That morning, after I dropped Cora off at preschool, I was rolling the garbage can to the end of our driveway (a small hill). At the very bottom the snow and ice of MN, maybe combined with my off-center balance from pregnancy, launched a sneak attack and I found myself falling superman style as the garbage can ran away from me/fell down ahead of me, and I went falling down.
Let's just say I am the opposite of the person with quick reflexes, and I KNOW this about myself, so I'm even more careful about some things around my kids. Clearly this should have been one of those moments as well. Sigh.
Anyway, I lay on the ground for a while, just a bit stunned and catching my breath, then righted the garbage can and trudged back inside. I felt mostly okay, other than my bleeding and skinned knuckles (dragged on the ground under the handle of the garbage can in the fall, which I guess my body refused to let got of as I went down? Lame, body. Lame.)
Inside I was a bit out of breath, and as soon as Layla saw my knuckles she started freaking out, but was able to barely hold it together. She was actually very helpful and went to get me the bandages, the antibiotic cream, etc. Once bandaged I decided to just sit on the couch and ice my hand for a while before doing my blood-thinning shot and starting school with the older two. But alas, that was not to be.
Maybe 15 minutes or so after my fall I started getting "that feeling"...the one I woke up with on the morning I went to the hospital with my blood clot. It's the "you're about to pass out and this is your body giving you fair warning" feeling. I grabbed my phone as quickly as I could and called Jonas to turn around and come home...poor guy had gotten to work maybe 30 minutes earlier, and had been on a business trip for 3 days before that, so he could likely have used that day at work...but, ah well. My biggest concern was that, if I passed out, Layla would FREAK OUT, and they also wouldn't know what to do. We have no house phone and they don't know how to unlock my cell phone (mental note to figure out this problem), none of our neighbors are home during the day, it was freezing out that day even if they did venture out, etc. So, Jonas headed home while my vision started narrowing, lights and colors flashing around, my ears starting to ring, etc. I feel like I basically WILLED myself to not pass out for the sake of the older kids, but I'm guessing my body would have done whatever it wanted to, if I really needed to pass out. (Side note: I have never actually fainted in my life. This was the second closest I have ever come, behind the blood clot drama).
After the passing out feeling left I started to throw up...again, Layla was a huge help and ran to grab me a bowl.
So, now I'm worried. What happened?? Did I hit my head and not remember it? Did I truly fall directly onto my stomach, and now my body is in full on drama mode?? I lay down on the couch to wait for Jonas, and Layla did all these motherly things for me like get me a blanket, pillow, remote control (Because: Olympics wait for no illness, people...), and she even ran upstairs to grab me one of her doll beds to put everything on so it was perfectly level with my hand...haha. So cute. :) . Then she started to freak out again, though, so I sent her upstairs (away from my sick body, which she was reminded of every time she looked at me) to watch a movie and calm down a bit.
I called my nurses at the Perinatal clinic and left a message describing what happened, and asking if I truly NEEDED to be seen or not.
Jonas got home, the nurses called back, and it was firmly decided for me that I needed to go in and be seen at the OB triage unit of Methodist Hospital...in St. Louis Park. Sigh. SO, we got Cora from preschool, dropped my kids off at my saintly friend's house, and headed out.
The fall happened around 9:15 a.m., but I didn't actually make it in to the hospital until 12:30 p.m., all things considered. I was still feeling a bit "off" and dizzy, but no more vomiting or near-passing-out since right after the fall.
At the hospital I was hooked up to all of the monitoring machines and then...they monitored me. For FIVE HOURS. Guys, I was not expecting that. Check me over. Good? Good. Check the baby. Good? Good. Check my placenta. All okay? Good. And then...let's wait another 4 hours, shall we? I felt a bit bad about leaving my kids for FIVE HOURS with my friend, unexpectedly, on Valentine's Day. Seems like other people make more of a big deal out of the holiday than I do, haha. Anyway, all was fine in the hospital. Baby was fine. I was fine. They did blood work to check for very many things...all fine.
I don't even want to know how much these 5 hours of monitoring will be billed for...
And I know I sound like I'm a big baby and whining a lot, which I kind of am, to be fair...but I also will always for the great medical care available to me in MN, and how many great medical options we have just minutes from our home. I'm also grateful for this particular medical place very FAR fro our home...haha.
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| This is what those 5 hours looked like for me. Except after I took this photo I rolled over onto my left side so I could BREATHE (fun part about pregnancy, later on) and not have my right ribs crushed. |
When we finally picked up the kids at 6:30 p.m. Layla got in the car and started crying...we had a day of school planned that day, centered around the Olympics and decorating for Valentine's Day, and she was so sad that I had been gone the entire day and we had done none of that. So, I mustered the 7 drops of energy I had left, and we went home and decorated the dining room and made a very add-hoc Valentine's Dinner for the family. I think we ate around 7:30 p.m., which is LONG past Cora's normal bedtime, haha. Ah, how these babies throw off our normal, am I right??? Yes.
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| We hung these window hangings in all of the dining room windows... |
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| Added another heart or two to the dining room chandelier... |
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| Hung hearts around the top of the dining room (Layla and Finn and Cora all helping with this)... |
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| And then after a very red/heart dinner, read this book. |
None of that above would have been possible without 1) the crafts from my mother, so thanks Mom! and 2) Prepared Lisa, who had her act together in previous years and kept and saved things in a logical location. Thanks, past me...you were a big help this year!
Then we watched Olympics. Because...obviously.
The end.
How was YOUR Valentine's Day?
