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 :-)

Dear Little Peanut,

You are 15 MONTHS OLD!!!  You are such a busy little bee and completely run the house.  I'm so proud of how much you're learning and love watching you enjoy figuring out everything about your surroundings.

Facts about YOU:
- You are 21 pounds, size 3 diapers, 12-18 clothes, size 4 shoes
- Your hair gets blonder every day and you have the best blue eyes I've ever seen
- You run instead of walk, which ends up in more falls but you don't seem to mind
- Your favorite food is banana especially when we let you bite it yourself
- You have all of your molars in and now are working on the canines...it seems like it really hurts and it makes you really sleepy
- You dance and twirl when you hear a song you like
- You are obsessed with ladybugs
- You like to give your dolls kisses and then you hold them up to me and Daddy so we can give them kisses too
- You love being outside and can play forever in the backyard.  We have to keep an eye on you because you like to pick things out of the garden.
- You wave and say "hi" to everyone you see.  Especially doggies.

And now some (ok, a ton of) pictures:

This little bathing suit was from last year but you never got to wear it.  I was so excited it still fits!

 Our first day at the beach since it got warm.

 Her coverup is from last year.  It's a 9 month.  It's not really supposed to be 1/2 sleeve.

 One afternoon she decided to try our sandals on.  She actually got both of mine on the right feet and took a few steps, but I didn't have the camera ready fast enough.

 We met the fam in Gainesville for the Orange and Blue game.  She loves her Aunt, Uncle and cousins!

We went to the church Easter egg hunt, and there was a huge playground the kids got to play on before the hunt.

 She was a fast learner when it came to finding eggs.

 She would put them in the basket, but then want to take them out to relocate them.

 Daddy was one of the egg hiders.  They went easy on the little ones.

 We love you punkin pie!

Dear Little Peanut,

You are FOURTEEN MONTHS OLD! (And a couple weeks...I'm quite behind on the updates).  I'm going to go straight into the list of amazing things you can do.  You are my favorite and I love you.

Fact about YOU:

- Size 3 diapers, size 12-18 month clothing (still big), size 4 shoes (but I bought some SUPER cute size 5 shoes that I'm just dying for you to grow into).

- As of today you weigh 20.2 pounds.  Still my teeny peanut.  

- We transitioned you to whole milk b/c you started refusing all alternative milks we offered and I was sure you were not getting enough fat in your diet which would lead to slow brain development (don't tell me I overreact...I'm a mom).  HOWEVER.  You are sick now, and have been sick for a week, and today we took you to the doctor.  After a prescription for breathing treatments and antibiotics if you don't get better, the nurse told me it was probably because I started you on dairy.  Milk is evil.  I'm a terrible mom.  We're dumping the whole milk tonight and I guess we'll just hope your brain does ok.

- You got your first skinned knee yesterday and you took it like a champ.

- You can go down the big kid slide at the playground.

- You love Stella and play so well with her.  You lean over so she'll lick you in the ear and just DIE laughing when she does.

- You can throw a ball pretty far.  Your daddy has high hopes for your athleticism.

- Your hair is finally getting longer, but I think we'll have a typical baby mullet before it looks normal.

- Favorite foods are avocado, hummus, puffs, and eggs.

- You have 11 teeth!  3 molars are in.  You were absolutely miserable while they were coming in and ran a low-grade fever the whole time.  At least we had some good snuggles in the middle of the night.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some things.  I'm really going to try to be better at documenting your fabulousness.  We love you punkin!  

And now, some iPhone pics since I wasn't able to take an "official" one:

Lovin the Valentines bear Nana gave you

 Playing outside with your puppy

 Hangin with me while I was terribly sick

 Rocking the summer sandals

 This is how I dress you for outside play.  But don't worry, it's just when we're in our backyard and no one else can see you.

 Searching for pebbles

 I seriously turned my back for one second after I undressed you for a bath, and this is what I found

 Helping build our raised vegetable bed

 Daddy worked hard

 Out at our favorite Italian restaurant

 You sleep with these three friends every night

Dear Little Peanut,

You are 13 months old!  I just love spending time with you right now.  It is hilarious.  You are the funniest little person I know.  And you have tons of energy!  We can chase each other around the house for EVER.  But you also like to snuggle, and  those moments are so precious.  Our favorite time of day is after your bath.  You get in your PJs and all of us cram into your room for some play time and book reading before bed.  If I could bottle up those moment to re-live later I would.  We love you so much!

Some facts about YOU:

- Size 3 diapers, Target brand.  Size 12-18 month clothes, although a lot are still baggy.  Size 4 shoes, but I'm thinking you will soon be a size 5.
- You sleep from 8PM to 7AM consistently unless you're teething.  You have a very regular morning nap from 10AM to 12PM and you are trying to drop you're afternoon nap.  I still fight for it when I'm with you :-)
- You still suck your thumb, but only when you are sleepy.
- You are completely weaned.  It wasn't a very hard transition for you, since I wasn't making very much milk.  We tried plain almond milk, which you love, but it doesn't have very much fat.  We're now on to coconut milk and I think you're starting to really like it.
- You still have your dairy sensitivity, but we're used to it so it's not hard to find things to eat.  Your favorite foods are sun butter sandwiches, salmon, avocados, puffs, and sweet potatoes.
- You are getting in your bottom molars right now, and they look so painful!  Poor baby.
- I get worried sometimes because you don't say many words (I may have had a certain someone do an informal evaluation to ease my mind...I can't help it), but I can tell you are on the verge of breaking out all sorts of vocabulary.  Right now you say "yes", "hot", "hi" and "shoes" very clearly.
- You can sign more, please, and all done.  You use "please" all the time.  It's so hard for me to say no to that!
- You love Stella.  She is the first person you want to say Good Morning to.  You two play well together, even though you pet her a little too hard sometimes.
- You love to dance and clap and listen to music.  Itsy Bitsy Spider is your top fave right now.
- When we ask "Where is blank?", you hold up your hands and shrug your shoulders. When you find whatever it is you're looking for, you point and say something that sounds kinda like "there it is!".
- You LOVE playing outside in the backyard.  Even when it's freezing cold out.  You point at your shoes and coat to let me know when you want to go.  Stella chases you and you throw the soccer ball for her.  You both try to eat bark.  I took some pictures of you on your 13th month-day.  It was cloudy and you were in your bummy clothes, but you still look precious to me!

This is your serious face

 Feeding Stella bark

 Throwing the soccer ball

 I'm pretty sure running with the ball isn't allowed

 Your first taste of dirt.  You liked it.  Gross.