2012 Happenings

I promise our family still exists.. haha. This post is long overdue and I sometimes get overwhelmed with updating the blog that I put it off.. as you can tell from the sparse posts in the past year. I have to say though that reflection back on the events of 2012 is a must! It was a year full of adventure and quite frankly my year for physical pain! Boo.. here's to no pain in 2013 haha. Anyway here's my story for my posterity and for anyone that still reads my blog ... warning some of my medical issues may get graphic :)

 OCTOBER 2011 - FEB 2012

I had Ronni via emergency c-section in October of 2011 and that recovery was pretty rough for me. I also think that being on percaset didn't help at all but that's another story. So after my recovery we took a trip to Utah for Christmas in December. It was wonderful to see family and introduce Ronni to everyone. I had a hard time letting her out of my site with new mom anxiety but I think everyone managed to hold her and give her all the love and attention any 2 1/2 month old needs & deserves!! Then in January it was back to DC and that was also the month that I decided that breast feeding was not for me. I was stressed, Ronni just wanted a bottle and so I decided it would be healthier for both of us to just wean off the breast and onto the bottle. We were both a lot happier in February!!

 
MARCH 2012

In March when Ronni was 5 months old I started having extreme pain on my right side down in my pelvis. I also started bleeding pretty bad which I thought it was just my cycle finally starting after having a baby. One night in particular I remember waking up out of bed in the worst pain I went to the bathroom and passed a ton of blood. Since it was 3am I didn't want to wake Ronni up or go to the ER by myself so I asked Danny to give me a blessing. He blessed me that I would heal and recover from the pain I was having so I could sleep through the rest of the night. Well that blessing was a heaven sent as I was able to relax and my pain was reduced so I went back to bed. That happened Wednesday night and that weekend we enjoyed a nice family outing to the Mall over St Patricks Day and were able to take pictures with the beautiful cherry blossoms. A week later on a Friday I was back in so much pain that I told Danny to take me to the INOVA Alexandria ER at 2am ... when they finally called me back I couldn't even stand without doubling over in pain. I was sobbing and making a huge scene in the waiting room.. but really it was so bad that I wanted to crawl my way back to the exam room. The nurse was rude and impatient and she finally got me a wheel chair which wasn't too much better. Also they wouldn't let Danny and Ronni come back because Ronni was so young so I told them to go home and that I would text him when I was done. They then admitted me and took me to get an ultrasound. The ultrasound lady was very nice and told me that I had a huge cyst on my ovary and that was causing all the pain and bleeding. She suggested that I go see my OB after the weekend to see what they wanted to do. Then they took me back to a room and gave me a heavy heavy dose of morphine. I was knocked out and able to get the best 3 hours of sleep that I'd had in a while. Danny came and got me around 6am and I went home thinking it was a cyst. I had emergency called my Dr's office and they were going to get me in on Tuesday and scheduled another ultrasound for Wednesday at Virginia Hospital Center. So Monday morning came and I was still in SO MUCH PAIN that I couldn't pick Ronni up out of her crib. I called Danny and told him that something was seriously wrong. Luckily his Attending was awesome enough to tell him to leave immediately to help me out. Danny came and we called my Dr's office and they were able to get me into the hospital to get another ultrasound since the other ER hadn't even bothered to send them the report from my last one only a couple days ago. Once they got me in the tech was very quiet and the ultrasound was SUPER painful as she had to press hard on the area in question to get a clear picture. After only 5 min she suddenly sprang to her feet and said she needed to consult with the Radiologist and that she would be back. The Radiologist then came in (no one has told me anything at this point) and took some shots then asked if I had family here. I told him my husband and baby were in the waiting room so then he asked that I get dressed and we all meet with him in the Radiology conference room. I quickly got ready, grabbed Danny and we met with him. He then proceeded to tell me that I had an ectopic pregnancy that was about to rupture any moment and that he was admitting me to the hospital for surgery right then. He had called my OB and Dr Caskie was going to operate on me with hours. He told me that it could possibly be life threatening if they didn't get me in soon and that thanks to his technician’s quick abilities they were able to diagnose me. All sorts of things were running through my mind.... I had only had surgery with my C-Section and that was horrible so I was imagining the worst. However, the pain I had outweighed any hesitation on my part and I knew it had to be done. After waiting a few hours they got me back into surgery and found that the baby was 5 weeks old and that my tube had indeed burst but that my body had created a blood clot around the tear so I didn't immediately bleed into my abdomen and die. It was a medical miracle that I was alive. Thinking back I know when it burst and what saved me, it was the blessing Danny had given me a week and a half earlier. He had healed my body enough that I didn't die that night. The whole thing was amazing and my OB and Radiologist were amazed at what they found when they went in to operate. Unfortunately she had to remove my tube on the right side but noticed that I had a kink in my tube which could have been the cause of my ectopic. Meaning that I would have eventually have had an ectopic pregnancy on that side anyway. Which could also explain why my mom also had the same thing on the same side! Genetic kinked right tubes!! Listen up posterity.. it could happen to you! I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for sparing my life. The whole thing was amazing and to top it all off... during surgery as they were removing my tube they accidently hit a nerve on my left side and so when I woke up out of anesthesia the pain was so unbearable that I thought I was still in surgery!! However it was now on my left side instead of my right!! Nerve pain is awful and I hope no one has to ever go through what I did the weeks I spent recovering following my surgery. It was seriously a month and a half of pure pain. I'm just glad I made it through.

 APRIL 2012

I had planned to go to Utah for Grandma Galloway’s 94^th birthday so I actually made it back to Utah in time to recover from the crazy surgery.  It was a nice week out there to spend with family and I got pretty pampered J  Danny had his rotation so he wasn’t able to come and we missed Dada a lot!!   We came home and celebrated our First Easter Together!! Yea!! It was tons of fun ;)   Later that month we took a trip as a family out to Florida for Danny’s Spring Break so Ronni could meet Granny Dee.  (Ronni- She is Papa BB’s mom and your Dada’s grandma.  She is also married to Steve who we love too!!)  Anyway she had so much fun playing with Ronni and just adored everything about her.  When we would eat in the kitchen Ronni would lay on her blanket on the floor and squeal and make noises with her pet bird Randy.  It was pretty entertaining.   We had a great time there and went to Downtown Disney, Gator world, to the beach a few times and just enjoyed time as a family relaxing in the sun.   

 MAY – JULY 2012

Danny finally finished his 3^rd year of Medical School in May!! Whoopieeeee… I am so proud of him for his dedication and hard work.  It’s very distracting having a cute baby at home and he has really done a great job studying and making sure he does well so he can provide for his little family later on.  We also celebrated his first Father’s day and had some fun times together as a family.  My favorite thing was to walk down to the park together and put Ronni in the swing.  She would just hold on to the bucket seat and stare at all the kids playing around her.  It was pretty funny that she was so normal about being in a swing…. Maybe later she will get more excited.  I just loved being out and Ronni and I took a lot of long walks during those beautiful months. 

 AUGUST 2012

 We decided to take a risk this month.  For Danny’s 4^th year of medical school he was able to plan out a pretty sweet rotation schedule and even got two rotations in Utah!!  The schedule was:  September- San Antonio, October- Pheonix, November & December- Utah, Jan-March in DC then match and move to wherever he gets a residency in April!!  Danny was going to do away rotations in Texas and Arizona in Orthopedics.. then after a crazy rotation in July he realized that Ortho was not for him or our family.  He was gone some weeks working 100+ hours and some days were really sad when Ronni didn’t recognized him and would cry when he tried to hold her.  I think this was a glimpse into our family’s future in Ortho as he would be gone a ton during residency.  So Danny looked into his other choices and realized that Radiology would be satisfying to him and would allow for the family time he desired.  I had to keep my opinions at bay during his decision because I felt like he is the one going to Medical School and working so hard that I wanted him to be happy with the choice he made.  I wasn’t about to make it for him but really I am happy that he will be around a lot more to enjoy our family time J  So with that change we had to change our Sept and Oct plans.  He was able to get a last min rotation in Tucson for September and then we would go to Utah in October where he would take his Step 2 exam.   So now comes the risk… since rent here in DC is so crazy high we decided not to renew our lease after August.  We decided to put everything in storage and hope that we could find a short term rental in Jan-March when we came back.  Great plan and everything was in motion… until the first of August when I started having a burning pain in the middle of my stomach after I ate.  It started small then got really really bad!! At one point I remember hopping around, laying upside down and doing anything to get the burning to stop.  Danny quickly diagnosed me with a bad gallbladder.   This couldn’t be!!! I was going to be turning 30 on August 15^th and didn’t want any gallbladder to interfere with my big day!!  Well it did… and after seeing the Doctor on the 10^th he decided that it would be best for me to have surgery to get my gallbladder removed.  Since it wasn’t urgent he scheduled it for the 21^st.  Lucky me!  Haha.. well Danny made up for it by surprising me with tickets to Broadway!!  He had made plans ahead of time with my friend Tiffany to watch Ronni while we enjoyed a day in NYC going to see Wicket and spending some time together.  It was a heaven sent day!!  I had mixed emotions as we dropped Ronni off and drove into NYC.  I had never left her before and my new mom emotions were making it hard.  However Tiff was a great fit and it all worked out great.  I got to see the most amazing play with my hot husband and it was a perfect perfect birthday!!  

So as I waited until the 21^st to get my gallbladder out we were trying to help my landlord find people to rent the Condo since it was all such short notice.  We found the cutest couple, the Rogers.  They were perfect except that they needed to move in on the 27^th which meant that we need to get everything into storage on the 24^th just a couple days after my scheduled surgery.  Let’s just say that after that weekend I was on so many pain pills and drugs that it’s a miracle that any boxes got packed.  Thankfully we had Andrew and Mitch helping Danny take trips to the storage place so it all worked out.  In the middle of our move we also had guys in replacing the carpets and painting the house… it was wild.  We were all three living in the one bedroom and sleeping on an air mattress!!  Luckily we got a hotel for the last 3 nights and made it through the whole ordeal.  It was insane and for sure not a week I would wish to relive anytime soon. 

And just as quick as we had decided to move it felt like we were on the plane back to Utah to spend 10 days at Danny’s parent’s house before heading off to Arizona. 

SEPTEMBER 2012

Since we only had 10 days in Utah before we went to Arizona I was determined to look and work hard to find a car for us to buy.  My heart was set on an Acura MDX but it was WAY out of our price range.  So sad… Anyway we looked and looked and I was becoming discouraged with our options.  It was either stretch our budget and get a reliable car or take a chance with a possible clunker.  Then 2 days before we were supposed to leave I stopped at a new dealership in Bountiful and saw an Acura MDX!! I was in Love!! I talked to the kid and they had it listed for 10,500 but I offered him 9,500.  He looked at me amazed and said I can’t do that.  It’s too low.  … I was like what?! Is that it.. just no?  Isn’t he supposed to come back with a counter offer or something?! Haha.. so I said.. welllll what can you do?  He went inside and told me that he had gotten it at auction for 9,300 so the lowest he thought he could go was 10k.  I said done!  I’ll take it.  He was shocked and said that he needed to talk to his boss to make sure it was ok.  The whole thing was pretty hilarious if you ask me… I’m sure it was the first car he had ever sold and he was pretty nervous.  Who tells a customer how much they paid for the car?! Haha… well the next day I went with my mom to the bank on her lunch hour, got the loan and headed to the dealership.  My mom told them where to sign and what to do and the whole process from bank to dealer to my car was 50min!! I think the guys were shocked that my mom was bossing them around but she does that sort of paperwork every day so she knew what she was talking about.  It was pretty fun and I am now the happy owner of an adorable Acura MDX complete with leather, sunroof, and heated seats! The next morning we packed up the car, said a prayer that it would function great for us, and we drove to Tucson!  It was great drive and Ronni did wonderful.  She got to watch Baby Einstein to her heart’s content for the 13 hour drive.  I’m so glad that she is such a happy and wonderful baby!!   So the rest of the month we spent in Tucson enjoying the pool, sun and wonderful people.  Ronni and I would go to story time and to the park during the day and at night would enjoy some family time with Dada!! We even made a couple trips to Pheonix to see family and I drove with Ronni to Safford AZ to see my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Jay.  It was a very enjoyable time and Ronni mastered the pull to stand during this month.

 OCTOBER 2012

Back to Utah to Celebrate Ronni turning one!! On her first birthday she decided to start pointing so we assumed she was telling everyone that she was ONE!  So adorable!! We had a fun but chilly party in the park with friends and family.  Danny accidentally forgot to schedule his test so he had to reschedule it for December so we got to spend some time together as a family just enjoying Utah.  We had a great Halloween! Ronni was a Lady Bug, I was a flower and Danny was grass… we had a theme J  I took Ronni trick or treating down Main Street in Bountiful and then that evening we went to the Halloween Party at the Bountiful Recreation Center and went trick or treating to the family and some close friends.  It was a fun time!!

 NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 2012

Danny was on rotation part of October and November.  The Bagley’s came to Utah for Thanksgiving and it was fun for the cousins to play together.  Unfortunately Ronni came down with their hand foot mouth virus after they left but I think she enjoyed being with her rambunctious cousins.  Then December Danny had off but he was gone most of the month on interviews!! They were all over!!  His schedule was a crazy one and I can’t believe he made it through in one piece!! We went with him on one interview to Colorado and the roads were so icy on the drive back I thought I was going to have a heart attack from the stress of thinking we might slide off the road any min.  We stopped at a rest stop and it was so cold that we were all frozen just running from the car to the building so I could change Ronni’s diaper!!  So I decided the Spokane trip was off and Danny would just fly haha… 

We also enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with both grandparents.  Ronni LOVED opening presents and would do it so slowly… ripping off one little piece of paper at a time.  It was hilarious and she was so happy and excited to see what was under the paper that it made the day that much more enjoyable!! And our Christmas surprise was to find out a few weeks before that I am PREGNANT with baby #2!!! What?!  Yea... that's what we all said.  I had super bad heart burn for a couple days and felt really bloated and so I dropped Danny off at the airport for an interview and couldn't wait so I went to the dollar store, got a few tests, and turns out.. they were ALL quite positive!!  And my due date is Aug 18 right next to my bday on Aug 15!!  So crazy.. we are just beyond thrilled!!!

Then December 31^st, new years eve we flew back to DC!!  We were going to go to our friend’s New Year’s party but Ronni came down with a little cold on the plane and I didn’t want to risk getting all the rest of the kids sick so we celebrated at our condo… well we barely stayed awake till 12 and quickly went to bed! Haha!! That was a first…. Anyway luckily during the first of December I found the perfect condo for us to stay in for 3 months.  It is even a 2 bedroom pretty close to where we used to live.  The owner kept a couch and bed here for us so we are living on bare bones but that’s ok cuz it’s not worth getting everything out of storage!! It’s a mess in there… remember I was on pain meds when we packed it all so who knows what we will find when we actually move it all! Haha!!