Stoney Returns

(Stoney is a nickname my cousin Marielle gave me because I've had so many kidney stones)
Four years ago I moved to San Luis Obispo, CA to be a nanny.  Two days after my arrival I was rushed to the ER with a kidney stone.  I woke up at 5 AM threw up all over their carpet, AND in her BMW X5 (in a bowl luckily) racked up a beautiful $10,000 bill and spent the rest of the day in bed.  Hi! I'm your new nanny, let me barf all over your beautiful house, watch me writhe in pain on your floor and in your car.

Needless to say, I wasn't shy from that moment on...

I have not had another stone since that day, now four and a half years later I no longer have health insurance because I am staying at home with baby Violet and BAM!  Kidney stone.  My first one was in 5th grade, I had one surgically removed because it was too big to pass when I was a freshman in high school, I've had plenty of trips to the ER and been hospitalized over night from them, so I know my kidney stones.  It wasn't the worst one I've ever had but definitely called for an ER visit for some morphine.  (I tried to avoid the $10,000 visit but the Lortab just wasn't touching it.)  Sadly, they didn't give me any, they gave me some other narcotic which did the job but I wasn't loving it and faking pain so they'd give me more like I would've done with Morphine. (Probably the reason they didn't give me any in the first place...)  

I was extremely dehydrated, they needed to get an ultra sound of my kidneys and bladder to find the stones but my bladder had to be really full. They took me in after an entire IV and it was completely empty. I had another and  still didn't have to go so I had to drink 4 glasses of water. Two hours later they told me I have a handful of stones in my kidneys, one large one obstructing my ureter, and a few more on their way down to my bladder.

This was Erik's first experience with me having a kidney stone, I told him that they hurt worse than contractions, but I'm not entirely sure that's true. I can't remember well enough what they felt like. Luckily we were at my parents so they were able to watch Violet while Erik drove me to the hospital high as a kite on Lortab but still in so much pain, kicking and rocking, crying and laughing at myself because I didn't want him to look at me.  He was the best, sat there in the room with me for 5 hours with nothing to do.
 So for now it's a waiting game for me to pass the stones.  Lot's of water, today I'm feeling better, extremely groggy, my face is very puffy from the IV's and I gained 10 lbs in water weight.  I have to go to a urologist so we'll see what they have to say.

The worst part about all of this was that baby Violet had come down with a stomach bug the night before at the Grammy party.  We were down in Sandy and she would not stop crying. If you know Violet, you know she doesn't cry, hardly ever makes a peep, so we were worried and didn't know what was wrong.  Then she threw up a few times and felt better, went home and she threw up a few more times.  We were up all night with her, and all the while I was in pain trying to ignore my screaming kidney.  She was still such an angel, she was so cuddly, a little more fussy than usual after that first vomiting episode, and would softly whimper because of her poor tummy.  We took her to the Dr because she hadn't had a wet diaper in 12 hours.  Now she's happy as a clam and back to her old self.

Merry Christmas to us! Medical bills up the wazoo.

We haven't even gotten to enjoy this week so far with family because I've been in pain since Friday, and Monday was full of Dr/ER visits, but here's a look at our weekend.

Oberg Christmas party on Saturday

 Crystal and cute Hazel

  We had our gift exchange, Violet got these darling pj's from cousin Ashden who lives in DC thanks Ashden! She loves them :)

  Christmas Sunday in her Christmas dress in front of my parents tree

 Grammy party, starting to get a little worried and not feeling so great...

 Boen shaking his "Jingle Bells"

 Grammy telling us about her sister and their dog

I figured I'd get started because we'll have loads more to come. Hope everyone is having a great Holiday Season!