Kim and Jeremy in Thailand

Last Sunday night, my parents and I drove back down to Jacksonville. It was nice to be back again, and to have finally 'arrived' coming back from Thailand.

A few hours after I went to bed, however, I woke up with a horrible pain in my back on the right side. I tried stretching, changing positions, applying heat-nothing helped. The pain kept getting worse, so a little after lunchtime my parents took me up to the hospital to see a doctor.

They did lab work and my white blood cell count was a little high, so they kept me for observation for a few hours. Other tests they did were inconclusive, but the pain kept getting worse. They did a sonogram of my appendix and couldn't rule out appendicitis. When my white count skyrocketed around 6pm, it was off to emergency surgery for me.

The doctor said he wasn't worried about the baby; that babies at this stage are very resilient and they would do the open appendectomy (not laparoscopic) to stay away from the baby. But I was still scared!! The risk of infection to the baby if my appendix were to burst would be extremely high, so there was no choice to make. The surgery went quickly and smoothly.

Jeremy changed his flights, so he was able to be there the very next morning. I was glad for that. As it turns out, I didn't have appendicitis; I had mesenteric adenitis. That's swelling and infection of the lymph nodes right next to the appendix. It presents the same way and usually the first clue it's not appendicitis is when you remove a healthy appendix. The good news is that the risk of infection to the baby is much less, the bad news is that removing my appendix didn't eliminate the pain. I had some contractions after the surgery also, but they were able to stop those with medicine.

I was able to go home on Thursday. I'm still a bit sore, but definitely on the road to recovery. And the baby is doing great!! They observed him quite a bit this week, and did several ultrasounds, and he is a real trooper. No problems after the surgery and he's growing and active.

Jeremy and I are so thankful that this whole ordeal happened when I was in Jacksonville, with my actual OB doctor and in a good hospital where we know lots of people. I don't know what I would have done if this had happened shortly before I left Thailand, or worse yet, while I was on that long flight over the Pacific. God definitely had His hand on me and the baby through this whole thing.

The last two days, we went to the Cubs games. It was actually kind of fun to ride the bus down to Wrigley Field. It took over an hour each way, so there was lots of time to look at houses and stores and traffic. People actually walk on the sidewalks here! Of course, it helps that the sidewalks are flat, not filled with random utility poles, and don't have motorcycles driving down them.

I could understand other people's conversations on the bus! I'm still surprised at how tall everyone is. Emily said she felt like a hobbit when she came back from China-I feel the same way! I got used to thinking of myself as a fairly tall and large person. Not anymore!

We've seen a few Thai restaurants around here, but most of them aren't just Thai. They're some weird combo, like Japanese-Chinese-Thai. I guess to people who've never been there, that sounds exciting, but I couldn't help thinking about how different those three countries' food are.

I think the baby is still getting over jet lag. In Thailand, he would have long spurts of activity, like an hour or two at a time, and at predictable times of the day, like 4-6am. But here, he'll be awake for 15 minutes, then go back to sleep. Then a short time later, he'll wake up again for another 15-20 minutes. Jeremy said he's experiencing the same thing, so he must be taking after his dad!! I get tired early, but I've been doing fine with sleeping at the right hours of the day for approximately the right amount of time. So much easier than the last time I came back from Asia!

Today we'll be looking at some apartments in Aurora to see if anything is worth coming back to with Jeremy. And I get to meet up with my friend Laura in Wheaton!! It should be an exciting day!

Today was my first full day back in America, and I had several moments where I said, "Oh! I forgot about that!" For your enjoyment, here are some things that surprised me to some degree:

-They have flavored syrups at IHOP! Not just maple!!
-In America, I'll have to pump my own gas
-Every public restroom I've seen has had paper towels in it
-Public transportation here is a rather posh air-conditioned bus (even though it's not hot!)
-When you want to take leftovers from a restaurant, they don't pack them for you. They just bring you a box.
-There are a LOT of restaurants here, with a LOT of different kinds of food.
-Arby's!! I had just completely forgotten about that place.

It's kind of fun to rediscover America!

Jeremy and I are back in the US!! We had a fairly smooth trip, once we got to Bangkok. All our flights from there arrived a little early, and we had no trouble making our connections. Our luggage also arrived safely, which we appreciate!! So Jeremy is in California now with his parents, and I am in Chicago with mine. After being in the US for less than 24 hours, here are some things I have noticed:

-There are an amazing variety of people here!! So many different heights, builds, skin colors, hair colors...and so many people who are taller than me.

-Traffic here is very subdued and a little boring, even if it is on the 'wrong' side of the road. No wonder people talk on the phone, apply makeup, and do their taxes while they drive.

-It is really exciting to be able to read the signs, understand peoples' conversations, and read the menu without ever thinking, "Now what letter is that again?"

-Everything is expensive!!

-It is freezing here!! I don't care what the weatherman says, 80 degrees is not hot!

Last night, we went out to dinner at the Olive Garden with my grandma, aunt, and uncle. It was delicious!! And jet lag hasn't been so bad so far. Today is the Cubs game-I'm excited!! It's good to be home!

Well, it's Saturday night. Tuesday evening we leave Thailand. It's so hard to believe the time is so close!!! The last few days have been packed pretty full, with taking people to the airport, cleaning our house, packing, picking up a few final souvenirs, and saying goodbye to a lot of people.

I had my last appointment with my Thai doctor. She wrote me a letter for the airline assuring them that I have a "normal history of prenatal." Hopefully that will be good enough to get me on the plane...

The last few days have been a bit rough. All the packing and lifting and extra walking have made me really notice the weight of the baby. My back hurts, my abdominal muscles hurt, and I feel like I've aged 20 years!! But I suppose that's normal, and I feel much better when I actually sit down for a few minutes.

It's sad to be wrapping up here, but good at the same time. I don't think it's quite sunk in for either of us that we won't be coming back. All these places that we're used to seeing every day...it probably will hit us when we've been back in America for a few days. It will be interesting to see what about America (besides the gas prices) surprises us. What has changed, and what have we forgotten about?

We leave on Tuesday at 5:00 to fly to Bangkok. Then our flight out is at 6:00 the next morning (on June 14th). We fly to Tokyo together, then Jeremy will fly to San Francisco to see his parents and I'll fly to Chicago to see mine. It will be nice for both of us to see our families.

We're really looking forward to that moment when our luggage is checked, and we're sitting at the airport, knowing that everything is done. If we forgot it, it's too late; if we didn't, it's taken care of. How exciting that will be! And then, after a little flying, we'll be home. That will be a good day, even if it is 36 hours long.