The Kidney Stone that Stole Easter

So, we've had one of those weeks.  You know the ones...where you have a consecutive number of weeks where everything is status quo and the only thing you have to complain about is mediocrity (or in my case, whyyyy don't we have tons of moneyyyyy so I can stay home with my babyyyyyyyyyy...I'm not proud of it but that's usually the negative I dwell on), and then BAM.  Everything happens at once.  In this instance it was our health (note that on the big scale of things we are SO BLESSED and what I'm about to complain about is NO BIG DEAL and I realize that).

I started feeling terrible after half of a yummy greasy burger from our local bar and grill.  Which is terrible because I only got to finish half of it and it was amazing.  That night proceeded with much woe and tummy aches and I ended up not eating normal food for a week and missed two days of work.  This only perpetuates the mommy guilt and the employee guilt...you know...I can't feed my child because it makes me want to puke and she's going to forget who I am...I missed a huge day with lots o deadlines and now I'm on the bottom of the Employee of the Year list.  The guilt is almost worse than missing dinner for a week.  Almost.

But wait, there's more!  P had been feeling some groin discomfort (hehe...groin is such a weird word) for a few days, but chalked it up to starting a new workout routine.  However, by Saturday night (the Saturday night before Easter), the pain had grown and was radiating.  After many moans and groans and laps around the house, I suggested that we might want to go to the ER to get things checked out.  P declined.  Of course he did, because he's a MAN and yadda yadda.  So we wait another hour, the Peanut is fast asleep in her crib, and P starts to concede.  "I'll go to the ER if someone can watch Peanut so we don't have to wake her up".  At this point he can barely get the words out because he's in so much pain.  I remind him that my parents are 45 min away, his brother is an hour and a half away, and anyone from church is probably already in bed.  So after giving up his man card, I bundle up the sleeping baby and we hop in the car.

We arrived at the ER without any drama and I actually got Peanut in AND out of the car without waking her.  I was sure she would just sleep on me while we waited, but of course that's completely delusional considering our socialite of a daughter.  As soon as we got in the waiting room her people detector went off and she snapped her head up and started waving "Hi!" at anyone that would look at her.  P did some paperwork and we waited.  At one point he went to go throw up in the bathroom.  He was pacing and sweating and basically looked like he was in labor.  Like, the serious kind of labor where you need someone else to talk you down.  Except instead of holding his hand and breathing with him, I was holding the Peanut while she laughed at him EVERY TIME he moaned in pain.  So then I would laugh.  I would be a terrible birth coach.

They finally called him back, made him pee in a cup, took some blood, then wheeled him into a room.  We followed and made friends with the nurses.  They took him for a CAT scan, and as soon as he got back my parents arrived to grab the Peanut.  At this point she was wide awake and would not go back to sleep for my Mom for a couple hours.  While they went on their merry way, we stayed and waited for results.  It was actually efficient and the on-call Dr. was pretty speedy.  He looked about 12.  Isn't that weird that I'm old enough now to think doctors look young?  I resisted the urge to say "Look here you whippersnapper, go get us a REAL doctor", and listened to what he was saying to P.  Kidney Stones.  Ahhhhhh, that makes sense.  There was a 3mm nugget halfway through his ureter and that's what was causing all the ruckus.  There were also a few hanging out in his kidney, but we would deal with those later.  Right now P was going to get morphine!!  Yay drugs!!  He practically kissed the nurse that gave him his IV and settled in to let the drugs work.  But they didn't.  After about a half hour he sent me to request another dose, which they delivered in a not-so-efficient manner.  It was around 2am at this point and I just wanted P to feel better so we could go home.  The second dose did the trick and he fell asleep, which was so great for him.  But I was stuck in a teeny ER room in the most uncomfortable chair in the world with no one to talk to.  Thank goodness for my iphone.  

About an hour later the Dr. came back in, gave us prescriptions and sent us on our way to get them filled.  He made some off hand remark about the Walgreens down the road being 24 hours.  So we drove to the closest Walgreens and it was closed.  Then we googled 24 hour Walgreens and drove to the nearest one of those (which was NOT close).  It's pharmacy was not 24 hours.  Awesome.  Oh?  And during this 3am drive?  I'm also pulling over every so often so P can puke on the side of the road (I think it was the morphine).  I'm really surprised we didn't get pulled over for suspicion of DUI.  So after Walgreens #2, we found another one that DID have a 24 hour pharmacy.  After handing in our papers and waiting in their little lounge the pharmacist said the insurance site was down and did we want the drugs anyway at full price???  P was like, YES WHATEVER IT COSTS I DON'T CARE, so we bought them (it ended up being affordable anyway).  Then we drove home (after one stop in our neighborhood for an especially vocal puke session).  It was 4 am.

Needless to say, we did not make church for Easter Sunday.  Which I'm really sad about, but there was no way any of us could have made it.  We (meaning me, Peanut, my mom and my dad) woke up around 8:30, did Easter baskets and an Easter egg hunt and ordered take-out for lunch.  P took percocet and passed out for a solid 24 hours.  Please note that at this point I was still having stomach issues, so I was a ghastly sight after no sleep, no shower, and a green pukey glow to my skin.  So obviously I am not in ANY Easter pictures.  You're welcome.

And now without further ado (I love that phrase), the Easter pics:

Wearing her bunny PJ's for Easter...these were the ones she was in when we got to the ER.  At least the people in the waiting room think I've got my stuff together enough to coordinate my daughters PJ's with the appropriate holiday.

Easter basket from Nana

The bracelets were a hit

Basket from mommy and daddy.  New sippys and sqeezy packs!

The Hungry Caterpillar - her new favorite book

Nana put some wind up toys in her basket - this egg hops and is hilarious

Stella wanted to hunt and eat it

This is my pride and joy (well, I'm proud because I haven't killed everything in it...but I am in the process of killing the tomato plant...)

We finally had some ripe strawberries

Yum!

Our Easter egg hunt (there wasn't much need for hunting...I pretty much just threw them in the yard

 Yes, they were empty.  I figure I can still get away with the novelty of the eggs and don't need the candy.

 And here is our first magnolia of the season.  Smells wonderful :-)