Sunday, December 27, 2009

Last week

Well I was determined to get a lot of rest over this last week. I had worked Thursday (17th), Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday, and then holiday festivities began on Wednesday. How was I going to get "a lot of rest?"

Wednesday night was spent with the Matis' for fondue night, which was amazing! I had some discomfort in my back, but shook it off. By Thursday morning, I could barely move I was in such horrific pain--from my hips to my chest- front side and back side. I seriously could barely get out of bed. I feel like I have somewhat of a high pain threshold. I take Tylenol maybe 10 times a year, and I've had about 10 headaches my entire life. I don't take medicine- just vitamins. I was thinking my body was reacting to stress.

The Wednesday (16th) before my heavy work week, LJ spiked a fever of 103 something. For 2 days, nothing would keep it down. He had no other symptoms, so we just started Motrin ever 6 hours to keep him from being too uncomfortable, but still 102+. We talked to the MD, and he called in a script and suggested waking him up every 3 hours for Motrin/Tylenol. LJ has a tendency to get very sick quickly. I called my mom over around 9pm Thursday night and it looked like we needed to head to Riley Hospital. LJ was extremely lethargic, barely opening his eyes and had 102-103 fever. After cooling him down for about an hour and starting the meds, you could tell he was feeling a little better, so we stayed home knowing we'd wake him every few hours. The MD thought it may be another round of H1N1- GREAT! I had to be at work the next morning at 6:45am and all I could picture was my little boy about to code in St. Francis' ER or him laying limp on the lifeline stretcher, which is what we did last June. After many mass texts, facebook postings, and prayers with Big Joey, I felt comfort. LJ seemed to be doing okay throughout the night. My mom, who is an RN, had him the next day. I got reports from her all morning that he seemed to be more alert and more himself.


Stress. I never knew this type of stress before-- the exhaustion, the scary thoughts, the worrying, the overwhelming feelings of the holidays coming up, the thought of trying to make it to all of the holiday festivities with a one year old not doing too great, while being 7 1/2 months pregnant, and I could go on and on. So is this why my body decided to shut down and go into spasms? I don't know. So now we are back at Dec. 24 and I woke up with cramping all over. I continued to ignore it- just hoping to not let it interfere with our plans, but it just continued to get worse. I went over to my parents around 4pm. I was chatting with my dad in the kitchen while he was putting together a car station for LJ (and kindly reminding me how he thought he was done putting toys together on Christmas Eve). Then he looked at me seriously and said, "You aren't comfortable. You're not okay are you?" I asked how he knew. He said that I couldn't sit still and it was obvious I was getting worse. I knew if my dad was concerned, I needed to call the doc. Luckily my doc is Jewish and I didn't feel as bad calling him on Christmas Eve. He asked me to come in right away. AWESOME! I will be spending my Christmas Eve away from LJ in a hosptial. My hospital is about 40 minutes away... by choice. It's amazing!!!! It's worth the drive- the environment and the care given is indescribable. Finally about 11pm, we concluded I wasn't going into preterm labor, however, the baby is very very low, but my body was having some severe muscle spasms. I was sent home with some meds and to keep them updated. I was happy to be sent home- very happy. Is this God's way of making me take time for myself? Big Joey and I did get some quality time in the hospital I had been longing for.

So Christmas Eve isn't what I imagined, Christmas morning wasn't what I imagined, and feeling this awful for 3 days topped it all off. Luckily I have a pretty wonderful husband that had taken over the night shift/early morning shifts and suggested celebrating the 26th like the 25th... and LJ had a blast!! I will be posting Christmas pics shortly, but for right now, we're still enjoying each other's health... and lots and lots of toys.

The point I want to make is how important it is to pay attention to your stress level and your body. I do believe there is some connection with the amount of stress many people are going through right now and the increasing amounts disease and cancer that have been swarming many of our friends and loved ones. I firmly believe you have to be in control of your stress level and you need to do what you have to do to keeep yourself healthy for you, your family and your friends. Responsibilites are overwhelming, holidays are overwhelming, and the feeling you aren't doing enough is overwhelming. Take some time for yourself, seriously, take some time for yourself. Meanwhile, I will be doing the same (and snapping away picture after picture of my Little Man from the recliner).

Hope this blog finds you taking a breath for yourself. Happy Holidays!

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