Yes, We are all OK
Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted. I’ve gotten a few requests from people to update, so here goes.
It’s been a LONG month. There were a few good weeks, with the kids doing well in school, me learning how to keep myself occupied with no kids during the day and Anthony working hard. Then, we had typhoon Longwang – no real damage around here, just windy and rainy on a Sunday, so Anthony didn’t even get the day off of work. I bought an air mattress the week before, in preparation, and we spent several hours sleeping on it in the living room, away from the big windows in our bedroom. I started to kind of feel a little icky that day, having some contractions also. By Wednesday, I was pretty sick and after visiting one doctor who said “oh, it’s just some GI thing, go home and rest”, I went to my OB here, who referred me to her husband, who is an internal specialist at the same hospital. He admitted me into the hospital to get some IV fluids in and run some tests. I was in a lot of abdominal pain, with on/off contractions and not able to keep food/water in for very long. The baby was fine, heartbeat was good and I wasn’t having consistent contractions. They diagnosed me with acute invasive gastroenteritis, from something I ate or drank. Fortunately, no one else in the family got sick. They were not able to determine exactly what bacteria was invading my body, but they went ahead and put me on antibiotics and kept me in the hospital for four days, until I could eat and normally use the bathroom, with no contractions. It was not a fun time, being in quite a bit of pain and not really knowing what or when it would be over. Due to the pregnancy, they did not want to give me any pain medication, so I had to suffer. It was nice knowing that everything the GI did had to be approved by my OB, so I was able to trust that they were both doing the best for me and for the baby.
Once I got home, I then started to run a fever for three days and then once I was better, Liz was home sick with enterovirus, which is commonly known as hand, foot and mouth disease. We thought the kids might get it as it was going around among friends that they had been around and it’s a fairly contagious virus. Sure enough, Liz got the spots on her hands, feet, mouth, legs and stomach – poor thing! She was in a good mood though and stayed home with me for the required 6 days. We had lots of fun as I was finally feeling good and she was happy to be at home with mommy and no Ashley.
Since then, we’ve all just been prodding along, watching my belly grow. Anthony has been working quite a bit, having dinner meetings, conference calls and working through email while at home. The girls are still loving their school. Liz doesn’t cry anymore at all when we take her, she gives us hugs and waves bye-bye. She has even finally learned how to walk the whole way there and the whole way back. This has taken weeks of huge crying fits in the middle of the sidewalk because she wanted to be carried. It’s getting difficult for me to carry her, so that’s kind of not an option right now. The girls sing songs they learn at school, even Liz. We don’t really understand what she is singing, but the mumbling has some sort of rhythm to it, so we assume it’s a song. Ashley is working on learning how to spell short words, along with learning the sounds all the letters make. She is also perfecting her art skills as she attempts to draw everyone in the family and animals. Liz is learning her numbers and colors and how to talk so we can understand her.
It’s been a LONG month. There were a few good weeks, with the kids doing well in school, me learning how to keep myself occupied with no kids during the day and Anthony working hard. Then, we had typhoon Longwang – no real damage around here, just windy and rainy on a Sunday, so Anthony didn’t even get the day off of work. I bought an air mattress the week before, in preparation, and we spent several hours sleeping on it in the living room, away from the big windows in our bedroom. I started to kind of feel a little icky that day, having some contractions also. By Wednesday, I was pretty sick and after visiting one doctor who said “oh, it’s just some GI thing, go home and rest”, I went to my OB here, who referred me to her husband, who is an internal specialist at the same hospital. He admitted me into the hospital to get some IV fluids in and run some tests. I was in a lot of abdominal pain, with on/off contractions and not able to keep food/water in for very long. The baby was fine, heartbeat was good and I wasn’t having consistent contractions. They diagnosed me with acute invasive gastroenteritis, from something I ate or drank. Fortunately, no one else in the family got sick. They were not able to determine exactly what bacteria was invading my body, but they went ahead and put me on antibiotics and kept me in the hospital for four days, until I could eat and normally use the bathroom, with no contractions. It was not a fun time, being in quite a bit of pain and not really knowing what or when it would be over. Due to the pregnancy, they did not want to give me any pain medication, so I had to suffer. It was nice knowing that everything the GI did had to be approved by my OB, so I was able to trust that they were both doing the best for me and for the baby.
Once I got home, I then started to run a fever for three days and then once I was better, Liz was home sick with enterovirus, which is commonly known as hand, foot and mouth disease. We thought the kids might get it as it was going around among friends that they had been around and it’s a fairly contagious virus. Sure enough, Liz got the spots on her hands, feet, mouth, legs and stomach – poor thing! She was in a good mood though and stayed home with me for the required 6 days. We had lots of fun as I was finally feeling good and she was happy to be at home with mommy and no Ashley.
Since then, we’ve all just been prodding along, watching my belly grow. Anthony has been working quite a bit, having dinner meetings, conference calls and working through email while at home. The girls are still loving their school. Liz doesn’t cry anymore at all when we take her, she gives us hugs and waves bye-bye. She has even finally learned how to walk the whole way there and the whole way back. This has taken weeks of huge crying fits in the middle of the sidewalk because she wanted to be carried. It’s getting difficult for me to carry her, so that’s kind of not an option right now. The girls sing songs they learn at school, even Liz. We don’t really understand what she is singing, but the mumbling has some sort of rhythm to it, so we assume it’s a song. Ashley is working on learning how to spell short words, along with learning the sounds all the letters make. She is also perfecting her art skills as she attempts to draw everyone in the family and animals. Liz is learning her numbers and colors and how to talk so we can understand her.
posted by The Armstrongs at
10/25/2005
