Happy Birthday to Jenna!
Happy birthday to Jenna! This obviously isn’t a picture of her, but it is the sunset as we were driving home tonight.
1 comment August 20th, 2008
Posts filed under 'Life'
“Now Reading” is now broken.
I can’t remember the last time I tried to update my Now Reading section, but it’s on the fritz and Kevin has tried to fix it multiple times. I might have to perform last rites and play Taps in loving memory…
IN the meantime, I will let you in on some books I just recently finished:
The Life You Want Your Kids to Live by Les Parrott, Sr. and Les Parrott, III
Fabulous. A quick read with powerful info.
How to Really Love Your Child by Ross Campbell
Campbell is the co-author of The Five Love Languages for Children, and I highly recommend both books to any parent, especially to those with school-aged children.
…Book of Christian Parenting & Child Care… by William & Martha Sears
The title is Really long but the book is Really good. I am liking the Sears’ books more and more… and it only took me 2.5 kids to figure this out.
Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way by Susan McCutcheon
Just for practice! I never heard of Bradley methods until I was well into my pregnancy with Kennedy (or maybe it was just afterwards..?).
Lord, Teach Me to Pray by Kay Arthur
I did this as a Bible study with some ladies from my Sunday School class. I enjoy summer Bible study and was glad to spend directed time in the Word.
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
Wow. A complete 180 from the other books listed above (actually, from ANY book I’ve ever read). I don’t trust an economist as far as I can throw him, but after reading this book, I do look at some things a little bit differently. I recommend this book, but it’s not for the faint of heart.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Another “different” kind of book… I didn’t agree with a lot of things in this book, especially her views on religion and family. But, it was a fun read. I DO want to visit Italy but not India or Indonesia. (And that’s not any different from how I felt before I read the book.)
Here are the books I have planned to read next:
The Shack by William P. Young
Kevin just finished reading this book. My mom and dad have read this book, along with my dad’s book club. They are speechless about it, apparently because they don’t want to give anything away…
Marley & Me: Life & Love With the World’s Worst Dog by John Grogan
My sister-in-law talked about this book a few years ago and I saw that a movie of this book is coming out soon. (I’m always the last to read things, but this time I thought I’d be proactive.)
And a book by Francine Rivers. I’ve heard she’s a fabulous author, so I reserved one of her books at the library. I think it’s called The Last Sin Eater.
These books are already on top of the ones I’m currently reading AND already have planned for next in the deceased Now Reading library. (May it rest in peace.) I’m on my way to 50 books for sure!
And in case you’re wondering, I’m trying to get them all finished before the Baby Girl makes her grand entrance into the world. Which, if you haven’t noticed, is roughly 8 weeks before the end of the year, and is roughly 7 weeks before Christmas… so I’m also trying to get my Christmas shopping done even earlier than imaginable.
Did I mention I’m 26 weeks pregnant now? I don’t want to think about what else I need to tackle in the next 14 weeks.. or 3 months… or 98 days… (give or take a few days)
4 comments August 9th, 2008
Where do I begin?
This summer has been quite emotional for me. Several members of our church have passed away. Let me retract that statement. Several serving and active members of our church passed away this summer. These are people that weren’t just fixtures on the wall. They got their hands dirty to serve and to be used by the Lord, for many years. They sent me (or made me) baby gifts when the kids were born. They came to our wedding. They called us by name in the hallway. And the Lord has called them Home.
Then just yesterday I heard that my former boss passed away last week while we were vacationing. I just spent an hour crying to Kevin about this event, and hopefully it won’t take me an hour to blog about it. My first words through my tears to Kevin about my boss were, “She was so mean to me.” I don’t know any other way to say that, but she was. I endured the year with her while pregnant with Colby, and she was mean to me. If it weren’t for a handful of wonderful students and their awesome parents, I would never have made it through that year. Figuratively speaking, my boss had a “good list” and a “bad list” - and pretty much everyone under the age of 30 was on the “bad list”. I never knew why. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t work my way off the “bad list”.
And yet, the things I remember about this boss were the good things; she was the first person (after Kevin) to whom I announced my pregnancy. I pretty much had to, so she would cut me some slack. And then, she was the person I called when I was in labor, to let her know I wouldn’t be at work the next day. I still remember her voice at 11:30 that night - “Good luck, Jenna, we’re all pulling for you!”, she said sleepily.
Why am I blogging about this? For starters, I’m just so confused about what to feel. I am sad for her family. She had a son my age, and we went to high school together. His kids will never know their grandmother. I am also upset about my feelings. I thought I had forgiven her for what she did to me but hearing about her death has brought up emotions I thought I had conquered. Jesus told us that when someone offends us, we are to forgive him/her for that offense 70 x 7 times. Now, I’m not keeping a running tally of how many times I’ve forgiven her, but I thought it was surely close to that by now. I am not rejoicing over her death, only that she is in Heaven now. There were many who loved her and respected her, and I just wish she had given me the chance to do so.
I don’t feel “unvindicated” by her death, if that makes any sense… I know there’s no way I could have ever told her what a horrible year I had with her. Kevin put it so succinctly, “Now our job is to train our 2.5 kids to love and respect others, because we don’t want them to have to experience what you went through.” Well said. Well said.
1 comment July 24th, 2008
Boy? Or Girl? We tell…
UPDATE: I’ve unprotected the post so the world can see it.
Jenna and I had the big ultrasound appointment today, and now we have the results. Thanks to all that participated in our vote, it was a lot of fun for us! We actually had the polls going on in two different places. The first was here and the second was on a local Mamas forum that Jenna regularly reads and posts on.
Anyway, the ladies on the forums really threw the vote in one direction… towards the girl result. The total between the two was 65% for girl, and 35% for boy. See figure 1, the beautiful pie chart: ooooh, ahhhh!
So who was right? Drumroll please! Wait, not just yet… let’s do the “funny” item I referred to in my previous post. We had some funny commentary come along with the votes, and I wanted to share a few of them.
“I say a boy because you are carrying like me - and that’s what I think ours is. No other reason.”
- Erin J
(Erin and Gregg found out two days ago that they are having a girl… hmmm…)“Girl - Kevin and Colby are enough man for one house.”
- Kyle G.“The new child in Jenna’s womb is a boy.”
- Thomas S.“I have mathematically determined the sex of your child!! This was done through multiple tests of the theory of probability. The majority of the time the result was GIRL!!!”
- Clay S.
(Clay then proceeded to go into a long mathematical explanation. I’ll spare you.)
You guys are pretty funny. Lets reveal who got it right in the KevinAndJenna blog vote. These people voted correctly:
- Suzy J.
- Ashley S.
- Tiffany R.
- Shala S.
- Grandmom (Kevin’s mom)
- Chris H.
- Kyle G.
- Clay S.
- Granddad (Kevin’s dad)
- Rachel S.
- Doug S.
Can you tell I am dragging this out? Well for all you smarties that looked back at the quotes above and compared them to this list, I’m sure you figured out we’re having a Girl! Everything with her looks great and she was a very wiggly girl. She’s estimated to weigh about 11 ounces right now and the due date is now November 17th (as opposed to the 19th). We told Colby and Kennedy this evening, here’s the video:
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
And finally here are some pictures. As I said in the previous post, we were pretty disappointed that we didn’t get to do the video of the ultrasound this time. The technician did print out a lot of pictures, but most of them weren’t that interesting. Click on them to enlarge:
^ Profile Shot ^
^ Screen measuring the hearbeat ^
^ And finally, the “proof” that we are having a girl. ^
Thanks again to everyone for playing, we had fun with this.
8 comments June 25th, 2008
“Happy Fahder’s Day!”
Ok yes, I know it’s not Father’s Day anymore, but I’m just getting around to posting. So I had a wonderful Father’s Day. Jenna, the Kids, and I went down to Galveston to stay at the beach house at Crystal Beach. Jenna and the kids went down with her parents on Thursday night and Cooper and I went down after work on Friday.
The weekend was full of fun. We went to the beach a few times in the mornings…
We also went to the beach at night…
Just hanging out after fishing…
And my most favorite part actually on Father’s Day, I had two kids both wearing shirts that said “My Dad Rocks”. I loved it. They wore them to lunch, on the ferry ride, and all the way home!
2 comments June 23rd, 2008
Boy? Or Girl? You guess…
Ok, so Jenna and I go for the big ultrasound appointment next Wednesday and we want your thoughts on whether baby #3 is a boy or a girl. So, we’re having a contest. There’s not really a prize since everyone has a 50% chance of getting it right and there is the potential for “multiple winners”. So, we’ll just say we will put your name here if you get it right. The glory of your name being on this wonderfully famous blog *cough cough* will be your prize. We WILL do another contest later once the sex is determined to guess the name. We will probably have a prize for that contest.
So here’s a picture from tonight for all you folks that think you can guess by looking (click for a larger view):
So, here are the rules:
1) You must submit your guess before the actual appointment. We’ll say the deadline is next Wednesday 6/25 at noon UPDATE: 2pm UPDATE: Voting ended.
2) Enter your vote by using the Contact Us form on the blog. Jenna and I will both receive the email and log your vote.
3) Add a comment to this post, letting us (and everyone else) know that you posted a vote. It is up to you whether or not you wish to reveal your guess.
Everyone that submits a vote will find out 24 hours before a blog is posted. You will be notified by email, so be sure to enter it correctly when you use the contact us form to enter. Everyone else will find out via the blog.
Alright, let the voting begin! UPDATE: Voting ended.
18 comments June 18th, 2008
How did I know?
I’ve never been pregnant throughout the months of May, June, and July. I’d like to say I planned it that way, because the Texas pollen blooms during April, May, and June. And, these not-so-wonderful allergens have found their way to my already swollen membrane of a nasal passage. That should have been my first hint of being pregnant… but I chalked it up to the heightened pollen counts.
Many people have asked me, “What made you take a pregnancy test?” or “How did you know you were pregnant?” Some might call it Mother’s Intuition, but really I just had to look at all the signs.
You’ve already read the first one. Here’s another one. I started craving hospital food. Who does that? Apparently this pregnant woman does. The thought of the milk in a little carton, with the “iced” tea in a plastic juice container you have to poke with a straw to drink out of… topped off with a slice of bread and some margarine… yum, yum. (Okay, so maybe it doesn’t sound so good now but about 8 weeks ago it was like heaven.)
I heard a story just today about a couple who had been trying for over 2 years to get pregnant. She had had enough, so she called the fertility specialist to make an appointment. Later that same day, her husband came home to find her eating an entire jar of pickles. He said to her, “You don’t even like pickles!… Are you pregnant?” She went to take the test, and sure enough, it came out positive. So, weirder things have happened.
Here’s another. I started having dreams that I was pregnant again. I just thought it might be wishful thinking. Don’t get me wrong; I was still enjoying Kennedy being a baby and thought I might hold on to that for a little bit longer. But there was something inside of me trying to prepare me for another child. I love my kids and I don’t think I could even have planned how much I love them. (which is unusual for me… Usually I have these things in triplicate.) I can’t even explain how I love this baby just as much as I love them. I haven’t even (really) seen him or her yet and I can’t wait to meet this little life.
Okay, I almost got stuck in sappy-ville on that one. The last “sign” was the obvious one, the positive pregnancy test. But how did I know to take it? Let me back up a bit… In January, I had been having some spotting due to my birth control pill (remember the mix-up?) so I had what I thought was a period. So, a month later, when I did not have another period, I went to the Dollar Store and bought 2 pregnancy tests. And yes, you heard me right. They are $1 each. You have to ask for them, but they’re much cheaper than the drugstore kind and work just as well. So, I went home, took one test, and it was negative.
I figured then I could just chart my “periods” or the absence of them and all would be well, right? Wrong. Turns out I got the timing all wrong and I zigged when I should have zagged. Or something. So, the week before I took the test, I had been feeling SO TIRED. I really, seriously thought I had mono or something. I was so tired and couldn’t get out of bed or take care of the kids… I really did not know what was happening with me. Then, a friend of mine started having nausea and cramping. I called her and said, “So you’re pregnant, right?” She said she had taken 3 pregnancy tests and they all came out negative.
One night I was talking to Alicia on the phone and telling her about how tired I was. Then I mentioned how I was feeling a little sick too and not wanting to smell certain foods. (I’ll blog about that another day.) She and I both didn’t really think anything of it, but when I got off the phone with her, I thought, “This is pregnancy nausea…” That same night I had another dream I was pregnant. It was such a peaceful dream and yet I woke up feeling so anxious too.
The next morning I woke up, walked straight into the bathroom, grabbed the test, and started reading. Kevin said, “Do you think you’re pregnant?” I held my hand up to him, saying, “Just wait a sec. Or 2 minutes.” I never would have had a test on hand because one they’re expensive and two they expire. And, had I not had the experience a few months prior, I would have had to wait to give Kevin the news.
If you’ve ever taken a pregnancy test, the kind where you pee on the stick, you’ll know that as soon as you pee, the little windows fill up and the lines show up (or not). With all 3 of my positive pregnancy tests, I have seen the two lines fill up right away. The test instructions tell you to wait a few minutes for the test to be valid, but as soon as I have taken the test, I knew for sure! I tried not to let Kevin see my excited face, since he is so “by the book” about everything - he wanted to wait 2 minutes, no more no less.
So what does all this mean? And why am I typing it all out? All of these signs individually probably meant nothing. But together, they meant baby. So many times we say, “God, if you’re real, just show yourself to me.” Or, “God, I just need You to give me a sign.” I’m not above asking God to make sure I’m in His will, but when we need signs to get us to believe in Him, that’s a false faith.
Allergies. Hospital food. Dreams. Weariness and nausea. And an extra pregnancy test. How do you see God in your everyday life?
Add comment June 6th, 2008
16 weeks and feeling it…
….movement, that is! I have been feeling Baby move around for a few weeks now but he/she was finally able to share the love with Kevin last night. Kevin felt a pretty big kick or elbow or some kind of jerky movement from the baby as I was lying down to go to sleep.
Next doctor’s appointment is this Friday. The Grubbs Household has had our share of the summer cold and we’re ready to pass it on, thank you. So, I haven’t gained much weight because I haven’t felt like eating much and I’ve been taking care of sick kiddos. This pregnancy is definitely much different from Kennedy’s, when I gained so much weight right at the beginning (and then I ended up gaining the same amount of weight as I did with Colby…). Who knows? 3 more weeks til the big reveal!
Add comment June 4th, 2008
Weaning & Potty Training
….was my answer when my friend Shala asked me “What are y’all up to?”. Kevin made sure to clarify that it’s Kennedy we’re weaning and Colby we’re potty training. Ha. ha.
Weaning: As soon as Kennedy turned 1, I breathed a huge sigh of relief that I had made it to the “magical year mark”, and I think my body stopped producing as much. We’re slowly cutting down on the number of feedings she has, but she still wants to nurse, so I let her. (I think we’re at 2 per day now.) She won’t take a bottle and also doesn’t want to drink whole milk, so we mix it with some Yo Baby Yogurt in a straw cup. That yogurt is yummy.
Potty Training: I recently read the book Potty Training for Dummies to help me with this task. And basically, the book says to let the kid wait til he’s ready. Apparently Thursday was the day. He woke up from his nap with a completely dry diaper (first time ever, I think), so I told him to sit on his potty, and he went! First time he’s done that for me, so we made a big big deal of it and called his daddy on the phone and then told him he could start wearing big boy underwear. He chose his Lightning McQueen underwear and has been doing great ever since! (I won’t say he hasn’t had accidents, but Rome wasn’t built in a day! He’s doing great.)
We bought Colby a Baby Bjorn potty. Best invention ever. Colby got to pick out the color himself (red) and he’s totally comfortable sitting on it and reading some of his books while he… goes. 
He also wears a pull-up or a diaper at night. We’ve been reading the book My Big Boy Potty by Joanna Cole for awhile now (we checked it out at the library a couple of times). In that book, Michael still wears a diaper at night, until he learns to stay dry at night. Colby has memorized this book, so we make sure to quote lines from it so he can be “just like Michael”. Of course, all of this means we have to stay close to the potty and/or take it with us everywhere we go, which means we haven’t been on time for anything since Thursday. It’ll get better.
***Update: Now Colby is not wearing a diaper at night; he wants to wear his Lightening pull-ups and won’t wear diapers anymore. He’s averaging about 2-3 pull-ups per day. I’ll keep you posted.
Kevin and I have great kids. Thanks for reading this far on 2 yucky subjects.
2 comments April 14th, 2008
Bluebonnet (and Indian Paintbrush) Pictures
We went to Old Baylor this year to take the annual pictures in the bluebonnets. (very close to the Antique Rose Emporium in Independence, TX) I highly recommend this spot; it was wonderfully colorful!
I wish I knew how to make this easier… Pictures are in our gallery - click on Photos at the top OR Our Photo Gallery at the right, then click Combined Pictures of Our Kids, then 2008, then March. Enjoy!
2 comments April 7th, 2008
Role Models vs. Titus Women
Did you ever have role models? There are wonderful women in our church that I have looked up to for years now. I have watched them raise their families, teach Sunday School, and hold various positions of notoriety in our town. I still think they “hung the moon”. But I think I held some unrealistic expectations of them. After all, they are human and they are capable of every emotion, good and bad. I just never saw their bad side.
Don’t think that something has happened to one of these women to make me change my mind about them. I am just realizing now that it’s time for me to stop aspiring to be one of them and to follow my own life’s plan. I can’t be them; I’m not them! It’s hard for me to think that maybe somewhere other little girls might be looking up to me, wanting to be like me. (And I don’t say this to be proud, I say it because I have a daughter that will hopefully want to be at least a little bit like me.)
So how do I be “all that I can be” without joining the army? How is it possible for me to aspire to be perfect, when I fall so laughably short? I keep running across these verses -
“…the older women [should] be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.” - Titus 2:3-5 (NIV)
The New Living Translation says if the older women do these things, “then they will not bring shame on the word of God”. Wow. What a responsibility. I don’t claim to be old, but I know I’m older than most of the people I am around, and I know my life choices make me “older” than most. (being married, having kids, etc.)
So, I don’t want to be a role model. I want to be a Titus Woman. Next week I’ll pick out my costume. Hopefully it will have a cape.
Add comment March 15th, 2008
Aggie Baseball rules
I cannot take any credit for this. Alicia wrote them all. But they are great, and I concur. Make sure you follow these to the letter.
So, in case you haven’t been told yet, the most entertaining and addicting* sport here at Texas A&M is baseball. And at last, baseball season starts this Friday, Feb. 22!! The whole reason I bring this up is that I want us to reserve a row. Not a Percussion Studio row, but a “bring everyone you know and let’s hang out and watch some great baseball” row. And by “reserve a row”, I mean that we have to be there early the first game to get a good row, and then we must sit in the exact same spot for every game. It may sound lame, but this is how it works at Olsen. Otherwise, you are one of the losers wandering around looking for your friends. So please post here if you are ready to commit to sitting on a designated row for the season. This does not mean that you will be there for every game! It just means that you will be in attendance for a good number of games (there are 39 home games, and I’m thinking you should be looking at going to at least 15 of them to make this commitment) and that you would be interested in sitting with other cool people.
As in any organized society, Olsen Field has rules. And these rules specifically apply to the row that we will reserve:
1) Do not yell at the first base coach to get in the box. I was in the stands when that was invented, and you don’t even know what you’re talking about. It is not cool, entertaining, or even remotely funny. It is dumb. Olsen is about originality, not mob mentality.
2) Only yell “Blue, you suck!” when there are no other words in the English language that suffice in this instance. See point #1.
3) Game time is posted on the website. Only a university excused absence will excuse tardiness. (j/k)
4) Everyone gets heckled at Olsen, including other Aggie fans. It’s all in good fun, so lighten up and laugh. And then yell at the next person that does something stupid.
5) If someone makes a good play, you applaud their outstanding physical prowess regardless of what uniform they wear. We respect hard work at Olsen.
6) Do not yell, “Hello?!?” at people who are on the phone. You don’t know what kind of emergency would call their attention from a baseball game.
7) Stay until the end of the game. I have seen (with my own two eyes) us come back from an EIGHT RUN deficit in the EIGHTH INNING to win the game 10-9 (vs. Nebraska). I have also seen us beat Tech (amazing!) in the bottom of the 10th inning by ONE RUN off of a GRAND SLAM. It ain’t over till the fat lady sings, and we have this special substance we call “Olsen Magic” on our side.
8 ) We do not talk about a certain city in Nebraska until after Super Regionals. Period.
9) If you have something intelligent/witty to yell at players/coaches/fans/umpires, keep it short. We don’t keep stenographers in the stands.
10) Take care of the fans that sit around you. We’re all there to support our team, so get to know them and reserve their seats when they have to be late for whatever reason.
She wrote this sometime last week, and we ended up losing 3 out of 4 games this past weekend. Hopefully the Aggies’ luck will change starting tonight. Gig ‘em, Ags.
3 comments February 29th, 2008
Library Updated
Kevin and I have been adding the books we’ve read into our “Library”. Look on the right-hand side of our page to peruse, and don’t talk above a whisper.
1 comment February 5th, 2008
Trip to the ER
What? Yeah, that’s what everyone else thought when they heard too. By the way, this is really long. The moral is: DON’T EVER GO TO THE ER.
So, you might remember that a few weeks ago, I thought I had a kidney stone. I endured the pain, thinking it would pass, but I also contracted a fever and chills on Christmas day. So I made a doctor’s appointment for the Friday after Christmas, the 28th, hoping he could tell me why I had had such extreme pain in my abdomen for 2 weeks straight. (And actually, when I called on Thursday the 27th, the receptionist told me my doctor could see me the following Monday, but I pleaded with her that I was in a lot of pain, and she worked me in. My doctor must have wanted to leave early that day because there was pretty much no one there in the office.)
Kevin dropped me off at the doctor’s office because the kids had to go take their naps. After the standard weight and height check (I haven’t grown taller since the 8th grade; I don’t know why they keep checking.), they asked me why I was there. I told a nurse I had been having severe abdominal pain for 2 weeks straight. So the doctor came in and asked me why I was there. I told him I had been having severe abdominal pain for 2 weeks straight. (Just wait, it gets better.) He told me to “hop up on the table” (yeah, right) so he could check me out. He pressed on my abdomen for awhile, I screamed and cried, and he told me we needed to have a CT scan run on me. He called over to radiology to have them set it up. I called Kevin to keep him updated on my progress.
So I wait for just a few minutes more when the doctor’s head nurse (??) comes in and asked me why I needed a CT scan. I said, “I have had severe abdominal pain for 2 weeks straight.” Come on, I’m not a doctor, and I don’t play one on tv. She said, “Well, the CT machine is not operating right now. They’re doing routine maintenance on it because it’s the holidays and they didn’t figure too many people would need it. So, we’re going to send you to the ER so you can have a CT scan.”
Exit head nurse, enter doctor. (By the way, I really do like this doctor.) The doctor tells me he wants to run the scan to check for either a kidney stone, appendicitis, or an ovarian cyst. He said if it doesn’t show any of those things, he would bet it was a bladder infection. (It wasn’t a bladder infection. I’ve had one of those and it hurts when you pee. I only had severe abdominal… you get the picture.)
So, Katrina came over while the kids finished napping, and I told Kevin to grab a book - we were going to the ER. We got there, signed in, another weight and height check, and they asked what my level of pain was and why I was there. I told them I wasn’t having too much pain at that moment but that I had been having severe abdominal pain for 2 weeks straight. The check-in nurse asked, “And you’re just now coming in?” Look, people, I gave birth to 2 babies WITHOUT DRUGS. I know what pain is, and I thought it was a kidney stone that would pass. Give me a break. We exit to the waiting room with 18 people in front of me. Oh, joy.
As we waited (and read our books), the pain started getting increasingly worse. I tell this to the nurse who checked me in, and she puts me in the “front of the line”. Sort of. Also in “the front” was a guy who had a cough so bad it sounded like a piece of his lung might just come barreling out of his throat at any time. We sat across from him. There were no other chairs. This guy told us he worked in this same ER before and that the doctors are not in any hurry to see many patients. Wonderful.
We wait, and my mind is eased for a bit, but the pain gets so bad that the room starts to spin. I don’t remember much, but I remember the Lung Hacking Guy got up and told the nurse that they better come get me quick. The check-in nurse told me to not eat or drink anything if I feel dizzy. (What?) So they finally call my name, and I get up to go follow them. But my brain must not have told all the rest of me to go, because the next thing I remember is holding on to the wall, trying not to fall on the ground. They grabbed a wheelchair and rushed me to a “room”/curtain area in the ER.
The nice ER nurses poke and prod me with needles to take a blood sample and to insert an IV. They asked me why I was here. “Ahem….” (I told them. Again, the response of “Why didn’t you come in before?” And after the fact, my response is, “I’m never coming here again.”) My doctor was Dr. Jerk. No, that’s not his real name, just his attitude. He told me the problem I was having was with my gallbladder. I doubted his opinion and he asked me a lot of unrelated questions but decided to do an ultrasound on my abdominal area to make sure it was the gallbladder. He said, “I could be wrong, but let’s go that route.”
Great. So, we wait. (Oh, and I know you’re asking, “Why didn’t they just run the CT scan like your other nice doctor wanted you to?” We called his office and he had already left for the day, and for some reason they couldn’t call in orders to the ER, that the ER doc would just have to order it. Again, great. We told Dr. Jerk that Dr. Nice wanted to have a CT scan run, but he doesn’t listen. More greatness.)
They end up making me wait a good bit and during this, my pain gets really bad, so they give me a pain killer in my arm. I kept making sure to anyone I talked to that whatever they did had to be safe for Kennedy because I’m still nursing. (Also, this is why I didn’t want to go to the doctor in the first place, in case the only option was something I wasn’t willing to do.) But, the medicine they gave me saved the night.
The radiology lady comes in and escorts me, via wheelchair, to the ultrasound room. (By this time, they have confirmed through my blood test that I’m NOT pregnant, nor do I have cancer.) She rubs on my abdomen for awhile but says nothing. They roll me back into my ER room and Dr. Jerk comes in and says, “Well, it’s not your gallbladder.” Big surprise. Gallbladder trouble runs in your family. I have no family history of it, nor do I have kidney stone history, ovarian cyst history, nor liver trouble history… Dr. Jerk then tells me, “I’m going to have a CT scan run on you.” Great. We could have done that 4 hours ago.
We wait some more. Somewhere in there, I have to take a urine test. Kevin watches and tells me I have great aim, especially while holding my own hospital gown. Thanks, babe. Also, Kevin is my go-between, asking things that I forget about while Dr. Jerk is in the room for 2.5 seconds each time. One of the things I ask for is FOOD; I’m still nursing and I’m always hungry. Dr. Jerk tells him he doesn’t want me to eat or drink in case they have to do surgery on me. Great. But Kevin was a prince; he didn’t have anything to eat or drink the entire time we were there. He said if I couldn’t eat, he wouldn’t eat.
Oh, and also somewhere in there, my parents bring my breastpump. Kevin goes to get it and finds Lung Hacking guy STILL WAITING. This is after we’ve been in the room for almost 3 hours. Good grief. While I’m pumping, Dr. Jerk comes in and tells me he could fall asleep to that sound. A little creepy, but his wife also is nursing and she pumps every night before bed.
SO! The CT scan lady (finally) comes in, and she is a bit of a comedic relief. I’ve never had a CT scan, and I was a little afraid of it, but she put my mind at ease. Kevin got to view my insides. He said they were cool. I asked the lady if I had appendicitis, which was what I thought I had, and she said she wasn’t told to check for it, only for kidney stones. (WHAT?) Anyway, Dr. Jerk reviews my scan, my pain is much more bearable by now, and he comes in to say, “Basically, we don’t know what is wrong. In addition to what you didn’t have already, we know you don’t have appendicitis, a kidney stone, an ovarian cyst, or a bladder infection.”
I think he expected me to throw a punch at him, but actually, I was pretty at ease about the “diagnosis”. I didn’t have any of the things the doctors thought I had. A wave of peace came over me and I told him, “Thank you for telling me what I don’t have.” I sincerely meant it, too, because I then realized, after 7 hours in the ER, that there is only ONE Great Physician that really knows my ailments. The medical profession is not about faith or about trust, it is about science and actual data. When the actual data shows up void, they have no answers. But I do.
The ER doc sent me home with a handshake and a couple of prescriptions, which I’ve been taking as the pain has hit. Usually I’ll have 2 really good days and then 1 day of pain. This is INCREDIBLE, because before I had been having pain non-stop for 2 weeks, if you’ll remember. I’m slowly recovering, but I know that in God’s time, He will make me well.
Dr. J told me that a lot of people come into the ER wanting answers and if they don’t get them, they’re pretty mad. I’m not mad, in fact, I’m quite the opposite. I am joyful that I get to share this long (and hopefully humorous) story with you. I hope you all remember Who is in charge of this world and Who cares about each one of our needs, big or small. I don’t need answers; I need faith and perseverance.
If you have read to the end of this story, thank you. If you want to know how to help me, please pray that God would make me a better Wife and Mom through my pain. If He doesn’t want to reveal to me the source of my pain, then I am okay with that, but I do need to know how to live with it and how to manage it better. The hard part is at night when I need to do dinner and bath and bedtime with the kids. Please pray for Kevin, too, as the whole experience, I’m sure, has been hard on him. It’s always hard to watch someone you love be in so much pain and not be able to help them. Kevin was a rock especially when we delivered our babies because we both knew what the end result would be. This time we don’t have such clear answers. Again, I am grateful that He is allowing me some pain-free days, and I am praying that eventually this would be gone so that I don’t have any recollection of it. What a day of rejoicing that will be!
So, if you’re wondering why we didn’t send out Christmas cards, there’s your answer. We are hoping to send out Valentine’s cards or somesuch. Thanks again for reading.
5 comments January 14th, 2008