The beach, a "stalker" and Tucson

Today's post is a big ol' wrap up about the end of our trip and some events that happened before we headed back home.

On Friday morning we slept in, checked out of the hotel and went for a nice leisurely breakfast (as opposed to eating while walking to Disneyland).  We had been debating driving to San Diego and spending the night there, but after the whole hospital debacle we were kind of done with being out-of-state.  We had, however, promised Spencer a trip to the beach, so we drove to Laguna Beach and played in the sand and water for about an hour.

The boys constructed a stellar sand castle.

Spencer raked it down before we left.

When it was time to leave we rinsed him off in the beach side shower, hopped in the car and drove to Tucson.  Ginger was there having her fall vacation with my parents and we couldn't figure out another way to get her home. 

On Saturday my mom and I took Spencer to an outdoor mall in Tucson.  Spencer and I were at the toy store while my mom was looking for some clothes at Coldwater Creek.  As we were walking to go meet her a woman walked up to me and asked if my name was Natalie.  I said yes.  She said that she had recognized me because she reads my blog all the time and I was so funny.  Then she told me that she was friends with a mutual friend (Chelsea), so she was less stalkerish than she appeared.  It was the highlight of the day.  I felt like a famous person being stalked by the paparazzi.

So, hello Jeannette!  I'm so glad you read and enjoy my blog.  Leave a comment!

This is Spencer after our "stalker" encounter.

On Saturday night my brother, Nick, was having a 30th birthday party for himself.  His birthday was actually in June but he was out to sea and working a 12 hour shift in steel toed boots.  Not exactly a celebration.

Hooray!  I got an updated picture of Spencer and Elisa.

Spencer and my dad.

Spencer and Uncle Nick. 

The birthday party had a speakeasy/Prohibition theme, and Nick is competing in a mustache growing contest.  That's why he looks like this.

On Sunday we packed the car, scooped up Ginger and returned home with very little fanfare.

The exhaustion didn't hit me until Tuesday when I came home from work and basically slept for 4 hours, ate dinner and went back to bed.

Coming up next:

Pottery projects

and

Amy's Halloween Party

A bad day turned better

Like I said in my previous post, Michael and Spencer were sleeping peacefully while I was in the hospital all night.  Well.  Spencer was.  Michael was, understandably, a bit worried and agitated.  He slept better than I did though.  They slept in in the morning and then went to Disneyland.

Before I had left for the ER I took the time to make sure Michael had the camera and that he knew where the battery charger was so he could be ready to go in the morning if I didn't make it back in time.  I met up with them at California Adventure at about 4:00.  They had been in the parks since 9:00.   7 hours. 

These are the pictures that Michael took:

Yeah.  That's right.  Nothing.  Not a single snapshot the entire day.  It's a good thing Michael is not reponsible for pictures in our family.

The first thing we did once I finally joined my family was take turns going on Soarin' Over California, our favorite ride.  Spencer needs 2 more inches before he can go, so I went first while Michael waited with him and then we switched.

Spencer and I did a "senior in high school" photo shoot while we were waiting.

Then we headed back to Disneyland and got the standard "in front of the castle with Walt Disney and Mickey statues" pictures.

We were trying to eat at different retaurants this time around.  We tend to just go to where we went last time.  We have somehow never eaten at Carnation Cafe so we had decided to make that our last meal.

 I totally didn't take this picture.  I got it from google images.

I did take this one.

We had gotten ice cream cones the previous 2 days so we decided to shake things up and go for a Matterhorn Sundae to share.

Our waiter asked if we were prepared for the massive size of the sundae and joked that nobody can handle the 2 pounds of whipped cream on top.  We joked back that we love whipped cream and he should add a little extra layer.

Instead he brought us a plate with extra whipped cream.  We gave him a generous tip.  And we ate every single bite.

After dinner we checked out the fire department on Main Street.

Then we went on rides for about 4 hours.

Our camera broke during the Winnie the Pooh ride.  The lens got stuck in the zoom position and we couldn't close it, turn it off or do anything really. 

We stayed at Disneyland until it closed that night at 11.  But there are no more pictures.  I took a couple on my phone, but they aren't very good.

And that's it.  Just like that our Disneyland adventure was over. 

Spencer is working on my parents to take him again after he turns 5.  We probably won't go as a family for 2-3 (closer to 3) years.  Boo.

P.S. My dad fixed the camera two days later.  Don't worry.  The blog will continue to thrive with 80% more pictures than are necessary.

NOT the happiest place on earth

I wish I could just invite all of my blog readers over for some pie and coffee and sit around on couches and pillows while I tell you the tale of my hospital visit.  In this scenario we're all wearing pajamas too.  I think that two men read my blog (my husband and my father-in-law) so everyone here will be a woman and after the gory hospital story we can give each other make-overs.

Anyway.  It would be easier to just chat.  But I will force myself to type.  Ugh.

By Wednesday night, after 12 hours at Disneyland, most of that in unbearable heat, I was crippled.  I could barely walk.  Michael and Spencer walked back to the hotel, got the car and came back to pick me up.  It was all I could do to walk down main street and out the exit to the 15 minute parking lot.

The plan was to take showers and go straight to bed.  We were going to sleep in in the morning.  Disneyland was open until 11 pm on Thursday so we didn't need to get there right when they opened.

It was back at the hotel that I realized I was bleeding.  Not a lot, but enough that I wasn't just going to lay in a hotel room in Anaheim worrying about it.  I used my phone to look up ER's in Anaheim and made my decision on where to go based on patient reviews.  The hospital was 4 miles away.  I drove myself because the last thing in the world I was going to do was drag Michael and Spencer along with me.

I got to the ER and was immediately taken to the OB ward.  They admitted me before they even checked me over.  I was hooked to monitors where they discovered I was having very mild contractions, about 1 an hour.

The nurses decided to start an IV because they assumed I was dehydrated.  The nurse dug around in my hand for 10 minutes (it's very hard to start an IV on me) before getting a vain.  It hurt.  A lot.  After about an hour of IV fluids the contractions stopped.  They never started again.  By 5 am the bleeding stopped.  It never started again.

I was also given IV antibiotics because there was bacteria in my urine, although the nurses admitted that it was very unlikely I had a bladder infection and the bacteria was most likely from a tainted urine sample.  That's what I call good medical care.

   My room was right by the nurse's station and my IV was really noisy.  It made a grinding noise every 6 seconds.  Despite being quite exhausted  I only slept for about 50 minutes, from 5:15 until just after 6. The night shift nurse had told me I was scheduled for an ultrasound at 7 am and I think I woke myself up so I could be ready.

7 o'clock rolled around.  I was told it was moved to 8.  Then it was 10.  Then it was 11.  Then it was 1.  At 12:30 I asked about how the ultrasound people were progressing and was told that they were seeing patients that had been given orders the day before.  This is when they dropped the bomb that it would be at least 24 hours and more like 36 before they got me in.  Then the cafeteria people came in to take my order for the next 6 meals.

Then I started freaking out.  I had talked to my doctor's office twice.  There was nothing they could do to speed things along.  So I called my insurance company to ask if they could refuse to pay for my visit unless I got my ultrasound in a timely manner.  The lady I talked to was incredibly nice and supportive.  She explained that they could not refuse to pay (although she liked the idea) and she suggested that instead of continuing to play the patient, understanding patient that I become mean and demanding and to put my clothes on and threaten to leave.

So, I asked for the head nurse to come in.  I didn't like any of the nurses that had been helping me, except for the head nurse.  She was lovely.  One nurse was a downright b-i-t-c-h and was telling me about how they see all these crazy ladies coming to Disneyland and their water breaks and they end up delivering and we're all so irresponsible.  I pointed out to her that I got permission from my doctor to go on this trip, I drank more than 100 ounces of liquid that day and didn't go on any "forbidden" rides.  I could have just smacked her,.

Moving on.  The head nurse came in and I laid out my case.  No contractions for 12 hours.  No bleeding for 7 hours.  The doctor had never come to see me.  If anybody on that medical staff was actually concerned about me having a serious problem I would have been in for that ultrasound hours ago.

We talked for a long time and she agreed that the ultrasound was not necessary and that I was making an informed decision to leave.  So she took out my IV.  And then I bled massive amounts of blood out of my hand all over the floor, my gown and the bed.  So she cleaned that up and re-bandaged me.  Then I got dressed.  Then they told me that someone from ultrasound was there right that minute to take me.  I decided not to do it.  I didn't want to have to wait for the report and the doctor to discharge me.  That would have taken hours.

While all of this was going on Michael and Spencer were at Disneyland having a blast.  We stayed in touch all day and kept coming up with new plans based on when I might be out of there.

I finally left at 2.  The head nurse walked me to my car and gave me a hug and (jokingly, I think) told me to lie when people asked me what hospital I had been at.  She gave me the name of another hospital in the area because she was mortified that her hospital had provided such bad care.  I drove back to the hotel, took a shower, drank 32 ounces of water and rested a bit.  Then I parked the car in the paid parking lot at Disneyland and took the tram to the entrance.  I met up with Michael and Spencer at about 4. 

I'll give the details about Thursday evening in my next post.  I think this has gone on long enough.

I'll leave you with the dreary images of my hospital visit.

The view of my room to the left from the bed.  I looked at that clock every 15 seconds.

The view to the right.  Behind that curtain was the door from where mean and not very informed nurses would appear.  Oh, and the TV?  I couldn't change the channel from my bed (it was broken) so I got to watch 1 channel unless I got up, unhooked my monitors and dragged my IV with me.  I was already doing that about once an hour to go to the bathroom.

My crappy breakfast.

My very annoying IV.

The next post will be much more fun.  No more hospital.  Just Disneyland.

The adventure continues

This is what happens when you are 4 years old and you spent 12 hours at Disneyland the previous day:

It's hard to get up the next morning.

Once we got going Spencer was very excited to get back to Disneyland.

This was Wednesday.  The park was not very crowded.  My belly was very large.

Spencer and Michael started the day at Autopia.  This ride is a no-no during pregnancy because crazy drivers can rear end you and the jolt is no bueno.  I watched from above.

We headed back to Critter Country and met Tigger again.

This time they bounced together.

Pooh was there again too.

We met Eeyore for the first time.

By this time it was close to noon and close to a million degrees.  We walked over to California Adventure and went to the Disney Junior Live show.  Michael and Spencer sat on the floor with the rest of the crowd.  I found a nice cushioned bench by the wall and enjoyed the air conditioning, er, entertainment.

The had The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse,

Handy Manny,

Little Einsteins,

and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

Then another ride I couldn't go on.

Then one I could, although this ride (it's like the tea cups, but shaped like lady bugs) is really wild.

Then the moment we had all been waiting for.

We had seen Pluto several times the day before, but held off on meeting him until Spencer was wearing his Pluto shirt.

Pluto was pretty excited to see Spencer's shirt.  I doubt it has anything to do with his being paid to be excited.

Minnie was there too.

And Chip and Dale.

Spencer is still talking about how Mater and Lightning couldn't sign his autograph book because they don't have hands.

By late afternoon (when it was close to 2 million degrees) we headed back to Disneyland so we could enjoy the nice air conditioning in the Innoventions building.

Michael and Spencer played this cool video game on the floor.

I mostly sat on benches and drank water while we moved throughout the building.

For my next post I will fill you in on all of the details of my hospital visit.  There are pictures.......of the room, my IV bag and my crappy breakfast.

  Don't fall off the edge of your seat.