Kentucky, Gall Bladders and Zaxby's (or the lack there of)

It's hard to believe it was 2 weeks ago that I wrote my last blog post. I was SO excited to get to Kentucky. Morning sickness was finally starting to let up and I couldn't wait to hang out with some girlfriends and eat, eat, eat.

On Thursday night, before I left, we had Popeye's for dinner and I was up way past my bedtime folding laundry, packing, writing little notes and just generally getting ready to leave. When I finally fell asleep around midnight I kept being awakened by sharp pains in my torso. I kept thinking this is the strangest feeling gas ever and boy does it ever hurt. By about 2 AM I was feeling better and slept soundly.

I really enjoy traveling. To be honest I love the excitement and the hustle and bustle. When I travel I want to stop everyone I meet and say "I'm going to Kentucky, where are you going?!". Psycho, I know but I just find it intriguing. Leaving from DC is always an adventure. I got up at 5AM and got to the Metro around 7:00. Everyone always seems so sure of themselves and very important on the metro. Being the southern girl I am I want to talk to everyone, but I've heard this is rather taboo. Riding the metro I feel like such a big girl. I always try to act like I know exactly where I'm going and exactly where to get off. I got to Reagan at about 7:30 and bought myself some breakfast, a delicious sausage, egg and cheese bagel, which I thoroughly enjoyed on the plane. I made my transfer in Chicago and arrived safe and sound, and a little early, in Louisville. My dear high school friend Sandy was there to pick me up. I'm so glad she was able to come get me. She was so patient as I spoke with the luggage reps (my luggage did not make my transfer) and then we decided to have lunch at Raffertys. We both enjoyed a house salad and some loaded bake potato soup before heading back to my parents house to check out some blogs from people from high school.

When we got to my parents house I was starting to think that something was really wrong. My stomach hurt SO bad. Sandy suggested some gas-x, but this was pain like nothing I'd ever felt before. The pain was even shooting up to my shoulder and down my right hand. I finnaly decided she was going to have to take me to the ER. Poor Sandy, when she agreed to pick me up at the airport she had no idea what she was in for. We spent the next SIX hours chilling in the ER. When I first got to there I could barely walk. After about 30 minutes I was feeling pretty good (but rather silly) for dragging us there, but I just had to find out what in the world was going on.

Baptist Hospital East was a joy. They took me right back and did an ultrasound on the baby. Everything looked great with him/her. When I finally saw the doctor he told me he thought I was having problems with my gall bladder (ugh!). This meant I got to go back to the ultrasound room riding this:

Evidently in the civilian world you are not a loud to walk ANYWHERE once you are a patient. This was news to me! In the army you walk EVERYWHERE. I've even walked myself from Labor and Delivery to Postpartum and from Postpartum right out the hospital doors. I felt ridiculous being chauffeured!

The second ultrasound of the day revealed a 3/4" stone in my gall bladder. It's a rather large stone but (after speaking with my surgeon) not a bad size to have. The ER doctor told me I needed to eat a bland diet consisting of, no joke, bananas, rice, crackers, noodles, baked potatoes, jello and pudding. I felt certain that I would never poop again! The doctor also told me that the gall bladder had to come out. Unfortunately gall bladder surgery during pregnancy greatly increases your chance of miscarriage, so I am going to have to "suffer" until after I have the baby. Thankfully my surgeon told me I just needed to be on a low fat diet, not bland. This is not easy to do when you are craving ice cream and chicken wings!!

Thank you Sandy for taking me to the ER and hanging out with me! I had a great time catching up (oh and American even delivered my luggage to me in my hospital room, great service, huh?!).

(Sandy and I with are classic "take it ourselves" picture. We have a lot of these)

Well needless to say I was a little late getting down to Bowling Green to hang out with my other girlfriends. I missed our dinner at Zaxby's (sniff, sniff), but I got there just in time for sharing time. All twelve of us shared what has been going on in our lives for the last 10 years. That's a lot to share, trust me, but we had a great time!

Here we all are!

On Saturday my oh so sweet husband called to let me know that he had extended my ticket from Sunday to Tuesday. I was shocked at first but then really excited that I was going to have some time to hang out with my Mom and Dad. It was so nice to be home sans children. I got to sleep in and just chill with Mom and Dad without having to entertain, wipe noses or worse, butts! On Monday Mom and I drove up to the Ballard Designs outlet in Ohio. We found some great deals. I got two great lighting fixtures and some wall decor for great prices. We then heading back to Kentucky and stopped by the GAP outlet where I got some amazing deals on maternity pants, pants for the boys and shoes! YAY!!! I love shopping without children. The next morning I got myself all packed, we ran a few errands and then had lunch at The Cheddar Box, YUMMY!! I had such a great time. It was so good to reconnect with old friends and spend some one on one time with my parents. I'm so glad I went!

In closing I just had to share another Gabe story! We were all sitting around the dinner table talking about our day. Gabe has been taking swim lessons and absolutly loves it. I can see him smiling UNDERNEATH the water, that crazy boy. The converstion went something like this:

Heather: So Gabe tell everyone what you did today...

Gabe: I TOOK SWIM LESSONS!!!

Ethan: Did you drown?? (Ethan is deathly afraid of drowning even though he swims very well)

Gabe: (with a huge smile on his face) WE ALL DID!!!

YOZERS!! Gotta love em'