My hospital stories.

This summer I was really busy. I worked constantly on the house. I painted almost every room and did minor repairs and organized and decorated and on and on. I was dedicated to making this house being as near perfect as I could make it. 

I'm not sure when it started, but I started getting back pain. I thought that maybe I pulled my back from carrying around a heavy diaper bag with me all the time. I bought a backpack diaper bag to relieve some of the strain so the pain would go away but it didn't. 

When I started laying on heat pads turned up as hot as they would go before I could function enough to do anything, I knew it was time to get it checked out. Since by this time the pain felt more like an internal pain than a muscle pain I made an appointment with my regular doctor. My first visit, they knew that I had some somewhat raised lipace levels but since I was not withering in pain and a day without food seemed to help that was all that was done then.

The next week, I was way more in pain and went back to get checked again. 

Now, this was a busy week for me. I had just been called to be the Activity Day leader and I was getting ready for my first activity and had no clue what to do. Also, we had an appointment to put in new blinds throughout the house and I was frantically trying to paint every wall that we wanted to paint before the blinds went up. This was hard to do because my back was hurting so much and I only could work on it by staying on a steady dose of Excedrin back and body pain meds and of course laying on the heat pads for large periods of time throughout the day. 

We had been working on the house all summer and having the blinds put in was the last major thing we were going to do for awhile. So, I felt like if I could only get to Thursday afternoon, which was when the blinds would be in and everything else, like painting, would have to be done too and I could lay down on the couch and relax. 

As fate would have it, an hour after the blinds guy left after installing the blinds my doctor called me and told me that my lipace levels were insanely high and I should go check into the hospital right away.

I got the rest I was hoping for, but not quite the way I was expecting it. I was put on a IV to stay hydrated and wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything for five days. 

Then to make it all a short story, I was put through a bunch of tests and they figured out that my gallbladder wasn't working properly and was causing the pancreatitis. I then had surgery to remove my gallbladder on August the 26th. Oh and it turns out, there were five gallstones in there which were the reasons for my troubles.

Here's a picture of me with my babies. I look horrid but look how sweet and happy Ezra looks. This whole thing was pretty hard on them, I think.

The reason I am writing about this is because 1) It will be good to remember all the details later and 2) It was interesting and ironic how and when it all happened. 

Three years ago, Jonathan and I lived in an apartment on the second floor in Indiana. I was pregnant with out second child and I really wanted to move to a downstairs apartment. I wanted to do such a crazy thing because I did not want to carry my then 18 month old child and a newborn up and down steps everyday. Also, I wanted to be able to take the kids for walks everyday. We walked everywhere we could and I knew I wouldn't be able to get the double stroller, Ezra,  a new baby with car seat and a diaper bag down the stairs very easily. So I was able to convince Jonathan that it was necessary to move and we were fortunate enough to be able to move into a downstairs apartment just one door over. 

I was 8 1/2 months pregnant when we were able to start moving our things into the new apartment. I worked like a crazy lady that day putting things away as fast as I could. I thought it would be a pretty easy move since the apartment was identical to our previous one, I just had to get the stuff and put it away where we already had it. That was not as easy as it sounds. It entailed moving every single thing we had. However, I had one end goal: I wanted to sit down on the couch with my feet up and a glass of water and have every single thing in place and every picture on the wall and everything perfect for the new baby. 

Well, with some help from some kind neighbors we were able to get everything put away and all but two photos on the wall by the time I went to bed. The next morning, I woke up at 8am and had a baby by noon. Here is a pic from that day (August the 26th).

I just find the similarities in these two events so interesting. Both involve me working like crazy to finish a house project and both end up with me in the hospital. The first time I received a beautiful baby girl and the second time I received a gallbladder??  Not as cool. So I am thinking that this gives me grounds for not working too hard around the house. 

Also, I think Ezra might be a soothsayer or a wizard or something. Check out this picture he drew of our family one month to the day before I went into hospital. I am grey and look like a ghost while everyone else it red and smiley. Weird.