I open to the inner depths of my being with courage and compassion


Monday, July 2, 2007

7th Anniversary!


Well, I'm a day late...yesterday was mine and Mike's 7th anniversary - on 7/1/07! Apparently 7/7/07 is going to be jam-packed with weddings because of the three 7's...my cousin is one of the many - Congrats to Brandon and Eren! Wish I could be there in Hawaii when it happens :-(

We didn't really do anything for our anniversary! But we're actually probably going to go out as a family later this week. We would go just the two of us, but plans I had with the girls for last week fell through, so we'll do a family date instead...so, backing up a little:

Mike was gone on the ship he's been working on - the USS Lincoln - for sea trials, from last Tuesday morning, to late late Saturday night. I didn't mention it in any of the posts I put up last week because I didn't really want the whole world to know I was home alone with two kids. Since he was gone, I was able to catch up on those posts...I'm usually too busy during the day to sit and write for an extended period of time, and then in the evenings we usually do stuff together...so since he was gone I had the evening to write, and didn't worry as much about the house mess, so wrote all Thursday morning too!

So, a little update since then...If anyone read my (boring) post about allergies, you know that on Thursday I was complaining about hives, and not sure if I should go to the doc or not. Well later that night I had another symptom on top of that, that had me pretty worried...I had really bad chest pain/tightness. It started late at night about bedtime, and made me nervous about going to sleep in case something major were to happen while I was sleeping. Not having Mike there made it worse, because I was the only one here to take care of the girls. Friday morning, I still had the hives, and the chest pain, so after talking to the consulting nurse, she thought it was okay to wait to come in for an appointment in the afternoon instead of going to the E.R. A little side note...Friday was SUPPOSED to be a really fun day that my friend Sarah and I had planned for our kids. We were going to go see Ratatouille, then get pizza and hang out at her place, and then we were going to spend the night there so that I could leave the kids there in the morning with her while I left to do paper route (her husband was out-of-town too, so it was perfect for both of us!). So, instead we had to cancel on the movie, and I wasn't even sure if I was going to be able to do the paper route - my allergies always get worse on route days, and the only worse they ever get at the point I have hives already is my throat closing up and needing a shot of epinepherine, so I didn't know if I'd be doing it until I talked to the doctor.

My usual doctor had a family emergency, so I saw another doctor at the clinic...so basically I had the two issues...the hives and the chest pain. What he said about the hives: Because of being pregnant, he wanted to wait until Monday before resorting to steroids which was apparently the only way to make them go away...I would have to just deal with them in the meantime. What he said about the chest pain: He thought it was asthma. A few years ago I got an inhaler for exercise-induced asthma, and only used it before exercise. So, that wasn't so surprising...I just didn't know if this is allergy-induced, pregnancy-induced, or just plain asthma. So...I guess I will see as different factors are eliminated...using the inhaler has helped. He also thought I would be okay to do the paper route, so that was a relief, because I don't know how long this will go on, and I don't want to be losing a lot of income. Another side note about route...I had mentioned in a post that I might be adding some Patriot routes, well...since these allergy issues I thought I should hold off, at least until they clear up (it's taking a lot longer than usual! - usually they last about 3-4 weeks in June, and I think this is week 5 or 6).

So...Friday night we still had a little fun...Sarah was watching my kids while I was at the doctor's, and on the way back to her place I picked up the pizza and some movie rentals. So we just hung out a little, and then we got the kids to bed (early for my kids, late for hers!) and soon after I went to bed too so I could get up a little earlier than usual for paper route. And it went fine, so that was a relief.

BUT (if you're still with me)...at this point the hives and the chest pain were STILL going on! So, I just figured I'd wait at least until the morning and after Mike was home before going back in to the doctor. We picked up Mike late Saturday night at the Kingston ferry, and I was SO happy to have him back! I AM NOT cut out to be a military wife! Any of you reading this...BLESS YOU!

Sunday morning I missed church to go to the doctor again...that night the hives were especially painful....up until then they were mostly just an annoyance, but by then I wanted to see if they could do anything to make them go away, and the chest pain really had me nervous. When I went in my blood pressure was 154 over something! Usually I have very low blood pressure, in the range of 97-107 over something. The only good thing about that is that they got me in to be seen immediately. This doctor said the same thing about the hives - they didn't want to give me steroids because of the baby - so basically I am sticking out these hives indefinitely (it's Monday night...I still have them). But he did give me some ideas on how to ease the discomfort, so that was helpful. And as far as the chest pain, he assured me that it wasn't anything serious, it's...... HEARTBURN! I COULD NOT believe it! It felt NOTHING like any heartburn I'd experienced before, and it really felt like it was something serious. Of course I'm relieved, it's just so weird! I think the high blood pressure was related to my anxiety, because after he reassured me I was fine, and before I left, they took it again and it was 117 over something. So, he suggested a liquid antacid...so, so much for my perfect antacid I wrote about in my pregnancy post...I get to take yucky Mylanta.

So that's how I spent our anniversary morning yesterday...the rest of the day we pretty much hung out, then we went to my parents house for dinner and hung out some more. As far as any celebration, I think we both told each other "Happy Anniversary"...it was just not the best day for romance...me pregnant with hives, and Mike trying to get his bearings after being on a ship for 5 days :-) Like I said, I thought we might go out together later this week, but since the plans to see "Ratatouille" with the girls fell through, and Mike was interested in seeing it too, we'll go out as a family. There's always next year right?

Our plans for the 4th are to go to the tour of the ship Mike was working on...it's in Everett now and they're doing tours of the ship that day. It would be fun for the girls and me to see where he's been working all this time. But I just found out this evening that this plan might not work out, because (need to check on this) they're not allowing kids under 8 - so who knows what we'll do if that's the case. We were going to meet up with the Klemm's (Keith will be deployed on that ship later this year), and Robert & Rachel and family...hope that happens, because we'll get to meet our new nephew Calvin for the first time! Update: Yup, it's for kids 8 and older, so we won't be going after all...not sure what we'll be doing tomorrow. Guess you'll all find out after the fact :-)

Adrienne is always wanting to know the "why" behind what we're doing...which is good of course, she asked why we celebrate the 4th, so I explained to her as well as I could for a 5-year-old to comprehend. She found it interesting and thinks she'll like to learn more history when she's in school :-) Then she busied herself with making flags to get ready to celebrate on Wednesday. Everyone that has kids or is around kids knows that they're always saying and doing "the darndest things", and of course my kids are no exception, but I don't think I've written too much about those things here on this blog. Before this blog, I'd update a word document once in awhile and elaborate on the little notes I'd written to remind myself about cute or funny things they'd said or done. But now that I do have this blog, I thought I'd put those things on here instead of in the word document. So, I've got a draft with my notes, and I'll elaborate on those sometime in the next few weeks or so.

Hope you all have a fun and safe 4th!

Tuesday, July 3rd - Wanted to add this video. I just happened across it at my parents house on Sunday, our anniversary. I know, it's super sappy. Even though I said our anniversary wasn't very romantic, I was feeling emotional that day because I was really happy and thankful to have Mike back, and I realize how much I need him...so this song rung especially true for me then. I don't think it would have affected me the same way if it were just two singers, but since Faith Hill and Tim McGraw are married, it touched me:

2 comments:

Elizabeth said...

I had no idea heartburn could cause those kinds of symptoms! I bet you were scared, especially with Mike being gone. I hope it all gets better for you!

Jim Thomsen said...

I feel your pain on the allergies. I usually have to pop at least two Claritin Redi-Tabs to get through the day. Sometimes more if I do my daily walk/run at Lions Field or Evergreen-Rotary Park. Must be a lot of cherry blossom trees around there ....

The funny thing is that until maybe five years ago, I didn't have allergies at all. Now they OWN me. Funny how our bodies shift and settle and change with age ....