Spring Break...the calm before the storm

As pathetic as it is, I am just now blogging about the last week of March...and will include some adventures that followed.  Yes, teachers are spoiled when it comes to 'breaks'.  We have Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer Breaks and boy, do I enjoy them.  This Spring I was excited to get on top of things such as oil changes, hair cuts, cleaning, organizing, and of course spending time with Geoff.  We were fortunate to have our ultrasound that week and Geoff treated me to a wonderful lunch before our appointment which would allow us to see how our little baby was doing. 

Well, Geoff had planned more than lunch.  For months (okay, almost a year) I had a gift card to a spa sitting on the desk and I just never took the time to make an appointment.  Without my knowledge, Geoff had made an appointment for a full-body massage that was to take place just before our ultrasound!  I was so overwhelmed with his thoughtfulness.  I never had a massage, so I was a little nervous but by the end I felt weightless, it was a wonderful experience.

Geoff and I then got a glimpse into what our little baby was up to.

It was amazing watching this little thing move around and see it's spine, heart, kidneys (so far it looks like there are only two kidneys!), fingers, and adorable profile.  We let the technician know we did not want to find out the gender...we still don't know, but she sure does.  I guess it was pretty obvious, but not to my untrained eyes!  It was a wonderful appointment to see that our little bundle of joy is developing quite wonderfully.

I was glad the weather was beautiful during break because I took advantage of the sunshine and took as many walks as possible.  I tried to run, but decided having a baby bounce on your bladder wasn't the most enjoyable experience.  I'm grateful I got those walks in because things changed pretty quickly in just a few days.

To make a long story short it all started on Thursday of Spring Break where I got a pretty severe Urinary Tract Infection that took me to the ER to be treated.  Shortly thereafter Geoff and I caught a stomach bug---his lasted one awful night but mine decided to stick around a little over a week.  I was finally feeling better when I showed Geoff that the effects of pregnancy were starting to truly manifest themselves in me.  My left foot and my middle finger on my left hand started to swell!  It looked pretty comical, but I wasn't enjoying the pain that accompanied.  I had a regular check-up for our baby where I brought the swelling to the attention of the nurse practitioner.  She immediately stated it was not pregnancy related and I was fortunate to get an appointment that morning to see the Primary Care Physician.  He thought my left foot was broken but the X-rays showed all my bones were perfectly sound.  I left his office with no answers.  The swelling and pain increased and finally after blood tests and my doctor consulting with other professionals, the diagnosis was Reactive Inflammatory Arthritis.  It's an arthritis that is brought on by infections/viruses.  The treatment plan was to be on a very low dose of steroids, but it helped very little and swelling began in my right foot as well.  Just this last week Geoff took me to see a Rheumatologist who confirmed I was diagnosed correctly, but I needed to be placed on a more intense dosage of steroids.  It's only been two days and already I see and feel progress.

Yes, I was a nerd and took pictures of the swelling.  This is right when the swelling started, you can barely notice anything wrong, right?

Here are my feet about two weeks later.  Geoff and I were making plans to set up a 'freak show booth' to earn money. Ha ha!

I'm grateful the swelling stayed in just one finger.  It looks awful, but I could at least still use my hand for many things.

Meanwhile, more monitoring has to be done on the baby.  Because of some antibody levels in my blood and the medication I am on, some risks (but so far it looks like all risks are LOW) exist for our little one.  We are grateful for modern technology and medicine and hope through the monitoring processes we will continue to receive good news that our little one is okay.  We are thankful to have the opportunity to have a family and pray we take the necessary steps to do this as healthily as possible.

Geoff, of course, has been a constant support.  Because of the difficulty I've had in walking, he has prepared dinners, cleaned the house, done laundry, gone grocery shopping--you know, in all the spare time he doesn't have.  The poor guy had no idea what he was getting himself into when he married me, but he has been a tremendous trooper the entire time.