Not so tough anymore

Yesterday, at work, I was minding my own business, running around like a chicken with my head cut off (as usual), when I started feeling really dizzy. I usually eat breakfast at 6:00 then need some little snack around 10:00 or so before lunch. Well, yesterday was mass chaos in the PICU and there was no time for a snack (to say the least.) I started losing vision in my right eye and was seeing spots. If you know me, you know that I'm quite the stubborn girl. I kept trying to work and even tried just closing my right eye for a while to refocus. I told one of my co-workers I wasn't feeling real sporty and that I'd be right back. I ran in the break room and downed a little thing of Frosted Flakes which were innocently sitting on the table (if you are reading this and they were your FF, I apologize. I was a little out of my head.) Anyway, I ran back out and was trying to give this wild kid some sedation when almost all my vision left. I was so frustrated because the IV pump kept telling me some message (that I couldn't really read) and wouldn't give him the damn sedation! Finally, I decided maybe I could use a little help. After asking Nikki (our wonderful charge nurse) to just come over for a minute, I walked to the back to sit down for a minute. I kept thinking that if I would just cool off and eat some sugar, I'd be fine to work the rest of the day. Well, ten minutes, one juice, lots of water, and a few graham crackers later, I wasn't feeling too much better. I would have still been fine with that but by the time my head stopped spinning, I realized I hadn't felt the Rookie kick in a while and that DID scare me. I tried all the techniques they say to do to make it start moving, but to no avail. My boss rolled a wheelchair in and stated that we were going down to OB receiving. Can I just tell you how relieved I am that I work in the hospital where I'm going to deliver? My doctor was minutes away. By the time they strapped me to the monitor, Wade was by my side. Hearing that strong heartbeat was such a load off our shoulders. The baby looked fine and they said it must have been napping because the heartbeat indicated it was "very happy in there." They did check a finger stick (my glucose) but assumed it would be falsely high since I'd just ingested all that sugar. It came back at 127 which is not exactly high and we were all a bit morbidly curious what it would have been before my "sugar resusitation." Anyway, I also ended up getting another EKG and had to have my first "exam." I was supposed to have one more free doctor's visit before these started but apparently that's not the way I roll. The only concerning part was that they saw contractions on the monitor. They told me sometimes you have contractions when you don't feel good so they needed to check me further to make sure I wasn't in preterm labor. With the check, they discovered I was "slightly" dilated and 50% effaced (10 cm and 100% means you're about to deliver). They were slightly surprised by this but didn't seem overly panicked. They sent lab work that would further reveal if I was in pre-term labor and it was negative. I told Dr. Shiflett I would prefer waiting another 7 weeks, thank you very much. We were sent home with the instructions to take it easy this weekend and watch myself better while at work. I will do anything they tell me to at this point. I just don't want bed rest. I have just felt so healthy this pregnancy (with the exception of that silly effusion at the beginning) and it's hard to slow down. Enough about that though. Yesterday was chalked up in the Watts' family as a good day. Besides finding out Rook's not coming quite yet, we also got some bigger news....

My Mom has not felt good this past week. She's been short of breath and just tired, in general. After an X-ray with her oncologist revealed more "spots" on the base of her lung, we braced for the worst. If you've followed my Mom's progress, we have received virtually no GOOD medical news since January. She was sent to the pulmonologist in Tupelo to look at her CT and do a bronch (camera down her airway to look at the inside of her lungs.) Anyway, when I got out of OB receiving I got a groggy phone call from Mom. She was told that the spots on the base looked simply like an infection and, here's the biggest part......(drum roll).....Out of the 5 spots that were originally on her lung, only 3 could be appreciated. The chemo could actually be working even after all the problems! Mom informed us that, "We may have to keep her longer than we originally thought!" Our goal when she was diagnosed was to make it to November to hold her first grandchild. Don't want to jinx anything, but we feel like we've got that goal all but sealed up. Now, moving on to the next goal: Rookie's baptism. We're taking baby steps around here!