Week 25: May 4-10

Well, this has been quite a week!
First of all, the last few days were spent with my parents. It was so great to have them here and really hard to see them go.
Sunday was a day of big milestones! First, PeaBaby's first motorcycle ride. That's right, my dad took me halfway down the road and back on Cap'n Jack, and it was a real photo op. I'll be uploading photos sometime this week, but I'm about at my upright on the computer limit now (more on why in a sec here). Brian was worried about shaking the baby to death or something, but while he did kick a little as usual he seemed just fine. Man, those pipes are loud and so cool! Then it was time for Grammy and Papa to head out, and of course we all cried. The puppies kept looking for them all day, and anytime a dirtbike went past (constantly) they perked up and ran to the garage door. Poor little ones. I can't imagine dealing with that same reaction from my baby. Seriously, I think all of our family just needs to follow us across the country wherever we may go. You guys get right on that!
The next milestone was that night, when we went to a Tool concert. It was totally awesome as far as shows go, though not what we expected in some respects. There was a lot of backlighting and cool video stuff behind the band, and the lead singer was almost never in any light at all - definitely never in his own spotlight, so it was mostly just his sillhouette. He also stood off center and not down at the front of the stage and was pretty lowkey. Odd for a rock arena show, but cool in its own way. We were both a little worried about "Wacky Tobaccy" and that the baby just wouldn't handle all the noise well, but it was great. Although I will admit I did smell pot a little here and there I never actually had any smoke in my face, and for the most part it was very clear. They patted everyone down looking for lighters and stuff (not very successfully) so I'm sure that helped. As for the noise, it was extremely bassy and I was a little concerned. It hit right at the baby's most active time of day, so he did move around some, but not any more than normal. Partway through he quieted down entirely, either giving up and cowering in some corner or just happy to be vibrated around. Apparently, he is a music fan! The worst part was being upright and on my feet for that long. I felt lame, but had to sit down off and on throughout the concert, and my feet and back were a little sore even the next day. Still, totally a great time.
Wednesday we got our new couches, which look FANTASTIC in our living room. Again, pictures will be forthcoming this week. I still need to call to have Habitat for Humanity or someone come pick up the old ones which are in our garage. They're in decent shape anyhow, and we have some light fixtures we took down to donate too.
Brian had a fierce sinus infection and only worked a few hours, so we both crashed in the afternoon, napping on our new couches. I woke up around 3:30 and really had to pee (as usual), but noticed that the right side of my stomach was also really hurting. I figured I might have stretched something funny, because I was laying on my side without a pillow under my belly, but no big deal. Getting up, walking, and ESPECIALLY going to the bathroom hurt quite a bit. Weird. It sort of felt like round ligament pain, but a bit more intense, so I figured I'd just wait it out. Hours passed and rather than getting better it just got worse and worse. Bad enough that Brian had to help me up off the couch and into the bathroom, and I was breathing funny and nearly in tears. I started to worry that it might be something serious, though the usual "water breaking/bleeding/vomiting" signs weren't there. I left a message at my OB's office, then called the after hours number to have him paged. An hour later I called again and had her make it urgent, and got a call right back. It was the other doc in the practice's night on call, and he didn't really have any answers, but suggested I go get it checked out.
So then I called our hospital to see what the procedure might be (just show up at the ER), and THEN I had to call TriCare to get the on base folks to OK the visit. When I had my kidney stone this took about 30 seconds. Wednesday it was this whole drawn out 30 minute process, and by the time it was over I was pretty ticked. RED TAPE! >:|
Brian was busily getting a backpack full of stuff in the meantime, and he was brilliant enough to think of contact solution and my glasses. I don't know what I would do without him.
When we got to the ER he brought a wheelchair, then left me in the lobby to sign in while he moved the car. Last year I had a friend with appendicitis, and in spite of the fact that he was dillusional and in severe pain for over 12 hours it took them almost an hour to even triage him. Before Brian was back from re-parking the car they were ready to wheel me up to labor and delivery. He caught us just in time because the guy pushing me up there wasn't sure of his directions, otherwise we would have been long gone. They immediately hooked up a fetal heartbeat and contraction monitor, and even though he was moving I can't tell you how reassuring that steady little swish-swoosh was. The nurses were fantastic and for a painful and scary experience it was really pretty fabulous. They did a bunch of tests checking for urinary/kidney problems or appendicitis, and in the end everything came back negative. They also did a test which checks for the presence of the hormones that cause labor, so it's pretty definite that I won't be going into labor for at least 2 weeks! Phew. Of course, that's a very long story very short, as the pain kept getting worse especially when I moved. A few liters of fluid in my IV had me in the bathroom more than I really wanted, and every trip reduced me to practicing my breathing, tears, sweat, and shakes. This is the time when Brian's brilliance comes in, as I cried out one of my contacts, but managed to find it and switch to glasses. Thank you sweetie! At one point I told the nurse "I am such a wimp, I'm never going to make it through labor!" She said, "Oh honey, you'll have an epidural way before it gets this bad". Huh. Well I guess that's sort of reassuring. They offered morphine but I had already decided not to take anything for pain unless I really couldn't stand it. I knew they wouldn't give me anything that would be too terrible for the baby, but a narcotic in my bloodstream can't be good. Plus, I wanted to be able to see if it was getting better or worse (WORSE!). In the end they decided that it was "just" a pulled muscle, and told me to rest as much as I could. The important thing is that I'm OK and the baby is OK. He was so active both nurses remarked on it more than once. "Wow, he really doesn't like that monitor putting pressure on him, look at him go!" There may be something to that, but it seemed pretty normal to me actually.
So the rest of the week was relaxing as much as I could, trying not to pay attention to the discomfort, and Brian doing everything in his power to keep me comfy and provided for. It has been sort of rough honestly, but its getting better every day and I couldn't ask for a better partner through it all.
Phew.

On an odd note, I didn't gain that much weight this week, and am still at about +18. I figured the parents being here would have made me gain more, but apparently not. We're now on bellybutton watch as it looks to be getting pretty close to doing the whole inside out thing, and the baby is more active and stronger every day. Especially when he is jamming his sweet little head into my pulled/torn muscle. Ouch. I'm just happy he's still bouncing around in there. :)