We’ve had a great fall this year and had a lot of fun with the kids. They have a way of letting you know which events they really like, too, by asking to repeat them over and over again. We have a few such activities that have started to become annual events for us – giving ample opportunity for more adventures to find us.
The GOOD
One of the kids’ favorite events that we have gone to several times is at the hospital where we just got 3 new bellybuttons. Every spring and fall, they have a big FREE carnival, complete with bounce houses, all kinds of wild and domestic animals and free lunch. In the fall they give out free pumpkins, too (unfortunately 2 of the 4 have now disappeared). At the face painting booth, the kids were excited to make their choices. Alyssa requested an iguana and Lauren a flower. The boys got a little more unique with Jack requesting Elmo on his hand (so that he can see it) and Drew asked for a house (complete with a sidewalk, tree, sun and clouds). It was almost worth the hour wait to see that!
Another highly requested tradition we started last year is a fall hike at a local park. It’s so exciting to go empty-handed now and leave the strollers behind! We went on a beautiful warm day with the leaves showing off their gorgeous colors. Back in the days when I was pregnant with Alyssa, the first shirt I bought her said “Hiker in Training.” Now I feel like we’ve lived up to it a little bit with our new tradition. We had a great time walking around, taking it all in, and nature put on quite a show for us (or we must have just been there at mealtime). We got to see a hawk make several unsuccessful bids to make a squirrel his next meal. We also got very close to another squirrel that was working very very hard to crack open a walnut for its chow.
Also, way back before we started having kids, we started visiting a local pumpkin patch every year (I went there as a young kid, too). Through the years, my Mom, sister and Dad have been able to come with us. This year my Dad joined us. We were able to enjoy our normal routine of taking a hayride out to the pumpkin patch, checking out the log cabin built in the 1850’s, petting the farm animals (and feeding a goat), and sitting in the “Cinderella carriage.” The kids seemed to have the most fun with the straw maze and bales of straw all stacked up for the kids to climb on. The triplets (minus poor allergic Jack) were able to try their first elephant ear this year. The first time we got one for Alyssa there a while back, she said, “Who would want to eat the ear of an elephant?” It was a big hit, though, and the kids had a great time.
THE NEW
This year we also got invited to a fall party at the place of one of my old high school friends. It was fun to see people I haven’t talked to in 20 year (where does the time go!?) and watch our kids play together. We also got to go on a hayride there and eat some good chow. But I think the highlight for us was seeing our first ever pumpkin cannon. Here’s a video for you to the “Punkin Chunkin” in action for yourself.
THE BAD AND THE DEAD
Some of you may remember this post about the annual field trip the preschool takes to the apple orchard. I don’t know what it is about that place, but I’m beginning to think all the preschool field trips there are cursed (good thing this year was the last one!). We were running a couple minutes late to leave the house and ut oh, the van door didn’t open. The battery was dead. In the garage. Someone had left the lights on. Poor Dave got a panicked call in the middle of a class he was teaching, asking him how to get the van into neutral. Long story short, my awesome neighbors rescued me. We never did get the van in neutral (and I even had to borrow one of my kids’ flashlights, because the batteries in mine were all dead, too!). We had to take a shelf off the wall just to pop the hood. The other side of the garage was full of all kinds of stuff we had to move out of the way to get my neighbor's truck in the garage. Our batteries were on opposite sides, so we strung 2 sets up jumper cables together. But we did get to our field trip – just in time for the trio’s class to get off the hay wagon and end the field trip. <sigh> So, I let the kids play on the playground for a bit to make up for it. Despite being told not to, they ended up stealing some apples off a nearby tree and 2 of them chomped away. When I told them we had to apologize to the cashier and pay for them, I immediately got tears from the nonconvicted thieves. Secretly, I was glad to see their repentant hearts, but I felt for them, as I remember well that pit in your stomach when you have to make amends. One kid told me he was afraid that the police would be called and haul them away. But, eventually, we made things right again and I bought some goodies for the neighbors that rescued me earlier. Always an adventure when we are around!
I have a ton of pictures from all of these events that I was going to put in a slideshow, but, let’s face it, I’m not going to get to it. I still have stuff from this summer I want to blog about like visits from family, the boys’ new room, the basement finally got finished (a YEAR ago), swim lessons, the big birthday party… Someday……
Hope you are enjoying what’s left of the fall and getting done the most important things – spending time with family.
At Lauren, Drew and Jack’s last checkup, we discussed with the pediatrician the umbilical hernia that each of them had. We had been taking a wait and see approach over the last few years, but at this point the waiting period was up. At the 4 year point, they no longer had a chance to heal up on their own. He left it up to us when we wanted to pursue the “s” word. But, since we’ve already met the out-of-pocket maximum for our medical insurance (thanks to the kind of year we were having), this year was looking like a pretty good time to us. We decided to at least meet with the surgeon and get more information before we decided, though.
When I first told the kids that I was taking them to visit a doctor who was going to look at their bellybuttons, they all giggled. They thought it was the funniest thing that I would take them to someone to look at their bellybutton! But, then they started to figure out why their navals would need to be looked at, and they started to get concerned. Despite that, the first visit with the surgeon went pretty well, aside from Drew telling him repeatedly that he didn’t want a new bellybutton. The surgeon confirmed that all 3 of our kids having umbilical hernias probably was due to them being born prematurely. However, we were still the first set of triplets he had operated on for this. (Sadly, this isn’t the first time our family has created a first for a doctor.) But he did say their hernias weren’t that big and we could wait if we so desired, but confirmed they would not improve with time. There was a small chance they could cause them pain later, but most likely they wouldn’t get worse. He also told us to consider the reaction of other kids who might make fun of them for their large outties. So we talked about the pros and cons and wondered what we would like our parents to do if we were them. We decided to get it over with rather than wait for an unlikely but potential emergency, especially since it would only get harder for them to take a weekend off as they get older and involved in more activities. What sealed it for me was the night when Drew told me that he had pain around his bellybutton. His hernia was the largest, and I sure didn’t like to see my kiddo in pain if we could get it fixed!
We scheduled the surgery ASAP, to avoid all the rescheduling and added misery that would inevitably happen once cold season was in full swing. So our weekend of fun began on Sept 3rd (guess not many people wanted to deal with surgery during Labor Day weekend). Earlier in the week, I did some preregistration over the phone. When they found out we had recently had a Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease epidemic in our house, they wanted to reschedule. After some pleading on my part that they weren’t contagious anymore and this would cause some huge problems for our family, they finally consented to go ahead. But every sniffle from then on freaked me out, and I was scared that we would have to reschedule again after I begged them to go on! We even kept the kids inside the day before their surgery, just to keep their allergies at bay.
Two days before the surgery, I took the trio on a tour of the hospital for them to see where they would be and ask any questions. I waited until just before then to break the news that the were having surgery, to hopefully avoid any unnecessary anxiety. They were a little crazy, though, running everywhere during the tour. I hoped it was just nervous energy and not how they would act for the big day. Our tour guide was so helpful and assured Drew that he had a very nice surgeon. Drew responded with, “Is he nicer than God?” Overall, the kids took the news of their impending bellybutton fixes pretty well. Once they saw the toys they would get to play with at the hospital, and I promised them no shots (they knock them out and then put in the IVs), it was no big deal. I have to say that I was glad to hear about no needles, too. I had a surgery when I was 5 and was literally traumatized by needles for the next 20 years (until I went through fertility treatments and had to get over it)! My family can heartily verify this and are probably laughing as they read this. Another thing I learned from the tour was that each kid got to take 2 things into surgery with them, like teddy bears. That helped ease some anxiety, too.
Every day after that, the kids asked me if they were supposed to eat breakfast (they were a little confused on the timing), but otherwise, they didn’t talk about the surgery too much. The morning of the surgery went pretty smoothly and Lauren, Drew and Jack did better than I expected with the whole not eating part. Alyssa was a good big sister and ate breakfast when they weren’t around. She seemed to do pretty well with everything, too, and her only concern was that their new bellybuttons would be scary looking. But she seemed happy enough to go off to school for her normal routine and have her chicken nuggets for lunch. So, we were glad that she was in good hands, and as the bus pulled away, Drew and I headed off to the hospital (he was first in line).
After dragging a very impatient kid through registration, we were soon in our to our pre-op room. Then Drew told me very sadly that he missed his family. But soon enough, there were 5 of us in our little room and it was back to chaotic instead of quiet. The kids had to do some preliminary prep work and change into scrubs. Drew especially didn’t want to put his on (maybe because they were peach?), but we assured him he looked like he worked at the hospital and we called him Dr. Drew. While the nurse was checking his siblings’ vitals, Dr. Drew took his title very seriously and coached his siblings through how to take deep breaths to make their pulse ox readings go up to 100% (When you are four years old, 100 is the coolest number ever!)
Things were going pretty smoothly until a fight erupted while the surgeon was having us sign papers and 2 nurses were taking vital signs and updating charts. Dave had to break up the shoving match, and the surgeon just looked at me, grinned, and shook his head. Other than that, the kids did fine with all the waiting and didn’t seem too nervous. We passed the time with lots of toys, cartoons and coloring. There was also a nurse there to help ease anxiety and make us comfortable. She was so helpful, and brought all the kids their own masks to get used to what would happen in the operating room (they wheeled them in, put the mask on and knocked them out with gas). They also got to pick a flavor of chapstick to put around the mask to make it smell good. This was a huge decision for them, but I really think it made them feel more comfortable and more importantly gave them control over something. Another really thoughtful nurse got a mask and chapstick for Alyssa, too. So we are well equipped to play hospital now, especially with all the gloves, masks, gauze and surgeons hats they sent home from the tour.
When it was time for Drew to get on the bed to take his ride to surgery, he said “I’m going to be really scared.” He snuggled his teddy bear tightly, but was soon distracted him when we told him his bed was like a race car. I walked down the hall to the operating room with him, but it was really hard to hug him goodbye. But, since he wasn’t crying or scared that helped me. The nurses said he did really well after I left, too.
After that, Jack and Lauren seemed to have fun playing with the new toys all by themselves. At one point, a nurse stopped by and told us she just loved hearing our kids in the hallway. She said they sounded like happy chipmunks with their little voices. The surgeon came out and told us that Drew did great and soon it was Jack’s turn. The nurse told me later that they didn’t think he could do any better than Drew, but he did. He cracked everyone up by the way he held his mask on during the whole trip down the hall and didn’t remove it until he was asleep from the gas, too.
After that, it was kind of a crazy circus keeping track of everyone. Lauren was about ready to go into surgery (but happily singing “Life is A Highway”, playing with toys and watching Toy Story by herself). Then they told me that Drew needed me in recovery. When I got there, he was groggy and crying and in pain. Since he can’t have morphine (due to a bad reaction to a similar medicine), they were having trouble finding something else to control his pain. I felt so badly for him because I’ve experienced the same thing, and then he freaked a little when he saw a syringe coming towards his IV (he thought I broke my promise of no shots!). He also wasn’t too happy about the splint on his arm to protect the IV and pulse oximeter, but one of the nurses eventually talked him into leaving it alone. But the 2nd dose of pain medicine did the trick and he slept some more and was fine.
Jack came out soon after that and was put in the bay straight across from Drew (it was cute to watch them later waving to each other). Most parents don’t see their kids before they wake up, but I got to since I was already there for Drew. It was tough to see him so awkwardly unconscious. Whereas Drew woke up right away, Jack slept 45 minutes and woke up a little too wide eyed from the meds, but otherwise chipper. The nurse was very amused by him using words like actually all the time and the way he scarfed down 2 popsicles right away. It was hard to sit there and watch the nurse do her job while I waited my turn, and I couldn’t wait to give him a hug. But at least Dave was in recovery with me at that point to watch our boys sleep.
Lauren came out then and was placed next to Drew, but slept for a while in a position that couldn’t have been comfortable. Drew was asking where she was later and was comforted to know she was right next to him. They told us that she did even better than boys at being in the OR and she chatted away even when they put the mask on her. She told them all about her bed at home and the playhouse in her room and the Barbie house inside. They finally had to get started so they just gassed her out as she talked. She slept peacefully for a while after surgery, too. When she woke up and too full advantage of the offer eat some pudding (breakfast of champions, huh?). It’s amazing how little you say no to your kids on the day that they have surgery.
About that time, Drew’s pain started to break through again as he moved around to get dressed. His IV had already been taken out, and they had to call the anesthesiologist back. Fortunately, the ibuprofen they gave him worked after 10 minutes (especially for the sake of the other patients right there). I was so glad that we got to have the grandparents back in recovery to help with kids at that point. (Hospital policy is to only have one adult per child in recovery, but they gave us the rock star treatment and accommodated us once again.) It was getting a little chaotic with kids getting IVs out, getting dressed, filling snack orders, visits to the Treasure Chest and Jack bopping around talking to everyone (he was discharged before Drew’s pain took off).
Once Jack took his wagon ride out of there, it was soon time for Lauren and Drew to be discharged all at once. Before we left, one nurse told us it was a very exciting day for them as well to have the triplets there. We were so grateful for all the wonderful care they gave to our entire family, and all that they did to make it as positive of an experience as possible. Drew said several times after we left how he missed all the fun that he had at the hospital (and he’s the one that was in pain)!
We got home about 45 minutes before Alyssa got off the bus. Once she got home, it was almost like things were back to normal. Lauren didn’t understand why she couldn’t ride her scooter after having a fresh incision before she even entered the house. Kids were chattering. Fights were breaking out. New works of art were being created. And the house was full of exhausted adults who didn’t realize how emotionally exhausting the day would be. But being home just made life seem normal again. We even were blessed with a good night sleep the first night, when we were sure someone would wake up needing pain medicine.
Our only challenge now is to get the kids not to touch their bellybuttons too much. They love to lift their shirts up and say, “Do you want to see my bellybutton?” That will make the kids at preschool run out of there like they are in a horror movie! The day after his surgery, Jack told me that his bellybutton was getting coo-ul. But they are doing great now. We are off all pain medicine and all the bruising is gone. We are just waiting for the incisions to heal up all the way.
It could have turned out so differently and so many other things could have gone wrong. We are so grateful to those who prayed for our family and to God for protecting our babies. Even though I was hoping during this first post about bellybuttons that the hernias would heal up without surgery, God provided every step of the way from finances to wonderful help and support. Our lives are truly full of blessings and we are so very thankful for that.
When we hit January this year, I have to admit that I thought to myself “this winter isn’t so bad.” We were definitely braced for the worst, knowing that the triplets were in preschool for the first time and Alyssa was in kindergarten = a whole new school full of germs to be exposed to. We had a cold going around in December, but it really wasn’t too bad – so far.
Then about mid-January, the respiratory and stomach bugs started to hit. But, when you have little kids, having colds in the winter almost gets to be like breathing. It was a little annoying, but nothing like some of the past trials we have been through. Besides, sometimes we actually get naps out of the kids when they’re sick, even if it is in the strangest places (like Lauren sleeping on the stairs).
Then March hit. First, it started with Jack and Lauren getting pink eye. Then, a few days later, all 4 kids were on antibiotics for strep throat (we highly recommend the little grocery store clinics for such occasions on Friday nights).
Then, a week later, Drew started really getting sick (while we had all 4 kids at the dermatologist treating the Molluscum epidemic that is also sweeping our house). He got a runny nose, developed a croupy cough (which sometimes made him throw up), and got feverish by bedtime. The poor guy took 3 naps on Saturday and had a 102 fever all day. On particular nap, he just collapsed on the couch while still standing up.
Sunday morning, he woke up with a rash all over. It looked just like the one Alyssa had when she had roseola, so I figured it was that. He was feeling better by then, so then we just watched and waited for Lauren and Jack to get sick, too.
Monday morning, it was back to our normal routine and trying to pretend we weren’t tired with the switch to daylight savings time. But as we got to lunch time, Drew started to fade again and get pale. He fell asleep right away at naptime and was a limp noodle the rest of the day. He didn’t eat much and after dinnertime, and his breathing got labored. I left a message for the pediatrician, and we waited.
We were trying to at least keep Drew hydrated, and we had a good laugh after Dave accidently mixed up Drew a glass of orange Metamucil instead of orange Gatorade. The canisters do look pretty similar. Drew actually said it was “the best Gatorade ever” before we even caught the mistake, too.
The doctor called back and after hearing that Drew was taking more than a breath a second (I have learned this as a new rule of thumb), he said to have him checked out. So it was off to take Drew to the ER again. He was given 2 breathing treatments and some steroids right away, which calmed his breathing down, and he was doing a lot better. His fever had come up to around 101 again, so the nurses gave him a popsicle, which he thought was the greatest. He was also treated to a Mickey Mouse movie. Also, on the way to the bathroom, he got to meet 2 real live firemen, and they gave him his very own fireman hat. So despite being told his throat and ears were pretty red, having blisters all over from his Molluscum treatment, a rash from roseola, a 102 fever and an X-ray showing possible early stage viral pneumonia, Drew was still smiling and very excited about his very own bottle of Gatorade that he got to bring home. That kid is tough!
So, since Drew was doing a lot better, we were released to come home. I dropped him off around 10:30pm for Dave to put him to bed and then headed off to the pharmacy. Of course, there were issues with all 3 of his prescriptions, so I was there past midnight. When I got home, I found out that Lauren had thrown up soon after I left. I think Dave got the rougher end of the deal.
For the next 2 days after that, Drew seemed to improve. Then at 3:30am, Drew woke up coughing. I tried 2 of our high octane breathing treatments that the pulmonologist gave us for Jack (the 1st thing they gave him at the ER a few days earlier), and it only slowed him down a little. So finally 2 hours later at the ER, his coughing stopped. They had to give him 2 ephinidrine breathing treatments, which meant we weren’t going home that night. I was so scared on the drive there, thinking they would have to stick a tube down his throat or something. It was so good to see him stop coughing finally with the medicines they gave him.
Meanwhile, Dave was left with the realization that at 5am, he wasn’t going into work that day. I gave him some options of ways to farm out the kids and told him the first deadline was to get Alyssa on the bus. He called my mom at 5am, and as she said, “It’s never good news when the phone rings at 5am.” She was a real trooper to come over and cover the fort, while Dave rushed in to get some plans ready for a sub. When I called home with my first update on Drew, I was a little surprised to hear her answer the phone. Thanks to her help, it all worked out, and Dave was able to get home in time to get Alyssa on the bus, then took Lauren and Jack off to preschool. It was kind of fun to watch him take over my job for the day. I think he only had to hear “Mommy, doesn’t do it that way” once.
Then, Dave made it over to the hospital shortly after Drew was admitted to his room. At one point, they were considering admitting Drew to the Peds ICU, because he was so sick. He had about 5 breathing treatments in 2 hours and was on 3L of oxygen, and his levels were still only about 95%. Once he started feeling a little better, he didn’t want to have his oxygen canula in his nose, but by the end of the day, he was breathing on his own and still holding at 95%. So the doctor’s concluded that he had a really bad virus and once it turned a corner, he was doing a lot better. A follow up X-ray also concluded that he didn’t have viral pneumonia, too. So, we went home about 30 hours after arriving. Drew was so happy to show off the balloon, book and stuffed animal he got from Grandma and Papo, though. He was so very excited about the 2 egg omelets he got to eat for breakfast.
Lauren got a really bad cold, but recovered pretty well on her own. Jack got sick with the same virus shortly afterwards. We had to call the pulmonologist and get some steroids and do some breathing treatments, but he was able to stay out of the hospital. Thank God for the preventative medicines he is on!
Then Easter weekend, Alyssa got strep throat again. Why do my kids always get sick at times like the night before Easter? Well, we went to our friendly drugstore clinic again, and she had tested positive for strep there less than 30 days before, they insisted on culturing her specimen (instead of the quick test, which give you results right away). So, that meant no antibiotics yet to kill it until the results came back several days later. Poor Alyssa handled it pretty well, despite not feeling well on Easter. So on the day after Easter, Dave was off on Spring Break and helped me to march all 4 kids into the pediatrician’s office. Only Alyssa tested positive for strep, and our doctor helped ease my fears from the clinic lady who said she needed her tonsils out!
Things calmed down after that, and aside from bad spring allergies, we hoped the warm weather had helped us back to good health. We even got wild and crazy and started painting the boys’ room – which we had been promising to do “after Christmas” and you now know why we didn’t get to it. (More about their room later – I’m still working on the furniture.)
Last weekend, Alyssa finally got to go to a much anticipated slumber party. It was literally 2 years in the making, as she and her friend had talked about a sleepover when her friend turned 5. Well, the night before the friend’s 5th birthday, the slumber party was in full swing. I had sent Alyssa over there without much of a voice, but I really thought it was bad allergies. I felt so bad when I got the call at 9:30pm: “Your princess has a fever.” She was up to 102 and not feeling so well, as you can imagine and pretty disappointed. She had to miss another birthday party the next day, as she was still pretty puny. But, a day later, she was doing pretty well. We were lucky that none of our kids got it, and the birthday girl and her family at least escaped the fever, but did get some sniffles.
And guess what, now I have it. I have lost my voice and don’t feeling like doing much of anything but sitting. I think my kids are amused by my new “voice” but I have to say I feel pretty lousy. The funny thing is, that yesterday I was getting suspicious that something was about to happen. You want to know how? I was getting caught up on my laundry! Before each of the major things above happened, I got caught up on my laundry. I think it’s God’s way of keeping His promise to not give me more than I/We can handle. But you know what, I’m going to stop trying to catch up on the laundry for a while. I’m done!
I was looking forward to Monday morning(Feb 8th). Really. I was. My mom had kindly watched the boys for us the previous night, allowing us to actually watch the Super Bowl at some friends’ house. And even though we had the girls out too late, and the team were were rooting for lost, I was still looking forward to that next morning.
All I had to do was get Alyssa on the bus and I had only 1 kid for an hour an a half. Do you have any idea how easy that feels to me!? Alyssa was in a pretty good mood, too. She had just lost her 2nd tooth the Friday before, so she was looking forward to telling her class about it and getting this sticker. We had one minor mishap of Alyssa spilling grape juice all over her clothes and having to change. But, the 3 of still made it out to the bus stop in time. I hadn’t been to “The Stop” in a while, and I tried not to cheer out loud after the bus pulled away.
About 10 minutes later our neighbor came over. His mom had been taken to the ER, and he was checking to see if I would be home when his kids got off the bus, if needed. I told him I was 100% sure I would be there. I felt so badly for him with his mom being ill, and I was so happy to repay one of the many favors they have done for us. Take, for example, the 3 times in 12 hours he had used his snow blower to clean off our sidewalks and driveway for us a couple of days before. We couldn’t ask for more caring neighbors!
Soon after that, Lauren and I were off to run some errands. You know, those dinky little ones that annoy you, but just aren’t worth dragging 4 kids around to finish. It felt so good to get them off the to do list! Lauren and I were also having a pretty good time hanging out, just the two of us.
Next, we drove to my mom’s to pick up the boys. When we got there, they were having fun playing Playdoh and watching cartoons. They seemed a little cranky, but I know that was from all the excitement and fun that they were having.
We made it home, just in time for everyone to take a bathroom break before we left again. Someone, who will remain nameless, wet all over their coat. Luckily, I had found an extra in a box from the attic recently (we love hand me downs!), so it didn’t slow us down too much. Then we were off to pick up Alyssa and a friend from kindergarten.
At lunchtime, I faced a house full of cranky, fighting kids, but the glow of actually attending a Super Bowl Party carried me through. Alyssa spilled milk all over herself and had to change clothes again. But, somehow, we were running ahead of schedule, and I was looking forward to putting these tired kids in their rooms early for naps.
The kids went upstairs as I was cleaning up the kitchen. I heard Drew’s mad cry, but I thought maybe his sisters had taken a toy from him, as they had been arguing just before that. Then it registered, “He’s not letting up.” I was done cleaning up by that point and made my way upstairs to check on things. When I reached the top of the stairs, Drew said, “My hand is caught in the door!” as he stood by his sisters’ bedroom door. I said, “What do you mean your hand is stuck in the door?” Sure enough, it looked like his hand had been on the back of the door (by the hinges)when his sisters shut it. Not only that, but the door was locked! Massive mommy guilt swept over me as I and yelled and banged on the door to be opened immediately. When the girls opened the door and realized what was going on, they joined me in feeling like the worst relatives that Drew could ever have.
I’ll spare you the details of what it looked like, but let’s just say that Drew’s fingers looked badly enough that I announced to our whole crew that we were going to the hospital. (Yep, same one that Jack went to.) The girls got ready as fast as they could, amongst Drew screaming, Jack resisting getting ready, and me making phone calls. In the craziness, I couldn’t find my neighbors’ cell phone numbers, but I at least found their home number and let them know I may not be home after all. I also called our dear friend Lucy, who has heard about other events in our lives and has said, “Why didn’t you call me?” So on that Monday I did. Thankfully, we caught her just before she was leaving to run some errands. She dropped everything for us and beat us to the hospital.
Honestly, ever since the triplets came home from the hospital, this was a moment that I was dreading might happen someday. My overactive imagination would do drills in my head of how I would handle getting all 4 kids to the ER by myself. It’s quite a vulnerable feeling at times to be in charge of 4 young children all by yourself. I am just so thankful that they were as old as they are when it finally happened!
I’m sure that my mom would have dropped everything to come and help me, too. However, she had told me that she had a conference call for work that afternoon, so I didn’t want to interrupt that. I needed her for another role that day, anyway. On the drive to the hospital (really, I don’t talk and drive very often, I promise!), I told my mom what was going on and asked her to track down my neighbors. I felt so badly that I couldn’t be there for them, so I wanted to give them as much notice as possible. At this point, we were 2 hours away from the bus dropping of the kids. Experience had taught me to expect at least 2 hours for any ER visit. Mom came through for me and tracked them down, reminding me of the old days when you went through and operator to get calls made.
Drew was screaming and crying the whole drive. About halfway there, he told me, “Mommy, my fingers hurt really really badly.” This is my kid who once fell and hit his head on the concrete driveway and didn’t even cry. So, I was expecting the worst and picturing surgery, visits to specialists, physical therapy, and kissing Drew’s first baseball season goodbye.
Lucy met us in the parking and helped usher the kids in while I carried the still crying Drew in as quickly as I could. The ER was great about taking us back right away. While they were taking take his vitals, I distracted Drew enough that he calmed down and stopped crying. The nurse made me feel better by telling me that my chance of this not happening with 4 kids was almost zero.
Drew took everything pretty well. He especially perked up when on of the nurses popped in an Elmo DVD. He was a little shy when people asked him what happened, but he actually answered questions (which surprised me). I was a little embarrassed of his overgrown fingernails now filled with Playdoh from Grammy’s. (Things like this never happen after you have freshly bathed and clipped nails on your children, do they?) I also wondered if everyone walking in the door was someone from CPS wanting to ask some questions. (Just in case, at least the girls were in the waiting room to verify my story.)
One of the nurses stopped by when she saw Drew’s name on the board and remembered him. She was his nurse 3 years ago when he had RSV badly. I’ll never forget her putting an IV in his head (yep, I get to have all the fun). Her daughter had been a student of Dave’s, so she recognized our last name right away. It was so nice of her to stop by and say hi and offer to help. Nothing like being to the ER so many times that they recognize you there.
Then the doctor came in and asked what happened. When I explained his sisters slammed the door on his hand trying to keep him out of their room, the doctor dryly said, “Well, did it work?” He immediately ordered some X-rays, and soon we were off. Drew chose to ride there in his bed, which he seemed to enjoy (almost as much as his warm blanket). He liked staying in bed for his X-rays, too. The tech was so great and gentle with him. She gave him a prize for doing such a good job. He picked out a stuffed snake because “it was so big”. On the ride back to his room I asked Drew what he wanted to name his snake. He replied “Frosty the Snowman.”
Before we even got back the room, the doctor said he didn’t see anything broken, but he had to double check with the specialist. I couldn’t believe it! I thought for sure we had broken bones, especially after his fingers had been trapped for several minutes. So, it was the best scenario we could have asked for. He had lots of swelling and bruising and some little cuts, but the doctor assured me he could play baseball next month. They gave him some ibuprofen and bandaged him up, but even then they said it wasn’t necessary unless Drew asked for them. As the nurse was checking us out, she assured me this probably wouldn’t be my last visit there, either.
Drew immediately wanted his bandage off. Despite my protests, he won that battle. Here’s a picture of his poor little hand as he started taking the bandage off. At least he was feeling well enough without it!
As predicted, he soon forgot about his injury and was picking things up. He never complained again of the pain, so he didn’t even get any more medicine. He’s also a forgiving little guy. He doesn’t seem to have retaliated, aside from not wanting to sit by one of his sisters at dinner because she “hurt his hand.”
So all ended well, and we even got home before the bus did. (Our neighbor ended up coming home before us anyway, though.) The kids have enjoyed having Frosty join our family. He has been used as a jump rope among other things. As this video from later that day shows, here is another use for Frosty:
That explains why I have to sew up 3 holes in the thing already. As you can see, it didn’t take long for things to get back to normal around here. Hopefully, it will stay that way for a while!
One of the best things about Christmas Vacation is watching some of the best Christmas movies out there, like Charlie Brown's Christmas (the dance moves on the stage by the Peanut's gang are unreal!) and A Christmas Story (tongue sticking to the pole, pink bunny suit, leg lamp, Fah Ra Ra Ra Ra). Another favorite of mine is Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase. In the movie he has many ups and downs (trying to get his house lit up, putting up with Uncle Eddy, stressing about his bonus check to pay for the pool), and I found myself experiencing ups and downs like Clark over the two weeks I had off. To begin, I really wanted to get the Christmas lights up early this year (around the bushes and our tree). I love the holiday season (especially with kids!), and I wanted to get the lights up as soon as possible. But, one thing after another occurred (broken lights, GFI blew, circuits blew) and I felt like Clark Griswold all over again. Finally, the lights worked (for the most part), I didn't get electrocuted (does cutting a cord with scissors while it's plugged in count?), and our house looked pretty cool from the outside. So, all was going pretty well, until I received a phone call from Riley Hospital. Amanda had taken Jack there to get some allergy tests done, and while there, they also met with a pediatric pulmonologist because of his asthma problems. The nurse told me when the sweat test was going to be. Sweat test???? What in the world was that? Why a sweat test? Are they going to put a two year old on a tread mill to see how much he can sweat or something? Then, the nurse explained that a sweat test measures the amount of sodium and chlorine on a person, and that helps to determine if a person has Cystic Fibrosis or not. My heart sank as I feared that our little Jack had CF. Since Jack has had some upper respiratory issues and he's been having trouble gaining weight, the doctor wanted to rule out CF. The problem was that he wouldn't be tested until Dec. 29th (about 3 weeks), so that was a lot of fun (NOT!) waiting until that day. 3 stinkin' weeks!!!!!! I looked up the symptoms on the Internet (yes, I know that isn't wise because then you find that your kid has apparently symptoms for 90% of all diseases), and I began to wonder. Since one of the symptoms is salty skin, there were many times in December (this is going to sound very weird people) where Amanda and I licked Jack's arm or back to see if he tasted salty. We both thought he tasted rather plain, but what did we know? Eventually, December 29 rolled around (what a stressful day that was! They make you call a hotline # for the results!) Thankfully, we found out that he didn't have CF, and we celebrated by taking the crew to Chili's.
How about another downer? The second day I had off from work (Tuesday before Christmas, which was on Thursday), Amanda had a doctor's appointment with her doctor who had performed surgery on her tummy region last year. Apparently, one of her six permanent stitches from that previous surgery came loose, and she was told the only way to fix it was to have surgery (later scheduled the day after Christmas)! It was a quick surgery, but this made 5 surgeries for Amanda in the less than 3 years. Sadly, I feel like these surgeries are almost routine, and Amanda being on a first name basis with the nurses isn't necessarily a good thing.
So, on the same day we find out that Amanda has to have surgery, we hear one of the triplets (Jack) barfing. (Amanda did a nice blog entry on this a couple of entries ago.) Nothing like cleaning up barf chunks from the carpet. Then, I start getting a stomach ache, but we got all the kids down to bed, and Jack was feeling better. We were hoping all the kids would get a good night sleep, but around midnight I hear Drew barfing in his crib. We get him all cleaned up, and before long, we hear Lauren barfing. Knowing that this virus lasts a few hours, we got her up, and together, all three of us went downstairs for a nice puking party. All three of us took turns barfing, and before long, Jack started crying upstairs in his crib because he felt left out. So, Amanda brought Jack down, and we started watching Finding Nemo at like 1:30 in the morning. Once their barfing subsided a few hours later, we went to bed, and my barfing episode finally quit the next morning. Then, Alyssa got it and spent a few hours hugging the toilet. Fun, huh?
Amanda's Mom and Dad came over for Christmas Day a day later, and we thought everyone had a clean bill of health. We enjoyed Christmas dinner and opening gifts, and went to bed early knowing that Amanda had surgery the next morning. Want another downer? Poor Amanda's mom calls at 5:40 in the morning stating, "I've thrown up 3 times already this morning." She was planning on coming over to watch the kids while I took Amanda to the hospital for surgery, but plans obviously change! Since Amanda had to be there at 6:30am, she just drove herself there. Thankfully, Amanda's dad was able to meet her at the hospital and bring her home (good thing he gets up at 6am).
A few days later my Mom and Dad came up to visit, and we had a great few days with them. Yep, you guessed it...another downer! My mom's omelets are amazing, and she makes me one every time she comes up for a visit. My Mom and Dad were planning to eat breakfast and then drive home (4 hours away). As I was eating the omelet, she made a glass of grape juice for herself and picked up the glass. A split second later, she dropped it, and it shattered. She started talking in a slurred manner, and I thought she was making fun of herself for dropping the glass. But, she continued slurring her words for a few minutes, and my dad and I knew something was wrong, so off she went to the ER. They did a lot of tests at the ER (X-Rays, CAT Scans, blood work, ultrasounds, etc...) Her CAT Scan came back saying that her skull was grossly intact, so we were thankful about that (:-). However, one of the ultrasounds showed one of her two carotid arteries (they bring oxygenated blood to the brain) being around 90% blocked. So, she was put on a blood thinner and aspirin, and surgery was eventually set for the following Monday. Thankfully, the surgery went very well, and she came back to my home the following day and back to her home the day after that. Talk about a crazy couple of weeks!!!!!!
Thankfully, everything turned out well, just like the movies. In Christmas Vacation, Clark Griswold finally got his bonus check. In Charlie Brown's Christmas, Charlie Brown finally learned the true meaning of Christmas. In A Christmas Story, Ralphie finally got the Red Ryder BB gun he'd been dreaming of. And, in my two weeks, I can look back and thank the Lord for His provisions over these hectic holidays. Jack is starting to eat better and put on some weight, my mom now is healthier than she was a few weeks ago, my wife's 5th and hopefully final surgery over the last few years is over, and my favorite football team, Notre Dame, finally won a bowl game! Amanda and I even got a Wii for Christmas! Despite the ups and downs, God has been so faithful to us by providing us with His peace and goodness. Well, that's it for now. We need some "relative calmness" in this house for awhile.
Technically it's still fall, so I'm not too late on this one, am I? The last few years we haven't gotten the chance to do much fall-ish, so we more than made up for it this year. The weather was absolutely beautiful most of October, too!
We started the month off with going to a birthday party at a gymnastics center. We are always excited when someone is brave enough to invite all of us over. To burn off a lot of energy at the same time is especially a bonus. The kids had fun climbing, bouncing, and playing with balls and parachutes. We almost lost a kid in the parking lot while loading up, and we left their jackets there, but it was a great time. It was one of those drives home where we had to make sure no one fell asleep, so we could get some good naps out them.Alyssa has been talking about HER birthday party ever since.
Then the hospital where Jack likes to go to the ER also held a great fall festival. The best part was it was all free (although donations were accepted for a local children's hospital). The kids got to pet all kinds of animals (Dave's favorites were the "afro chickens"), climb on firetrucks, see a helicopter land, and pick out a pumpkin (turns out, those were the only pumpkins we got the whole month). Alyssa also got to take her picture with a real princess! While standing in line for lunch, we had a little mishap where Lauren got lost. Someone was carrying her off to the microphone stand to announce they had a lost child when I caught up to her. Well, it wouldn't be an event for us if something didn't happen, right?
Next, we went to a local farm for Alyssa's preschool field trip. The fun thing was the I went there way back when I was in preschool. They are known for their apple cider, so they got to tour the orchard and take a wagon ride out to pick the class pumpkin. Then, we ended the day with a walk through the corn maze. Unfortunately, my mom, Lauren, Drew, Jack and I got separated from Alyssa and her class. Then we got lost in the corn maze. Then I started to panic as I wanted to get to my oldest baby NOW. So then we started to cut through the maze to get to the outside of it. My mom and Lauren fell in the process, and they got cuts all over, including one on my mom's eye. By the time we made it out of the maze, we could see the preschool teacher walking around looking for us at the other end of the field (they had called the preschool looking for us, too). My mom went ahead (bleeding and all) with one of the kids to explain what happened. Meanwhile, I was trying to drag the other two tired and whining two year olds through the field. I was so worried that Alyssa would be crying on a bench somewhere wondering where her mommy was. But, I was glad to see that she was playing happily on the playground instead. That was my first time to ever go into a corn maze. It just may be my last. I'm scarred!
The following week, we headed to another farm that is becoming a tradition for our family to visit every fall (except for the years that we happen to give birth to triplets). It was a beautiful day and it was fun to have an excursion of just the 6 of us. So far we haven't attempted anything like that without help. We took a fun hayride out to the pumpkin patch/pine tree field. The boys didn't think it was so fun, though, as they were crying the whole way out. Then the kids had fun picking out pumpkins and playing with them. I also enjoyed showing them the sap on the pine trees and what it smelled like. It was funny to watch them keep smelling their hands the rest of the morning. Then we ate some lunch, and afterwards, we decided to splurge and split an elephant ear. Dave went to buy it, and Alyssa asked where Daddy went. When I told her he was buying an elephant ear, she said, "An elephant ear? Why would he want to buy the ear of an elephant??" When I explained it was to eat, she seemed even more confused. Then I told it really wasn't from an elephant, but was made from dough and sugar and cinnamon and lots of butter. She still thought we were nuts for eating it, but once she tried it, she couldn't get enough of it. After that, we hit the haystack, the petting zoo, and last but not least, the Cinderella pumpkin carriage. Alyssa assigned Drew as her prince and Jack as Lauren's. If only she knew! Then it was naptime by then so we headed on home.
We finished off our fall festivities with a ride on the pumpkin train. My mom had talked about wanting to go months before, so we had our tickets and a deadline to get there on time so the train literally didn't leave without us. Meanwhile, we had ordered some food from Angel Food Ministries that had to be picked up as we were getting ready. We thought Dave should go, since I would probably stand around and talk and make us all late. After he left, Jack decided to start throwing up. Like it wasn't enough to be running around trying to get the 5 of us ready to go! After his first time, I was hoping maybe it was a fluke. But just as I got the first mess cleaned up, he threw up a second time. So we decided taking Jack wasn't such a good idea. Dave offered to stay home with him (the fact that college football games were on didn't have anything do with that, did it?). Meanwhile, the weather had turned incredibly cold, and I hadn't gotten the kids mittens and winter coats out of the basement yet. So I was running around trying to get everything ready, and found out that Jack got into a bottle of cleaner that had bleach in it (It was laying out from when the toilet overflowed the night before). Dave was home by then, so he called Poison Control. It appeared that he hadn't consumed much, so we just had to watch him. Meanwhile, I dug through the box in the basement, got out coats, dumped a bag of mittens and hats on the floor and asked Dave to find something as I ran off to finish getting ready. We made it to the train with about 5 minutes to spare, but I felt badly about the 2 wasted tickets that couldn't be resold.
Alyssa was so sweet as the train started up, she said, "I wish Jack could have come; he would have loved this." We missed him, but we all had a pretty good time, except for the cold making the kids a bit fussy. The train took us to a field in the middle of nowhere. (I was so thankful that Jack started throwing up when he did. If he would have waited even an hour later, we would be trying to deal with it out in the cold, with nothing but a port-a-potty to clean up in.) The kids got balloons and we headed over to a little scarecrow. Drew's face was priceless as he tried to figure out if it was real or not, especially when Grandpa went behind it and started making it talk. It's a good thing we didn't need pumpkins, because the patch was pretty muddy and we skipped that part. So we headed over to the petting zoo, tractors and face painting. The girls loved it, and Lauren got her face painted for the first time. (It later made a perfect sunshine imprint on her crib sheet.) They also had a hay maze for the kids, but I am happy to report it wasn't traumatic for us at all. After that, we headed back into the train and back on home. Luckily, it was almost Halloween by then, because we were getting all pumpkined out!
Here's a slideshow of pictures for you to enjoy from our fall.
Way back in August (I know, talk about a blogging backlog!), we were able to attend the end-of-the summer NICU picnic for the hospital where Lauren, Drew and Jack were born. This is an annual event that our family looks forward to attending - they go all out with lots to do! My mom came with us, and we didn't have far to travel to the car, so we braved it without the stroller or the diaper bag. That was such a huge milestone for us to travel so lightly! Once again, the kids amazed us and did just fine.
It was especially fun this year, as we met up with many of our new friends that also have multiples. (We travel in different circles these days!) We were able to meet up with our good friends, Jen and Brad, and take a picture of all 8 of our kids. They have absolutely adorable quadruplet boys. We took a similar picture last year as well.
One other highlight of this year's picnic was that we got to meet up with Megan, the main day nurse for our babies while they were in the NICU. We've already introduced you to Laura, one of the two main night nurses we had. Now meet Megan, the other godsend that gave us peace while we had to leave our babies at the hospital. Megan did such a great job of taking care of them when we couldn't be there. She was such a joy for us to be around and so fun and compassionate with our kids. It put my mind at ease to know she was there caring for them in our place. What a blessing to have someone so special look after your kids who truly cares for them, too! I can't believe it had been over 2 years since we last saw her. It was so great to hang out with her, meet her new husband, and catch up. Needless to say, the kids had changed a lot since she had seen them last.
After that, we headed off to the different attractions at the picnic. Fearless little Lauren really got into the petting zoo.
Then we headed off to the miniature train. Don't they look cute as they were waiting for the train to take off? By the time they got back, however, the boys were crying and screaming their lungs out. Oh well, it was still cute and the girls seemed to enjoy themselves.
After that, we enjoyed all the bounce houses, slides, swings, teeter totters and the food! It was a hot day, but we had such a great time. It's always good to stop and celebrate how far you have come. Anything could have happened with our pregnancy. Having our kids only born 6 weeks early with as few problems as they have had is an absolute miracle!
At the picnic, there is also an Angel Tree, where they hang ornaments with the names of children that have passed away. This was a touching way for us to honor our two babies that we lost through miscarriage. So we picked up our ornaments for Baby Sam and Baby Riley. Sam was conceived before we had Alyssa, and Riley was one of our quadruplets. We will save their ornaments to put on our Christmas tree. It's a nice way to honor their memory and feel like we have them as a part of our holiday memories.
What a fun and emotional experience the picnic was, but one we look forward to every year. Thank you for letting us share it with you (albeit quite a bit after the fact).
I'll leave you with a few more pictures from the playground, and I think (as far as my creaky old brain can remember) our kids' first time on the teeter totter.
Let's see. I think where I last left off, Jack had come home from his night at the hospital. He recovered nicely from that cold, and the other two never got sick enough to go to the hospital. We went to our pediatrician, as instructed, 10 days later and the cold was completely gone. But, our pediatrician said that we would probably have to be cautious with the next few colds that Jack got.
Sure enough, a few weeks later, Jack got another cold. We tried breathing treatments at home, but he was wheezing again an hour before he was due for his next one. So Dave took him to the ER again. The X-rays were fine (and not nearly as traumatic to take this time), so they gave him more breathing treatments and steroids and advised that we see our pediatrician again in a few days.
So when we saw the pediatrician, he didn't like that Jack had now had 3 visits to the ER and an overnight stay in a month. So Jack is now on a preventative medicine called Pulmicort. We give it to him once a day just like his regular breathing treatments, and we'll try it for the next 3 months. We also extended how long he is on his regular breathing treatments. So after 2 weeks on breathing treatments, plus his preventative medicine, he recovered just fine from his 2nd cold.
Last week, Jack came down with his 3rd cold since he stayed at the hospital. After 3 days he started wheezing again, so we started his breathing treatments 4 times a day again. We will do that for a week, and then go down to 2 times a day for another week. Does anyone have any ideas of how to keep a 2 year old still for 4 times a day for 15 minutes at a time? Right now we are watching movies. He loves the Baby Einstein ones. The other kids like it, too, as they get to watch a movie. At least we are learning our shapes and numbers!
So far, I guess the preventative medicine is helping, as we haven't been to the doctor yet. I thought for sure that Jack would wake up the first night he started wheezing. It always gets worse at night and on the weekends! Why is that? Anyway, we are almost through the weekend and he is doing much better. All 4 kids got this cold and Wednesday was not a fun day at our house, especially with Daddy being gone at a tennis match. But, I am hopeful that the worst is over but dreading this winter!
As for me, I think I last mentioned that I had just about recovered from my surgery. I enjoyed very much being able to pick up the kids again, but it was also nice to take it easy as we went to New York a few days later. Well, about a week after that, Dave went back to school. Wouldn't you know it, I threw my back out my second full day back on the job. I couldn't even stand up straight! It was awful. It was the same feeling I had right after I had the triplets, but not as bad. So after much stretching and doing the physical therapy exercises that they taught me back then, I was able to get back to my old self.
I have had a couple of scares from my surgery incision hurting (especially when the kids hit it), but the nurse assures me that this is a normal part of the healing process. So I have been back to doing situps again, and I am starting to get a waist back. Yeah! The situps are also helping my lower back, too, which honestly has never fully recovered from having triplets.
So I am on to what I hope is my last health problem. I am not sure if I have even mentioned this (sometimes I think people get sick of hearing my health woes), but I was rearended in November and injured my upper back. They told me that because of the physical nature of my job, that it would take a while to heal. So I went back to the doctor in March, and after some tests, they sent me back to physical therapy. After several months of physical therapy, things got better, but not completely healed. One thing that was good about my surgery and not lifting was that it also helped heal my upper back. But, as soon as I went back to lifting again, the pain started up again.
So, my physical therapist referred me to a pain doctor. He did a full exam and determined that one of my shoulders is stronger than the other. So he sent me for an MRI to make sure that my back was ok. That all came back fine (except for some signs of aging - yikes!). Then when I saw him again, he put me on a new medicine to help with my pain. Then he sent me for a shoulder MRI, which I just did on Friday, so I don't know the results yet. But he said it could be something as simple as I hold a kid on my left side , so I can get things done with my right hand. I guess they see that a lot with parents who have 18 month olds. So, I will next go to an orthopedic shoulder specialist to get checked out, but probably will get sent back to physical therapy. Whew! It's a lot of hassle for me to get to all these appointments, as you might guess, but it will be worth it to get healthy again! At least this new pain medicine seems to be helping. In the meantime, I am allowed to work out my muscles from the waist down, so that is helping me to feel better, too!
Sometimes I wonder if life will seem easy with just triplets plus one, once I have a healthy body. Nah, I will still have three two year olds and a loquacious preschool to deal with! At least it will be EASIER!
Thanks for caring about our health! We'll get there with your help and prayers!
Thanks for all your well wishes, everyone! Jack got back home yesterday afternoon. I am so relieved the worst is over. The second drive to the hospital was one of the longest of my life. I was picturing them putting tubes down his throat and hooking him up to IVs, but they didn't have to do any of that. (It was kind of funny, though, that we got there just as the night shift was coming back to work, so we had a lot of the same nurses again. I walked in and said, "We're ba-aack.") He is doing SO much better and slept through the night finally last night. He is taking a pretty good nap right now, too. He was wheezing a little bit this morning, but they sent us home with breathing treatments and some steroids and that all seems to be helping. Little kids just amaze me. They get sick so fast, but recover just as quickly. In fact, he is feeling so much better that he is doing this. (He flips things over when he gets mad.)
Our night at the hospital was pretty rough. Jack had another one of those inconsolable fits for about 2 hours, starting at about 11:30pm. I almost got him to sleep at 1am, but the respiratory therapist came in and woke him up. He really did need some help breathing, though. I really liked the guy, as he completely explained the medicines to me, and even let me put on the stethoscope and compare my normal breathing (about the only normal thing in my life!) to Jack's wheezing. It was really neat. After that, Jack went to sleep pretty easily, so I think the trouble he had breathing was part of his problem getting to sleep. We made it through, but how did I make it for months with 3 newborns!? Two nights of not much sleep is just killing me!
When I brought Jack home, it was a happy reunion. Dave and Alyssa came out and greeted us at the car. Drew and Lauren were still sleeping. When they woke up, I took Jack upstairs with me. He got sidetracked in the hallway, though, by throwing a tantrum because I wouldn't let him into Alyssa's room. So when I got Lauren, she was pointing down the hall excitedly and said, "Crying. Jackson." When I got her out and told her to give Jackson a hug, she did and told him "miss you" and he said it back. It was so cute seeing two people under 3 feet tall talking like that. Dave said that when Jack was gone they were also pointing to his crib when they went to bed and got up and said, "Crib. Jack." They were also really quiet that night when he was gone, too.
We are doing breathing treatments every 4 hours right now. Drew and Lauren know the mask and the equipment well, and they say, "Jack's medicine," whenever they see it. Then when Jack is all done with his treatments, I have to take turns putting the mask on Drew's face and Lauren's. I'm not sure if they are just curious or jealous of the attention. They were sure fighting over the new sippy cup with Gatorade in it that Jack brought home. Luckily, they haven't fought over his new bear that he got at the hospital. Here he is with his two buddies that got him through the ordeal, his "Baba" and "Bear." (Bear's paw has a nice advertisement for the hospital on it.)
Well, now I am back to life as usual, but appreciating it much more this time. (I did end of up getting maid service in the hospital, though!) I jumped right back into insane mode when I got back home. I literally ran to get into the shower before Jack was even unloaded from the car, because Dave had to leave for tennis practice right away (he is still selecting who will be on the team this year). While I was at the hospital, Dave told me, "Something smells funny in our fridge." I think I found the two fruity-natural-penicillin-making culprits this morning. You gotta love baking soda at times like these. Next, I am off to order some crib tents, as Jack and Lauren were both out of their cribs when I got them this morning. I think you'll agree that we have tried every crib conformation possible. I am also hoping this will contain the books that Drew loves to throw at Lauren's head. Every time I go to get her, it seems like she is pointing to her head and saying, "Drew. Hitting me." Finally, I hope to find the instructions for our DVD player online. Movies are working well at keeping the kids occupied and Jack still during breathing treatments. However, the VCR choices are fewer. I am hoping they can tell me how to navigate through Spanish menus to get back to English. Then I will worry about the sound. I have a feeling they won't nap long enough for me to do all of this, though.
Hey Everyone,
I just wanted to give you a quick update on Jack. We are currently in the hospital overnight for observation. He was sick all last week with what we thought was a cold (or a reaction to his FluMist vaccine. Well, yesterday, he took a turn for the worse. He started wheezing and coughing more. By 1:30 am, he was so uncomfortable, he woke up crying. So we gave him a breathing treatment (left over from Drew when he was in the hospital at 5 months!). That helped a little, and we put him back to bed. Then he woke up at 3:30am and was much worse. So we decided to take him into the ER. They gave him a steroid and a breathing treatment. It helped a little, but not too much. Then they did an Xray in this horrible machine that made him sit still with his arms up in the air while I had to go in the other room (it was AWFUL!). They also did an RSV swab, and that turned out to be negative. The Xray also came back negative for pneumonia, so that was good. But it did show a lot of swelling around his voicebox, which was indicative of croup. He didn't have the barky cough, though. So when they gave him a different breathing treatment for the croup and a shot to help with inflammation, he perked right up. We were home by 7am, but the breathing treatment made him so hyper that he couldn't sleep for a while. I wanted so badly just to go back to sleep, but it was so good to see him back to his old self again.
For most of today he was doing pretty well, but at naptime he just cried and cried. I really think he was scared to be alone. So we let him take a nap with us, but he seemed to have such a hard time getting comfortable. He was just working so hard to breathe and very raspy. At 4pm, he woke up from his nap and was completely inconsolable for an hour. We force-fed him a little bit and tried all the tricks like taking him in the shower and putting him near a pot of water, but not much helped. So we resorted to our old standby of piling everyone up in the van and taking a drive (we needed to buy a humidifier anyway). When we got home he did ok and seemed to enjoy sitting on the porch and napping for a while. But then when we tried to feed him a little dinner, he just seemed to get worse. So after having the "should we call?" conversation, we finally gave the on call pediatrician a buzz. When she called us back and we told her how he was really struggling to breathe and couldn't talk sometimes because he was so breathless, she told us that we should take him in again. So here we are.
Jack has done really well with all of this. Actually, he did better the second time around and was being a real goofball in the ER. When we left to go upstairs, he was telling everyone bye and blowing them kisses. Through all the Xrays, breathing treatments, waking up to a shot in the leg and other poking and prodding (do you know how they take their temperature here?!), he has been such a trooper. One of the doctor's even said how great he did letting someone look at his ears, even though he is only two. He seems to really enjoy the free stuffed animals and the ball that he's gotten, too.
We have a very nice room here (it's almost like a hotel). I love the computer monitor right in the room, so I can update you! I don't have a maid, but I do have a secretary! I think that's a fancy way to say that I can bug her anytime to run errands for me. I haven't asked her if she takes dictation yet. But, we are doing well and enjoying the peace and quiet, except for people checking up on the little man. After the rough night he had last night, I am relieved that help is so close by, especially since croup gets worse at night. I guess tomorrow someone will come and see what toys he likes to play with, too, so hopefully we can have some fun one-on-one time together.
But, we would sure appreciate your prayers for a quick recovery for the little guy. Drew is sick, too, and I worry that he may take a turn for the worse as well. Poor Dave had to take tomorrow off from work. He usually waits at least until he has seen his students for 5 days before he takes a day off!!
So I guess the moral of the story is, don't wish for people to clean up after you, or you just may get what you wish for, but not in the way you intended. (See my "Back at Work" entry if you don't know what I am talking about. I don't know how to link from it using this computer.)
We'll keep you posted through the blog.
God bless,
Amanda
