An Interesting Weekend

Jared surprised me with two tickets to the Keith Urban concert here in Huntsville last weekend. He was very sweet and wanted me to take some time to just have fun while he stayed at home and took care of BOTH girls by himself. I LOVE Keith Urban but had never seen him in concert, so I was very excited! His song "Making Memories of Us" is actually what inspired the title of my blog. My sil Alisha went with me, and our seats were up in the mezzanine seats all the way to the right side of the stage.

Dierks Bentley opened the concert. I've heard a lot of his songs but don't know them well enough to sing along, but he was really good in concert and put on a good show.

Then, it was time for Keith!! The whole row in front of us was completely empty, so we moved to that row all the way to the end where we could see just a little bit better, and we were right by the stairs. Alisha is the photographer of the family but forgot to charge her camera battery so she didn't bring her camera with her. I had my camera, but as I started taking pictures of Dierks Bentley, I soon realized that my battery was low too!! So, I would turn on the camera, take a picture, and quickly turn it back off.

There were platforms on both sides of the stage, and Keith went to the left side first and started playing. I knew that my picture taking opportunities were limited so I said I would wait to see if he came over to the right side, and then I would walk down the steps and snap a quick picture of him while he was closer to us.

Sure enough he came over to the right side. I didn't know how long he would stay there, so I wanted to get down the steps quick. However, I remember thinking to my self not to go too fast because I didn't want to fall. Well, I get about halfway down and slipped where someone had spilt beer on the steps. I was already wearing flip flops that don't have good grip on the bottom, and I have almost slipped and fell multiple times in them. Just add a little spilt beer, and I was destined for disaster.

My feet slipped right out from under me. I never even had a chance to brace myself. I fell flat on my tailbone on the concrete steps and then bounced down several steps before I was able to stop myself. I remember the second I hit it hurt so bad that I wasn't sure if I'd be able to stand up. I dropped my camera when I fell, and someone handed it to me. People were asking if I was okay, but I grabbed my camera and jumped up as fast as I could. Then I walked down the rest of the steps, leaned on the railing, and took my pictures. I think I was in a state of shock. Normally, I get easily embarrassed and would have been mortified that so many people saw me bust my butt, but I was in so much pain that I really didn't care what everyone else thought. All I could think about was the horrible pain in my butt.

I walked back to my seat and sat down, but I was constantly having to shift my weight. I was still able to enjoy the rest of the concert, but the pain was definitely a bit distracting.

*A small bit of "Making Memories of Us" that I was able to get before my battery finally died.*

At one point in the concert, Keith was playing the guitar and just started making up crazy stuff like, "Huntsville, you're looking fine... I'm glad you're all mine..." Then he said something else and said he needed a word to rhyme with that. We heard someone yell out something. Then, Keith starts laughing and says, "Someone just said 'Take me home!' All right... but it's kind of creepy.. because it came from a dude...." (he was singing all of this) It was pretty funny!

The concert was really awesome. Keith was pretty fearless and was constantly going out into the audience. The security guards were trying to keep up with him, but he really didn't care. He had a little platform set up all the way in the back of the arena, so he walked back there and started playing for a while and said, "Who's got the good seats now?!" I really could have done without falling on my bum, but all-in-all, Alisha and I had a great time!

I made it home and was groaning a bit as I got in bed. Jared was already in bed, but when I came in, he asked how it was. I said, "The concert was awesome, but I think I broke my tailbone." He was like "what?!" Of course, I didn't know for sure if it was broken or not, but it hurt like heck. It didn't help that as soon as I got home the nurse in me came out, and I was trying to inspect the area for bruising (which I didn't notice any- as bad as it hurt, I thought I was going to be black and blue), and then I pressed on the area so I could find out exactly where I was hurt. Yeah, that was not a smart move. Everything went black for a moment, and tears immediately came rolling down my cheeks. That was the last time I did that.

That night, I took some Ibuprofen and put some ice packs on it. The next morning, I was doing okay but didn't go to church because there was no way I could sit all day. My mom called me that night to see how I was feeling and said if I wasn't feeling better on Monday, then she was definitely taking me to the doctor. When it first happened, I thought there wasn't any sense in going to the doctor because there's really nothing they can do even if it is broken, but by the time I talked to my mom, I had already decided that I was going to go to the doctor the next day. I mostly wanted to find out for sure if it was broken or not so I knew how long to expect before I get better and if it would affect me going back to work or not. Sunday night, some friends of ours from church brought us dinner. They have been really great especially since they brought us dinner after I had Bella, after Bella was hospitalized, and after I hurt my bum.

Sunday night was pretty rough. I couldn't even sit up in bed at night to feed Bella. I ended up having to just lay her beside me in bed and feed her that way. She even ended up sleeping in our bed part of the night because it just hurt too bad to move and try to lay her back in the bassinet. (Believe it or not, it has been harder for me to pick up Bella than Taylor because it requires more bending over). Monday morning, I called the doctor's office and made an appointment for that afternoon so my mom could take me after she got off work.

I was really afraid to go to the doctor because after doing my own inspection I didn't want him to have to poke around the area. Fortunately, I just told him what happened, and he gave me some prescriptions for a pain med and an anti-inflammatory and sent me to have an x-ray done. He said having a broken coccyx is basically like having a broken rib. There's really nothing you can do, so the treatment is the same whether it is broken or just bruised. I asked if there were any restrictions, and he said no- just whatever I can tolerate. If it was bruised, I could expect 4-6 weeks of recovery. If it was bruised, I could expect about 8 weeks.

I had the x-ray done and was told that the radiologist would have the results to my doctor by the next morning, and then my doctor was going to call me with the results. Monday night went a little bit better. I took the pain med before bed, and I was actually able to sit up in bed and feed Bella that night. I waited all day on Tuesday to hear from my doctor but never got a phone call. I ended up calling the doctor myself after I hadn't heard from them around 2:00pm on Wednesday. Even though it wouldn't really affect anything, I was just anxious to find out if it was really broken or not. If it wasn't broken, then I would really hate to feel what it's like to have a broken tailbone. The nurse called me back about an hour later and said it was definitely broken.

I've been able to move around okay. Walking is usually not a problem. It's just really painful to sit, and other position changes are painful as well. I've been using the baby's little boppy pillow to sit on. It's not really a constant ache anymore like it was at first. I just get really sharp pains when I move certain ways. Unfortunately, it doesn't always hurt the same way to do certain things, so it's hard to know what I should or shouldn't do. I just have to be careful anytime I sit down, bend over, squat down, step over something, etc. so basically I end up moving around like a feeble old woman.. haha

Thursdays are the days that I always get together with my sisters-in-law, and I was really ready to get out of the house. This Thursday, GC was hosted by my sil Misty who is living with my mother- and father-in-law right now, and their house is about 45 minutes from my house. I brought the boppy pillow to sit on while I drove, but still, I couldn't really find a comfortable position and was constantly shifting my weight. We made it there fine. We were having a great time hanging out with everyone, and everything was going well. Around 2:00pm, we got out blankets and pillows for the kids and tried to get them to lie down and at least have some quiet time- that didn't last long- and I remember thinking that I really could lie down with them and take a nap myself. Bella was asleep, and I was waiting for her to wake up so I could feed her before we headed home. By the time she woke up and I got her fed, I was really starting to not feel well. On top of my hurt bum, my back and neck had started to ache, and I had a headache.

I stood up, and I think everyone could tell by the look on my face because they asked if I was okay. I just really wasn't looking forward to a very uncomfortable 45 minute drive home at that moment. Alisha had already talked to me the day before and planned to take Taylor home with her after GC, and Misty was kind enough to let me take a nap in her bed while the rest of them watched Bella. I fell asleep for a little over an hour, I guess. When I woke up, I heard Bella crying. It was time for her to eat again, so I fed her, and then I was feeling well enough to head back home. I was even refreshed enough that I could stop by the store and pick up some diapers and a few other things that we needed, and then I picked up a pizza for us to eat on our way home.

I really overdid it that day- I suppose because I had been sitting up all day long which puts the most pressure on my bottom, obviously. Later that night, I was really aching all over. I was very happy to take my pain med and crawl into bed that night. Taylor spent the night with Alisha which I am very grateful for. When Alisha offered to keep her, I had no idea how much that was really going to help out since that night ended up being so rough for me. She kept her all the next day, too, so I was able to get some rest. Bella has been really low-maintenance. However, whenever Taylor is not at home, she tends to think it is her turn to take over as the difficult one. So, I wouldn't really say I was able to get anything productive done, but maybe that's a good thing. Maybe I just needed to do nothing all day.

Jared came home from work, went to pick up Taylor, went to the grocery store to get a few things for me, and picked up some dinner on the way home, so I am very grateful to him for doing all that and allowing me to continue to take it easy. So, that was my interesting weekend and week... and weeks to come for that matter. Apparently, we just can't stay away from hospitals and doctors' offices lately. Hopefully our luck will start getting better soon!