A Glorious Day

This little quail lives on our neighbors garden structure. He's there all the time. He's become a permanent fixture in the view out our back window, and I love it.

Yesterday was wonderful. I had a pretty busy morning, but then I came home and slept, and lay down for a while, then slept, lay down some more, and then went to bed and, you guessed it...slept. You know how sometimes when you're sick or pregnant, and you get to lay in bed all day, and you just can't truly enjoy it because of how awful you feel? Yesterday was not that case at all! I just felt very tired, and it was wonderful to lay around all day, taking naps as I needed them.

I woke up at 5:23 to meet my neighbor for our morning walk. I figure that if I lose track of Shaylene, I won't have to call the police to report her missing, and we have a great time talking together. We walked through a drizzling rain until 6:00, then I ran upstairs to take a nice, hot shower. Brian didn't have work, which meant that I didn't have to hurry for him to take a shower, so I stayed in for a while, enjoying the water, then I got out - didn't put my make up on, didn't do my hair. All I did was brush my teeth, because that was allowed, and pull on some clothes.

I kissed Brian good-bye, wrote a note to leave on the table that said, "Daddy, Alyssa, Ethan, & Marcus, I love you. Love, Mom," just in case, and I headed outside to wait for my mom to pick me up. She arrived just a few moments later when I was walking to check the mail from the previous day, and when I met her in the middle of the street, we joked about how I've always been one of her kids that was ready for everything either on time or early, and we reminisced about my high school days and all the yelling I had to do, which never did any good, to get my younger brother up and ready to go on time. Ahh, good times. I miss David, I really do.

We pulled up at the hospital, signed in, and waited. We sat in front of a wall with a waterfall cascading over it, and a cross suspended in the air in front of the water. We talked quite a bit about the water feature, and I decided that they put it in because they tell you not to eat or drink anything for 12 hours before your surgery, but in the same breath tell you that they'll need a urine sample when you first come in. The waterfall helps a little with that, I think.

We waited for a little while, then were taken upstairs to a room, where I put on my super cool hospital gown and fuzzy-grippy socks. It took two tries to get an I.V. in, one on each hand, and the first try really hurt. Second try, went right in. My mom compared the happy, joyful floor of nurses to a three ring circus. One of the nurses compared themselves to the girls from "The Facts of Life." Either way, they were fun to watch.

It didn't take long until a nice man, who was worried about the rain ruining a barbecue that night, came to wheel my bed downstairs. My mom was able to come down with us, and then we sat for a few more minutes, met the anesthesiologist, then I was taken away for surgery. When they asked if I had any concerns or questions, I asked about my crazy stuffy nose that I've had for the last few days, and about how I can't breathe through it. They said it wasn't going to be a problem. I was pleasantly surprised at how happy everyone was. It made it fun. They must have pushed medicine through my I.V. before they gave me the oxygen mask, because it wasn't two seconds after putting it against my face that I was asleep.

These were my first thoughts when I woke up: 1.) Gee, I wonder when they're going to put me to sleep and get started, 2.)I can breathe through my nose! and, 3.)Wow! My throat really hurts! I woke up with this incredible urge to sleep, so I closed my eyes again, and just listened to everything that was going on around me. The doctor said he couldn't find my mom, and it turned out she had been moving the car to a closer parking spot for me, then he said he had found my mom and told her that everything went well. They then wheeled me back to our upstairs room, where I rested for a few more minutes, got dressed, and was told I could go home. A nice lady wheeled me out, and waited with me while my mom pulled the car around, and then we were done.

I was home by 11:00, and met at the door by some happy kids and a loving husband, and after giving my mom a huge piece of cake as a thank you, I was helped up the stairs by Alyssa, where I plopped on the bed and went to sleep. I spent two hours sleeping in my bed, then I went downstairs and slept on the couch through the afternoon and evening. I watched bits and pieces of "Flipper," which Alyssa watches on Hulu every chance she gets. Alyssa took fabulous care of me while Brian took care of Marcus. Alyssa kept coming over to give me a hug, or offer me water, or just to let me know she was happy that I'm okay. My sister, Christina, made a wonderful dinner with chicken noodle soup, a fabulous salad, and warm homemade rolls, and she sent her husband Nathan over to give them to us. Thanks, Chris! It was delicious! When she asked me when I wanted dinner brought over, I kept telling her we didn't need it, but I'm glad she insisted, because I didn't know how completely wiped out I was going to be.

Overall I'm feeling great. My throat has been sore, but that's to be expected, and even despite the soreness, I can tell a difference in my voice quality. I'm not supposed to talk very much for two weeks, so that's a lot of fun. My doctor said that ideally they would ask me not to talk at all for two weeks, but he knows that's impossible, so to just be careful. So Brian called someone yesterday for me, and I have Gospel Doctrine taken care of, which is nice not to have to worry about. Alyssa and I finished her History and Science classes last week, which is great, because I do a lot of reading aloud to her in those classes. She's sad that they're over, because she loved them, but the kids have still gotten on the computer a couple of times to play some of the Science games, so it's not so sad. Also, I've been reading a chapter of "Little Women" to Alyssa each night after the boys go to bed, and Brian has taken that over for a little while. It was fun to just sit and listen to the story last night, instead of reading it. Anyway, summing it all up. (See? I'm not trying to make this long, it just is, I guess.) Good experience. I'm happy to have my throat fixed, and I can't wait until I can try singing!