Emergency Appendectomy

As I mentioned in my previous post, I wasn't feeling well Saturday, August 28 when Mike, Shawn, Alex and Josh were here.

It all started about 4:00 p.m. Friday afternoon, August 27. That is when I noticed I had pain in my stomach. I had eaten lunch at my normal time that day and had just finished doing a couple household chores (vacuuming, cleaning the bathrooms, etc.). I drank some water and noticed the pain, so I chalked it up to maybe drinking too much water all at once. Unfortunately, the pain didn't subside. I ate dinner and throughout the evening I continued to feel bad. The pain started to come in waves (like nausea), so I chalked it up to maybe eating something that wasn't settling well. Sure enough, at midnight I tossed my cookies and hoped after doing so I'd start to feel better. No such luck. 1-1/2 hours later I tossed my cookies again, and did so a third time at 3:00 a.m. I was able to then finally sleep between then and 6:00 when Jay woke up for the day.

We were expecting to see Shawn, Mike, Alex, and Josh later that morning. I thought about calling them to give them a heads-up, but I honestly didn't feel like I had a catchable "bug." I honestly thought it was food-related and continued on with my day.

I managed remarkably fine all day Saturday. Then I had another bad episode late Saturday night/early Sunday morning. Again, about 11 p.m. I woke up in pain - this time in my lower abdomen - and in a cold sweat. I got up and told Matt I "just didn't feel right". He took my temperature (I was normal), but I certainly didn't feel good. I asked Matt to look up some of my symptoms on the internet, but the symptoms he entered didn't trigger any ideas on what it might be. Eventually the pain subsided and I was able to sleep (although it was restless).

Sunday morning we took it easy. We were going to go to church, but decided against it since #1, we hadn't had much rest the last two evenings because of my pain, and #2, I still wasn't exactly sure what I was dealing with. Before I hopped in the shower late Sunday morning I mentioned to Matt that "It hurts right here (pointing to my lower right side of my abdomen), but it also generally hurts all over my abdomen." That triggered an idea. Matt went to the internet to see if it might be appendicitis. Sure enough, he reported to me that I had every single symptom of appendicitis. I finished my shower and started to pack for the hospital. I called my doctor and discussed my plan to go to the ER with possible appendicitis, and we also made some calls to our immediate family letting them know of my possible appendicitis.

THANKFULLY Shawn, Mike, and the boys were in town and available, so they came from the church service they had attended that morning right to our condo unit. Matt and I had put our two boys down for their afternoon naps, I prepped for the hospital visit, and off we went to the local hospital's emergency room. What a huge relief it was knowing that our boys were being cared for perfectly while we were gone. I was admitted to the Emergency Room around 1:00 p.m., I finished my approximately 64 oz. of "creamy vanilla smoothie" flavored barium (yuck!) by 2:20, waited the necessary 2 hours for it to make its way through my GI system, received a CT scan of my abdomen, received the results with confirmation that indeed, I had appendicitis at 4:45, and by 5:30 I was upstairs in pre-op, 5:50 on the operating table, and by 6:15 the surgeon was talking to Matt in the surgery waiting room letting him know the laparoscopic surgery to remove my appendix went smoothly. I awoke out of the anethesia in post-op around 7:00 (feeling so much better, though my incisions were a bit tender) and was moved to my overnight hospital room by 7:30.

Shawn, Mike, and the boys were SUCH A BLESSING to us! Shawn agreed to spend the night at our condo to allow Matt the flexibility to check on me at the hospital and to then return the next morning to take me home from the hospital.

The surgeon visited me at 7:30 a.m. Monday morning and wrote up my discharge papers. I was back home by 9:30 that morning! Shawn, Mike, and the boys left late Monday morning to make their way back to their home in Oregon. Matt's Mom (Nana) made her way up from the Portland, OR area and stayed with us Monday afternoon through Wednesday morning to help me around the house while I recovered allowing Matt to focus his time and energy doing his job. (I needed to take it easy and not lift anything over 20 lbs. for a couple days. Jay is over 25 lbs, so lifting him up to care for him would have been super challenging had family not been around.)

We saw God's providing hand in such a tangible, visible way. He provided care and comfort through our family members - Shawn, Mike, and the boys, my sister Molly who arrived after they left to make a dinner for us for Monday night, and then Mom Carol who arrived shortly after my sister finished. Truly we could not have planned it better! God is so faithful, loving, and kind. My family truly felt His presence and care and peace in the midst of what could have been a very frightening, crazy, and difficult situation.

My recovery was quick! It went so well, in fact, that we didn't change our plan and left Wednesday morning, September 1, for Eastern Washington. (More on our Labor Day Weekend in the next post.)

I'll leave you with a few photos that were somewhat appendectomy related.

Monday morning (while Matt and I were at the hospital) Shawn captured this moment on camera. She had put David on the living room couch and went to the kitchen to grab something. David started to fuss, but then he was quiet shortly after. When Shawn returned to the living room this is what she saw...Jay was "helping" to comfort and care for David! Jay must have remembered watching me pacify David (on rare occasion, mind you) by sticking my knuckle in David's mouth. I had seen Jay do this exact thing to David once or twice before this moment that Shawn captured. I think it is so funny that she was able to capture the sweet moment on film! Let's just say I am more vigilent these days about cleaning Jay's hands JUST IN CASE this sort of thing happens. Ha! Jay really loves helping me out with David.

And I would be remiss if I didn't share with you the beautiful "get well soon" floral bouquet I was surprised and touched to receive from Matt's financial planning firm. It was GORGEOUS! This picture doesn't do it justice.
To say the least, I'm so grateful for God's abundant blessings!!

Weekend with Shawn, Mike, Alex & Joshua

Sorry for my absence. Lots has happened in the last couple of weeks and I'm finally getting around to posting the pictures and reporting the latest in our lives.

On Saturday, August 28 we enjoyed quality time and fun with Matt's sister Shawn's family - Shawn, Mike, and their boys Alex and Joshua - who drove up for the weekend from Oregon. We'd been planning and looking forward to this visit for a month or more.

They arrived late morning and we just enjoyed some time playing and visiting here at our condo unit. As you can see from the video below, Jay enjoyed some good 'ole wrestling time with his cousins.

Above: Jay waiting on the ground for the boys to wrestle him.

I wasn't feeling well (more to come on that in the next blog post), so I stayed home with Jay and David while they took their needed afternoon naps. During that time Matt, Shawn, Mike, and the two boys walked up to the nearby mall to have lunch and enjoyed a little shopping at the Leggo store (Josh made a purchase with some of his saved/leftover birthday money).

They arrived back just as Jay and David woke up from their afternoon naps. Here is a video of me with David after I finished feeding him.

Above: A snapshot of Mike catching a quick nap before our outing

We decided we'd take advantage of the beautiful day and explored a portion of the Seattle Arboretum. We took a little walk, walked under highway 520 through a tunnel, and ended at a point on Lake Washington where boats go through the canal to the Puget Sound, just across the water from the U of W football stadium.

Below: A family photo in a cool tree at the beginning of our walk in the Seattle Arboretum

Above and below: More tree pictures. It was a great climbing tree!

Above: U of W canoes in the water in the Seattle Arboretum

Below: A video of our walk (sorry, turn your head to the left to view)

Sunday was pajama day for Jay and David! Shawn, Mike, Alex, and Josh came and spent the afternoon and evening. I love the below photo of Jay - it shows just how much he adores being with his cousins.

Summer Wedding and Play at Park

On August 15 Matt served Christopher, our friend, as best man. Christopher wed his beautiful wife Vanessa. It was a gorgeous ceremony under a tent on a hot Sunday morning held at a local hotel on the shores of Lake Washington. I was so grateful that the ceremony was only a quick 10 minute drive from home so that made it slightly easier for me to navigate getting both boys (and me!) bathed, dressed, and ready for the day's events.

The ceremony began shortly after 11 a.m. Below is a picture of the bride and groom. Matt is the first groomsman to the right of the groom.

Below is a picture of the bride and groom facing the congregation as Vanessa's aunt did a scripture reading.

A lovely dinner was served to the wedding guests under the tent at 1 p.m. Between dinner courses the bride and groom wandered out from under the tent to enjoy the beautiful day and the gorgeous view which provided a picture-perfect moment for us guests.

I will be honest - I was a little worried I would have a hard time wrangling a 2 year old and a 2 month old boy by myself for much of that day, but both boys were good for me. Whew! Having Matt's help from time to time when he was available was extremely nice. I took the boys home at 2 p.m. after I had finished my last bites of the lunch. Jay usually goes down for his nap around 12 or 12:30 so stretching him to 2 was truly a stretch, but he did great. I wasn't even 3 minutes down the road when he fell to sleep in his car seat. He transferred well to his crib for his afternoon nap and the rest of the day fell back into our normal routine. I missed Matt's toast to the couple, the cutting of the cake, the dance, and the couple's departure via a Woodmark Hotel boat out onto Lake Washington - but that was okay. I was grateful to just be included in it all.

We had some really warm days that weekend and into the next week. After work Tuesday, August 17 Matt and I took the boys to a local park for some play time followed by dinner and more play inside our local mall. It felt so good to get cooled down in the mall's air conditioned structure as we missed the hottest part of the day in our condo unit. I took these pictures of David at the park that day (Tuesday, August 17) while Jay and Daddy played on the playground structures and meandered around the water spray part of the park.

Night Owl Cooing Cuteness

David's 2 month Check-up

Yesterday was David's 2 month check-up appointment at the pediatrician's office. Yes, he is 2 months old already!

Here are David's stats:
Weight: 10 lbs, 9.5 oz. (25th-50th percentile)
Length/Height: 23-1/4" (50th-75th percentile)
Head Circumference: 39-1/2 cm (25th-50th percentile)

Compared to Jay's 2 month old stats:
Weight: 11 lbs, 6 oz. (50th percentile)
Length/Height: 23-1/2" (50th-75th percentile)
Head Circumference: 39-1/2 cm (25th-50th percentile)

David is an absolute joy to mother. He is now making cooing noises to "converse" with us, he can now focus his vision on a face for several seconds and follows moving targets a little bit, he pacifys himself using his fingers, thumb, and most commonly his fist, and we're so enjoying his smiles. He is a very "predictable" baby now, too - I know what he wants and when he wants it. I know when he is hungry, when he wants to be held, when something hurts (typically from a toy that landed on him from Jay), when he is tired and ready for a nap, and (hallelujah!) he is sleeping through the night on a regular basis (10 or 11 p.m. to 5 or 6 a.m.). He REALLY enjoys diaper changes and his typically every-other-night baths. He smiles and coos especially during diaper changes, so although diaper changes are frequent throughout the day, it is joyous bonding time with him. Here is a video I captured today. He stopped cooing just as I started the video, but you get a taste of his terrific smiles in this clip.

Jay is a terrific older brother to David. He loves to "help" me "carry" David, enjoys putting dirty diapers in the diaper pail which he can do all by himself now, he puts dirty clothes in the washer when asked (again, all by himself), retrieves items for me when I'm nursing (i.e. my cell phone if he hears it ring and I'm not near it), will throw things in the trash when instructed, and the list goes on. He routinely asks me at least once a day if he can hold David, so about once a day you'd see something like the picture below (taken this week):

Often Jay will put one arm around David when sitting with him, too.

I measured Jay on June 18 and I measured him today and was SHOCKED to see that in two months he has grown one full inch!! Not only is he physically growing taller, he has had a word explosion this week (my current favorite is "baby Day-day" for baby David). On the movement front, Jay really enjoys practicing his jumping (which is really just an exaggerated step over or a two foot short hop forward over a stick, a string, or whatever suits his fancy) and he enjoys a good twirling/spinning session and the funny results that come from getting dizzy.

The days here at home are very routine/scheduled and to my surprise go by quickly. Actually, I'm not sure the time goes by quickly during the day - I think it is more my realization at how FAST these boys grow and develop so therefore it feels like time is flying by. Does that make sense? I'm sure it does to all you parents out there in my blogland.

Portrait Session

Yesterday morning I took the two boys to our nearby JCPenney for a photo session. It was time to get the milestone photos taken - Jay's 2 year photo and a newborn one of David.

The photographer was great and he captured what a really wanted - a good one of the boys together. But boy (no pun intended) did the two of us have to WORK for it. I was literally dripping with sweat when the photo session concluded (making me wonder WHY I showered and gussied myself up - all that was undone in a couple minutes flat). 'Tis hard work to get a 2 month old and a 2 year old to #1) cooperate, #2) look at a camera at the same time with good expressions, #3) keep both boys in semi-good moods so they'd give a smile every now and then.

After all that, I had to make decisions. Thankfully choosing which photos I liked best was the easy part. The hard part was how many and what size pictures to order... Good thing I only do the milestone pictures (at the most) three times a year (newborn, 6 mo., 1 yr)! It's enough to send a Mom to insanity land.

An hour and a half later we were back home and back to our normal schedule of eating lunch and having our afternoon naps. My Mom was a brave, brave woman to endure milestone pictures of her twin girls and younger son. She not only did the milestone pictures of us - she had a 1+ hour commute each way (vs. my easy 5+ min. commute)! Once again I am so appreciative of the sacrifices she chose and I'm reminded again what an amazing woman she is. LOVE YOU MOM!

The photos will be ready for pick-up on August 21. I'll post them after that. If you want a sneak peek at all of the photos (the funny/not-so-good ones), let me know. I'll email you a link so you can view the album at your leisure.

David & Jay @ 7 weeks old

Last Friday afternoon, July 30, I put David down on the living room floor after a feeding. Jay LOVED that David was so very handy to see and play with, too. It was a win-win for us all. I first put David down on his tummy on the blanket and watched him scooch (sp?) his little self off of it onto the carpet in a pre-crawl crawl. I was shocked. He became unhappy on his tummy so I decided to prop him up against the Boppy pillow and he enjoyed this position much more. See the resulting photo.


David turned 7 weeks old this past Saturday, July 31. On Sunday, August 1, I decided to do another little photo shoot with him. He is changing and growing and getting more and more active every day.

HOORAY! The above photo is my absolute favorite. I actually was able to capture a full-blown smile - something he has started to regularly give us now for the last couple of weeks.

And I can't do a post without a couple comparison photos. The below photos are of Jay at 7 weeks old when he spent his days with Aunt Traci and cousins Samantha and Sydney while I went back to work for 6 weeks after completing a 6 week maternity leave.

These photos make me miss them SO MUCH!! They lived about 5 minutes away from us then and now they live in Texas (as of February 2009). LOVE YOU GUYS!!!