FUN at the beach & NO FUN at the hospital

On Sunday, we took Madelyn to the island for her first REAL beach trip!!!  We took her when she was 2 months old, but she was obviously too young to enjoy it!  This time was a different story though.  I was so excited to finally have the chance to take her.  I couldn't wait to see her reaction!  She started smiling and waving her arms around the minute we stepped out of the car...She most definitely loooooves the beach!  I don't know why we were surprised...she loves being outside and she loves the water, so why wouldn't she love the beach?!?! 

She had so much fun playing in the sand, digging for seashells, trying to catch the water as it came up on shore, running after trooper, and watching the seagulls!  She thinks birds are the coolest thing in the entire world!  Every time she sees a bird, she points and yells at us in her baby language until we acknowledge that yes indeed, it is a BIRD!  We even got some bread out and fed the seagulls.  That was definitely a very exciting moment for miss M. 

Unfortunately, the beach was covered in seaweed from hurricane Alex, but we managed to find a spot that was not too bad.  If you look in the picture above, you will see it piled up along the seashore  Madelyn didn't seem to mind it though.  She had a lot of fun picking it up and throwing it into the wind! 

                      

Needless to say, Madelyn was EXHAUSTED by the time we were ready to leave.  We knew she would fall asleep in the car for the drive home, but we didn't want her sleeping with sand from head to toe.  Garrett and I decided to strip her down to her birthday suit and take her for one last dip in the ocean to get all the gritty sand off her body.  It was the cutest thing seeing her daddy carry her naked booty into the ocean. I quickly ran back to the car and grabbed the camera to capture this classic moment.  This will definitely be going up in a frame in my house very soon!

*Madelyn is in her birthday suit....GARRETT is NOT!!!*

Our beach trip went better than we could have ever expected.  I was a little worried about taking Madelyn out there, but she did so good!!! I have a feeling we will be making many more trips to the island this summer. 

Unfortunately, after a day of fun in the sun, I woke up the next morning at 8a.m. in the most horrible pain I have ever felt.  My back, abdomen and side area on the left side of my body felt like it was on fire!  I jumped out of bed and ran to the restroom.  I thought I might have an upset stomach, but as the minutes passed I got worse and worse.  I started throwing up, my hands and legs were going numb, and I think I was beginning to have a panic attack.  I could not stand up, lay down, sit, talk...nothing helped!!!   Garrett and I decided that I needed to go to the hospital.   Thank God we had our wonderful neighbor, Tina to come over and watch Madelyn.  She is a lifesaver!!! 

After blood work, a urinalysis, and a CAT scan, they determined that I had 3 kidney stones on the left side and 1 more on the right side!  (I had a kidney stone when I was 19 or 20 years old, but it was no where near as painful as this one!!!)  The ER doctor said that I had probably already passed one that morning and that was why I was in so much pain.  He said there was nothing they could do for me because the remaining kidney stones were so small. He said breaking them up with a laser wouldn't help anything.  So, he sent me home with Vicoden and some other pills for my nausea and told me that all I could do was drink plenty of fluids and wait for the remaining stones to pass.  GREAT!  The doctor said they could pass tomorrow or a week or two from now.  I have no way of knowing! 

So, here I sit...waiting to feel the awful pain again.  At least I will know what it is when it happens again and I will have some pain meds to get me through it this time!