A roller coaster Wednesday!

And have I ever mentioned that I HATE roller coasters????

So... my day actually started off really nice. I slept well last night (for the most part) and Luke was happy when he got up this morning. We spent the first part of our day making smoothies for breakfast, working on laundry, picking up the house and just hanging around. Nothing was planned for today until the afternoon, so things were pretty chill around here.

I did have to put a call into my OB this morning though, which is where our roller coaster ride for the day began. You see, over the past two days or so, I've been having mild cramping here and there. They (the cramps) weren't strong...just twinges really...but they did feel like menstrual cramps and not just growing pains, so I just took a mental note of them and went about my day...making sure I was well hydrated and didn't over do it. Last night however, I woke up at 1:30 with a stronger version of them. Thinking that my belly discomfort was probably just a really full bladder, I headed for my midnight pit-stop. But when I returned to bed, the cramping was still strong and it was even in my back. I was able to go back to sleep easily, so they weren't really too bad or anything. Just there. Enough to get my attention. After a long debate with myself in the shower this morning, I decided that it was probably a good idea just to give Dr. Hage a call and let him know what I was feeling. I knew in my heart that it was likely nothing, but just to be on the safe side, I opted to give him a jingle. That was 8:23 this morning. I STILL had not heard back from their office when I left the house at 1:30 this afternoon (grrrr!!!!) so I phoned them back and got a-hold of the nurse practitioner. At that time, I was actually on my way to drop Luke off at Ty's mom's house for a planned visit so that I could meet up with my friend Laura for an hour or so.

When I told Debbie (the NP) what had been going on, she decided that my little twinges warranted a visit to L&D....just to be monitored for a spell to make sure I wasn't contracting. So...much to my dismay, I dropped Luke with Mamaw, called Ty to let him know I was headed over to the hospital, called Laura to meet me there and made my way to L&D. Surprisingly, I wasn't really concerned. I really felt okay. This was just precautionary. But as the elevator doors opened on the second floor of the hospital and that old familiar 'hospital smell' filled my nostrils... and as I checked in on Labor and Delivery, I had a lump in my throat. That is, until Laura arrived and kept me chatting for the duration. All is well. They monitored me for an hour, took a urine sample and my blood pressure and did my first ever cervical exam (I never even had one of those with Luke!). No protein, no UTI, no contractions, no dilation and a good BP. I was released with instructions to call Dr. Hage if I have more cramping or any other problems. Phew!

I have to say, I DON'T want to be back there for a REALLY long time still!! Blegh! As I was getting ready to hop in the elevator to leave, Ty called my cell with news that HE was on the way to the nearest Toyota dealership because his car had decided today was the perfect day to take a dump. :( Crum! Apparently, it was still drivable, but the gas gauge suddenly stopped working, as did the speedometer, the windows and door locks and a host of other things. Must be something electrical. So, I ATTEMPTED to phone Gloria (who chose NOT to answer her phone, despite me asking her to be SURE to answer when I call! It's a LONG, irritating story!) and then I drove to meet Ty at the dealership to help him arrange a rental car or figure out what to do next. It was 4:30pm and he still had several hours of work ahead of him that he had to get back to. (Wednesday is his late night, remember?!) I was pretty calm and confident at this point...relieved that the baby was fine and confident that the new rental reimbursement coverage I had placed on our car insurance JUST A FEW WEEKS AGO would cover his rental. No big deal. We can field this too. Or so I thought.

Since it was so late, the dealership said that they wouldn't be able to even look at his car until tomorrow. And as we sat in my car outside, I was informed by our car insurance company that our rental reimbursement coverage only covers rentals in the event that the vehicle is undrivable due to a collision, and NOT a mechanical failure! Nice!! How's that for a punch in the gut! I specifically placed that coverage on our account a few weeks ago with the knowledge that Ty's car is old and will likely have need some work done in the future....rendering him car-less. I was NOT informed that it was for collisions only. Grrrr again!

We headed over to the Enterprise rental agency across the street, knowing we would have to now foot the whole bill for a rental, but having been told by our insurance company that they contract with Enterprise, I was expecting a discount. Wrong again! No discount with USAA...but the sales guy did give us one for having our vehicle at the Toyota dealership. At-least it was something! We were hoping to get the smallest, least expensive rental possible. Nope. They were all out of compact vehicles....they only had intermediate sized ones left. Shoot! He ended up with a Toyota Corolla (do they really consider that intermediate???!!!) and Ty zipped off a short while late to finish his work day.

I headed back to pick up Luke from Mama's. I was still fuming a bit from my inability to get a hold of her when I left the hospital (like I said, it's a long-running thing with her...she NEVER answers her phone...don't ask me why. It's always been like that. She even missed Luke's birth for that precise reason! It drives me positively insane too!) and when I arrived at her house, I was so mad that I didn't even know what to say. Luke had been a good boy while I was gone, and kissed me sweetly when I arrived, telling me "Mommy....baby dotter" (His way of saying I went to the baby doctor). I lingered with him for a few minutes, still deciding if, or what I was going to say about the whole phone thing and then decided to spurt out in a half-sarcastic tone "Well...all I have to say is that you all need to answer your phone!" That comment spawned a nice, heated exchange of words between Rod (Ty's brother) and I. I was so upset from the day and from the exchange, that I scooped Luke up, began to cry and, through my tears, headed for the car as fast as I could. I sobbed the whole way home, with my precious boy in the backseat saying "Mommy....all done tying (crying). All done. Otay, Mommy?" That only made the sobbs come stronger. I had just HAD it for the day. I was done. I tried to calmly tell him (through my tears) that Mommy was okay...I wasn't hurt....I was just sad and that I would be all done crying soon. Man! What a day! I still cried almost half the way home. (And for someone whose not much of a crier, that's impressive! :) ) Puffy-eyed, tear-stained and weary, I opted for a drive-thru dinner (Luke had already eaten at Gloria's and I was in NO mood to think about making myself something) and Luke and I sat on the couch together while we munched on french fries and watched his Mommy & Me video before bed. He's soundly asleep in bed now, and I'm figuring I'm headed there soon too. Ty should be home in an hour or so. Hopefully a good sleep will wash away the day and tomorrow will be a sunnier sort of adventure!