Well... this is not how I foresaw our weekend going!
David is now home from having his appendix surgically removed.
Thursday night we were at Small Groups and everything was normal. When we got home and went to bed, David had a stomach ache, but that's not abnormal (especially considering all the cake, cookies and cinnamon buns ingested that day). At 2am Friday morning, Dave woke up feeling nauseous and had a horrible stomach ache all over. I assured him he probably had just eaten too much crap, and was gassy, but inside I knew this wasn't the whole story.
David is very prone to the power of suggestion (I'd say a bit of a hypochondriac), so I didn't want to let on I thought something might actually be wrong. In the past he's woken up with bad cramps and always starts googling things and assumes he has appendicitis and riles himself up symptom spotting and stuff. I'm usually pretty hard on him (not overly sympathetic), as it always turns out to just be gas.
So as to hopefully keep him calm, I maintained the same attitude as every time, "Drink lots of water, go to the bathroom, and try to get some more rest. I need to sleep until Dom wakes up to feed." Inside I'm thinking, "Normally his cramps are only lower abdomen... this is whole stomach and keeps getting worse... I better be ready to go to the hospital in a few hours for appendicitis."
By 6am, David is in really bad pain, and the cramps are becoming more localized. He says pain is a 6 or 7 out of 10. When David's pain is at a 3-5, he is quite vocal and (for lack of a better word) whiny about it, but he started becoming more withdrawn at this point. Ah yes... now I really better be ready. I maintain my calm demeanor while mentally packing the diaper bag and planning how to get out of the house with a baby as soon as possible. I don't suggest to David that anything is wrong. I just wait for his word. He knows, as soon as he says he wants to go to the hospital for anything I'm 100% willing to go.
7am rolls around and David is keeled over in pain, looking pale and extremely uncomfortable. He can barely communicate. I encourage him to call 8-1-1, the nurses line to describe his symptoms. As he's describing them I'm sneakily gathering things for hospital packing. He gets off the phone and says, "Yea... they think we should go just to be safe." Yup. I figured as much!
I go to grab the baby, and NATURALLY this is the ONE day he decides to sleep in. It's 7:20, and I have to wake up my peacefully sleeping child. CLASSIC! I turn on the light, turn off his sound machine, and remove his blankets. He opens his eyes, grunts at me, and rolls over and goes back to sleep. Why!!!! I reluctantly pick him up anyway and get him dressed and into the car seat. I didn't even have time to feed him as David is downstairs worsening by the minute.
Toss the boys in the car, and grab the Ergo at the last second (a decision I would be very grateful for later). Off we zip to Langley Hospital, me driving as smoothly/quickly/safely as possible, and David groaning and keeling over in the seat beside me. I chuckle to myself as it feels like the opposite of driving to the hospital when I was in labor.
I chose to go to Langley instead of Surrey thinking the wait would probably be shorter. I was right! We were through triage and into the back within minutes. I fed Dom, and then went to meet David in the back where he was looking pale as ever in a little recliner chair. The nurse hooked Dave up to an IV and administered some pain and nausea meds. After this he was feeling MUCH better! Sense of humor was back and he was not so pale. His pain went down from an 8 or 9 to a 3 again. Whew!
The doctor saw us at 10 or so, and confirmed suspicions that he had appendicitis. Apparently it was the second case already in that ER that morning. "Appendix Day" he called it. I left after the doctor saw Dave, and he waited around for a few hours before going for a CT scan to make sure it hadn't ruptured or anything.
He was moved up to a room in the pediatric ward (where they had free beds I guess!) and spent the rest of the day awaiting surgery. He wasn't taken for surgery until midnight,and I got a text at 2:45am Saturday morning saying surgery went well and he was going to sleep! Okay!
David is now home and recovering well from the adventures of Friday.
There were so many things about these two days that were like answered prayers.
No, my prayer in the middle of that first night that it wasn't going to be appendicitis wasn't answered how I wanted, but there were still so many blessings.
1. We caught it early and it did not rupture
2. Surgery went well
3. Healthcare is "free", and the hospital is within 15 minutes from home.
4. Dominic was a dream baby. He slept in the morning of until we were ready to go, and then my first night without David at home he slept great, and slept in again! He made noise to wake me up at 6, and then by the time I brushed my teeth he was asleep again and slept until 7:10! I got to shower, blow dry my hair, eat breakfast, play with the dog, and relax all before he woke up! He was also fantastic at the hospital every time we were there. In the morning at emergency I swear he was looking around for people to smile at. Brightening everyone's bad mornings.
5. David never has to worry about appendicitis again!
6. David met and talked to some pretty amazing and inspiring people during his stay. He has a new perspective on everything.
7. It happened over a weekend so there was less work to be cancelled by David. Hopefully he'll be back up and ready to work soon though!
8. We both were incredibly calm and not stressed about the whole thing. It didn't feel dramatic or nerve-wracking.
Feeling MUCH better post-pain meds! Just waiting to be seen by the doctor. Who was fantastic.
This is the perfect sleeping baby!
Very excited for him to be napping. And VERY excited I brought the Ergo. He doesn't nap well in the car seat, and otherwise I would have been carrying him around and my arms would have been DEAD.
Dave wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything, and hadn't eaten since the night before so he was super hungry and thirsty. They hooked him up to an IV to keep him hydrated.
Dave wasn't feeling great that afternoon once he got moved to a room and didn't want a photo Fine... Dom will steal the show then! Hanging out in Dad's hospital bed!
This is the view from the unoccupied room beside Dave's. His was similar, just not on the corner. Gorgeous!
Ready to go home and feeling much better than the day before! Yay!
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