Catching up on the last two weeks

It's been a very busy last few weeks here at the Juice-ski's household!  We had the annual "Polish Thanksgiving" on September 24th.  At it, I gave my BFF her baby present/house warming gift of a family tree & celebrated my SIL's birthday.  Mother-In-Law Juice-ski did a great job (as always) of throwing a great party and putting together some tasty Polish dishes.

pic of family tree I gave to BFF Barb

The next weekend we had a surprise party of our friend Kristin from Founder's Days for her 40th birthday on Saturday followed by a Bump get together on Sunday.  The GTG was only four of us gals (their four babies and two of the husbands).  I was the only one that's not a "success story" (ie have a child) so it was a little depressing.  But I couldn't resist going and meeting the cute babies these e-friends/bloggers I have come to know so well through as a member of the Bump and from following their blogs once they got pregnant.

Then this past week my friend and fellow IF'er Lauren told me she too is PG (This makes all three of my closest friends PG all at once - at least until Barb gives birth in about 8 days).  Obviously since I don't wish IF struggles on anyone and want to see ART (assisted reproductive technologies) work - I am thrilled for Lauren.  I have only had a little bit of heartache from the fact that I've been struggling with it longer, and that we're out of pocket - while she was able to quickly do two cycles because of insurance coverage.  When she told me on the phone she said "I wish I could do it for you" and I snipped at her because at first I thought she meant have my child for me (which any infertile women knows is a slap in the face....like "You're broken, I can do it!") but she clarified and said "No, I mean give you my insurance coverage.  Pay for your treatments."  Me too, Lauren. Me too!  But oh well, three more months until next treatment cycle.  And I just have to think - maybe that one will work and then all four of us girls will have kids born within 12 month.  Barb's being Oct. 2011, Brit's April 2012, Lauren 2012 & mine Oct/November 2012.  Hey, a girl can dream right?  When we were in high school, Brit talked about having our families have BBQ's and such as grownups.  I said "Be realistic!  Who knows if we'll still be friends then!"  Now it's 21 years since we became friends and I've bought into that daydream. :)

This weekend was Jeff's 40th Birthday Party!!  It's the first party I've ever thrown so I was worried - but it went off great!  Only thing is I ordered too much food & cake (so we're eating left overs) and of the 65 people Open House format, some people came and left too early while some showed up too late and the party was almost over!  I should have not put "open house" and not started the party until later - to have a bigger group there all at once.  But Jeff seems to have had a great time, I got to enjoy a bunch of it, and most importantly  - - - it's over!  His actual birthday is Thursday, we both took Friday off work so I'm looking forward to a three day weekend to just kick back and enjoy each other's company.

And finally - today's 'excitement'.  Apparently Jeff had a severe allergic reaction to something (we're now suspecting the Macadamia nut cookie he had after dinner last night).  He called me at 9:45am today saying he was coming home from work with "welts on his groin, butt and armpits & half of his face paralyzed".  He showed up with a fat lower lip and hives covering over half his body.  By noon the lower half of his face was swollen - he does not look like my baby and it's hard to see him like this.  But the doctor gave him steroids and by 5pm - the hives are almost gone!  If only the swelling on his face would go down!!  He keeps saying lines from Forrest Gump as Bubba with his lower lip sticking out "Shrimp creole, shrimp kabobs" that make me laugh- but it looks painful.  I would take a picture of it if it wasn't so freaky looking that I honestly never want to see it again!!  My poor man!  And with that I'm off to make us some soup and hopefully have an uneventful tomorrow.

***Update.  I wrote the above post Tuesday night thinking "I'll add pics of the get together and Jeff's party later and upload the post.  Never did because we spent Thursday and most all of today in the hospital.  Jeff's hives went away but then Wednesday night he started having trouble swallowing.  Then chest pains.  Welcome to the Emergency Room!  After eight hours there, Hey! Let's get admitted to the hospital so we can actually have a room (instead of a bed in a hallway of the ER).  What a way to spend your 40th Birthday right?  Poor guy!  I told the nurse as I was leaving last night at 9pm, "He didn't get an Italian Ice with his dinner as he ordered.  It's his birthday, and it's been really crappy.  Can you make sure he gets that little treat?"  I broke down crying when I left him at 7pm to get some dinner myself because it was the closest I've ever seen to him crying.  (The fact that he was stuck there in the hallway on his birthday, not that he didn't get the Italian Ice LOL).  I just hate that I couldn't do anything for him.  ANYWAY, this is now becoming an insanely long post...They now believe it's a medication he's on.  Not the cookie.  It's an ACE-inhibitor that this reaction is not uncommon, even after taking it for a year.  So at 3pm he was finally discharged and we're home, with orders for a relaxing, do-nothing weekend.  Yes, Doctor...I hope to follow those directions fully!

Oh, and I'll load those pics in another post once I get around to it!