Where to Start? (Long post feel free not to read)

We have had quite the last few weeks around here. We finally got Kent casted again the Monday following my previous post. It was a traumatic experience for him as they did some x-rays again without me in the room. It was just him, the nurse, and the rad-tech, and you could hear him crying all the way down the hall. I decided to go to the bathroom during that time so I didn't have to hear him scream. They were so good with him and made it quick. His bone is growing back, but not enough yet. So now (just as expected) he is casted to his armpit. At least it is waterproof and comes off in about two weeks.

That same week on Wednesday I started to feel some abdominal pain around 10 in the morning. I thought it was just round ligament pain associated with pregnancy and went on with my day. As I laid down for my nap (yes I still nap everyday, and yes I know that won't last when I have another kid), I noticed I couldn't lay on either side because the pain was too bad. After I woke up my lower-right abdomen was tender to the touch. It went on throughout the evening, and since Ammon had to go out for some church meetings I decided to go to my great aunt's house while he was gone. On the way there I texted my friend Sarah who had had an appendicitis last year and asked her about the symptoms. They were very similar to what I was experiencing, although my pain was a little higher on my abdomen. After some research I found out that appendix pain in found higher in pregnant women. So at this time I was toying with the idea of having an appendicitis and called my mom to joke with her about flying down to take care of me. Little did we know that it did not end up being a joke at all. I got ready for bed that night and just as I laid down the pain got to the point where I knew I had to get it checked out. No longer was this just a "pregnancy pain".

So I bid farwell to Ammon who stayed home with Kent while he slept and drove myself to the hospital. It was okay going by myself because I knew the ER visit was going to be at least 6 hours and I didn't want to inconvenience anyone but myself. Plus, if it turned out being nothing, I wanted Ammon to be rested at work. However, after some blood work that showed an elevated white blood cell count, an ultrasound showing an inflamed appendix, and the pain they decided I needed surgery. At this time it was 1 in the morning and I called Ammon (it took two calls to get him coherent), my parents (who started making flight preperations for my mom), my grandma (to make sure it was okay to call her sister in the middle of the night), and my great aunt/grandma's sister (to come stay with Kent). I felt the worst about that last one - who calls their great aunt in the middle of the night to ask, "Would you might coming and sleeping on your great niece's couch and watching your great-great nephew?" As it turned out they were all more upset about the fact that I took myself to the hospital than they were about getting called in the middle of the night, but whatever.

I went into surgery at about 3 and don't remember anything really until much later that morning. I have recovered pretty well, just a little sore still. My mom just left today, and we would not have been able to do it without her. I can't lift Kent for 4 weeks, so we worked on training him to get in and out of his highchair and the car seat. Our only hiccup came with the stairs. The kid has no concept of stairs and feels as if he can just step off and fall to get to where he wants to go. And since we really don't want any more broken bones, we are currently stuck only going as far as the front door. Oh well.

This is the only picture I have to go with this post. It shows Kent's blue cast and bit of evidence that my mom was here - a blow up mattress and a grandkid favorite: the iPad.

What's Missing From These Pictures?

Yep that's right, Kent! Kent decided that he was not getting enough attention while I was in Tai Pan the other day and decided to bide his time by working his lovely cast off. When it hit the floor I had originally thought he had knocked something off of a table that he could reach, but instead I looked down to see his cast. In disbelief I immediately tried to put it back on, but of course that wasn't happening, so I threw it in my purse, quickly checked out while making sure he didn't do anything stupid with his arm, and called Ammon to see how close he was to meeting us. Luckily Ammon was right outside the doors and we zipped over to the Layton Clinic (we were on our way to Salt Lake for the night and didn't want to head back north 30 minutes to solve our little problem) where they so nicely splinted it for us. We go in on Monday to get him recasted. This time it will be a full arm one he cannot pull off, not to mention blue because the red just isn't doing it for us.

#3

Kent was laying on the couch Sunday morning, awake I might add, and decided in order to get off he was going to use the less than conventional way of rolling. Unfortunately his left arm caught most of his weight and broke under the pressure. I was in the shower when I heard the scream and knew that something was seriously hurt, but had no idea what. To be honest, I was glad this all happened under Ammon's watch because the last two breaks were under mine. Ammon finally got to experience the high-pitched cry that doesn't end for an hour or so. He was put in a short splint yesterday and today when we went in to get it casted it was still swollen so they put him in a full arm splint and we will go back next Monday to have it put in a hard cast. Kent has been vitamin D deficient in the past which can cause problems with calcium being absorbed, causing weak bones. We used to give him drops but stopped a few months ago, needless to say we stopped at the pharmacy on the way home and picked up the drops in hope they help in the future. He is supposed to get his vitamin D levels checked again at his 2 year appointment so hopefully we are in normal range by then. Until then however, his aunt Rachel suggests bubble wrap.

Here he is lounging Monday morning with his short splint. Don't ask me why he feels the need to pull his pajama pants up above his knees, that's a recent fetish.

Here he is after his full arm splint was put on. It is twice as thick as the first one in order to keep it more immobile. I just hope I can get his shirt off over the thing.

Ice Ice Baby

The other day Ammon and I noticed the ice from our ice maker was starting to smell. We assume this happens when it has just been sitting there too long without being used. Lately we have been letting Kent play with ice cubes in the tub, if you haven't tried it you should. The elementary school teacher in me says it's a great way to introduce states of matter, but the mom in me just loves how it adds an extra minute or two to bath time. I asked Ammon to get Kent some ice the other day and instead of coming back with a stacking cup full he brought the whole container. Since I didn't want all the cubes in the tub causing it to go colder that much quicker, Ammon decided to dump them out in the sink and start our ice cube collection over again, remember they stank. So after Kent got out of the tub of course he felt the need to continue to play with ice in the sink. This was an even better activity then ice in the tub...they lasted that much longer. He scooped and dumped, and scooped and dumped, and scooped and dumped to his little heart's content.

The scoop +

The dump =

One happy kid