So, yesterday I lost a little piece of myself and I am so happy to see it leave. That little piece was my appendix. After 3 horrible days of what I thought was the stomach flu (considering that Eric and Graecyn had just had it themselves), I was still experiencing pain in my lower right abdomen from what I thought was a pulled stomach muscle from vomiting. I went into work Friday and started talking with one of my physician colleagues about my week and how I was feeling. After telling her about some of my symptoms, she had some concerns and put in a call to one of our surgeon friends. As soon as he was out of surgery, he was in my office to do an assessment (a definite perk of working in a health system). He decided I needed to go to the ER and have some tests done to see if it was an appendicitis or possibly something else.
So, off to the ER we went where a blood test found nothing, but a CT scan showed something "brewing" in there (according to my surgeon). If you've never had a CT scan before, it is the weirdest feeling as the dye is injected...I instantly felt warm all over and thought I had peed my pants (thankfully, I hadn't).
My surgeon met with the radiologist to read the results and probably no more than 10 minutes after I had gotten back to the ER triage, my surgeon was at my bedside with his team letting me know it was definitely an appendicitis and that I would be in surgery within the next hour. Holy crap! All of this happened so fast (in about a 3 hour timeframe; another perk of having employee VIP treatment). I was on the phone with Eric while the surgeon told me the plan, so he heard it all and immediately started trying to figure out what his own plan of action would be...a definite challenge considering it was 2:30 on a Friday, most of our close friends that we trust Graecyn with were working, daycare closes at 5:30 on Fridays, and all family is 13 hours away. So, of course Eric was in a panic trying to figure out how to get Graecyn up from her nap, organized, and to the hospital (a 30 minute trip with parking) before they wheeled me into surgery. He did great to get there fast, but was about 30 seconds too late as they were wheeling me away to surgery right as he arrived. It was a short, successful surgery (less than 45 minutes) and the surgeon did find a perforation on my appendix, so it was on the verge of rupturing, which is really, really bad. After about an hour or so in postop/recovery, I was in my room talking to Eric & Graecyn and already feeling much, much better!
I am so, so thankful that I went to work Friday and that everything fell into place the way it did. I know there was definitely someone watching over me.
Waiting in the ER triage for my CT scan.
A little post-surgery snuggle time; the best medicine!
You are now 15 months old and have learned so many new things in the past month. You can spin around in circles and love to walk around on your tippy toes. You can blow kisses, blow on your food when it's too hot, and have figured out how to make a whistle make sound. You love to throw things in the garbage, but haven't figured out yet that what goes into the garbage must stay in the garbage as we often find you trying to pull things out of the garbage (yuck!).
You love when I blow bubbles with you and can now say the word "bubbles" (it started out as "bubbee" though and was so cute). You think that any round object is a bubble, even the polk-a-dots on your pants.
You are a great eater and love any type of fruit or vegetable and sausage. We've learned that we have to hide fruit from your view until you've eaten enough of your other foods, otherwise you'll only eat fruit. You love to help Daddy make his coffee in the Keurig. You can be busy playing in the family room and as soon as Daddy asks if you want to help him make coffee, you instantly drop what you're doing and run into the kitchen to the coffee maker to help.
You're learning your body parts and know eyes, nose, mouth, belly, foot, and hair pretty well. You love to pull up your shirt to look at your belly and put your finger in your belly button (you do the same to Daddy and me, pulling up our shirts to see our belly buttons and put your fingers in them...when you read this one day you'll realize how much your Daddy loves you considering how much he hates having fingers in his belly button).
You are talking more and more each day and starting to say actual words; you try to repeat most words that we say. The most common words we hear from you now are all done (followed by you pushing your plate and/or cup off your high chair tray onto the floor), more, Elmo, oops, "a choo" (after you sneeze), mama, daddy, and uh oh. You're learning animals and the sounds they make; your favorite seems to be the elephant (I'm hoping to get this on video because it is so cute). You also know puppy, sheep, monkey, lion, cat, cow.
You're still pretty shy around people you don't know, but once you warm up you are so friendly and social - waving and saying "hi" to everyone. You have a new backwards wave that you've started doing recently, so it looks like you're waving to yourself. You also like to rub your fingers together (it looks like you're trying to snap your fingers).
You are really starting to understand when we talk to you and can follow directions (when you want). For example, at night when it's time for bath, I'll tell you it's bathtime; you'll (usually) stop playing and walk right over to the baby gate and wait for me to open it. You'll then proceed to climb up the stairs to your bedroom to get your pajamas and then walk into the bathroom. You also know when it's time to go bye-bye (you love to go bye bye). You'll walk straight to the coat closet, wait for us to open the door and and soon as the door is open, you put that little arm up in the air waiting for us to give you your coat and hat. Once you have them, you try your hardest to put them on yourself, but about all you can do is drape them around your neck. Once both are on, you head immediately to the door and stand there waiting to go bye bye. It is the cutest thing (another thing I need to get on video)!
You absolutely LOVE Elmo; before bed, we'll often turn on Sesame Street for a few minutes (thank goodness for Sprout On Demand). As soon as we turn it to the On Demand channel, you start saying "Elmo" (it often sounds like "mamo"). As soon as you see the opening video for Sesame Street, you start bouncing around and shreaking "Elmo", "Elmo" and smiling from ear, to ear. It's so cute!
Going for a ride in your baby doll's stroller.
Making a mess, like usual
You have recently decided that you like to sit in small spaces. It's hard to tell in the below picture, but you have both feet (and a toy tractor) in a 5x8" plastic container and are trying to sit in it (soon after this picture was taken you threw a fit because you couldn't actually sit in it).
We're still waiting for spring to officially arrive in Michigan; we've had a few nice days where we've been able to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. You love being outside and love to ride in your car or wagon; you always want to wear your sunglasses outside (and sometimes inside).
Stir, stir, stir
Happy 34th birthday, Mama!
You are the sweetest, silliest little girl and you make us laugh every minute of every day. You fill my heart with so much joy. I love you to the moon and back, baby girl.
