Someone's a little spoiled by starting off her days with chocolate:
Friday, December 10, 2010
Monday, December 06, 2010
Well December Could've Started Better...
Oy. It was the first day of the month...a full month of budget left to spend. So we headed out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. We were finishing up when a suddenly green Easton looks at me, says, "My tummy hurts" and then pukes all over the booth, the napkin I was trying to catch it in, his brother next to him...me...
My kids are pukers but this was clear it was illness, not a fluke. Poor guy...and poor Roadhouse. I took Easton to the car to change clothes and sit on the curb while we waited for Jason, Dalton, and Autumn and then we headed home. Easton got into a bath and acted like he was feeling just fine. I wasn't convinced and brought him a bucket. Sure, enough, as he was heading to the potty right before bed, he yakked again.
And again. About every 20 minutes for hours.
At several points, he was in tears about his tummy hurting. That is not like him, even when he's got a tummy bug. One time he'd said, "My waist hurts" which I thought was noteworthy and when we asked him to point to where it hurt another time, he pointed right under his belly button. He eventually asked to get in bed with me and Jason said he'd sleep on the couch.
Well, with Easton next to me intermittently writing in pain as he slept and then puking I decided that I was going to take him to urgent care. I'd worked on peds long enough to know I didn't want to be messing around with that belly pain.
So, I loaded him into the car and off we went just before midnight:
We got there and they kind of checked him out, of course, he got sick a few more times and they gave him a Zofran...he puked the first one right out of his mouth and then gave him another. We waited awhile...no puking...so they had me give him syringes full of Power Ade every 2-3 minutes. Poor guy did not want to wake up for it.
But he was trying to be a trooper because tolerating fluids meant we could go home. At one point as I'm squeezing it into his mouth he's all, "I've had enough!" of the PowerAde. I hated that I was having to talk him into it. Well, it was maybe 4-5 syringes into things before he yakked it all up again. :( Noticing the non-PowerAde colored undertones to it, the doctor decided she wanted to do some x-rays of his belly and start an IV. I said, Easton would much prefer an IV over that PowerAde anyway. And I was right. He thought it looked kind of like a battle droid.
He was fabulous for the IV, but that's not saying much as he was pretty out of it. They collected some blood as well for testing.
However, he really perked up when we were heading to his x-rays around 2 a.m. and by then there was talk of admitting him for obs. So, we got back from his xrays which showed nothing too unusual...I think she was largely looking for an ileus and his xrays came back clear. He was so great for all of that. And then he was wide awake so they set us up with some Star Wars: Episode 1:
They told me that his blood work showed a high white cell count (not too surprising) and also that his glucose was high (she thought that was likely a stress response). She also said they thought an ultrasound was an appropriate next step to look at his appendix, if they could.
Unfortunately, we were at a less than full-functioning branch of the Children's Hospital and their sonagrapher wouldn't be in until 8 a.m. What?! So, we were there for the night. Jason was at home with Autumn who still usually wakes to nurse once in the wee hours of the morn. And she did. Jason offered her cows milk, thawed breastmilk, chocolate milk...she didn't want any of it and eventually gave up.
I hardly slept at all. They brought me a bed around 3 or 4. Easton finally got tired again around 3 and I was texting and chatting with Jason to get him all up to speed. I think I lay down around 4 but E didn't have his rails up on his bed so I'd wake up and say, "don't roll any further!" any time I heard him move, plus his IV beeped several times in there. And we were up for the day around 6 when the IV fluids caught up with E and he needed to hit the potty.
At that point I also noticed Easton was running a fever when he hadn't been. Great.
We headed to his ultrasound where the tech furrowed her brow at the screen nearly the entire time and Easton was uncomfortable anytime she got over his lower right side. He had to give a urine sample too.
We went back to E's room and they told us they couldn't see his appendix during the ultrasound at all and that they next wanted to do a CT scan...with contrast. Up his bum. :(
So, my amazing little trooper headed down the hall. We got him on the table and he knew what was going to happen. Oh, you guys, he was so awesome...I felt awful for him but he was just being such a big brave guy...they had him roll over and put the stupid thing up his bum and we had to tell him not to push while she left it in there and sl-o-o-o-o-wly filled up his bowels with the contrast enema. He was like, "I'm not trying to push! But it's coming out!!!" and we're having to have him do the fast breathing like a labor patient might when she's trying not to push. He was so awesome. Finally he was all filled up and it was time for him to go into the CT machine. He was great...followed all the directions like having to put his hands above his head and holding so still. He'd have to hold his breath per the machine's instructions and he just rocked it and in between I'd see him doing his fast breathing to not push. Broke my heart.
Finally he was done and they emptied what contrast they could back into the bag and then we headed over to the bathroom to get rid of some more. He was just so amazing through everything. Sweet, sweet boy.
The CT had to be read by actual radiologists at the downtown location so we had to wait on that and they finally came in and told us that they were able to visualize his appendix which looked fine but that he had some inflamed mesenteric lymph nodes (right around the appendix) that looked to be blame for all of this. She said it was called "mesenteric adenitis" and it's the #1 thing that mimicks appendicitis. In years past, people presenting with the same symptoms as E would've likely had their appendix taken out and they'd find a healthy appendix in there. So, while it was miserable to have to go through all the tests he did for all that time, I'm super glad that he was able to avoid an unnecessary surgery.
However, even with that, they weren't clearing us to go home just yet. What!?!? They even moved us to a more comfortable room to start trying fluids again. Well, we were itching to get home...my boobs were leaking all down my shirt after so long away from my nursling (I had the car with the car seats so Jason couldn't come to me and we kept thinking we'd be discharged any moment). Easton had some juice and we settled in to watch some Wall-E in the hospital bed together. He kept it down and got to start on some crackers. And then Jason was begging me to "lean on them" pretty hard about getting discharged. So they let us go.
And as soon as we got in the driveway, Easton puked again.
He and I got all cleaned up from our germs and I was finally able to greet my other two children and nurse Autumn (and pump a bunch too!).
E just took it easy on the couch all afternoon getting to play Star Wars Wii as a treat. He had some more fluids around dinner time but puked twice during the night. Ugh! We tried fluids again in the morning and he puked 'em up again. We were instructed to take him in again if he continued puking so we made an appointment with our regular Dr. Groovy for that afternoon.
By then he was keeping some fluids and 3 Goldfish per hour down. :) Dr. Groovy thought he'd continue improving. And he did.
The next morning (Saturday) we got a call that Easton's strep culture they had done while he was at Children's came back positive. The rapid screen was negative but the culture grew strep. That can certainly go along with his mesenteric adenitis diagnosis as it's some sort of infection inflaming those lymph nodes down there. She'd done the culture on a whim trying to find reasons to explain his symptoms...he's never once complained of a sore throat.
So he's on antibiotics for that and really seems to be nearing 100%. Thank God! I'm so glad it's over but am still slightly terrified that it was really all just a tummy bug and the rest of us are about to be plagued by it in a moment's notice. So far so good and Dr. Groovy said he really did not think that this is what would happen. I'm trying to go with that.
And there ya go.
A blog from me.
Not as fun but certainly something to remember for our family journal.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
November...Thus Far
Yup, it's really me, folks. Blogging. I'm still having big-time photo issues, however so don't expect this to become a regular thing, m'kay?
Anyway, I've got too much to catch y'all up on so we'll just start with November 1. Hey, it's somethin'.
I feel like it's been forever since I've really updated anything....but Miss Autumn has turned into a little girl. Minus the pacifier here, isn't she looking so much older?
That was as we were getting ready to head to Easton's school for an assembly. You see, he was chosen as his class' "STAR Writer of the Month". I was wondering if it was something all kids would get a turn with or if it was several at a time so I asked his teacher and apparently it was an honor he'd earned. She said he's a great writer and what made her choose him for the month was that he'd written a sentence and all five words were spelled correctly. She said that was quite an accomplishment for a kindergartner (what do I know???). I have no idea what that particular sentence was. It's not the one they featured on the wall as his "sample":
But we are super proud of him, of course. Here he is being recognized at the assembly:
More from earlier this month, fun in the leaves again:
Easton likes to climb the tree and then swing himself over to the pile:
Autumn prefers to sit in the dirt. Seriously. The girl isn't afraid to get dirty:
And another thing most of you already know is about Dalton's shiner:
The Saturday afternoon before Halloween, he was bumped off the outside of the trampoline. We have the enclosure, of course, and the rule is no one can be outside on the ledge if someone is jumping but Dalton was not following that rule. We don't allow them to be out there all unsupervised but I was putting something in the dishwasher and Jason was spooning yogurt into Autumn's mouth and neither of us was looking out the door at that exact moment to see him out there and subsequently falling cheek first onto the landscaping railroad tie thingie. Oh it was sad. It swelled up something awful immediately and his little cry was so heartbreaking letting us know he was very very hurt, poor fella. He even opted out of trunk-or-treating at his school that night so he could sit on the couch with some ice "until my teek (cheek) feels better." :( I was a little worried he could've broken that bone and even more worried about a concussion. I woke him up a few times that night to make myself feel better. He seemed okay, the swelling went down by the next day and he was just left with the pretty colors:
One of the moms at preschool high fived him for it when she saw him. :) Here we are two and a half weeks later and you can still see bruising under his eye. We went to the doctor for something unrelated last week and Dr. Groovy asked him about it. He told him about falling off the trampoline and "I thought I was going to land on my feet...but I didn't." I laughed so hard when he said that.
On the 3rd or something, I watched the kids of a friend of mine for a bit. Autumn didn't take much of a nap and woke up crying and crying. Very unlike her. She cried for about 45 minutes before they arrived and about 45 minutes afterwards as well. I ended up giving her some Motrin and wearing her around so I could tend to the other children:
It was like having 3 sets of twins as we were joined by another 5, 3, and 1 year old. All boys. So I had five boys and miserable Autumn:
At one point Easton got sand in his eye. It wasn't just a small grain or two...it was a ton of sand. And of course it was making him freak out and I had to put Autumn down to deal with Easton's eye trying to help him flush the sand out. So I had pained screaming Easton and Autumn crying because I put her down which made the other 1 year old sad. Oy! But we made it through. Whew. Glad that's over.
Easton is enjoying school so much that he's come home and played school with his brother and sister:
They were being so cute with it that I packed their lunch in lunch bags for them to play along:
Autumn is at that age where she's into absolutely everything but doesn't obey so much just yet. Cooking can be tough. This was our solution the other day:
She loves to be in boxes so she was happy to be in there. She's fun, though. Here's a taste of her lately:
While I'm on the subject of how she is at the table...here's how Dalton is at meal time prayers:
He lacks a little variety. But I had to get videos of it before he stops saying it like that every time. Goob.
One day after picking Easton up recently we headed to walk around a nearby lake. It provided a few photo ops:
I'm so mad I overexposed this precious one:
Aren't they the sweetest?
I love this one, for some reason...that he had to put his little stick down and tie his cute little Chuck Taylor. Awww.
Look at her go!
Check out her little curls:
Her hair is getting so long, it's harder to tell when it curls up but look at it wet:
She's getting to be such a little girl...she dotes on her baby dollies:
She has tea parties:
She carries a purse:
But she loves to totally hang with her big brothers too:
The boys were having such fun Wii boxing and she grabbed the only remote she could find, pointed it at the TV and joined in, stomping her little feet just like they were:
I've got the cutest little turkeys!
Hmmm, things are looking a little random here now. Here's the boys making cookies with me the other day:
And I mentioned Autumn is into everything? Sometimes she disappears briefly:
See her?
She's so fun!!!
What else?
The boys are pretty darn excited that Christmas is coming.
My mom and I recently went to a holiday craft fair. We love to go every year. This year it was just the two of us and it was so nice to just hang out with my mom and not have to share her with a sister or kid. :) Anyhoo, we came across the cutest apron booth...my mom totally sprung for these Mommy and Me ones for Autumn and I:
She loves it. Whenever I'm cooking she seems to know that it's time for our aprons and she brings hers to me to put on her. Seriously, at least once a day since we first wore them on Sunday she wants to wear her apron. So fun!
I mentioned she was into everything lately? I found she'd pulled up a rolling stool for herself...in her apron again:
I've been sewing a bit lately. I made a couple of courduroy skirts for Autumn and then appliqued a shirt to match. There's this one, which I don't have a better picture of:
And this one with the owls in fun colors, which I really really love:
I also took this old shirt of mine...
...made some measurements...
...and re-fashioned it into a little soft knit dress for Autumn:
I used the sleeve scraps to embellish it a little, since it was looking a little plain:
There's still some (or a lot of) room to grow:
Oh yeah, I made a little flower for her hair too:
She was more interested in trying to get into her Bubbas bed than posing:
And to finish this off, Lil Miss Sweet Tooth had her first lollipop the other night and I took way too many pictures of that but she was so darn cute!
Alright, that's it for me! You guys have been great! Good night! :)
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