week of weeks

This week Hyrum, Jude and I got into a car accident and we found out I have a thryo something duct cyst.  It has been a crazy week.

Just before Thanksgiving I noticed a hard lump about an inch in diameter on my neck and got really freaked out.  Especially because the next day any office would be open was the following Monday.  Luckily we had a really nice Thanksgiving with some friends and just tried to not think about it until we could do something about it.
Monday came and I went in to see my midwife.  She thought it had something to do with my thyroid, but wasn't sure, so she had me schedule an ultrasound to make sure.  On the way home from my appointment I was stopped at a red light when an old man in a ginormous van rear-ended us.  It was so scary, especially with the boys in the car.  Both of them were screaming right away, probably not helped by my hysterics.  Hyrum kept saying his head hurt and Jude was ready for his nap anyway, so something a lot smaller would have made him upset anyway.  We are all ok.  We had a paramedic look at the boys on the scene, but he suggested we just go to the Dr.s, so we did.  Art was able to come to where we were and drive us over to the pediatrician, which I was so grateful for.  I was a mess.  The pediatrician said both of the boys looked fine, but to keep an eye on them anyway.  Our car looked alright on the outside, but when the guy came to do an estimate he said that there was a lot of internal damage, so hopefully we can get all of that taken care of soon.  My neck and knee have been bothering me, but other than that, we all seem ok and I am grateful we have insurance and that the other guy was ok, too.
Tuesday I went in for an ultrasound, but that was inconclusive.  By the way, it is really unnerving when you have an abnormal lump and no one will tell you the possibilities.  All I could think about was cancer.  Anyway, they wanted to do a cat scan with contrast to see things a little bit better, which was done on Wednesday.  On Thursday I went in to check my neck and knee(the guy I saw was a dope...he told me to go to the E.R. because they see a lot of car accidents and they would know what to do...) and on Friday I went in to see the Ear Nose and Throat guy.  He was great and let me know that I had a Thyro something duct cyst and that it would need to be removed surgically.  At least it's not cancer.  I can live with surgery. 
So now we are trying to coordinate having this surgery and having my hernia repaired...I only want to recover once, if only for the boys' sake.  The timing is terrible and awesome all at once.  The holidays will be a little limited, but Art will be home from school(and he can work from home!). 
I am so grateful for:
prayer
family
modern medicine
competent doctors
insurance
pain meds
anestheseologists
relief society(they are definitely going to be needed and much appreciated)
home teachers
blessings
the comics and sudoku
marriage
painting
art
music
etc
etc

An update in Pictures

life

SO much has happened.  We had our new baby boy Jude.  We had our 4 year anniversary.  Hyrum turned 3 years old.  I stopped working.  Art got a new job as a TA.  Art got another new job as a designer at BYU designing magazines and such for the religion department.  I made Hyrum a dino costume.  Now I am going to go eat some of his candy as payment.

So this past week has been interesting and I thought it was pretty appropriate to have blogged when I did last time.  Little did I know I would be going into pre-term labor 3 times soon after that.  SCARY.  BUT we are ok.  Jude is ok.  I am ok.  37 weeks is on Thursday and I think we'll make it till then.  Until then I have had a lot of free time on my hands as I haven't been able to work or have kids over.
Hyrum and I get up, eat breakfast, play a few card games(canine capers! among others), go water the garden and play in the mud, come in, clean up, eat lunch and then he takes a nap while I craft it up and try not to get too stressed about cleaning.  That has pretty much become our routine.  Art comes home and then we all just kinda hang out till dinner.  It's not bad...but I am missing running and just being more active with Hyrum.  Oh, well.  It could be worse.  I could actually be on official bed rest(my sister is right now, with 5 kids and the sixth on the way!).
I am enjoying this extra time where all I really can do is focus on Hyrum, it's a blessing that things happened this way I think.  We are now prepared(we better be after 3 scares) for Jude's arrival and are excited.  Hyrum talks about him all the time.
Also, I am doing the hypnobabies program and was bummed that I couldn't get into an actual class, but have been doing the course at home.  BLESSING.  If I had taken the class I wouldn't have been done yet and I would have been freaking out a whole lot more.  You never know what will actually be a blessing in your life.  Also, if Jude is born early it will be a good thing that we didn't get pregnant right away after getting insurance because we have supplemental, which requires 10 months of membership before they cover anything.  Heavenly Father is awesome and will ALWAYS take care of us.  So much for doing the freedom festivals 5k.  Oh, well.  Maybe Jude will be here by then and we'll be at home in our own little bliss anyway.
I have been enjoying crafting.  I haven't been able to complete my long list of to dos before Jude is born because a lot of them require a lot of action from me, but crafts are one goal I was putting aside to get the other stuff done.  I have since completed a bag for Crystal(bag #3 since making my list).   The picture is up above.  We made some flowers at a RS night activity, which I have been trying to do anyway on my own, so that gave me the final push to complete her bag as shown.  I am pleased with how it turned out and also just to have it done.  I was hoping to make one for all my sisters, my mom and my mother in law, but that is a big task.  So far I have made one for Julia, Charity, Trina, Crystal and Hannah.  Not too shabby, but I still have a long way to go.
I love my family and it has been nice to have to stay put(not be so busy doing stuff) and just hang out.  We are so happy and I am so grateful to have such a loving and considerate husband and son.

So, its been a long time, but I thought I would update things a little bit before that gets to be a little more trouble.  I am super prego, but still feeling pretty good.  I owe it all to a girl in my ward who ran 6 miles everyday until a couple weeks before she gave birth...where she ran 3 miles every day.  That is when I resolved to run while pregnant.  Not an easy task at first, starting with one mile which took me about 20 minutes...no joke.  Then it got easier and I eventually got up to around 4 a day...which took me a long time, but felt really good.  Now I am back to around 1-2 miles and then I am spent.  It has made such a difference in my pregnancy, I can't even tell you.  My body doesn't feel so pregnant, if that makes sense.  Anyway, I am feeling good and we were even lucky enough to visit Art's dad and my brother in California(my favorite place). Hyrum had lots of fun with his cousin, uncle and aunt, and grampy.  Art is doing well and getting a lot of new artwork prepared for his upcoming show at the end of the summer.  Obviously he is trying to get as much done as possible before Jude is born, so he is pretty busy.  He is also training for the red rock run(I think that's what it's called) and is excited to run it with some of my family.  I am still unsure if I can commit as its in September and who knows what kind of shape I will be in then.  We are trying to finish up some projects around the house before Jude is born, like painting and sanding a dresser, organizing the filing cabinet, blah, blah, blah and it gets harder and harder to do as it seems like now I am watching more kids for longer periods of time.  I love watching them, but I do get a bit stressed out about all the stuff I want to get done.  Hyrum is doing really well.  I get worried that I'm not teaching him enough...he's just so smart and now I feel like it's such a big leap from abc's to reading that I'm not sure what to teach him.  He loves to learn and I love to watch that.  He is an amazing boy.  He's excited for Jude's arrival.  I set up our changing table in our room and Hyrum said "When Jude is born you can change his diaper!" It's little things like this that make me think he knows exactly what's going on.  He is so cute and observant and loving.  He really is still so snuggly and I am so grateful for that.  He is now going to the bathroom without any help!  Well, I do hand him some toilet paper because I don't want him to drip on the floor, but other than that from dropping his pants to washing his hands he does it all.  He is awesome.  Well, those projects are calling and Hyrum should wake up from his nap soon.  This will have to do.