Silver Lining

We are constantly being told that every dark cloud has a silver lining and that we should look on the bright side in all things. Most of the time, it is really hard to buy into all that shiny happy world mumbo jumbo when you are curled up on the couch, shivering, shaking, and aching with a nasty case of the flu. That said, this time the flu did come with an unexpected silver lining and I have never been happier to have spent 5 hours in the ER.

I started feeling sick on Saturday. I was growing progressively more miserable, but it felt like I was coming down with a nasty cold, nothing more serious. Plus, I'd had my flu shot - I was invincible! By Sunday I was a quivering, pain-filled shadow of my former self. Every muscle in my body ached like I'd been beaten by an army of angry batters and I could barely keep my eyes open for more than 15 minutes at a time. By 8 o'clock that night I was running a temperature of 101 and Chris was on the phone with my OB who told us that we should head over to the ER. As anyone who has ever had to go to the ER knows, there is nothing more miserable than having to sit in a waiting room for hours on end while feeling like absolute crud and wanting nothing more than to be back at home curled up under your blanket. That said, we toughed it out and had the doctors run the full gamut of tests. I was pretty dehydrated so they pumped me full of liquids which actually felt great once the nurse got the IV in properly. On her first attempt she "overestimated" the thickness of my vein and punched right through it. In case this has never happened to you, it KILLS! She then had to switch to the second arm to give it a second go. She was very apologetic and accidents happen, but seriously...I think that one little vein might have been the only part of my body that didn't hurt pre-hospital visit. Give a girl a break!

4 hours into our visit, the doc finished working on me and ordered an ultrasound to make sure that everything was okay with the baby. I cannot describe how strange it is to constantly have to worry about TWO people anytime something happens to your body. And the fact that this second person is invisible, silent, and still, for the most part, unfelt, makes things all that more complicated. I was really relieved to hear that they were going to perform a full ultrasound. I had been having cramping all through my abdomen and though I knew it was probably just a result of the fever, it was still making me nervous. The ultrasound not only assured us that the baby's heart was beating and that the little one was still happily moving around inside mommy's sick stomach, but it also provided us with something even more exciting...the baby's sex! So the question is...were mom and dad right? Chris and I had been so convinced that the baby was a boy. I don't know what started it - Chris' hopes, my realization that I had better be prepared for a boy in case Chris was right - but somehow we both wound up convinced that the baby was a boy.

So much for parents' intuition. We are having a GIRL!!! A beautiful, wonderful baby girl! (yes, they can see that on the ultrasound too) "Are you sure??" Chris asked the ultrasound technician, both of us somewhat in disbelief. "Yep," she said, zooming in on the baby's nether regions, "See? Nothing there!" And, indeed, there wasn't! At this point, I honestly would have been just as thrilled with a boy, but a girl...needless to say, we are thrilled. We are still going in for a 20 Week ultrasound with my OB this Thursday, so they will confirm the sex then, but I don't think there's really any question. Orange Seed is a little lady! Orange Seed, we are so sorry that we have been referring to you as "him" for the past few weeks! We promise to make it up to you!