snap, crackle, pop

So, on Sunday night I was sitting on the arm of my sofa saying goodnight to Cale when suddenly we both heard this "POP!" And I instantly dropped to the sofa with a pain in my ribcage. It was exactly like the first time I snowboarded when I caught the edge of the board and whipped my entire body with the force of a drawn back rubber band into the snow ribcage first with my wallet in my pocket in the exact same spot where the pain was now.

I pretty much knew what happened. That spot has been hurting for a few weeks. I think the bone was still weak from the snow boarding thing, and my rib cage has been expanding to make room for little bundle of soccer player joy #2. Well, one swift well-placed kick later, and I'm down.

Mark had already left for work with the car, and I knew that they would just give me pain pills and send me home if I went to the Urgent Care or ER. So I took a percocet I had in the cabinet (judge me if you want) and had Caleb help me get into bed. The next day, I couldn't get out of bed. So, I had Mark lift me and take me straight from bed to my OB's office... his nurses sent me to the ER, and the ER gave me the once over, a subjective diagnosis matching my own (since X-Ray benefit would not outweigh the risk to radiating the baby) and a shot of morphine. I went back to my doctors office for some long-term monitoring of the baby's heart rate and movement. And then, I went home with a prescription to rest for a week as still as possible to allow the rib to knit in time (8 weeks) to avoid needing a cesarean.

So, for the past 4 days, I have just sat on the couch either sleeping off my pain pills or watching TV/Movies. It really hurt A LOT (and continues to hurt in intervals.) But, I got this rare opportunity to get to know my daughter a little better. When I go to work, she's asleep. When I get home, she's worn out from daycare, hungry, needs a diaper change, and is generally not in good spirits. I usually see a grumpy, tired whiner.

But, in the mornings she wakes up so happy. She babbles to the world about everything, plays fun games with herself and anyone who is paying attention, and has such a big, bright and beautiful heart. It helped that I couldn't have anything to do with her care because I couldn't lift her, so I really just got to be a spectator and watch this little sweet thing be herself. She's got such an imagination. She's so full of spirit and spunk. She has a sense of humor and a whole spectrum of emotions (other than grump!) It was a big payday for me to see this about her. I love her unconditionally, and I have never minded that she gives me her off-mood in the evenings. I've heard the fairy tales from her dad and other care givers about her sweetness. But, it was really nice to see it for myself.

I took a test drive to take Caleb to pick her up from daycare to see if I could tolerate the bumpy roads of LA and driving the car. And I did okay. I think I'm ready to go back to work tomorrow. I'm thankful that this happened, even though it hurt like a swear word. Because I got to know my daughter a little better. And I was a really haggard and tired pregnant lady no matter how well I was fooling myself and everyone else. So the long afternoon naps on the couch were really, really, really nice.

Back to real life, now.