Our Christmas / New Year's week was full of family, love, fun and some unexpected adventures! To say it was the most adventurous week and a half of my life would be an understatement. It involved a trip to the ER, a visit from Santa, a bloody lip, the stomach flu, and being snowed in! This post will probably be a bit long as we describe what has happened in our lives, so as one of my friends said on her blog, "pull out your popcorn, sit down and enjoy!"
December 23: A Trip to the ER
After we celebrated Christmas with just our little family on Dec. 23rd, Jade and I decided to head up to Evanston, Wyoming to see my family. Ben wanted to come the next day on the 24th so he could get some projects done around the house that he has been waiting to get to. Jade and I left Orem about noon and she slept almost the entire time in the car. Upon arriving in Evanston, we found out that my parents had gone to Utah to do some last minute Christmas shopping and so we spent the rest of the day visiting with my sister-in-law, niece and grandparents. We had a great time catching up with family and I even got to help my grandparents load all their digital pictures onto their "new" computer so they could look at them. Eventually my sister-in-law and brother took off to Utah to pick up a last minute present as well and so it was just Jade, me, and the grandparents. We ate a great dinner of KFC, visited some more and Jade played until she could barely walk. At about 8:30pm I decided it was time to go back home to my parents house so we could put her (and me) to bed.
So we said our goodbyes and as I was loading Jade I had the thought that I should just stay down at Grandpa and Grandma's tonight because no one was home at my parents anyway. I just kept on driving though and thought no more of it. When I got to my parents house, I packed Jade in the house, got her bottle ready, and laid her down on the floor in the living room to drink it. I then proceeded to go back outside to get her pack and play and our luggage.
And that first step out of my parents door was the last I remember taking for awhile! I remember stepping once off the step and then the next thing I remember is this excruciating pain coming from the back of my head and my vision blurring up and going black. It was like in the movies when all is light and then it was like a black hole was closing in on me, and just as everything was going completely black, I remember thinking "Jenny, don't you dare pass out because Jade is in that house all alone and no one is here to help you!" It was at that moment that the black hole started expanding again and all became light. I laid there on the cement for a minute or so assessing the situation, trying to figure out what happened, because I really can't remember the fall.
I remember being on my back facing the snow and a giant pain in my head. I put my hand up to my head to see what was hurt and that is when I saw that I was bleeding pretty badly, there was already a pool of blood on the sidewalk and it was running down my coat. My first thought was "oh no, I have a huge cut on my head, I am losing blood and I am losing my vision fast." I was seeing stars and sparkly tunnels and everything was quite blurry. I thought I had better call someone fast just in case I did pass out. So as I was still laying on the ground, I reached in my pocket, got my cell phone and called my grandparents. I think I said something like, I have just fallen, I am bleeding, don't know if I will pass out, get help!
It was at that point I tried getting up, I was quite dizzy but I think my adrenaline took over because I knew Jade was inside that house alone and I had to see the damage to my head. I was also losing my vision fast. I was able to walk in the house, up the stairs and see that Jade was sitting at the top of the stairs still drinking her bottle. That was good news to me because it meant that I had not been knocked out for too long because it takes her very little time to drink her bottle. I was also grateful that she had not fallen down the stairs or anything. After making sure she was okay, I went to the bathroom to look at my head, but all I could see was blood matting my hair together and it was running down my neck onto my clothes. I knew it was bad so I just grabbed a big towel and held it to my head to apply pressure, that was all I knew to do for head wounds. Then I just went and sat by Jade on the stairs and waited for someone to come help us. Jade was so good, she just sat by me and I could see a look in her eyes like "what's wrong mama?"
It was not two minutes later when my parents neighbor came rushing through their door and helped me get into the car. His wife and son then loaded Jade into the car and they drove me to the hospital. That car ride seemed to take forever, even though the hospital was only 3 minutes away! At this point I was not thinking clearly, vision was still going blurry and my head was pounding. Once at the hospital, the neighbors son helped me in as my walking and depth perception was all messed up. I told the ladies behind the check in desk that I had hit my head and was losing my vision and that I was 6 months pregnant. After asking a few questions, they immediately took me back to the ER and the nurse began looking for the source of my head wound.
At this point the neighbor lady had come in with Jade and she called, my husband Ben (since he was still in Orem) to let him know what was going on. I think he was confused but I was able to call him later to talk. It was soon after that that I remember my grandparents showing up with my niece in tow because remember her parents and mine were in Utah shopping. I felt so bad for those 2 little girls, but they were so calm just sitting there begins so good and watching all the hullabaloo!
At first the nurse could not find the cut on my head, but after she cleaned up some of the blood she found it to be only about 2 cm long. In a way I was relieved it was only that long, but I was also thinking "my goodness where is all this blood coming from then!?" The nurse explained to me that head wounds bleed a ton, well a ton was an understatement to me at that moment! And then to add to that, I was pregnant and so my body was already producing more blood than normal for the baby, so I had lost a lot of blood.
The doctor then came in then and looked at my head and asked me about my vision and headache. He said it was a good sign that I was talking and could remember some things. He then recommended a cat scan and some neck x-rays to make sure I was not bleeding in my brain or anything like that. I was nervous to get the cat scan because of the baby, but he said the risk to my health right now was greater. I started getting very nauseous at this point and felt like I was going to throw up. I assumed it was because I had a concussion. They quickly gave me an anti-nausea pill and it worked so fast I was amazed!
The neighbors offered to take the 2 little girls back to their house to try and get them to sleep. I said sure go ahead and so they left. My grandparents stayed with me. I guess sometime after my fall my grandparents had called my parents and informed them of what had happened. They immediately left for home but I was so worried because the roads were icy and bad and it was quite foggy.
It was then that they took me in for my cat scan and x-rays. Having never had these before in my life, it was quite weird to lay under that big circle thing while the lights blinked. I made sure the guy covered me with 2 protective x-ray blankets to guard the baby. They were heavy but I did not care. I was still pretty nauseous and so I hoped they would go fast. About 10 minutes later, he said he was done and had taken over 500 pictures of my head and neck so they should be able to see if anything was wrong. He then wheeled me back to my room in the ER.
When I got back I noticed that my head had started to bleed again so the doctor came in, looked at it, and decided to put 2 staples in my head! It literally felt like someone using a staple gun from Home Depot and I felt both staples going in, it was so weird, even though he said he numbed it! It was about this time that they finally got me hooked up to the baby monitor so they could make sure all was okay with her. All along I had felt so calm about the baby and had had no bleeding, contractions or cramping. She had also been quite active. I was so grateful that I had not landed on my stomach! After they got me all hooked up I got to listen to that wonderful heartbeat for the next 5 hours while they monitored the baby. She did not like the monitor and was moving around like crazy and kicking at it. My nurse was quite impressed.
After a while the doctor came back in and told me that he had seen nothing wrong in my cat scan and x-ray pics. Which meant no swelling or bleeding of the brain. I was so grateful for this news and knew that it was an absolute miracle. He also said they would be moving me to labor and delivery until 2 am so they could monitor the baby. He just diagnosed me as having a mild concussion. I finally got some tylenol and my vision started returning to normal, another blessing! By this time, my parents had gotten there and my dad, brother and grandpa gave me a blessing and then my mom helped me change my bloody clothes. It felt good to be clean! I then spent the next 3 hours or so in a room, listening to my baby, and trying to rest, with my parents right beside me.
My grandparents had gone back to my parents house and gotten the girls to bed with the help of my sister in law. I am so grateful for all the help and thoughtfulness. I guess Jade had quite a hard time going to bed after the incident and was up til almost 1 am, but by the time I got home from the hospital at about 3 am, she was sleeping soundly and slept until about 9 am the next morning. I had a really hard time falling asleep because of my headache but also because I could not figure out how to lay on my head without something hurting!
All I can say is after all was said and done that night, I was very grateful for the miracle my Heavenly Father had provided in my life that night. I know it could have been alot worse for me and the baby, but we were spared. And other than some residual headaches and aches and pains from all the bruises that started showing up a few days later, I am okay. I had bruises show up on the front of both of my shoulders and my right hip. I don't know how I landed, but I feel like someone or something must have cushioned my fall as nothing was wrong with the baby and I did not break anything. I have my vision back and my mom was able to take the staples out of my head a week later.
If you look closely you can see the silvery gleam of the staples in my head.
The staples after my mom removed them from my head and a view of the cool little staple remover thingy she used!
A view after the staples were out. Don't worry the wound did not reopen, my mom said it was only bleeding where the sharp part of the staple came out.
December 24: A visit from Santa and a bloody lip
The next day I felt so awful, but it was Christmas eve and I wanted to spend time with my family. So I resorted to taking tylenol every four hours and spent lots of time laying down resting. Ben joined us in Evanston about 2pm that afternoon and then we just hung out with my family the rest of the day. My mom decided to start a new tradition and so we went out for dinner at her favorite mexican restaurant for Christmas eve dinner. I was able to make it out but did not feel quite like myself. I felt sluggish and groggy and like I could not think straight. I was having a hard time focusing or concentrating on anything for more than like 5 minutes. It kind of felt like after I had Jade and I had that lack of sleep feeling for a few months. My brain was not functioning properly. That would be the case for the next week or so.
After dinner we all went back to my parents house and got the girls ready for bed. Jade decided that she would like to stack all the cans of green beans that my mom had just bought, so she went to work in the kitchen. She loves stacking cans and it kept her occupied for a good 20 minutes. And then all of a sudden we hear this piercing scream and a big boom coming from the kitchen. Ben rushed in and picked Jade up thinking she had just fallen yet again. You know how it is when kids are first walking, they fall all time, and Jade falls at least 10 or more times a day. As soon as he brought her in to me I noticed that she was bleeding pretty badly from her mouth. My first thought was "oh great, another trip to the ER tonight!"
The infamous stack of cans just before she fell...
However, after she settled down a bit and would finally let us touch her, we found that she had put 3 of her bottom teeth through her top lip. She must have landed just right on her stack of green bean cans. They were not deep enough to need stitches (thank goodness my mom is a nurse and helps us assess these situations!) and so we just put a cold wash cloth on her lips. She did not like that very much so I just gave her an ice cube to suck on, she seemed to like that alot better. After about 10 minutes and 4 melted ice cubes later she had one fat lip and had settled down enough to play again.
It was then that a special visitor had arrived at my parent's house! Jade had wandered down the hall I guess and the next thing we knew was that Santa was coming down the hall carrying Jade. You should have seen her face as she looked at him with a look like who is this weird bearded man. She kept tugging at his facial hair and then she was fighting to get down. As Santa rounded the corner, my niece was up on the couch and shouting "It's Santa!" She was so cute but would not get too close to him. Santa visited with the girls for a while but neither one really wanted to sit on his lap, they just kept staring at him. It was not until he gave them some chocolate that they both opened up and sat on his lap. Santa even got hugs and kisses from each girl before he left.
It was so neat to see Santa. You see this has special meaning for my family as it is a tradition to get a Christmas Eve visit from Santa. For as long as I can remember when I was little, Santa came every year. It was exciting because we would first hear his jingle bells and then he would come bounding up the stairs. All the kids would then get a turn sitting on his lap and of course he would ask us what we wanted and then leave us with a candy cane. It is a very fond memory of growing up. As I got older I was always asking my parents why Santa sounded so much like Grandpa? Now that my Grandpa is a bit older, my dad decided to take over the tradition. It was really fun to see my kids get to enjoy the tradition now!
All in all, Christmas Eve turned out to be a special night despite a swollen lip on a tired little girl! Thank goodness little kids are made out of rubber and forget things so easily!
December 25: Christmas Day
Today was spent sleeping in a little bit, opening presents, eating a yummy breakfast (thanks Mom!) and then visiting with family. Much to my little brother's chagrin, we did not get around to opening presents until about 10:30am. He kept telling us that the little girls were getting antsy, but truth be told we really think it was him that was antsy!
Jade had so much fun opening presents and again was so careful with all of the wrapping paper. She had to tear it off in pieces and then hand each piece to an adult before she was satisfied. Grandma and Grandpa Revelli got her a kitchen which she loved putting together with Grandpa and then playing in it with her cousin Maddi.
Jade found Santa's hat...
Building her kitchen with Grandpa. Looks like all of those trips to Home Depot with Daddy are paying off!
This is mostly what she liked to do with her kitchen supplies!
Later that day we all headed down to the grandparents house to eat Christmas dinner. It was so yummy and we all enjoyed playing a few games with each other.
December 26--31:
On Sunday we all went to church with my parents and then ate Ben's favorite, tacos! Then Ben had to head home to Orem as he wanted to work on a few more projects around the house. Later that night I was not feeling so well and just attributed it to all the things that had happened over the past couple of days. Jade even managed to find the dog bowls and eat some dog food as well, just to add to our holiday fun!
The next day, after playing in the snow with Maddi, Jade started to not feel too well. She refused to eat anything the rest of the day and around dinner time she started throwing up. I could not believe our luck! I think she had a bout of some sort of stomach flu because for the next 3 days and nights she continued to vomit, had diarrea, and did not want to do anything besides lay on the floor or sit cuddled up next to me. She was one sick little girl!
Jade had tons of fun playing in the snow.
Cousins playing in the snow. It was so deep we had to shovel out a bit of the lawn so the girls could actually play!
I think they are up to something...
Sure enough!! They kept walking further and further up the street. They did not want to stop and were sad when we made them stay in my parents yard.
We had planned to stay until Tuesday, Dec. 28 and then go back home. We had a fun time visiting with everyone and it gave me a few extra days to recover. I was still not functioning at 100% and would get occasional headaches.
On Wednesday morning I got up, got packed and then looked out the window. It was snowing and was so bitterly cold out there. Evanston never plows their roads so it always looks bad in the winter time. But this winter they had already gotten about 5 feet of snow and the drifts on the sides of the driveways were incredible! So, after checking the roads and weather reports and calling Ben, we found out that Heber got 18 inches of snow overnight, there was an avalanche in Provo canyon, and that Orem was covered in ice and snow; we decided to stay another day in Evanston to wait out the storms.
This is the snow scene that we saw pretty much the whole time we were in Evanston...
This is a front view of my parents house, you can see the huge drifts and icicles! Gotta love Wyoming weather!
This is what the roads look like there because they don't use salt. Sometimes they just plow off the top layer of snow. It gets pretty slick and icy though.
More snow drifts, my poor dad and brother have shoveled hard to make them that high!
My brother is 6'2" tall so you can get somewhat of a perspective for
how tall these snowdrifts are!
Well, we waited and waited and waited for the snow and ice to clear so we could drive home, but with it being so unusually cold, nothing melted. So we ended up being snowed in in Evanston until Friday. On Friday I got up, the sun was shining a bit and I saw wet roads so I headed for home thinking it might be my only chance. The roads were just wet and we had to go extra slow in some spots but we made it home to Orem just before the next big blizzard started! We were able to spend New Years with Ben and basically spent the rest of the weekend just recovering and relaxing from our amazing adventures over the past two weeks!
Below I have put some random pics of the girls and all the fun they had together over this past week!
Maddi loved to watch the claymation Christmas movies. This is the scene we found one morning as both girls were watching Rudolph! So cute, but Jade would get so close her nose even touched the screen a few times. We kept pulling her back but she loved to lay next to Maddi and watch her shows!
The girl cousins in their Christmas dresses from Grandma and Grandpa. So darling!
The girls beating up on Grandpa!
Maddi teaching Jade the proper way to brush your teeth!
