Back Again

A little-known fact about me--I am a kidney stone maker. I had my first stone about three years ago, and once a stone-maker, always a stone maker. I thought I was dying. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. It was one of those I'm-in-so-much-pain-that-I-just-want-my-mom experiences, but unfortunately I was living in an apartment in Rexburg at the time with roommates who had their own lives going and no emotional investment in me. Actually, once I felt a little better, I drove myself to Utah for the weekend to be with my mom.

Anyway, that experience is not what this post is about.

Did you know the pregnant women are more likely to get kidney stones than people who are not pregnant?

In other words, I already had two hits by the fact that I have a history of them and that I am pregnant.

So when I realized I had a kidney stone two Sundays ago, Jon took me to the Emergency Room at the seventh worst hospital in the United States--according to an article I read on the all-knowing Facebook--where I was poked, prodded, and stabbed in the hands and arms because by this point I was so dehydrated that the nurses couldn't find my veins. And Brian Regan wasn't kidding when he said that an "8" on the pain scale equals morphine. Because I was pregnant they couldn't do a CAT scan, which is how they determine the size and location of kidney stones. And when I couldn't stop vomiting after 3 1/2 hours, they admitted me to the hospital until the stone passed.

All I can say is Jon and I are blessed to have such great friends and family. Two of our friends helped tend Netty while Jon spent time with me at the hospital and packed some of Netty's things, and my brother and his wife met Jon in Blackfoot and took Netty off our hands for a few days. The stone passed late Sunday night, but between the stone, the drugs, and the pregnancy, I was exhausted. For three days I slept as late as I wanted. Jon and I saw a movie and went to the temple. It was wonderful. And it was dreadful.

The most I had ever been away from Netty was for a couple hours at a time, and suddenly she was taken away from me for 4 1/2 days. Jon and I had been planning to go to Utah this last weekend anyway, so we picked up Netty in Logan on our way to my parents' house. At first she screamed when she saw us. It was like suddenly she realized that we'd left her, and she was letting us know that she was mad at us. By the time we got to Syracuse, she was friends with us again. We came back from Utah last night, and Netty was so happy to be home. Just in a week she has changed so much. She stands a lot more (still with help), and she can now go from her belly to a sitting position. She also is a lot more talkative, which I love.

Here is a video of Netty last night after we'd gotten home. This shows how truly happy she was to be back.