Falling down.. again

If you're just tuning in, let me say these first several entries are all back story, because right now, nothing terribly interesting is happening in my life. But when I last left off, I had just given birth to my son. During my time in the hospital, Nicole stayed with my mom. It was a school weekend for Rob, and it was just easier for Nicole to have some dedicated Grandma time. I had signed Nicole up for a vacation week at day care for the following week, because she needed some time to get used to this new tenant at our house too. And there was Thanksgiving in there anyway, and somehow keeping her home just made it seem more normal.

The following week however, we were pretty done having all four of us around at the same time. I know it's a terrible thing to say, but we all were already ready for some time apart. So Nicole went back to day care. Rob got up with her in the morning, got her ready, and took her and came right back home. It was a lovely week - well, I think it was. I was mostly too tired to remember it, but I think it was pretty good.

The following Monday was time for Rob to go back to work. It was all planned out - he was going to take Nicole to school during the week, and then go to work, and the baby and I would just hang out and watch TV and enjoy each other's company. And that's pretty much how that Monday went. I even got myself on our exercise bike and figured that would be a good way for me to spend Jake's nap time. Rob called in the afternoon and said that if I could get Nicole from school, that he'd go to the grocery store and do the shopping we needed. He'd just call when he got there and have me read the current list to him. Sounded like a deal to me. As promised, he called at about 6:30. I told him to give me a minute while I went to go get the grocery list. Not necessary, he tells me. He's in the ER. He doesn't know what happened. The last thing he remembers, he was in Best Buy. Then he was at the hospital. He vaguely recalls feeling faint.

I was sick. I mean, he had been back at work for all of one day, and now what was thought to be a freak fainting incident (he recalled feeling faint in the kitchen, several hours after the fact), is now a recurring fainting problem. But I called my mother again to come watch the kids, and as soon as she got there I headed for the hospital. I'm barely cleared to drive, and I'm certainly not supposed to be hauling the baby around in the car seat yet. Way too much lifting for 2 weeks after surgery. Anyway, once again, the tests come back normal and they send him home. Again, they recommend no driving for a couple of days. So Rob's back home with me now, at least for two more days. His primary doc wants to see him and do a bunch of other tests, so I turn into taxi mom - taking Nicole back and forth to day care, and taking Rob back and forth to the doctor.

We don't get anything interesting from the doctor, except for some elevated levels of some muscle enzyme. This test was done because Rob had some strange pain in his legs following each incident - like he'd been working out. But even though these levels were elevated, it didn't really offer any new information. It was just another strange twist to the fainting mystery.

So after two more days at home, Rob goes back to work again. But not before I have a complete breakdown. Oh, by the way, I had to pick up Nicole early on Wednesday, because she had a fever. So she had to stay home with me on Thursday. Meanwhile, my husband, who seems to mysteriously pass out for no reason, is leaving the house again. This completely freaked me out. The next two days were pretty long, but he got to work and got home just fine. He even went back to taking Nicole to day care on Friday.

But Friday was the last day before our life changed. Yep, we had a new family member who was only 3 weeks old, but even that was a walk in the park compared to what was about to happen next.