Lemme tell you about my day:

Yesterday was my due date.  Ever since my first due date (September 15th, 2006, when I was pregnant with Noa and we didn’t have any plans because we were planning on having a baby that day), I determined to be nice and busy and have a lot of fun on my due dates. Well, yesterday certainly didn’t leave me wanting for anything to keep me occupied. What a day!

The drama actually began on Wednesday evening when we were over at Eric’s school for a tailgate party.  We were all having a great time, especially the children as they ran all over campus with other seminarian kids.  But the fun quickly ended when Martha hurt her arm and started really fussing.  And she’s our tough kid so I knew it wasn’t a good sign that she would not let me put her down AND she couldn’t stop crying.

After waiting it out at home for a bit and realizing it wasn’t getting better, I took her over to the urgent care center in our area.  The doctor there was really kind and diagnosed her with a nursemaid’s elbow and tried (to mine and Martha’s horror) numerous times to pop it back into place.  As she still seemed really uncomfortable, he  ordered x-rays (also to our horror, as pregnant mommy couldn’t accompany her and hold her for them). They showed up all clear and so he tried one more time at twisting her arm and sent us home, telling me that if it wasn’t better in the morning we should go see an orthopedic specialist.

It certainly wasn’t better in the morning and she was hardly using her arm, so we decided to figure out where to take her. We found a convenient care orthopedic clinic about 25 minutes away that happened to be having walk-ins all day thursday, so it seemed perfect.  Eric was going out the door for class (he had a quiz yesterday and a midterm today), so I asked my friend Brianna to keep Noa while I took Martha. We were out the door pretty quick, as I wanted to get it over with and help our little girl get out of pain. I have lost my cell phone (lets not talk about that right now) so I armed myself with googlemaps directions and was feeling pretty good about how everything was working out.

Over an hour later found me in a CVS parking lot in tears because I had just spent over half an hour driving back and forth on the same 1 mile stretch of road looking for this clinic (that I was beginning to think I had imagined.  Without remembering the exact name of the place, no phone and/or phone number to call, and no idea how to get in touch with anyone who could help me locate it, I didn’t know what to do.  I finally pulled Martha out of the car, and went into CVS and asked if they knew anything about it.  Nope.  I was so close to crying on this poor saleswoman’s shoulder, but managed to ask for a phone book.  By God’s grace, I was able to find it in there and ask the woman if I was going crazy because if, indeed, it was this place, it should be right next door to the CVS.  She agreed and called them for me.  I was so thankful when she got the answering machine and it was really a real place! Turns out there is no rhyme or reason to why it has that address, as it is located about a block down on another street.  But who cares? I booked it out of there and found the place 5 minutes later.  Praise God!

Almost everyone at the clinic was so nice and helpful, it just took FOREVER for anything to happen.  It was a big busy place.  Martha and I kept ourselves busy playing the pointing game (I ask where things are and she points to them), and taking cute pictures of her and her lame arm.

When we finally saw the doctor, he decided to order more x-rays, of both arms this time, and of more angles, before he wanted to prod her arm anymore. Great. More screaming as she was torn away from pregnant mommy.  More pregnant mommy trying not to weep as I hear my baby, who is already in a lot of pain, crying for feeling abandoned.  And it took a LONG time as that little girl has a will of iron and it was stinkin’ hard for the technician to get the right angles of her flailing arms.  Pretty traumatic.

By the time we finished with the xrays, it was 12:30 and I knew Brianna had to go out around noon.  I was so relieved when I called and found out that she had dropped Noa off at home in the capable hands of Sachiko (who was still asleep when we left, and I didn’t even know if she would be home).  Another big shout-out  of thanks to God for that working out.

So Martha and I waited a bit more.  She fell asleep in my arms. The doctor came in, said that all the x-rays looks good and so he was going to try to pop it back into place, as that must be the  problem.  He tried.  She screamed.  No pop. But still, it could have worked so he left me with a little pen light to play with and see if she would use her arm.

No go. We played for a long time but the poor girl  just didn’t want to move that arm, and when she tried it obviously hurt her.  He came back in, was still stumped, and said that we could wait for an “upper extremities specialist” who would be in any minute to have a look.  Of course we would wait!

So we waited.  Martha fell asleep in my arms again.  I prayed.  Especially that I wouldn’t go into labor.  I had been cramping all day, a lot, and was pretty uncomfortable. But I don’t really know about going into labor so I wasn’t sure. I also made a lot of mental lists, like the list of important phone number I should have with me in case I do go into labor…which I am going to make today… as soon as I write this post. 

The same doctor came in a few more times giving me a play by play: the specialist was out of surgery on his way; he was still on his way; he was still on his way and we haven’t forgotten about you, he was in the building and the nice first doctor was waiting guard by my door to catch him as soon as he could.  And Martha kept sleeping and I kept praying, making lists, and wondering what going into labor is like.

The specialist finally came in.  As Martha slept in my arms he examined her arm, and he also tried to do the pop.  In her sleep she whimpered and then cried out, looking so so sad and breaking all of our hearts. He said it could be a number of things, like really soar sprain, or a small bone crack, that would just need time and gentleness to heal.  At least there were no major problems from the x-rays.  If she is still in pain in a week then they will do something more invasive like an MRI to find the problem.  For now, they prescribed a splint and a sling and letting her use it as she feels comfortable, but also letting her rest and “baby” it as she needs to.  Not really the answers I was hoping for, but I appreciated their kindness and care and willingness to just let this ride out a bit without dragging on with this exam.

We waited some more while she still slept.  A nurse came and got us and fit her for a splint, which Martha woke up for. Finally, four and a half hours after we got there, we were able to leave.

We were both super hungry and so I pulled in to Chic-fil-A, while realizing my tank was on empty.  We waited some more (that was the theme of the day), and got some food.  I gave Martha her drink and some fries and pulled out, determined to find a gas station on my way home.  As I looked for a gas station, held fries in front of the AC to cool them off for her, and tried to get a bite or two in myself, I chanced to glance back at my sweaty, red-faced, chicken-winged, sleepy girl.  And as I glanced, I saw everything that had entered her mouth in the last three minutes come up… and go everywhere!  And it was a lot more than I had realized… she was really hungry.  Poor poor baby.

I tried to keep her calm as I looked for a gas station, found one, pumped some gas and  get her a little cleaned up.  I just wanted to get home, though, so I didn’t do much.

We finally got home, about six and a half hours after we had left.  Sachiko and Noa were doing great, Martha was happy to get herself cleaned up and show off her new sling to her sister, and I was so happy to have made it home without going into labor.  Eric returned home a little while after us and I cried and laughed as I shared the details of the day. He helped me get the carseat out of the car so I could wash it (did I mention I just washed all the carseats two days ago in a moment of nesting instinct?), and we talked about how one day we will remember this stage of life and think it was easy, or at least fun and exciting.   Which it is (fun and exciting… not easy!).

The day just got better and better as I had sweet time with my family, and two close, long-time friends, Hope and Becky, came over to hang out with me and Sachiko while Eric studied the night away for his midterm today.

The happy thing today is that the midterm is over so it is now “safe” to have the baby anytime.  My doctor seems pretty convinced that s/he will be born any day now.  I’m a skeptic, but would be thrilled to go into labor for once.

The sad thing today is that Martha threw up again this morning and is obviously feeling very poorly.  She’s been falling asleep on me several times, always laying her head down, not eating much, and has just a sad, tired face all day long.   Her little bandaged arm just adds to the pathetic look and it breaks all of our hearts to see her this way.  Please pray that she starts to feel better soon, both her tummy and her arm.

So there you have it.  That was my due date this year.  Not fun, at least not most of it, but plenty eventful and I certainly wasn’t wallowing in self-pity for not having had my baby yet, which is what I was doing 3 years ago when Noa hadn’t been born.  So that’s a good thing…

cute little girl with cute little sling

Tags: life