June 2013

June might have been one of the craziest months of my life. We moved to a new home in a new city, and I was hospitalized for a kidney stone.

We bought the new house on May 14th, but were waiting for the kids to finish school on June 6th. We took a few loads down to the new house but left some essentials like a bean bag in the main room. Tyler was living at the new house and coming home every few days to see us.

 On June 8th, we said good-bye to renting and happily packed our (hopefully) last U-haul!

 Annie gave a sad FHE lesson about Jesus on the cross:

 3 days after moving in, there were some crazy forest fires just miles away from our house. We thankfully weren't close enough to the fires to evacuate; we were right on the border of the pre-evacuation area.

Getting some home projects painted:

 To the greatest dad around:

The kids love the trampoline that was already installed at the house. They have gotten hours of entertainment from that thing!

I have no idea what Cole was doing dressed like this: in his underwear only with socks on his feet and hands.

 We became fast friends with the library in our area and attended the Lego club there a few times:

 On Saturday night, June 22nd, we all went as siblings and spouses to see a movie on these fun reclining chairs. We spent the night at Tyler's sister's house and went to church with them the next day.

Then Sunday (June 23rd) after lunch, I started feeling really sick. My back was aching, I was throwing up, and my urine was rust-colored. I was so uncomfortable (I was 32 weeks pregnant too) and in so much pain that we finally decided to drive back home to Colorado Springs. We left the kids with Tyler's sister & brother and their families and headed down. 

Before we got on the freeway, I saw an Urgent Care and begged Tyler to stop because I thought I wouldn't survive the hour and 15 minute drive home. We stopped and they gave me some drugs to help the pain, but then we figured out I'd have to be transferred to a bigger hospital--via ambulance. I begged them to let Tyler drive me (I didn't want to have to pay that bill!!), but they said I was too drugged up to be transferred by anyone other than medical professionals.

The hospital figured it was a kidney stone and said I'd just have to wait for it to pass. I couldn't eat anything. Even the drugs they gave me by mouth weren't staying down, so they kept me on drugs through my IV. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday went by with still no passing of the kidney stone. Finally on Thursday they decided to put a nephrostomy tube in my back to relieve the pressure off my kidney.

When I went in to have that surgery, my blood pressure dropped so low that they couldn't give me anesthetic for the procedure. They gave me 25mg of Benadryl to "take the edge off" but I still remember feeling the tube being put in. So now in addition to being large & pregnant, I had a "pee-bag" stitched to my back. But I felt SO much better!! The tube & tape attached to my back were cumbersome & irritating, but it was much better than being lifeless in that hospital bed. I couldn't believe the difference. That evening after the surgery I was given the OK to eat again, and I ordered my first meal since Sunday afternoon--a hospital hamburger that I thought was the greatest thing I had ever eaten. So yummy that I had to take a picture:

And that was all I could eat because I'm pretty sure my stomach had shrunk after 5 days of not eating.

My sweet sister-in-law, Marlie was the champion. She was pregnant as well, and hosting Tyler's brother & his family at her home for a few months. Tyler had to get back to work, so she offered to take care of our kids. Marlie had 10(!!) kids at her house, the oldest was 9. Danica, my other sister-in-law, was the other champion--taking care of everyone and helping things run smoothly. I get emotional looking through these pictures they sent me while I was in the hospital. Their generosity went above & beyond the call of duty. I was at peace knowing the kids were being taken care of so well.

 I am in debt to those ladies forever!