Zion – “Yellow jackets, they sting with their poky parts.”

Today was a mite hairy.  Layla woke up needy and clingy and clung and fussed far into the morning, and then, after playing happily for a bit, accidentally leaned her hand on the glass of the wood pellet stove, which is the only untouchable part of the stove.  The poor thing was so sad and upset and she had little blisters on her fingers and a red palm.  I slathered her hand with the burn and wound ointment we have, and gave her Motrin and put her in front of Dora the Explorer on my lap, but she shook her hands and cried and fussed until after her nap, when her hand didn’t seem to bother her anymore.  Then her two brothers were mopey and whiny and by the time Tim came home for the day, my eyes were wide and staring and there was steam coming out of my ears.  

So I left and went to my new treasure store, Roses, which I have discovered to have (generally) delightfully cheaper prices than Walmart, and bought the older boys some socks and found a new Old Navy shirt there for Zion for $3???  I thought this was very confusing.  I also thought I was getting a plastic trashcan, but changed my mind at the register when it rang up as $17.50.  !!!! I then found it at Walmart for $9.97.  Weird.  

Anywho, while I was out I suddenly remembered that it was Valentine’s Day, and that last year we had a fun little party to celebrate, so I got a red plastic tablecloth and some candy hearts and yummy finger food and some red tulips and took them home and we had a happy little party together.  I came back much refreshed from my little jaunt and cut quick valentines out for everyone and told them what I love about them.  Gabe’s was that he is such a cheerful help, Israel’s was that he is cheerful and generous, Zion’s was that he is happy and likes to get things for people that he knows they will like, and Layla’s was that she makes my heart smile.  Tim’s said that I absolutely LOVE living life with him, because I do.  

I also gave the kids little dollar gifts that I had found; Layla, Zion, and Israel got a mini-dustpan and broom, and Gabe got a red microfiber duster.   (I thought this might come in useful for myself. Ahem.)  Then the boys watched a Star Wars movie, and a fine time was had by all.  I thoroughly enjoyed my red tulips in their yellow vase on a yellow cloth in the middle of my table.  

Tim and I don’t usually get each other gifts for something like Valentine’s Day – it’s simply neither of our love languages and we would rather use money on something else.  Even birthdays and Christmas are that way.  That’s just the way we are, and I guess it’s good that we’re both that way if one of us is.   I felt totally cared for and delighted to come home and find out that he and the boys cleaned the house while I was gone.  That was all the Valentine’s I could ask for!!!  Maybe if we had more cash flow it would be different.  I just know I preferred the ability to pick up a latte and a trashcan even MORE than I would have liked roses.  I’m probably just weird.    Tim doesn’t necessarily care for generic gifts, but feels loved if I buy him something that I know he specifically wanted.  This Christmas it was a warm bathrobe from Walmart that he had sent me a picture of after seeing it when running in to pick something up for me.  He looooves it.    

Here were the three youngest kiddos earlier today, all clustered together happily at the end of the table eating their cereal.  

The boys all love to sit next to Layla, and they all get along very well generally.  I just thought it was so cute.  

Well, about two years exactly after I had two boys with the flu in the hospital…and about one year exactly after I ended up in the hospital having emergency surgery to drain a giant abscess on my chest…I ended up in the hospital with Layla and her bacterial pneumonia that kept us in there from Friday evening to Monday morning.  Goodness.  What is it with us and February??!!  

Layla had a cold that lasted over two weeks that included a wet cough.  Wednesday night she came down with a new cough, and then on Thursday she woke up from her nap with a fever and a respiratory rate of 60.  I took her in to see the doctor that afternoon to make sure she wasn’t coming down with pneumonia, but the doctor thought she just had croup, and gave her a steroid.  That night she still sounded bad, her respiratory rate was still in the 60′s, and she was having retractions.  She improved some after an albuterol nebulizer treatment, and after calling the doctor again, I decided to keep her home.  The next evening, she didn’t have a fever, but was still breathing 60 times a minute, still retracting, and I decided to take her into the ER.  There they diagnosed her with bacterial pneumonia and decided to keep her since she was working so hard to breathe, even though her oxygen saturation was in the low to mid-90′s.  

It was a rather horrible night.  Layla would go to sleep when I nursed her, but wake up every time I laid her down.  I got about a half-hour of sleep the first night, and about three hours both nights after that.    The second night she was just TOTALLY out of it and exhausted and SCREAMED and SCREAMED and SCREAMED and SCREAMED from about 12 AM to 1 AM (cringe when thinking of surrounding rooms) and NOTHING I could do would calm her down.  The nurse called the doctor upon my request to see if there was ANY WAY we could go home since the plan was to discharge her in the morning, but the doctor wanted us to stay, but did order her IV out, which helped her a lot, and then she conked out, with intermittent bouts of spasmodic coughing waking her up.  

The next morning we were getting ready to be dismissed when the doctor came back with a very sheepish look and told me that her blood cultures had come back showing some growth, and that it was probably just a contaminant, but she didn’t feel that she could release her until they got clean blood cultures back.  So the IV went back in, and more blood was drawn and poor little Lucy Pants was a sad little princess.  It was ok, though, and actually I think the additional fluids and IV antibiotics she got were helpful, because she was obviously not feeling very well for most of the day and had perked up much more by the evening.  

But, wow.  Was I ever glad to get home.  (The blood culture was negative the next morning.)  The really really great thing about all of this is that my parents had already been planning to come visit this weekend, and so they came out as planned on Saturday morning, and Tim came in and spent the rather torturous day with us MUCH to my great relief.  They left Sunday afternoon as Dad had to get back for work, and it was SO AWESOME that they could help.  Big PHEW.  Thanks, Mom and Dad!!!

The other thing to remember from this experience was that Layla nursed from what felt like the moment we got into the ER until the moment we went home.    It was like she was glued to me.  Good gracious me, child.

Things I have learned from this experience:

1.  Home. Is. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. !!!!!

2.  Ginger-ale with ice and a straw in a little Styrofoam cup is the bomb.  LOVE IT.  

3.  I really sort of wish I could have cable JUST SO I could have HGTV and watch it 24/7 around the clock.  Looooove me some House Hunters. 

The last night we were there, Layla was feeling much perkier and she trailed all over her room with the stuffed cow in hand that someone gave her down in the ER, playing “Cow Get”.  Cow get the pillow.  Cow get the blanket.  Cow get the IV pole.  Cow got everything.

“Well, we might as well give that cradle back to your parents, because we sure won’t be needing it anymore!” – Tim (uttered a few days ago)

Aaaaaand references from my very last post:  ”I AM [finally] NOT….PREGNANT”, paired with “I’m feeling exhausted and achy tonight….and eating rice krispy bars with great relish,” and finally “Earlier, I was so cranky and crabby…”  So cranky and crabby, in fact, that I said out loud, “The last time I was this cranky I was pregnant with Layla!”  

Welllll….surprise, surprise.  And it definitely is.  A surprise.  (But a good one.)