My Hospital Adventure

Well as most of you know I have had a lot of free time to blog lately but I just haven't known where to start.  I guess that I will start with the most recent events and work backwards since that is what is most current in my mind.

Cody and I had a wonderful trip to Cancun at the end of May!  I will have to blog all about it in my next post.  The last couple of days I started to feel not so great.  I didn't know if it was because I was 24 weeks pregnant and the heat/humidity was killing me or what.  I knew that I didn't feel great but I didn't really know why.  I had a feeling that I had a UTI but there was no way I was going to see a doctor down in Mexico unless I was on my death-bed.  Then the the last day especially I was having a horrible cramping feeling in my right back.  I couldn't figure out what I would have done to it and in the back of my head I was worried about it being kidney pain but being the hypochondriac that I am I tried to brush it off.  The flights home from Cancun were miserable.  I was popping Tylenol around the clock (and apparently the pills that I thought were 200 mg were actually 500 mg so I took more than twice what I should have that day and it barely took the edge off of the pain).  We got home about midnight on Thursday May 31st. 

We were only home a couple of hours and I was in unbearable pain.  I had Cody take me into the ER across from our house to Orem Community.  They confirmed what I thought was the case that I had a UTI and most likely a kidney infection.  They gave me an IV antibiotic, some fluids, a shot of morphine/phenegran and sent me on my home saying that my doctor's office would call in the morning to check on me and if I wasn't doing better that they would admit me for a few days to give me more IV antibiotics.

I got home and slept for only about an hour.  I was up because the pain was still horrible despite the morphine.  I called the office as soon as it opened at 9:00 and they talked with the doctors and sent me right over to Utah Valley Labor & Delivery to be admitted.  Cody had gone to work that morning because he had already missed so much work for our vacation.  I had my parents drive me to the hospital and called Cody and he met us there. 

The next few days were kind of a blur.  I had never had morphine before and 2.5 mg of percocet that I had once for back pain knocked me out for a whole day so let's just say I am opioid naive.  The pain was horrible but I was worried about taking anything because of the baby.  They confirmed to me that during the second trimester it's ok for me to be taking these medications because during the first trimester the baby is developing too much that I shouldn't take anything and during the last trimester, closer to when I deliver it's scary because the baby can build up a dependence and will need it one out of utero.  Thankfully this happened at a 'good' time in my pregnancy. 

They diagnosed me with pylonephritis (a kidney infection).  Apparently it is more common during pregnancy.  They said that I was showing symptoms that I was starting to become septic too.  Guess it's a good thing that I went in as soon as I got home instead of waiting until the morning to go in like I was planning on.  They also diagnosed me with hydronephrosis.  This too is common during pregnancy.  My kidney is swollen because the fluids are not draining out of my ureter as they should be. There are a lot of different things that can cause this, sometimes obstruction like a stone or simply because the baby sits on the ureter and won't let it drain properly.  The reason for all of the pain was mostly because of the swollen kidney that was not draining properly. 

I'm sorry if I talked to you or your came to see and I was a bit crazy.  I was on a lot of Morphine, Phenegran, Percocet, and Ambien.  I'm already a bit crazy, but to add to all of that these and not feeling well I was definitely in a daze plus I was a little sleep deprived.

They were concerned about me going into pre-term labor because it's a risk with the kidney infection.  They monitored our baby's heart every 12 hours and to see if I was having contractions.  What a blessing that everything looked good and we didn't have any problems with pre-term labor.  Sometimes it's hard to see blessings in spite of all the misery but I know that we were definitely blessed to keep our little guy safe.  I was barely 24 weeks and that's the earliest that babies are even viable.  If he would have come that early I know that he would have had such a hard time and who knows how long he would have made it.  Cody and I love Kayson and we're so glad that he's been kept safe through all of this.

They were loading me with fluids to flush out my kidneys and because I was dehydrated (oh yeah, the Anesthesiologist had to come start my IVs twice because of how bad my veins were).  A few days after I was in the hospital I started to swell quite a bit.  My feet and hands were really swollen and Cody said that my face was really swollen.  I mentioned in to a few nurses but they didn't seem too concerned.  Then pretty quickly I started to feel exhausted and like I couldn't breathe.  I almost felt like I was drowning.  I told the nurse and she checked my oxygen 81% .  She listened to my lungs and I had crackles in all my lobes.  They called the doctor and he came to see for himself.  He ordered a chest x-ray and they shielded the baby.  I was on 4-5 L of O2.  The chest x-ray confirmed that I had pretty bad pulmonary edema.  My lungs were full of fluid.  Fluid overload.  (Later the doctor told me that he was concerned about this because my body should have compensated for the extra fluid and this shouldn't have happened.  He's pretty sure that everything's ok but just wants me to follow-up with a cardiologist to make sure).  They pulled a bunch of fluid off of my by giving me Lasix.  However, they did not replace my potassium (and I should have questioned it but I was not thinking clearly).  Turns out the next morning my serum potassium was critically low (which put me at risk for arrhythmias and all sorts of other complications) and we had to load me with 120 mg of potassium that day to try and bring it up. 

I had a pulmonologist on my case since the pulmonary edema started but as it resolved he was much more worried about my kidney.  I had a couple of ultrasounds of my kidney/ureter and the second one showed no changes that it was still inflamed and I had the hydronephrosis. 

I begged for them to let me go home but I understood why they wouldn't.  I got so sick of that hospital room.  6 days felt way too long especially after they kept telling me "maybe tomorrow" or "maybe in a couple of days" that I could go home. 

Literally by my last night there I thought that they were going to admit me straight to the psych ward in the hospital after a combination of no sleep/all the drugs/ highly emotional/pregnant lady syndrome.

Cody spent the night most nights and couldn't get any sleep, then he'd have to work during the days.  Luckily I had such great family/friends to come keep me company.  Thank you so much for your love and support.  Your prayers were answered and I have made it home!

Now, I'm supposed to be laying on my left-side and I'm supposed to avoid being on my feet or sitting up so that my kidney can drain properly and relieve the pressure.  I have a follow-up appointment next Friday to see if my kidney/ureter are looking any better and to make sure that the infection has cleared (I'm taking oral antibiotics every 6 hours).  The pain has not subsided but I just went home on Tylenol so that helps take the edge off of the pain most of the time.  I'm hoping for a speedy recovery so that they will clear me next Friday to go back to work.  Unfortunately my job consists of standing/sitting for 13 hrs at a time so they are a little worried about me working.  They also think that as the baby gets bigger my hydronephrosis might become worse and not many of the nurses were too convinced that I will stay out of the hospital but I have hope :)

Wish me luck and wish out little Kayson luck that he may be able to stay in me for another 15 weeks! (Or at least 12).

There were a lot of things that I learned being the patient instead of the nurse.  I feel like that will hopefully help me in my career to be more understanding and empathetic.

Simple Pleasures

Sometimes it's nice to think about the things that make you happy in life... even the simple things.

• Diet Dr. Pepper with cherry (Ok, so this may not be a daily thing... especially now that I'm pregnant, but I definitely still enjoy having a little).
• Chocolate. Chocolate chip cookies, brownies, hot fudge sundaes, crunch bars... any kind of chocolate really.
• Laying out in the sun listening to music, reading a good book, or just listening to the birds.
• Tanning used to be one of my guilty pleasures.  I loved laying in the tanning bed for 15 minutes, it was so rejuvenating.  I've now started doing Mystic Spray Tans at Beaches.  I've gotten a few and so far I've loved them (and they're 100% safe!)
• Getting a pedicure
• Laying in a hot bath long enough to get wrinkled fingers and toes.
• Sleeping in
• Waking up to someone that you love every morning and not wanting to get out of bed because you want to spend the day with them
• Realizing that you have a coupon for somewhere that you were already planning on going
• Finding out that the item you were going to buy is even cheaper than you thought when you get up to the register.
• Sunday walks with Cody & Bella
• Spending time with our families
• Laughing so hard that you cry
• Having someone surprise you with a visit
• When people are so nice and eager to help out, especially on crummy days
• Kneader's french toast
• Hearing that I'm beautiful by my sweetheart
• Hearing the heartbeat or seeing our baby on the ultrasound
• Beaches. Anywhere, anytime.  I love the beach more than any place in the world.
• Kisses (Passionate, I'm sorry, I've missed you, goodbye or hello, thank you, I care about you, I love you, any type of kiss really)
• Target. Although this place gives me anxiety (especially the Orem one right now) I love it and can ALWAYS find something there.
• Finding a special piece of furniture for a steal of a deal, even if it needs some TLC.
• Finding old notes from people that you care about.
• Playing tennis or golfing with Cody
• When Cody always knows how to get my frustration out by wrestling with me until I'm so tired and laughing.
• Watching romantic comedies (Happily-ever-after ones)
• Crepes. This should be #1 one my list. Nutella with bananas and whipped cream, strawberries and cream, any type really
• STRAWBERRIES & CREAM
• Going down Provo canyon walking, on bikes, scooters (haha Cozy) etc.
• Eating at a favorite restraint.
• When Cody will play the "Remember when" game with me and not role his eyes :)
• Planning vacations
• Listening to church music to feel the spirit
• Priesthood blessings
• Coming home to a clean house or dinner

A New Chapter

There are so many things on my mind lately.  I might just write a few posts because none of them really coorelate.  This has been a crazy week.  So many emotions, so many worries.  I'm tired.  Over the past few days I've been trying to clean out my scrapbook room so that I can start getting the nursery together.  I went through all of my old school stuff from K-12.  What an interesting experience that was.  I read through my progress reports from Elementry.  My teachers would mention how well I did academically but that I needed to work on my social skills because I was so shy.  Then I looked through my assignments from junior high and highschool.  I still cared about my grades, but my main focus was on boys.  I laughed, thinking what my elementry school teachers would have thought seeing how "social" I was in highschool (if that's what you call it).

Then I got to my college section.  Textbooks, binders after binders full of notes that I thought I would one day review.  Review books for my RN boards.  Then I started to go through these binders one by one, throwing every last paper away.  I sorted through the textbooks and kept a mere 4 that I thought that I may actually want to look back at again.  I gave some textbooks away.  One by one the past 4 years of my life shrivled away.  All that hard work that was thrown away in a matter of minutes.  It was a bitter sweet moment for me.  Although I am so glad that I'm done with school there is a piece of me that is missing it.  I feel somewhat unaccomplished.  I feel that I have more potential and I could go to more school... but why? I feel that school is something that has always been a part of my life, something dependable, something to take up my days and give me something to worry about... but now what?

It was a very symbolic moment for me.  I feel that all of these years have been building up to my life right now.  I am getting rid of the old, and starting with the new.  I am starting a new chapter in my life. Being a mom.  The most important thing that I could ever do with my life.  I have not lost my potential, just because I am done with school.  I have redirected my potential to a life that is more meaningful.  I have direction in my life.  I'm so excited to raise this little boy with my sweetheart.  Do I feel overwhelmed and sometimes inadequate?  Very.  However, I know that for some reason Heavenly Father has trusted us to be parents.  It's scary... but so exciting.  I can't wait for him to get here.  Sometimes I have to pinch myself and realize that it's real.  I am constantly worrying that everything will be ok (I'm already a mom).  I was a little scared to be excited for a while because I didn't want to get really excited and then have something happen to him.  I'm still scared.  Every day I think of how lucky we are to have come one more day with a healthy little boy inside me.  All I can do is trust in The Lord and pray that everything will be ok. 

I already love this little guy so much.

Nursery Ideas

I can't wait until Thursday when we find out the gender of the baby.  I'm so excited to start decorating the nursery!! I mostly have ideas for a girl's nursery.  I'm thinking lots of neutrals with an accent of dusty pink.  This is wear I got the idea (thank you pinterest). The white chair and dusty pink pillow are what caught my eye and what got me thinking.

We need a lot of whites so that room really brightens up. I want it to be a happy place to be. Because there are going to be a lot of neutrals I really want to focus on the textures in the room to give it character.

For a boy's room basically all that I have thought so far is a lot of neutrals maybe having a rusty orange as an accent color and owls (even though those are so over done now a days).

We'll see... wish us luck!

I bought out first baby clothes! How freaking cute is this little boy outfit? Either way, we'll be thrilled!

The Lady Bear Lodge

One of the last weekends in February we decided to go on a little trip with our friends Bre & Brian Woods and Brett & Hope Ovard.  It was the college spring break (but I guess since that only applied to Brett, it was just an excuse for the rest of us to get out).  We looked for places to stay for a few weeks before the break.  St. George was booked solid because of a baseball tournament.  Vegas was pretty much booked out because of Nascar.  Everywhere in Park City, Heber, and Midway were booked, probably because it was still ski season and spring break.  Anyway, we were desperate to find a place to stay that would accomodate the three couples.  Brett finally found a Bed & Breakfast on KSL that was open for that weekend.  The Lady Bear Lodge. 

The pictures looked...interesting.  Everything was decorated a little random.  There were not pictures of the bedrooms but there were a lot other really random pictures.  The last picture that she emailed us was a picture of 3 ladies in a hot tub.  Two of the ladies were younger, in their late 20's. The last lady was probably in her late 50's and don't worry, she most definately did not have a swim suit on.  In the picture, the water was just barely covering her lady parts and there was absolutely no discussion on whether or not she had anything on.  But... We decided to go.

We were in desperate need of a small vacation.  We thought that it definately could turn into an interesting one, that's for sure.  Who knows, they could be a bunch of skinny-dippin lesbians at the Lady Bear Lodge who were going to cook us breakfast in their birthday suit. Oh well, might as well go.

Once we pulled up to the cabin three dogs greeted us with their howlings.  One was 130+ lbs, the other one was a medium sized dog, and the last a small dog.  I barely noticed the dogs over our host, Cindy.  She rushed out to great us and had all of our names memorized.  I don't any one has ever acted so excited to see people in their lives. "KRIIISSSSSSTTTAAA!", "COOODDDY!", etc.  She most defintaely wanted to hug us, but we resisted.  She helped us carry up our bags and then gave us the tour. 

She and her husband were both quite tipsy at this point, and very excentric.  Her husband had an interesting way of speaking where he carried on his words forever.  He kept saying how his dogs were "Sooooooooooo Beauuuuuuutifuuuullll." I thought he was joking. 

The house was pretty nice, but the interesting part was that we thought we'd have a separate living space.  The upstairs was ours with a loft (that poor Bre and Brian slept in, I felt bad), and it opened up to their living room/kitchen downstairs so we could hear/see each other the whole time.  She showed us the notorious hot tub.  She kept mentioning that we needed to shower before entering the hot tub to make sure that we aren't bringing in anything to contaminate the water.  She said we need to pull our hair up-but don't worry, she has scrunchies.  She also mentioned 5+ times how if we're comfortable, it was ok to go in the hot tub without a swim suit on because the dyes ruin the water and subsequently the hot tub.  WHHHHAAAAATTT??!! So it was not a mistake, that's what they do here!

We quickly tried to move on and see the rest of the cabin.  It was a really nice cabin, but the decorations were so... interesting.  It looked as if she had gone to the DI and wiped everything off their shelves and put it all over her house.  One morning I got the guts up to ask Cindy where she got all of her decorations.  Sure enough, thrift stores, for free on the side of the road, and don't worry- dumpster diving! 

She fed us breakfast in the mornings.  It was suprisingly quite good.  She was a very clean person for how strange she was.  They are "all organic" type of people.  She cooked some amazing sourdough french bread the first morning.  I couldn't help but stare, because she didn't wear the bra the whole time we were there and it was a little distracting while she was making our breakfast.  Later that morning we were getting ready for the day to go out to Park City and go shopping.  Cody was in the loft and happened to look over to the living room and out the huge windows to the deck where the hot tub was.  Where our host Cindy was skinny dipping! Awkward. Let's just say that we got out of there quickly.

What a weekend.  We stayed up late and played games... well, I didn't stay up too late but they did.  Let's just say I HATE MONOPOLY and I will never, ever, play it again.  But other than that it was a great weekend that we spent mostly in Park City shopping and eating yummy food :)

If you ever want to go to The Lady Bear Lodge hit me up for the information :)

Miracles

I have been wanting to blog for quite some time.  Of course, whenever I get the itch to blog there is always something in my way.  We haven't had a computer for a couple of weeks now but finally we have one and hopefully this word salad that's in my head will finally be able to come out into normal sentences and thoughts.  So... bare with me.

I wanted to talk about my pregnancy! I'm sure that most of you know the news because we announced it on facebook.  I wanted to share the story to those of you who care.  As most of you know I had been struggling with trying to get pregnant.  I wrote a post about it if you want to go back and read it.  I had been very down about the whole situation.  I went in to my OBGYN for my first infertility appointment.  We discussed a bunch of options and possibilities. I had been taking the ovulation tests for a few months to see if I was even ovulating and when.  My cycle had always been very irregular and ever since I stopped birth control it went back to being irregular.  The few months that I did the ovulation tests it seemed that only one month I even ovulated and it was at a completely random time, not where I should have ovulated.  Our plan of action would be to wait until I started my period the next time and then do blood work on certain days of my cycle to see if we could narrow down the possibilities of why I wasn't getting pregnant.

We waited... and waited.  It seemed that my period couldn't come soon enough because I was so anxious to get the testing done and hopefully some answers.  I was frustrated, I know that my period was irregular but really why couldn't it just come on time this month.  Finally I got to the point where I was over a week late and decided ok, to just take a pregnancy test.  I knew that it would be negative, just like every other time that I had tested.  I didn't want to be let down again but I just had to know.  (I had actually taken a test about a week before this and it was negative, which is another reason why I was sure that I wasn't pregnant). 

The morning of January 25th, I decided that I couldn't wait any longer so I took a test.  It was 5:00 am and I was getting ready for work.  I was utterly in shock and disbelief when I saw the results.  Positive.  It couldn't be, how was this even possible?  I tested for 20 days the previous month (a month which I had a period) and I did not ovulate.  So I took another, another definite positive.  I couldn't believe it.  I ran in and woke up Cody waving the sticks in his face and said "We're having a baby!".  Still sleepy, he smiled and asked if I was sure.  He read them himself and couldn't wipe the smile off his face.  We were going to be parents. 

I went in for my 8 week appointment and they said that everything looked good.  They told me that I was due September 25th. I had been having really severe cramps so I called my Dr.  They said that I was probably under a lot of stress and I needed to take it easy.  I decided to quite the bachelor's of nursing program and focus on my new job and on starting a family (because really, that was the most important thing). I had been seeing these advertisement for the NuMom2Be study that they were doing at Utah Valley Hospital so I called for more information.  They follow new moms throughout their pregnancy and the birth of the baby.  There and no interventions and consequently, no risks.  The great thing about the study is that I get 3 free ultrasounds including a 3D ultrasound and I get to find out the sex of the baby a little early.  I go in for 3 appointments and answer a lot of questions and do a lot of lab work.  I get compensated a little, but mainly I just wanted the ultrasounds because normally my doctor only does one at 20 weeks.  We got to see the baby for the first time on March 1st.  I was only about 11 weeks pregnant but it was amazing to see that little baby inside of me.  It definitely made things more real.  You could see the little heart valves opening and closing and the baby even had the hiccups!  It was good for both Cody and I to see the baby for reassurance that everything was looking good. We were almost scared to get too excited in case something goes wrong (that is still a fear we both have).

Things are going well with my pregnancy.  I am now 15 weeks and in just over 2 weeks we are finding out the sex of the baby!! I have been feeling pretty well lately, except migraines that I get quite frequently.  I can't complain though, because honestly what a blessing this is. 

Within one weeks time I felt more blessings than I ever had in my life.  I was going through some trials in my life that I didn't know how I wouldn't overcome them until suddenly everything turned around.  My little sister, Ali, had become ill with RSV and pneumonia and eventually an ileus.  She ended up in the hospital and was not doing well. A couple of nights after she was admitted, I went to see her.  I had never been so scared in my life,  I don't think I will ever get that image out of my head.  My once glowing, smiling, laughing little sister was now  skin and bones, pasty white, and sweating from all pores in her body.  She was shaking as if having a constant seizure and would not make eye contact. She would whimper and cry but was not consolable.  It was if she was a completely different person.  I don't think I've even seen my parents so scared before.  There little girl was in a state that was out of their control, they could not do anything to help her.  It was a difficult week for her, for my parents, for my family.  Everyone prayed.  She received blessings. Because of every one's faith and because of the Grace of God she got better.  It was not her time to leave yet. 

That same week I found out I was pregnant.

Within a week's time I had successfully taken and passed my Nursing Boards and was officially a RN.  What I had worked so hard for, for so many years.  I was sure that I would not pass because of how difficult of a test it was and because of the stress that I had been over.  By the Grace of God, once again, he helped me after I put in all the effort that I could and I passed.

Three life changing miracles that happened, within a matter of a week.  Coincidence, I think not.  I was struggling in so many different aspects of my life and did not feel that I could overcome any of these trials.  However, God knew,  He had a plan for me.  He did not forget me.  He came when He knew that I needed Him.  He blessed me in ways that will change my life forever.  I am eternally grateful.