Roller coaster

We started the day out in such a lovely way that the way the afternoon went is all the more shocking in comparison. Sacha's parents are in town and they and Sacha went out for an extended brunch while the kids and I had a fun playdate with preschool friends. Everybody eventually met up back at home and Mateo did his last Headsprout episode, to much fanfare. I went for a run and then finished making the cake we had promised him for after he finished his last lesson. We were going to eat it up after naptime, and then Sacha and I were going to go out to dinner with friends while her parents babysat the munchkins. The kids went down for naptime, Sacha and her dad went out for a run, and then they came home. Within 15 minutes, all hell had broken loose.

Sacha had been feeling crampy on and off since the morning, but that's pretty normal for her at this time of the month. After she got back from her run, though, it suddenly got much worse. In fact, the pain apparently went from uncomfortable to VERY BAD in about five minutes. Pretty soon, she was curled up in a ball on the couch, moaning loudly and clutching my hand. After a couple of scary minutes, she felt better and we all wondered what to do. Then, the pain came back even worse and pretty soon she was on the floor and it was very scary. It was like she had suddenly rocketed back to being in labor, except without any reason for it. Something was very wrong.

We decided to call 911. Sacha was moaning so loudly that her dad had to step into the next room to hear the 911 operator, who decided to send an ambulance. And a fire truck. They arrived with lights flashing, sirens going, and all that. Luckily, the kids were asleep during all this, because I think it would have been scary for them to see Mommy in so much pain. I know it was scary for me. (As an aside, it was too bad that the moment of the ambulance arriving was due to a crisis, because having a fire truck AND an ambulance arrive at our house with their sirens going would otherwise have been the coolest moment of Mateo's young life.)

Sacha was a bit more coherent by the time the paramedics came in, but she was still feeling awful, and so they decided to take her to the hospital to get checked out. They loaded her onto a stretcher and rolled her right down our front stairs. Our poor next-door neighbor came out on his porch just in time to see all this, which I'm sure was a bit shocking! Then, we rode off to the hospital with Sacha's dad following behind in his car. Sacha's mom stayed with the kids (thanks, Bubby!) and I got in touch with Zenaido, who offered to come over and help out (thanks, Apa!).

This type of situation has always been frightening to me in theory. First of all, obviously, having to call an ambulance is terrifying enough! But this is the type of thing you read about in the paper, where the gay couple goes to the hospital and pretty soon one of them is stuck in the waiting room while the other one is having a health crisis. Even living in a relatively gay-friendly state with good new laws on the books, you still hear horror stories. Adding to my nervousness, the ambulance driver had a religious book resting on his cupholder. However, I am relieved to say that everything went fine. Kai.ser lived up to the great experience we had with them in labor and delivery by being awesome in the emergency department, too. Whew!

By the time we got to the ER and checked in, Sacha was starting to feel better, and within an hour her pain had mostly gone down. After several exams and tests, an ultrasound, and lots and lots of waiting, they decided they weren't quite sure what had happened, but the leading theory involved a ruptured ovarian cyst. Poor baby! She has had a rough afternoon and evening. We're home now and she's resting and will go to bed soon. I'm just so thankful that she's okay. Let's hope for a calmer day tomorrow, shall we?