Is it still Monday?

Last Monday (the 10th), started just like every other Monday. My husband woke early so he could go to the gym with his division, and I woke up a few mins before 7am, just as Jeremy was coming home from working out. Everything was ordinary. My sons grumped at each other while passing the milk around, and I sat on the couch wondering when Olivia was going to grace us with her presence. Jeremy showered, shaved, and dressed quickly so he could walk to work, just like every other morning. I remember him giving me a kiss, and I remember locking the door after he left. The snow was almost all melted from the day before, and a light mist had started outside (yeah it's Washington).

About an hour and a half after he left I received a call from a fellow sailor in his division saying that he hadn't show up for work yet, and they were worried, because this was very unlike him. Well if they were really worried just think how worried I was at this point. I was told not to panic (a nice suggestion but at the time it didn't sink in), and that he may have arrived at work, but no one had seen him yet. Well 15 minutes later I get a call from Harrison Medical Center, saying that he is there, and they wouldn't tell me much else over the phone. The person over the phone also tells me, that I don't need to rush over there because he's in good hands (Yeah right, like I'm going to stay home and just chill out now).

While the kids and I are getting ready to go Jeremy's cell phone rings, and it's another sailor from Jeremy's division. I tell him where Jeremy is, and he tells me that he was re-tracing Jeremy's walk, and he was almost to our house and wondered if I wanted him to come with us. At this point I thought it couldn't hurt, and that it was really nice of him to offer. This really helped when we got to the hospital because there wasn't any parking in sight, so while the kids and I went inside to find Jeremy, he parked the car for us.

After finding him, the doctors told me that he had either black out, or fallen down and hit the sidewalk really hard, and he may have a mild concussion. He was awake but not very responsive. It wasn't until after they decided to transfer him to the naval hospital and admit him, that he started coming around and acting more like himself. Thats when he asked me why he was in the hospital and if it was still Monday. After I explained he asked if his chief knew. "Yes everyone at work knows, in-fact a few of them are here, and Doc is on his way." A sarcastic wonderful was all he said to that.

When the ambulance came to transfer him, the kids and I stopped back at the house, to get our school books and iPad, before meeting Jeremy at the naval hospital. From that point things seemed to be going well. The boys did their school work, Olivia played in the iPad, and Jeremy and I chatted and joked around (just like we do at home). At lunch the kids and I went downstairs to get subway (yes this hospital had a subway in it), and when we came back Jeremy was sleep, so I woke him. He opens his eyes makes a confused face and asks me once again "Why am I in the hospital?" Yes I got the honer of telling him all over again, and also worrying if he was going to forget and ask every time he woke up. "Is it still Monday? Did you tell my chief?".... .... "Yes dear, it is still Monday, and no need to worry everyone from work knows you are here." I'll have to admit though at this point I had to also ask myself if it was still Monday. I told the doctors about the lapse in memory, but they didn't seem worried. That still didn't make me feel any better.

By 4pm Jeremy was insisting that I take the kids home and get some rest. He assured me that he was in good hands (yeah right). I didn't want him to fall asleep and wake up without me there. Who else would explain to him what happened and why he was there again. However the kids did need to eat soon, and I was very tired at this point. So yes I went home and basically crashed (on the couch, not in the car :)  ).

Apparently while I was home "CRASHING" Jeremy's doctor on the boat and the doctor at the hospital were having a discussion (right in front of him) on weather he'd be more relaxed at home or on the boat. She (meaning the hospital doctor) was under the impression that with four kids in the house no one would ever be able to relax, so she thought giving him time off would be useless. I later told Jeremy (after he told me about this conversation), that she better be glad she didn't say that in front of me. I'm sorry but I can't stand people judging our family and my kids especially when they don't know us, and don't know how incredible awesome and well behaved my kids are. Luckily Jeremy's doctor from the boat and his XO insisted that he stay at home until they figure out why he black out in the first place. Which was another conflict with the hospital doctor because she believed that Jeremy had just tripped and fell. The problem with that theory was that Jeremy had no abrasions on his hands, and if you are in the process of tripping and falling, you are going to put your hands up to stop yourself (yes at this point Jeremy still couldn't remember what happened, in fact he couldn't even remember getting up and working out that morning). Needless to say I didn't really like his hospital doctor.

The next morning I got to the hospital at a little after 7:30pm. Jeremy seem to remember everything after lunch time from the day before (thank goodness). He tells me that he had visitors last night, some friends from work, Doc, and the OX. The OX was super nice and brought him a bag of snacks. I was touched, and felt like crying. The doctor came in not long after I had gotten there, and told us that they were getting the discharge paperwork together. I was like, "Awesome I just got here, and now I get to take him home." ... ... Yeah we ended up waiting two hours for paperwork. That's hospitals for you. Once I got him home though, we had a wonderful day. Jeremy and I reading and napping on our couch, while the kids played downstairs and watch Sofia The First.

Jeremy's doctor from the boat made a house call that next morning to check up on Jeremy and tell him that his first day back would be Tuesday (today), but that he would be put on light limited duty for a few weeks. Also good news.

I want to thank everyone for their prayers and for your calls and messages, all of your words of encouragement were wonderful, appreciated, and needed. I'm glad he is safe, well, and okay.

The birth of my daughter

There was a time in my life that I thought this day would never come. After having 3 wonderful sons, the chances of having a daughter seemed slim, but she is here. On Feb. 1st at 3:51, weighing 8lbs 1oz and 20in long. Yay! It was an induction, and I was scheduled for 7:30 am. I got to the hospital right on time, which is unusual for me, because I like to be early. It was Jeremy's fault though, he wanted to stop at McDonalds and Starbucks on the way. He was the only one to get food and coffee to, I didn't want to eat to much, because I didn't want to get sick. So I get there at 7:30, and they start my IV at 8, and the Pitocin at 9, I predicted that it would happen that way, hospital all move like that, as slow as possible. My mom and little sister got there at 10, and I got my Epidural and my water broken at 12, and I was ready to push at 3:40, (my nurse predicted I'd be ready to push at 3:30, and she predicted this when she was placing my IV, so she's good) So yeah only took 11 mins, and she was here. It was such a quick birth, for being an induction, and not a lot of crazy things happened, so it was a great birth. Jeremy of course cut the cord and when he did, he got blood squirted in his face (first time that has ever happened) Olivia 1 point, Daddy 0. She is a really sweet baby. She likes to eat and snuggle. I am currently nursing and doing formula. Nursing for most of the day, and using formula at night (so I can get more sleep, I like my sleep). It has been great, and I'm so glad she is here. I'm looking forward to dressing her up, and doing her hair (when she gets a little more of it). So far Nathaniel pays the most attention to her, the other boys barley even notice her. Nathaniel is really sweet, he wants to feed her, and hug her, and he loves taking dirty diapers to the trash. Silly boy!

Remembering

I was looking at my pictures, and I came across these. These two photos are where taken during a really hard time in my life, the hardest week I've ever had to live though. 


These pictures are from June of 07, less than a month after moving to San Diego. Zachary was turning 3, Jeremy had left for a deployment, and we were in a new city. Lucky I did know some people here. The reason we moved to SD, was because of a Home Port Change, meaning the boat Jeremy was stationed to (the submarine), was changing home ports from Norfolk. So everyone had to move, and 2 of the wives I knew (from the boat) were in SD as well Kandi and Amanda. 


After Jeremy had left I noticed that Zachary was limping. I asked him if his foot hurt, and I checked his feet and legs, but no, nothing hurt, and he looked fine. My first thought was, maybe he was growing, and one leg was a little longer than the other. I let it go for a week, but he was still limping. It didn't seem to effect him though, he would walk and limp,... and run and limp,... and walk up and down the stairs and limp... All of this and he was still keeping up with his brothers. I still called the doctor, and finally got in to see her about 5 days later. She said that it could be a tiny fracture, but that would mean he would be in pain, it could be a bone infection, or just that he was going though a interesting growth spurt. She sent us for xrays, and when nothing came up, she told us to go home, but call if it got worse, or if he was running a fever. 


3 days later (Monday) he woke up with a fever, so I called the doctor. She said to get him to Balboa Naval Hospital right away, and she would order some test to be done. She also told me not to feed him anything, in-case they had to do an MRI. If they had to do an MRI they would have to knock him out, because you have to stay still during the test (very still), and little kids can't stay that still for that long. That was hard, I had to feed the other 2 but not him. We got to balboa at 9am, and we were first sent to Orthopedics. 


We waited until we were seen by doctor Riccio, who sent us up to Radiology to get more xrays. After that it was lunch, and yes once again I had to sneak the other boys food, but none for Zach or me (because I felt so bad for him). When the xrays came back with nothing we were sent up to Nuclear Medicine for a bone scan. By the time that was all finished it was 2pm, and yes we had been there since 9am. The doctor said that something had shown up on the bone scan, and they wanted to do an MRI to see exactly what it was. 


So we waited until they got all of that set up, and from start to finish it took an hour (and that was after they got started). I remember waiting for Zachary's MRI to be over, and I still had not eaten all day, and this guys walking in with food, and is eating it right in-front of me. There was a sign on the door that said "No food or drinks in the waiting room!" Not cool. So the MRI is finally over, and we waited for the results. Zachary had a bone infection in his right shin. They had no idea how it got there, but they were admitting him. I was shocked. I didn't know what they would find, and I didn't expect him to get admitted. 


We were sent to the Cast room, to wait for a room to be ready for him. By this time it was about 7pm, and Zach and I still had not eaten. Good thing the McDonald in the hospital was still open. We got him up to the room, and everyone was so tired, and I had to do something really hard. The other kids where tired and needed sleep, and I did to. I had to leave Zachary there. He was so little, and I didn't want to. What was he thinking about all of this? 


I got home at about 10pm, and I was so upset. I knew I needed to call my mom, and Jeremy parents, but it was late. I knew she would make me feel better, but what do I say. Hi mom, Zachary is in the hospital. I hadn't even told mom about him limping yet, so she had no idea about any of this, and it was 1am on the eastcoast. Is it right to call people at that time? I called anyways, and it's good I did. My mom was already up, she had a bad feeling after I didn't answer her call earlier (because I wasn't home, and I forgot my cell), and she couldn't sleep. Talking to my mom, made me feel better. The next morning I called Jeremy parents, and my Ombudsman (Elizabeth), I was good friends with her and she called Kandi and Amanda. She also made sure that a message was sent to Jeremy on the boat, so he knew what was going on. 


Kandi and Amanda helped me with Darien and Nathaniel, and took care of them for me, even though at first I didn't want them to, because I felt bad about putting a burden on them. But they were wonderful, and it gave me a chance to stay at the hospital with Zachary. 


He stayed until Friday, and then he was well enough to go home, an answer to prayer, because at first he wasn't getting better. He was on antibiotics for the next 6 weeks, but I was so happy to have him home, and to have a chance to get use to our new home in San Diego. 


This is prof that us moms can be very strong when we need to be (God made us that way). Sometimes you don't know how your going to pull through something, but you just have to. You tell yourself "I'm just going to do it, because I have to." Its like all of those times I had to move, I didn't want to, and I hated doing it, but I had to, so I just do it the best way I know how and get it over with. Of course I would rather move 50 more times, than to have to go through a week like that again. Zachary has been fine ever since, so this didn't effect him, but it did effect me.