MDO

I've now had the pleasure of taking my oldest to MDO-Mother's Day Out. It was an internal battle with myself since last summer. I had fought and fought the thought of having her gone from me, someone else feeding her lunch, and the FACT that I couldn't provide the stimulus/activities/challenges that she needed and was begging for in her daily actions.

She is 100% social. I don't know where she gets it from.....hmmmm, maybe if I go look in a mirror. When I actually picked her up she cried and cried because she didn't want to leave her friends and begged me to let her stay. She loved, loved, loved it.

I'm glad because I needed that break. Every Thursday will be a nice break.

Oooops!

I cut Isaac's hair yesterday. I normally have the guard on the longest setting, and looked down and said to myself, "Yep, lowest setting. Let's go." One whiiirrrr of the clippers later and I looked down at my son who had a bald strip down the middle of his head. No turning back now...
I'll have to note, he hates having his hair cut anyway, so the snot and tears are real.

Camille trying to put a little hair on his chest.
I can't keep my hands off his little head now. Everytime he walks by, I rub it like it's a good luck charm.

He looks so old now. 17 months looks good on him.

You Have Got To Be Kidding Me....

I've thought and thought on whether or not I should blog about life at the Coffin household of late. First off, it has not been pretty. Here's the very condensed version.

Isaac's fever did indeed go up and he went to the doctor on Monday with borderline numbers on dehydration and going back to St. Francis for fluids. He went back again on Tuesday for a recheck on fluids and was up (hooray!) but also had a viral throat infection and fluid behind one of his ears. This continued on until about Friday.

Jason got sick and it lasted a day and last Sunday night, behold, Mommy Dearest was SICK. It did not let go of my body until yesterday morning. Everything that had come into this household that the kids and my sweet Jason had experienced had dumped itself into my system. I ended up in Urgent Care on Friday night and then the ER on Saturday for extreme dehydration. I was diagnosed with Strep Pharyngitis, Gastroenteritis, Bronchospasms, and 2 middle ear infections. I have been on 3 different antibiotics and lost 10 pounds in the course of one week. It was not fun. Even my mom that came to help with the kids while I drug myself to the doctor on Tuesday got sick.

This household breathed illness.

I had forgotten what it felt like to feel normal. I hadn't smiled in literally days. My daughter kept saying she missed her mommy. It was not fun.

But, it is over and to all those that prayed for us and for our recovery, I am forever grateful. Just know you were there helped pull me out of that last bit of sludge and fake a happy-mom face.

Here's to happier, healthier days ahead.

It Was Good

Jason gave me an amazing birthday gift. I've started to really hit my creative bug lately and it really has manifested itself in my wanting to paint. I have no idea how to draw more than a stick figure, and I'm sure my rendition of an orange and apple would be confusing but it doesn't take away the urge to explore and learn. Jason signed me up for a drawing class at TCC without any prompting or even requesting from me, and he signed me up for a beading class (my new love of making jewelry-he noticed!). A total surprise and something I never would have felt comfortable with doing on my own. He also said that I can continue with whatever classes I want to when these are finished.

My classes start January 15. They are on Tuesday nights from 6-9pm. Did you get that Tuesday nights?! I have one night a week free from dinner, bath time and bedtime, and I get to do something that is for me and helps me better myself. I used to read all the parenting magazines that tell new moms to make sure they find something they enjoy, make time for it and the whole family benefits from her new-found happiness. I would get frustrated at those articles not because of what they said, but because I never knew what would make me happy.

I think I'm finally starting to feel comfortable in my mom skin. Maybe because I have found things that make me happy and I have an amazing husband that encourages me to explore them and not just explore but actually do them! It was good. A good birthday.

And now for some pictures.

The morning we took out Camille's IV.

Isaac the night before he started puking. Does he look sick to you?

My kiddos snacking on Cheerios and finally on the mend. Isaac is still a little puny. The flashlight Camille has is from Kappa Key Sis night. My two Kappa friends that read this might remember, and then again, maybe not. I cleaned out a closet and now it's Camille's favorite new toy.

Have to edit real quick. Isaac just woke up from his nap and his fever is 101.1. And so it begins again.

Happy Birthday To Me?

Well, it is not exactly how I wanted to spend my birthday week, but it is memorable. I took Camille to the doctor on Wednesday, January 2nd regarding a cough and fever she had started before New Years started and the puking she had blessed me and my new sweater with on the 1st. After 2 chest x-rays and blood work, doc says she has pneumonia and is sending us to Pink Paradise aka St. Francis Hospital for an IV of antibiotics and for a UA, give breathing treatments every 6 hours and then come back the next day. Camille was so bad her body was shaking and tears were streaming down her face, but she wasn't crying. She could barely even handle standing up she felt so bad.

I dropped Isaac off at my mom's house which is a half mile from the hospital so he wouldn't have to be confined to the illness chamber of pediatric outpatient department. Thank God for advancement in medicine. They gave her fluids, antibiotics and had to "cath" her for the UA because she was too dehydrated to pee for them. That was intensely traumatic for mommy and Camille. But, they left the IV in her little hand and wrapped it up and sent her home! A song of praise for not having to spend the night in the hospital.........I'll go ahead and let you finish singing........

Alright, bright and early the next day, we are back at the doctor's office and they do 2 more chest x-rays and another blood test to see where her white blood cells were. She had started having diarrhea the night before with the antibiotics and as soon as they pricked her finger, she screamed that she had to go potty. I basically flung Isaac into the poor nurses arms and snatched Camille and ran next door to the potty. It must have been very loud and terrifying screaming because the doctor actually heard it and walked all the way down the hall to check on her. After that, we still had to get blood work done and started the finger prick on another little finger. Camille especially likes the nurse that draws her blood because she will draw happy faces on the band aids she puts on her fingers. It always has made her smile even through the tears. This time she made a kitty cat face.

We go back to the room and wait for the x-ray and blood test results. Thankfully, the doc's office has x-ray and lab in house, just down the hall. Camille can't even sit up and falls asleep a second time while we are waiting. Doc comes back in and says pneumonia hasn't gotten worse, but she needs to go back to Pink Paradise and get another dose of antibiotics and get some samples from her snot to see if there is something else going on, and we get to come back to her office in the morning. Back to the hospital we go. This time my mom meets us there to help run interference with the human rocket aka Isaac. She gets another dose, more fluids, the ibuprofen has a chance to kick in and reduce her fever (she never went under 100 even WITH medication), and she bounces back as if she has never had a sick day in her life. We go home and it is rest time for the weary.

Whew. Done, right?

Camille went to bed for her rest right at 1 and at 4 I'm starting to worry. 4:40 hits and she wakes up screaming and whimpering like I have never heard before. I take her temperature and it reads 105.5. I call the doctor hoping and praying they are still going to answer. They do, say that it is the parainfluenza that is causing a spike in her fever (snot test results) and to get her in a lukewarm bath immediately and give another dose of ibuprofen and then tylenol every 3 hours and if she starts seizing to call 911. 911?! No mom wants to hear those 3 little numbers put together when talking with the doctor. We already had the appointment to come back the next morning, but it couldn't come soon enough. With medication every 3 hours, she STILL never goes below 100 on her temp.

But, on medication, it's like she was never sick. I had slept in her bed the last few nights and I don't know if it was the almost 4 hour nap she had or what but around 1am I finally said, "Mommy's going to go to bed with Daddy." I couldn't handle the, "Mommy, hold my hand. Mommy, what's that shadow? Mommy, why is that light green? (her monitor light) Mommy, move my dolly. Mommy, where's my dolly?"

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!

We were back at the doctor's office bright and early the next morning only to hear, "You know she has the parainfluenza, well, since it's a cousin to influenza, medications won't really help her. Let's check her ears....oh wait, that one has an infection....yep, this one two." Double ear infections on top of parainfluenza on top of pneumonia?! More antibiotics for 10 days and we get to take the IV out.

I look down at Isaac. At least he's healthy.

11pm hits that night and Jason and I are crawling into bed. Isaac wakes up and is crying. I always take first turn on checking on the kids. I pick up Isaac with the lights still out and he is gooey. Turn on the light. He had puked. So, we change his sheet, give him Simon (his teddy bear) since Bob the Gorilla, Little Bob Junior and Fish had met their match with grapes and stomach fluids. Night Night, buddy. Crawl into bed. He pukes. Change sheets. Night Night, Little Dude. Sigh of relief, we crawl into bed. Camille fusses because she doesn't have anyone in bed with her. Isaac hears her, coughs, pukes. Change his sheets. Simon's toast. Jason goes into bed with Camille. I go into my bed. Isaac pukes. I try to change his sheets while he is standing beside his bed NOT being held after he just puked since Jason was in with Camille. Jason comes in, holds him. Lays with him in the recliner for a few minutes. Isaac asks to go to bed. Jason says, Night Night, little man. Camille starts crying, we go tell her it's time to give it up and go to bed. We crawl into bed. Isaac pukes. I am not kidding you. During a 42 minute period, Isaac had puked on 7 crib sheets 7 different times. Each of those 7 times, I had crawled into bed, covered up and had gotten settled. During the 2nd load of laundry, I had to keep repeating out loud, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" because I just couldn't handle it anymore.

Jason ended up sleeping in Camille's bed last night. I brought Isaac into bed with me when he woke up at 7:15 ish this morning and he pukes on me and all of our freshly washed bed linens.

He never ran a fever, his cough isn't that bad. I don't know what is infecting his little body. But, he kept Pedialyte down so he had Cheerios and bananas. He kept those down, had drank throughout the day pretty well so after his afternoon nap I give him Cheddar Bunnies while he and Camille play with Play-Doh. He gets fussy, I pick him up and he pukes on me.

I was on the phone with Kara, my dear friend in Atlanta. She is pregnant with her first child and we were reminiscing about our days of what-life-used-to-be and oh how your life is going to change, my dear. I told her I just wanted to go somewhere for 48 hours and not have anyone pull on me, puke on me, cry in pain in front of me, cause fear for health, or get irritated at me (Jason-my patience has been nil lately). I actually shut the door on the kids screaming in the hallway so I could talk to her. They weren't in pain or hurting, they were just mad because they weren't involved in the conversation.

I'm wiped out. I've had to cancel and reschedule my own doctor's appointment for a cough that was making me cough so bad it actually made me throw up.

Tomorrow's my 30th birthday. We had to cancel our dinner and evening out plans that were scheduled for last night. We will be hermits until all illness is cleared and will hopefully not come into contact with more yuckies. We were able to open up our house of illness today. The temperature was in the 60s and every single window in our home was opened. It had actually begun to stink of sickness. What a week to remember.

So, if anyone asks me if I did anything fun for my birthday, I should just tell them....

I'm pooped.

I'm physically tired.

I'm emotionally shot.

I'm a mom.