Adventures in the ER

So I thought I better post about my "exciting" last week. I managed to get a staph infection somehow, and it has been an adventure. Here's the story. (By the way, this will probably be long, so don't feel like you need to read it). So last Tuesday I started to get a minor sore throat just on the right side and my right glands felt a little bit swollen like I might be getting sick. Then on Wednesday my right ear lobe, of all places, started hurting as well as a small lump on my neck right under my lobe. I thought maybe I had worn some bad earrings, and the lump was just part of the gland or something. But then on Thursday I woke up and my ear was about twice the size of my other ear and it was red and my whole neck was hurting. So I started thinking something was wrong. However, I had my 32 week checkup the next morning (Friday) so I figured I would wait until then, and ask my doctor what I should do. In the meantime I had this lovely throbbing headache and my neck was all puffed.

So Friday I woke up and everything was swollen and red as well as the right side of my face now (a couple inches on my face). So I went to my appointment Friday morning and he checked the baby and everything is great, and then I showed him my ear and he said "Yikes. That's the wrong end of the body for me. I have no idea." So he called in a favor from a fellow doctor friend down the hall and got me in to see him. So I went and first saw the nurse practitioner and she gave me the look that you never want to see from a doctor. That puzzled-concerned-I-really-don't-like-what-I'm-seeing look. So she asked me a bunch of questions and then she asked if I minded if she brought a student in to see it because it's so rare they get to see something like this. Awesome. So the student came in along with the doctor, and they said it was a strep infection and it's hard to treat since I'm pregnant, etc. So they gave me antibiotics and very sternly told me if it got worse or didn't get better I needed to go to the emergency room (apparently staph infections can be deadly). Wonderful. So I left the doctor's office in tears with these horrible visions of an emergency c-section because the baby was in distress and I was dying...anyway, that didn't happen.

So I went and got my antibiotics and went home. By this point I had chills, aches, and I felt like I was getting a fever. So Jeremy came home at about 1:00 and fed me and tried to warm me up because I was freezing and he gave me a very nice blessing saying I would recover and the baby would be healthy. So that emotionally made me feel better. But I just felt awful physically and we were worried it was getting worse. My mom had been talking to her doctor friend and he kept telling her, "she has to go to the hospital right now! This is bad". So we decided about 2:30 that we should go to the emergency room. Good choice.

So we get to the emergency room and I was freezing and my resting heart rate was 134. (That's not good. They tell pregnant women to be careful when they work out to not get their heart rate above 140). So we tell them what's going on and the doctor there said what the other doctor gave me was no good and had a small chance of working, but probably wouldn't have done anything. Great. So he put me on an IV to get more antibiotics as well as another oral antibiotic. He said it was a staph infection and they are hard to treat in the ear/face area, especially since I'm pregnant. (By the way, I've seen a different doctor in the ER everyday and they go back and forth about what it is; I'm calling it staph, but who knows). But he called my doctor and they agreed these antibiotics were the best and the safest. He said the worst possible thing they could do would be nothing. So I got my IV (that was a first for me, woohoo) and I huddled under all my warm blankets they brought me and waited till he freed me. They said I needed to keep coming back ever 24 hours for more IV until it goes away. The happiest moment though was when they said I could take Tylenol! My head had been throbbing and I had a fever, so once I took that I felt sooooo much better. And my grandparents were so sweet and came and visited us and then took us to get something to eat.

So by Sunday night I was feeling a ton better, and my heartrate was back to normal. Sunday at church was a bit of a daze since I had hardly slept, but the choir was singing and Jeremy was speaking so I wanted to go. (He did very well by the way). Anyway, it is now Wednesday, and I'm still going in every 24 hours for the IV. Today will be the 6th time and I'm hoping I don't have 6 more. It's looking a lot better. The swelling is definitely down, but some of the redness is still there. I'm also taking a pill twice a day for 10 days, so hopefully this thing will give up and leave! But I'm very grateful I'm okay and especially that the baby is okay. I guess I was due for some drama. My pregnancy had been pretty much perfect up to this point, with Tums being the extent of any "drugs" taken. But everything is working out and I appreciate everyone's concern. And now, at my mother's request, I have a fuzzy picture I took of my face on Friday after I got home from the doctor (the first time) so I could monitor the line on my face. It's not the best picture, but here it is:
It's hard to see that it's swollen because you can't see my other ear, but it was, I promise. I'm glad I have long hair! That's how I felt okay going out in public with a bright red ear.

And here's a picture I took this morning. I tried to get the same angle, it kind of worked. But the lighting is different. Anyway, you can see that it's mostly faded. (And now peeling, gross).
Anyway, sorry that was so long. But besides having a needle in my arm 24/7 I'm doing great! I'll update again once it's all over. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a very nice Valentine's Day yesterday. Most of it was spent lounging around since Jeremy was sick (he spent most of the day in bed or on the couch), but it was nice to relax! We watched Wall-E for the first time in the morning and it was really cute. Then later that night we made a delicious steak dinner, (steak topped with caramelized onions and mushrooms), which we've decided to make a tradition. We had the same thing last year on Valentine's (steak, garlic roasted mashed potatoes and asparagus) and the year before that we had the same meal but with salmon instead of steak. We think it's fun to stay in rather than fight the crowds at restaurants, so we had a yummy meal at home. And what's more romantic than cooking and eating delicious food with your sweetheart? Here's some pictures:
And I was most proud of the cake I made. I just googled Valentine's desserts because I wanted to make something Valentinesy (I know it's not a word) and this looked really yummy. It's a chocolate chiffon cake with chocolate whipped cream in the middle and a delicious ganache on top, topped with raspberries and served with a raspberry sauce and whipped cream. And I am proud to say I did it all from scratch and it was AMAZING. We were both very excited with how delicious it was. It took a lot of prep time (I did it on Friday), but it was well worth it. Here's the cake:
And here it is plated up and ready to be eaten! Mmm, I'm glad we still have plenty left.
So that was our Valentine's! I'm so glad I love my sweet Valentine so much. He's such a great husband and I'm so lucky to have him for all eternity. Love you babe!

I hope you all had wonderful days yesterday too. Happy Valentine's Day!

Crazy dreams...

First of all, I think this is a record number of posts in one week for me. I'm pretty proud of myself.

Second of all, ever since I've been pregnant I have had the most bizarre dreams, and I pretty much dream every night (and remember my dreams). I had one where my baby crawled through my stomach and then went back in, and of course there was the one where my sister came to visit right after he was born and insisted on nursing him herself through the night, and I was really upset. So anyway, I had another crazy one the other night so I thought I would share it.

So I dreamt that I had the baby and it turned out to be a girl, weird, because the ultrasound was pretty clear. But not only was she a girl, she was about the size of an 18 month old and she was black, as in African-American. No, I don't have a secret African-American lover. She had a ton of dark curly hair and she could walk around from day one. So, in my dream I was on the couch with Jeremy and she walked over to me and I was trying to get her to nurse, but it just wasn't working very well. And I remember looking down and this "baby" (more like a toddler) and feeling so guilty in my dream because it wasn't anything like I imagined. I expected this tiny little caucasian baby (not that I have anything against African-Americans, but come on, this baby came from Jeremy and I) and here I had this baby the size of a 2 year old who looked nothing like either of us.

So in the dream apparently we found out that Jeremy has some African heritage way down the line somewhere and it just happened to come forth in our baby. I even asked him in the dream, "Do you think they could have switched babies in the hospital or something? Do you really think this is our baby?" And he was so shocked that I could think something like that because to him, this was clearly our child. Ha! Anyway, so I thought that was pretty funny. I remember just trying so hard to be loving and motherly to this grown baby, and feeling so confused about everything. But then I woke up and had a pretty good laugh about the whole thing.

So that's my crazy dream! It's always an adventure to see what my dreams will be!

Photo Tag

I've been photo-tagged. The rules are...
1. Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on the computer
2. Select the 4th picture in the folder
3. Explain the picture
4. Tag 4 people to do the same
5. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc)
So this is from Christmas Eve in 2005. (Our first married Christmas). I guess I wanted a picture of the pretty Christmas jello my mom always makes and the pretty table. Mmmm, it's making me hungry! That's my photo!

I will tag...
1. Amy Weaver
2. Mimi Nowland
3. Becky Johnson
4. Melarie Wheat

Update

Sorry it's been so long. I feel like I have nothing really exciting to blog about, but my sister-in-law keeps saying "More pictures!" so, here you go. I am now 30 weeks and 3 days! Less than 10 weeks to go...single digits!

This one is in the same outfit as the last one I took, for comparison's sake:
And here's a couple more. (See, I do wear other things besides that dress). :)

So I've been feeling really good. I've actually been sleeping better lately, which is kind of weird. I've finally found a good comfy position, so that's been very nice to get more sleep. Every once in awhile our dear little one will get in some really strange position that hurts just a bit, but if I move around, he usually gets out of it. He's definitely a mover, especially when I lay down to go to bed!

Friday night, Jeremy's dad came to see us. He was in town for work and he stayed with us until Saturday afternoon. We measured our whole yard and house and planned out how many feet of fence we would need. We're planning on putting up the fence the end of April (great timing, right?). So then I plotted it out on graph paper and Jeremy and I planned out our whole back yard. (What we hope to do that is). We want to plant a few fruit trees, and of course have a garden again with berries this year, and lots of vegetables. We're excited! We hope we can get some of it done before the baby comes if the weather cooperates. Saturday we got lucky and it was beautiful and sunny most of the day. We were outside in the yard and we took a walk along the river too. Of course it was only about 45 degrees, but it sure felt really warm!

Other than that, life has been moving along pretty routinely. We had Stake Conference this weekend and all the sessions were excellent. We had two members of the Seventy there and they gave great talks both in the Adult and General sessions (and I hear from Jeremy they were great in the Priesthood Leadership too). We got a new Stake President and he's only 38! Pretty crazy. Oh, and my dad got made the bishop of their ward last Sunday. Pretty exciting! I'm sure he'll be very busy, but he and my mom are looking forward to serving. So, that's us! We're just working and preparing for baby to come. I'll try and keep updated more often.