It all started Friday evening while Ryan, his brother, Ty, and I were enjoying a fabulous surf-and-turf meal on our deck. I had an annoying stomach pain in my upper abdomen that finally led me to excuse myself from dinner to go lay down. I thought it was because just before dinner I scarfed down a bowl of cereal and a small plate of leftover eggs and sausage. By the time Ty left to go home, I had already retired to our bedroom and taken a couple Tums, but still felt nauseous. I spent the whole night until around 10am getting sick and the only thought that kept coming to my mind was, “I can’t seriously be pregnant again.”
In an attempt to get something (anything!) in my stomach, Ryan picked up some popsicles. But I could hardly get past one lick of that stupid popsicle, because it reminded me way too much of the past two years of entering into a pregnancy nightmare. I decided to try to go back to sleep instead. Around noon, my stomach started cramping and I was having sharp, shooting pains in my lower right abdomen. Unfortunately, while I was resting, Ryan thought it would be a good time to take Alexia on a bike ride to his parents’ house (without his phone). So I was bent over, hobbling around the house trying to call out his name in between the stomach cramps. Once he was home, I told him we needed to go to the hospitalpronto. The pain wasn’t excruciating, but I knew something was definitely wrong. And if I learned anything from my own personal child labor experiences….the longer you wait at home, the more pain you will have to endure without drugs. So away we went, leaving both the girls with poor Ty all by himself (his wife, Jenna, was away for the weekend and Ryan’s mom was unreachable).Something to know about me is that I enjoy being in the hospital. Not that I would go out of my way to be admitted, but I don’t mind being taken care of while I’m there. It’s always instant relief too. Once the drugs are pumping into that IV, it’s time to sit back and cut some z’s. However, getting the IV into my so-called “tiny, rolling veins” is always an obstacle. Three nurses, four pricks, and two blown veins later, an IV technician was called in to do the job once and for all (thank goodness, because I felt myself going into nervous-breakdown mode). The tech used an ultrasound machine to find a vein and with one try, the IV was finally in. Blood was drawn, saline was attached, pain and nausea medicines were flowing. From there, I was able to proceed with getting a CT scan to find out the condition of my appendix.
This was the first time I had ever had a CT scan, and it proved to be quite humorous. An older nurse introduced herself, I signed papers, and she told me I would hear instructions through a microphone of what to do, and she left the room. I slowly was moved into this donut-like machine, and was caught off-guard when an Austin Powers-like voice told me to take a deep breath in. I could hardly keep myself from laughing at the male British voice giving me instructions! What happened to the lady nurse? I could picture them sitting on the other side of a glass wall, watching me while sipping their Earl Grey tea, and a tiny British gentleman leaning into the tiny microphone with hands clasped in his gray suit with a bowtie. Anyway, by the end of the evening I went to the OR, they removed my appendix (which was gangrenous, but not ruptured) and I spent the night by myself (Ryan went home to be with the girls) and was discharged the next morning.
I was back at home by 10:30 Sunday morning. It is so random to me that you can have stomach surgery and be back home the very next day. When else can you respond to the question, “So what did you do this weekend?”….”Oh, I just had stomach surgery on Saturday, but Sunday I just took it easy and hung out with the family.” The one good thing about the terrible timing (I mean seriously, I just birthed a child three months ago) is that the pain was nothing compared to child labor. So it is strangely a blessing that enough time hasn’t passed by to where I’ve forgotten that pain (I apologize for that comment to those of you about to deliver your new little ones!). While I was away, Naiya had her first taste of formula (she went through all my precious frozen milk supply). Fortunately, it has given me confidence to leave her for longer periods of time.
I feel much better today, and will attempt to remove my bandage and not make myself sick by doing so. The pain is subsiding, I’m getting back into our normal nursing routine, and I just can’t wait to get back to normal to finally enjoy Fall for the first time in three years!
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