Where are my car keys?

It is amazing how quickly a person’s life can change. How almost instantly life throws curve balls and expects you not to strike out. This last weekend Curtis and I had one of those pitched at us. We spent the majority of Saturday getting ready for our baby, going from store to store and draining our savings. Around mid-afternoon we were putting together our Memorial Day special, a bookshelf from Ikea, when I started to notice a strange grey spot in my right eye. I just figured it would go away and didn’t really think much of it. Curtis and I decided to kick back and enjoy a movie. After the movie ended Curtis kept bugging me about the spot in my eye that I needed to call somebody to make sure everything was ok. I finally caved after there was no change for about 5 hours and left a message at the hospital. My doctor, who happened to be the one on call for the holiday weekend, called me back and asked me to come down just so they can check everything out. They ended admitting me, keeping me overnight, and ran some tests. They ruled out placenta-previa and toxemia but still couldn’t pin point what was really going on. I was dehydrated so they started pushing me to drink water like crazy which in turn made me have to rush to the bathroom every hour or so! After an uncomfortable night of tossing and turning and being hooked up to monitors non-stop our Dr. sent us up to Moran Eye Center to have an ophthalmologist check out my eye. After a couple of more hours of more tests and dilating my eyes Curtis and I were told that from what this Dr. could tell I had a clot somewhere along my optic vein, which then burst and the spot I am seeing is the blood that has pooled along my retina. He related it to having a stroke in my eye! Remember, at this point Curtis and I are flat out exhausted and not expecting this type of news. The Dr. said that if I had a clot form there, that there was a chance that I could have clots elsewhere in my body and unfortunately they can’t do the regular tests because I am pregnant. He couldn’t tell us if this was pregnancy related either, he said it could have just happened. We are supposed to have an appointment tomorrow with a retina specialist to give us a better idea of what really is going on. In the mean time my OB had me come back in Monday morning for some more tests since they kind of narrowed down what they needed to look for. Also she told me the best part of all of this… She told me that they would need to put me on a blood thinner so that it would limit the possibilities of me having a stroke. They put me on Heparin shots. If you know me, you know I am not a fan of pain or needles and when they told me I would have to give myself shots 2X a day I about died! They also said I would have to do this up until the baby came and probably during postpartum period. This also means that we will have to have a planned delivery since I have to be off of the Heparin 24 hours before I deliver. She will probably take me a week early. I have also been having random episodes of rapid heart rate. This could have also triggered my clot in my eye, who knows, but they put me on a heart monitor to try to track when I had these episodes. This thing looks like a ghetto iPod around my neck either that or LifeAlert. I just feel like a lab rat. To sum it up I am hooked up on a heart monitor, have to give myself shots morning and night, check my blood pressure and still have this stupid spot in my eye! There are some positives in all of this though! Curtis and I have truly been blessed by many tender mercies throughout this trial of ours. Firstly the baby has been doing fantastically, not experiencing stress and still seems happy as a clam moving all day long! Of all doctors to be on call for a holiday weekend, our doctor was the one who was there. She has been absolutely phenomenal! We also got good practice for when we have our little boy, we learned that we will definitely bring an air mattress for Curtis to sleep on when we deliver! We got to meet a lot of the nurses, who also were so great! I have nothing but praise to sing about JVH’s labor and deliver! It has been such an emotional and physically tolling weekend and Curtis and I are absolutely exhausted! We are taking it one day at a time and just are so grateful for the power of our Father in Heaven. Sorry for the long and drawn out and possibly depressing post. Amid the trials our testimonies have found strength and we have faith that everything will be ok. In the meantime we will keep you posted…