To start things off...Pete had a stomach virus last week. He was super nauseated, running a fever, had the chills and then the sweats...all the things you associate with a nasty stomach bug, he had them. He slept on the couch for a couple of nights, and I single-Mommy'd it with Lukie so that Pete wouldn't get either of us sick. I brought him wonton soup and ginger ale one night while he curled up on the couch, and took time off work one evening so that I could do the daycare pick-up so that he wouldn't have to try to drive or go into the daycare where all the little babies are.
He was not a happy camper, but thankfully, it was gone in about 36 hours. He's been pretty much right as rain, ever since. We had a nice Thanksgiving with Pete's friend Rachel, and then had our friend Suzi over on Friday for a leftovers party. She watched Lukie while we put up the Christmas tree. That's actually where the video of him falling asleep that I posted on Monday came from. We had a good weekend hanging out at the house and spending family time!
Lukie tried sweet potatoes and actually decided he liked them! Yay!
For once, more food ended up in his belly than on his forehead.
AND, he spent a lot of time playing with his new favorite toy: his toes.
What. A. Chunk.
Cut to Monday afternoon. I was at work, and I started getting some stomach pains that felt like intense cramping in my upper abdomen, right under my ribs. I kind of ignored it, assuming it was just something I ate, and headed home on Monday evening. Monday night, the belly ache kept me up from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m., which was SO frustrating since Lukas was (miracle of miracles) actually sleeping right then. I got up Tuesday still having the pains.
The pain got way worse on Tuesday, and by the afternoon I was starting to wonder what was going on. I'd be sitting, not doing anything particularly strenuous, and wave upon wave of abdominal pain would sweep over me. It would generally feel like it was going through all the way to my back, and there were times when I got the chills from it and had a hard time breathing. I started getting a little worried, and told Pete that if it didn't get better, I would need to go to the doctor on Wednesday.
Long story short, it didn't get better...in fact, Tuesday night was worse than Wednesday. Tuesday evening, Suzi and Jamie came over to have dinner with us for Lukie's birthday, and while I was getting all the food ready, I'd double-over from a stomach cramp so severe it would keep me from breathing right. We had fun, though, even though I was pretty uncomfortable.
As a short aside, I can't believe it's been five months since Lukie came along. It's been a rough few months-- sometimes I feel like I have terrible luck, as things just keep sort of HAPPENING, but I'm thankful for our big, fat, healthy, MOSTLY happy guy. Here are his birthday dinner pics. I'm going to shoot his white-onesie pics this evening, so we'll do a comparison in the next post.
Back to the story of my stomach...The pain stuck with me all Tuesday night, and in some ways got worse. Pressure hurt on my stomach, which meant that carrying Lukie around hurt...and bouncing him at night to get him back to sleep after a night-waking was impossible. Lukie had a bad night, too, and Pete ended up taking him downstairs at 4 a.m. so I could get some sleep. I woke up and made a doctor's appointment for 9 a.m., calling in sick to work.
The first doctor thought it was probably a hernia, and said that it was totally possible given that I had just had a baby 5 months ago. He sent me for an x-ray, and made an appointment with the general surgeon who specializes in gastroenterology. I got the x-ray, and because I of course hadn't brought my pump with me, I went to the daycare to feed Lukie since I was getting uncomfortable. I also ran home to pump because I had time and didn't know what was in store for me that afternoon.
The gastroenterologist thought it might be appendicitis or my gall bladder, and he ordered a CT scan to make sure nothing was inflamed in my abdomen...so I went to get that set up, drank some ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE liquid they use to highlight places where blood is flowing in the abdomen (while dry-heaving in the lobby trying to get it down), ran home to pump again (because I'm an idiot and didn't bring the pump a second time), and then came back in to get the CT scan done. They told me not to eat or drink anything after 12 a.m. last night in case I had to have surgery this morning.
Last night, I actually maybe felt a little better, and this morning I headed to the doctor. Organs looked good: no inflammation in my appendix, gall bladder, or pancras... but apparently, I had some pretty inflamed and enlarged lymph nodes which means...da-da-da-daaaa....stomach infection. Most likely a virus. Most likely the exact. same. one. that Pete had, just affecting me differently. BLARGH!!!!
AND, Lukie went to the doctor this morning because he had been fussing at the bottle at daycare and being a generally unhappy dude the last few days. I was worried about an ear infection, but his ears looked perfect and he was acting like a jolly old guy this morning...so...he probably had the bug and was getting over it, too. And his gums are inflamed, so the doctor thinks he will probably cut a tooth in the next couple of days. AND he weighs 20 lbs. 2 oz. now. There's a 2-year-old at the daycare who weighs that much. The doc says Lukie looks like a super healthy kid.
So that's the saga of my stomach. I'm at home, taking it easy today, with mild stomach pain but NOTHING like it was on Tuesday. If they go away and I don't have any more pains tonight, I might go to work tomorrow. If I still have gut cramps, I might stay home to protect my co-workers from what is apparently a NASTY bug.
I'm super relieved I don't have to have surgery. I was panicking, trying to figure out how to feed Lukas while I had surgery and was in recovery. I have enough milk saved up in the freezer for about a day, but that's it. Maybe I need to work on my emergency stash a bit more!
Here are some super cute pics of Lukas to end the post. We've had a heck of a week, and I'm sorry there was so much writing in this post and not enough baby pictures, but the next one will be chock full of them, since I'll post all the comparative pictures of his previous birthdays!
Chewing on EVERYTHING...
You can actually see his hair here. All those long, dark pieces are from when he was born. They're about 3 inches long now. He has this blonde peach fuzz all over his head, and it is actually quite thick, but it's so light you can't see it in most pictures. I think we'll have a blonde kid before it's all said and done...but until then, he's got crazy hair. I keep thinking I'll cut it, at least what Pete calls his "rooster tail," which is a long piece right on the back of his head, but it's so funny I have a hard time parting with it...
Getting his first lesson in hand planes from Daddy...
Seriously. Chewing on EVERYTHING.
Oh, girlfriend, I feel your pain! I went through that a few years ago, and went into the hospital with it. So glad you're starting to feel better!
ReplyDelete