If you can have a favorite hospital visit, the first one would have to be mine. It was around midnight on a Thursday, and I woke up with this pretty intense back pain. Moose and I had been trying everything to get labor started, and we had taken a pretty vigorous walk the night before so I just thought that I was sore from our evening stroll. I thought I might as well get one of my many night time bathroom breaks out of the way, so off I went. Well, the back pain turned out to be back labor and my water broke. I called Moose from the bathroom. He had been downstairs getting ready to sleep on the couch. You see, in the last month of pregnancy you don't need a bed, you need a cruise ship covered in pillows in order to be comfortable. Because we can't afford a cruise ship pillow bed, Moose was kind enough to let me have our entire queen size bed to myself. After I told him what was going on he raced up the stairs and was able to get both of us organized and ready to go. When I think about that night, I think about seeing our daughter for the first time, and our drive to the hospital. It was late, dark, and no one was on the road. It was one of the most relaxing car rides I've ever taken. I had always pictured that we would be in a frantic panic, stuck in 5 o'clock traffic where all four of our tires burst leaving me to give birth on 465. Completely reasonable, no? Instead, it felt like we were going on a date, full of excitement and just so glad to be in each other's presence. Except this date ends with very expensive mediocre food, and another human to take home.
We made it to the hospital, and many hours of labor later ( combined with 4 hours of pushing, so many hours) we had the most beautiful baby girl I had ever seen. There is absolutely no exercise book on this planet that can prepare you to stretch your heart wide enough to fit all of the love that you feel the moment you first see your baby. I remember telling Moose during labor to really enjoy this baby, because it's the only one he's getting. That thought vanished immediately the moment I saw Cecilia. She is my proudest accomplishment and I still well up in a pool of blubbery emotion whenever I think about that day.
Fast forward to November. I had been back into a workout routine and feeling really good about regaining my strength and running endurance since the 6 week postpartum visit. I registered for the mini in May, and was ready to start training with my friend Sara. Then after a delicious meal of turkey chili, made even more delicious because I didn't have to lift a finger to make it, I started to feel sick. Ok, maybe I overdid it. It's one of my favorite meals that Moose makes, and I'm never shy about helping myself to the cheese and fritos that go along with it. After a night of intense stomach pain and studying the brand of our toilet too closely, I chalked it up to a 24 stomach bug. What I didn't know then was that my gallbladder was trying to jump ship. Apparently, it was trying to get up enough courage to do what my appendix did twelve years ago. Side note, after my appendix was removed, I looked it up in our World Book Encyclopedia at home and I kid you not, it said you 'probably' don't need it. PROBABLY? Well, maybe your gallbladder ABSOLUTELY needs it to stay in good shape.
Hospital visit number 2 includes an ER trip, and an ultrasound to determine whether or not my gallbladder needs to be removed. At one point, a Physician's Assistant tried to get me to leave the hospital with the diagnosis of a UTI. This stomach pain was about as intense if not worse than labor, so let's try that again. The ultrasound confirmed that I had a very sick gallbladder with stones and it needed to join my appendix in the heaven for expendable organs as soon as possible. I was told this procedure was pretty typical after pregnancy.Once again, after two weeks of recovery, I was able to start running again and eat my favorite foods, things were looking up.
Hospital visit number 3 and four include two different hospitals, one for a CT scan and one with surgical capabilities. The day after Christmas I started feeling stomach pains similar to those that I had experienced when I had a gallbladder. How could this be? They took my gallbladder out, and I'm pretty sure I need the rest of the organs that are floating around in there. After a few more nights of intense pain, yellowing skin(hawt, right?) and ER visits, they determined that a my gallbladder had left a parting gift of a stone lodged in my common bile duct. This is the part where you just laugh and then hope and pray that this is it. After an ERCP to remove the stone a week ago, I'm starting to feel stronger again.
So, what's the takeaway here? I host an uninhabitable environment for good organ function? I hope not. I've never been great at letting people take care of me, it makes me feel bad to put someone else out. When my husband and I first began dating, I had a hard time letting him do things for me all of the time. When you have a few surgeries and have a baby to take care of, you have to let people take care of you. Thank God that I have such a wonderful husband and group of friends and family that didn't waste a second to help me. The really beautiful thing is that Cece was able to spend so much time with people that love her so much. A special thanks to my mother-in-law, my sister, Danny and Jennifer for staying with Cece for 3 days while I was in the hospital. Also to my parents for helping take care of me and Cece this weekend. My incredible neighbors, as well as the countless friends and family that made their thoughts and prayers known to me. I adore all of you, and feel so blessed. Let's pray that the rest of 2014 is one free of hospital visits.