Jonathan's First Ultrasound

Well, this has been an interesting couple of weeks, indeed. Michel had her first ultrasound (with L2) last week, and I had mine this week. You might just wonder why, until I explain what you are looking at. First, my ultrasound is cool, because it's blue, not brown, and blue is just cooler than brown. Now that the cooler ultrasound has been established, I will establish that I am faster at giving birth. You see, I had the ultrasound on Wednesday around noon, and before the sun met the horizon, I gave birth via the Caesarian method to a perfectly sickly 16mm+ thick appendix. No lamaze, no Bradley method, just plain old knife and anasthesia. Not in that order, though.

In all seriousness, I have had my appendix removed. See the dark circle in the center of the ultrasound? That's the pesky bugger. So, sit back, grab a beverage, and set the way-back machine for Monday night...

I thought it was gas, and kept trying to get rid of it, much to my family's chagrin. Though, I should say my wife's chagrin, because you all know the joy Abigail finds in these kinds of gastric delights. In any case, the pain I felt throughout my entire abdomen didn't get better as the night wore on, it got worse. Much worse. I didn't sleep for just about the entire night. I actually threw up around 3 am, attempted to go back to sleep, which I didn't, and threw up again when I tried to drink some water and gatorade to rehydrate after the rather thorough first expunging. I finally started to feel better, although the general pain had simply localized to my lower right abdomen, and a spot just behind my navel.

When the pain localized, and I took some ibuprofen in case it was cramps, I slept finally from 9am to 1pm. I thought I had some sort of stomach flu, and was dealing with it accordingly. Come Wednesday morning, there was no change, so I figured I better call the doc.

The doc said it was a textbook case of appendicitis, and sent me for a blood test and ultrasound to make sure. They made sure. The appendix is normally the length of your pinky, and about 6mm thick. Mine was 16mm thick, and probably still growing. I called Michel, let her in on my coming birth, and we went to the appointed hospital for my scheduled C-section.

I got there and found the hospital experience to be rather quick and professional, and the people were courteous and friendly. The one thing I discovered is that a 5 year old can be intensely sensitive about these things and can display a lot of affection and concern just prior to the surgery. It was amazing to see just how much love this normally distracted and flighty girl can produce. Truly amazing, and completely fulfilling.

I was put completely under, which I never saw coming: you see, I was fully awake and talking , and the next thing I knew I was extremely groggy trying to answer and talk to people. Apparently, while I was out I removed the air tube from my esophagus. I definitely don't remember and it must be a dirty, smelly lie. Or not, because I now have a scrape on my hand I didn't before the surgery... In any case, I am now under the merciful watch of vicodin, a narcotic that means I don't feel pain, and get to have fun in the meantime.

Here's a rough timeline:
Monday night, pain
Tuesday
morning,
early, puke
late, first lengthy sleep after pain localizes
Continuing pain...
Wed morning, call doc, make same day appt
Wed afternoon, appendix is in a trashcan somewhere, and I'm on drugs, legally!

I stayed in the hospital until they released me on Thursday morning. With work and picking up the kid Michel retrieved me in early afternoon, and I have been doing absolutely nothing since. Though I did get to spend all day on the computer today prepping this blog and LittleTwo's picture album. I also did some bills, and other necessary work like that. However, Abigail's room is still in progress with painting, because I couldn't finish it, and Michel is taking up the slack for that and in other ways. I'm on drugs, legally!