My wonderful mother passed away last week on Friday. She had been fighting stage IV lung cancer for about a year, and in the end it took her pretty quickly in her sleep. I'm thankful that she's not suffering in pain any longer, but her absence in our lives will be felt for a very long time.
On Saturday, the very next day after her passing, I was admitted to the ICU ward of our local hospital. I had been having extreme pain throughout my stomach, back and chest, and after extensive testing, they found that I had acute pancreatitis. I was kept there for four days, three of which I was on a strict starvation diet, where I was not allowed to have any food or water. I couldn't even brush my teeth or use lip balm. Here I was, 37 weeks pregnant and not allowed to eat. It felt like torture.
My lipase enzyme levels were in the 23,000s upon admittance (hospital staff were shocked how high they were), but by the next day they were sharply dropping. My hospital stay was much shorter than anticipated, since my pancreas was responding nicely to the "bedrest" it was on.
I was discharged on Wednesday, and my mom's funeral was Friday morning. I'm so glad I didn't miss it. I feel extremely worn-down and my body is still recovering, but hopefully I'll have all my energy back before I go into labor. So, at this point, I'm perfectly content letting this baby grow for another two or three weeks. I can't imagine having a baby any time soon, feeling the way I do.
Oldest Daughter started school last week at the local high school. She is a sophomore.The two boys started homeschool today. Son "J", who is in 2nd grade, loves school and couldn't wait to start, but Son "P", 4th grade, says he hates school.
Despite the near 100 degree temperatures, the kids had a great time at the county fair horse show. This was the boys' first horse show ever, and all the kids did really well.
We're certainly getting closer to having our sweet baby in our arms. Now, if we were just getting closer to agreeing on a name...
Now 18 months old, Baby W loves to spend as much time outside as he can. He's always been a lover of the outdoors, but now he thinks he should be able to go outside whenever he wants and will try to open the front door. It's a good thing he hasn't figured out how to open it yet.
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| Airing out the tent a couple of days prior to going to the lake. This is our old tent that we haven't used in years, so we were worried about spiders. Thankfully, there were none. |
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| We camped at a state park just a few miles down the road from us. Our campsite was right on the lake. It was beautiful. |
