it was yellow cake with chocolate icing!!! :) )



The gift table with me and my beautiful hostess!



3 generations (even if you can't see the third one quite yet!)



Mrs Melody gave us a mattress for Brookelynne Starr. It was so great to see her and have her be a part of this day!



There were many people there, including the other moms from the street I grew up on, some of ladies from my mom's single parent class, and a few other people who I've known for years! It was great to have Sasha, Amy, Allison, Susan and Tiffany there (the only girls my age) because they are all very sweet and wonderful young ladies. Especially since many of them believed that I would be the last one to get married much less have a baby and here I am, the first at both!!! :)

I want to thank Sasha for working so hard. It is greatly appreciated!! I love you!!

All work and no play makes for a very sore girl!

So this week Mitch has been on vacation. Which in my husband's mind means that he should have left work on Friday evening last week, come home and spent the next 9 days doing absolutely nothing. No chores, no projects, no dates, no nothing. His idea of vacation is being able to sit at home and have nothing to do for the entire time he's off work. This to me is not only boring but highly unproductive when we have so much to accomplish! lol. So what did I do? Well needless to say I made plans for him...

Starting with last Saturday and Sunday, we worked very hard on the wood floors at my mom's house. Then on Monday and Tuesday I had to work at my real job, and allowed Mitch to do nothing. Then Wednesday we went over to my mom's with the goal of working on the baby furniture but other things came up and we weren't as productive as I would have liked. So Thursday he refused to go help. So he stayed home and I went and stripped furniture for close to 8 hours. :) And bright and early yesterday we headed back to my mom's for more furniture fun! lol. We worked for several hours yesterday and got a lot accomplished, and then when it was time for Mitch to come inside and be online for the close of the market, I went and got my nails done! :P It was very nice.

I even managed to get a date night out of the deal, since Mitch took me to the movies last night to see the Proposal. Unfortunately, in my current state which includes feeling like a whale, the theater seats are highly uncomfortable and I practically hunched over all the way to the car. I swear I looked like an old woman holding the arm of her grandson for support. Needless to say, we probably won't return to the movies until our little bundle of joy is out of my stomach cavity! :)

Update on my infection...

So yesterday (Tuesday) I was pain free and well on my way to a full recovery. I went to work and felt great. About 11:45, I answered the phone and started taking an order. About halfway through, I had a hot flash, my legs went weak and I started gasping for air, because I couldn't breath. I got to a seat and spent the next 45 seconds hyperventilating. I really scared my coworkers but was thinking that it was just part of the pregnancy, because my OBGYN had told me that it is not uncommon for pregnant women to start hyperventilating for what appears to be no reason. I didn't think much of it until about 45 minutes later it happened again, and that time it was more difficult to get air. So I called the doctors office and they told me that they thought that I might be having an allergic reaction to the medicine they gave me, to take some benedryl and if it happened again to go to the emergency room.

So I called Mitch and told him to come and get me and stopped taking tables. I was feeling fine when Mitch said he was almost there, but while waiting for him to pull up, it happened one more time. Since I knew what was happening, I just sat down on the sidewalk since there were no chairs around. Mitch pulled up and helped me into the car, where I promptly took the benedryl he had brought. I asked if he thought we should go to the ER or wait to see if the benedryl helped and he said to wait, so we went home and I laid down for the next two hours without incident. I called the dr back and they told me that they were confident that it was a reaction to the medicine.

SOOOO, little old me, who has no allergies and never had a reaction to anything before is apparently allergic to macrabid (sp?). Unfortunately, I also appear to be crazy sick since I had to leave work 2 days in a row. On the good side, they were related incidents but on the bad side, I still feel like I look flighty. :( Whatever, I'll get over that. Just glad that this bladder infection saga is almost over!! :)

Unplanned Doctors Visit...

This past weekend, Mitch and I worked very hard at my mom's house putting down wood floors. (with help from my mom, dad and Josh). Because of this we were VERY sore Sunday when we got up and yesterday morning. By the time I went to work though, I was feeling pretty okay. But after being at work for about an hour, I just wasn't feeling right. Nothing hurt, but I just didn't feel good. That was about 12 or 12:30. By 1:30 I had started having some pain in my abdomen. They were shooting pains on the right side that went up and around my belly. I got someone to close for me and hurried to get out of work. As I walked to my car I called the doctor's office, and they told me to just start driving that way. So I called Mitch and told him I was going to the doctors but that it was probably nothing, did he want to come. He wasn't even dressed (because he was taking a nap) so I went on without him.

I got there and realized that the reason they wanted me to come in is because they thought I had Kidney Stones. Thankfully that was not the problem, but that meant there was a greater chance that it was preterm labor. So they did a test and then sent me over to Labor and Delivery for them to process the test and so that they could monitor the baby and if I was having contractions. So I called Mitch and he said he'd get on the road and I called my mom, just so she would know what was going on, but assured her that it was not a big deal that she didn't need to come unless she really wanted to. I got in my room and called Mitch who told me that my mom was on her way too. They both got there and we sat talking for a couple hours while they processed the test to see if I was in preterm labor. As we talked it came out that my mom had called a few of her close friends to ask them to pray, which led to them calling other people, so her phone kept ringing with people asking about my status. :) Everyone was so worried. I felt bad that everyone was worried about me when we didn't even know if there was something to worry about! :) But I'm glad that I have so many people who care!

It turns out that I have a bladder infection and that was what was causing the pain. They gave me some medicine and sent us home, a good 2 1/2 hours later. Needless to say it was a long day. Thankfully, this morning my pain is gone and I'm feeling better so that must mean that the medicine is working!