Monday, January 17, 2011

Why I Didn't Blog Last Night...

It's HER fault! The kids and I had gone up to visit my parents for the afternoon and she was fine. She fell asleep in the car on the way home and woke up screaming about 2 minutes from the house. We got home and I got her out of the car and she was fine. It was a little after 9 so I changed her and put her to bed. She wasn't having any of that and screamed until I came and got her up. I held her for a few minutes and just as she was about to drift off I put her back down.

Nope, didn't work. She screamed again. So I got her up and she hung out with John and I for awhile. At about 11 she was getting droopy eyed so I took her back to bed. Within a minute of me leaving the room she was LOSING IT! I picked her up to calm her down (which normally does the trick right away), uh-uh. She screamed so hard and so loud I was sure the neighbors could hear her...yet Max, Abby, and Lucy slept through it all! This screaming lasted for about 10-15 minutes.

During this time I was holding her and walking with her and she would arch her back and go stiff as a board then curl up into a tight little ball in my arms. John tried to take her and hold her and she wasn't having any of that either. By this time I was freaking out a little (okay, more than a little) and all of a sudden she just stopped screaming and took a big breath, sighed and laid her head on my shoulder. She went to sleep. I held her as she slept for about an hour then laid her back down around midnight.

About 15 - 20 minutes later she fussed/cried again but I was able to calm her down without holding her. At 1am she was awake and screaming in full force again. It was the same as before with the stiff body then curling up. I was patting her back and doing all the tricks (you learn a few when you've had 4 kids) to get a burp out in case this was just a massive gas bubble. It would just make her more upset.

By this point I was convinced something was wrong. I knew I couldn't take her to the ER in the condition she was in and John couldn't come with me because the other 3 were sleeping. We made the decision to call 911. A whole host of things was running through my head at this point as to what could be the problem. My biggest fear, by the way she was moving her body, was that it could be appendicitis. She obviously couldn't tell us what hurt so we made the decision we felt was best.

Just before the paramedics arrived she did something that REALLY freaked me out. She stopped screaming, closed her eyes, and her head flopped back over my arm and she went limp. At this point I thought I might need an ambulance too! It only lasted a few seconds and her eyes opened and she was alert and not screaming. Paramedics and EMS arrived, they checked her out and breathing was normal, her stomach felt and sounded normal and there were no other signs that indicated she needed to be taken in the ambulance. They assured me it wasn't appendicitis because otherwise she'd still be screaming.

They told us that it was up to us whether or not we wanted to take her but since she was alert, making eye contact with them, watching them as they talked with us and checked her out, and then even saying "bye" to them (I guess she wanted them to leave), they felt like there wasn't an emergency (but they did assure us that we did the right thing by calling). John and I decided that we'd wait to see if she would go to sleep and how she did but that I would be taking her to see her dr. in the morning regardless of how the rest of the night went.

She fell asleep on me about 5 minutes after paramedics and EMS left. That was at about 1:45 this morning. I was so freaked out that I sat up holding her until about 3:30. I put her in her bed and she was fine for the rest of the night until I went to get her up at about 9:15 to go to her dr. app't.

Dr. S. checked her out and aside from the hives she has all over her back (which I mistook for an eczema outbreak) she is fine and dandy. Ears, lungs, belly, nose, throat are all clear. He said she probably went limp due to a breath holding episode which a lot of kids will do (Lucy does this when she starts screaming...lips turn blue before she takes a breathe to scream again then she's fine...well, except for the rest of the fit!). Anyway, so that's that. Don't know what started it. I had given her Tylenol when she wouldn't go down when we got home because I thought maybe her teeth were bothering her but I don't think it was teeth that caused all of that last night.

So now you know why I didn't blog last night...

Saturday, January 15, 2011

I'm Trying

I promise. I really am trying to get back to the blog but it has been hard these days getting a chance to sit down at the computer without constant interruptions. The kids are asleep tonight and John is at the neighbor's house with a bunch of guys watching...well duh...football. I thought, hey, the kitchen is clean, why don't I stay upstairs after the kids fall asleep and watch a movie and fold laundry?

Don't wanna...
Then I thought, okay, let's go downstairs and get on the computer and update the blog. I guess I am kinda sorta doing that but not in the way I need to or planned to. I just don't know what it is. Maybe it is because I am SO FAR BEHIND that I just don't feel like I can ever catch up (I have amazingly similar feelings when it comes to laundry!).
Well, I have changed the background and attempted (poorly but I did give it a shot) to change my header. I think the picture in the header might have come out a little creepy looking but I'll go in and fix it later. At least my blog has a fresh look if not a fresh post...but wait a minute...isn't this a fresh post? WOOHOO!

The picture in the header is the one I chose for our Christmas card this year. As we have added kids to the family the Christmas card photo shoot has gotten a little trickier. Below are some that ended up on the cutting room floor (so to speak)...

Take 1... REJECTED! for obvious reasons... (Hello creepy light coming down the side...and Ruby looks like she sees it on the stuffed reindeer) But doesn't Max look like he's saying something like, "Oh Abby, you're such a silly girl"...

Take 2... apparently the light must have zapped the reindeer away and Ruby isn't liking it! REJECTED!

Take 3...Ruby STILL showing much displeasure at the disappearance of Prancer, Abby is trying to look at the insides of her eyelids, Lucy is singing, and Max is just wondering how he was so blessed to have 3 sisters :)...REJECTED!

Take 4...Everyone is rejoicing that Prancer is back and Ruby is trying to figure out where he came from...REJECTED!

Take 5... "Ruby, show mommy what a "rein"deer in headlights looks like"...REJECTED!
Take 6...Max is taking a snooze and Ruby looks about ready to make a break for it...REJECTED!

Take 7...The reindeer has been replaced with a hairbrush because it was there and Ruby wanted it (why else?) Abby is hamming it up for the camera, Lucy is just being cute, and Max is like, "Dude, are we DONE yet?"...REJECTED!

Take 8...Ruby needed a moment to have a meltdown away from the camera because shame on me I tried to get the camera out of the picture...I didn't make that mistake again! I figured I'd get a shot of the cooperative (did I just use that word to describe my children?) ones...REJECTED (but cute!)

Take 9...Figures...as soon as Ruby decides to smile at the camera the other three are giving up...REJECTED!

Take 10...I'm losing them...Ruby is fascinated by the brush, Abby is half smiling, Lucy is smirking, and Max...well...not sure what that face is but do you notice the secret peace sign he is holding up right next to Abby's head...REJECTED!

Take 11...Ruby and the brush...REJECTED!

Take 12...Max and Abby are belting out Christmas Carols, Ruby is still all about the brush, but doesn't Lucy look adorable?...REJECTED!

Take 13...Almost a keeper...they are all FINALLY looking at the camera at the same time, no one is crying, smirking, sleeping, singing, or making kissy faces. Now if I could just get a smile out of everyone at the same time we could wrap this thing up...REJECTED...
Lucky 14!
WE HAVE A WINNER!!!

The brush is still there but who cares :)
Special thanks to...
Nana (my mom) for the Christmas pj's (she buys all 8 grandkids matching pj's every year) and Me! Because I flew solo on this since John was not home for some reason ;p
Hey, I guess I ended up doing a real post after all...YAY ME!