ER trip

I had to take the baby to the ER today.

He's had a cold for a few days now, but yesterday he started some wheezing with his exhalations. Since my middle son has bunches of medical equipment, I used his stethoscope and listened to the baby's lungs - definite expiratory wheezes. I used the pulse-ox probe to check his oxygenation: it was good at 98% so despite the icky sounds, he was still getting the oxygen he needs. This morning, he still sounded icky so I took his breath rate - 56. Elevated for his age so I called the doctor's office. Their last appointment was at 10:00am and it was 9:54am. Argh. They decided I should do a breathing treatment since I have all the stuff anyway and see if that improves things. So after his nap, and much to his dismay, we ran the nebulizer. No improvement. I called back. Now I have to use a different system as the doctor's office is closed. They decided I needed to bring him into the referral center at the hospital to be seen by a doctor. As I'm packing some stuff up, they called back to tell me that the referral center doesn't want to see the baby as he's already had a breathing treatment at home and there's nothing more they would be able to do so I should just go ahead and go to the ER.

I get to the ER and have to wait in a line to check-in, then wait in a line to sign paperwork, then wait in the seating area for triage to call us up. The baby is not happy as he usually naps from 1 to 4 and it was 1:30 when we started standing in line. He's pretty fussy so I have to stand and sway after the few toys I brought either hit the floor (gross) or cease to amuse him. The place is packed with mostly sick looking children. I spotted one hurt ankle and one rash (eeewwww!). So the baby (and I) are being exposed to every disease known to man. Finally, we are called up to triage. Two nurses are there evaluating him at the computer station. They have apparently been called in to help alleviate the backlog. They take his vitals and ask me a few questions, but mostly talk to each other as if I'm not there. I quickly realize that they are trying to decide if we should continue onto the ER or go to the referral center. I explained to them that the referral center sent me here over the phone to which a get a curt, "That's what WE are deciding." Excuuuuuuse me. Before I know it, we and another family are being escorted out of the ER and over the skybridge to the referral center.

It was MUCH better there. We were the only people in the waiting room. Within 5 minutes, we were called back. By 3:30, we had already seen the doctor. Diagnosis: bronchiolitis. Treatment: nothing. I just have to let the virus run it's course and keep an eye out for more severe symptoms like labored breathing, dehydration, or lethargy. Possible cause: RSV. This can be pretty serious, especially for preemies, infants, and children with compromised lungs. By the way, none of my four middle children ever got it. Granted they got monthly injections during RSV season for the first two winters home of a live RSV vaccination, but still. They took a culture from his nose to test for RSV and then suctioned his nose out using a bulb syringe and a little saline. The baby was NOT happy. About 2 hours after we get home, I got the call from the referral clinic that the test came back positive for RSV. And tonight before bed, one of his sisters started wheezing. That's the problem with having all these little ones!! It never ends!!!

I guess what really ticks me off is that we could have started at the referral clinic. It was cleaner, quieter, more efficient, etc. And we wouldn't have been exposed to a million and one diseases. If he ended up being more critical, they could have transferred us to the ER from there instead of vice versa. I'm also a little mad that it's my big fat healthy baby who gets RSV. It's not like he goes that many places. He hasn't gone shopping with me in a while as it's just too much work taking the kids with me, even on Wednesday's when Grandma takes two of them. Plus it's been too cold -- I don't do cold. He only goes to Church on Sundays where he is held by me or daddy and not allowed to touch anything and he goes to family functions and our family ain't that big.

Oh well, we have the baby's ER visit covered. Now all the kids have been hospitalized beyond their initial discharges after birth. My oldest has been three times: twice to the ER to be stitched up (head and arm) and admitted once overnight for dehydration; the girls have had two sets of surgeries requiring hospitalization (repeat Nissen surgeries and tonsil-/adenoid-ectomies); one of the girls had to go to the ER when I couldn't get her feeding tube back in and another went just recently when she split her head open (no stitches, just super glue); my middle son has had multiple ER visits and hospitalizations for various lung issues (but not since April 2006); and now the baby. Only one of the kids has never visited the ER. But I'm sure her turn will come. Never a dull moment. How does the saying go? One day I'll look back on all of this and laugh??

Christmas Picture

We took our Christmas picture last week. I hadn't planned on it when I got them dressed in the morning, so everyone was in sweatsuits. I realized that if I wanted to get them out before Christmas, I better get cracking.

I let the girls and big brother practice while the other two were still sleeping, hoping this would curtail any arguments or surliness. It worked for everyone except the oldest. She practiced well, and even held the baby like I wanted. Well, almost. After the baby woke up and ate, I added him to the practice session. She kept letting him roll off her lap onto the floor. When my middle son joined the group for the actual photo, she had a meltdown: laying on the floor, tears, snot, the whole thing. Everyone else is smiling. Even my oldest who was using every ounce of his strength to hold my middle son upright (he is severely brain damaged). Finally, I resort to a bribe--candy for anyone who cooperates and smiles for the camera. Instantly, she was much more agreeable and here's the best shot:

I was just so happy that two of the six were smiling and that five of them were looking at the camera. My little pistol is the girl up front. My middle son smiled for many of the shots, but not this one. Oh well....

Her middle name must be "Trouble"

My "oldest" girl is a pistol. She's not really the oldest as she and her sisters (and brother) are multiples so really all the same age, but since she came out first.... She had quite the day yesterday. She ended up in time out very early for something that escapes me now. Then, after I got the baby up from his nap, I came downstairs to find that she and her sisters are in the office and she's gotten a hold of a black felt tipped pen. She had drawn on the desk, the computer, and the arms of both sisters among other places. ARGH!! Another time-out. Thank goodness for those magic eraser thingies. They REALLY work. Well, I didn't use them on the children. That would be cool!! I should have taken pictures of the evidence...

At lunch, she refused to eat the "yummy" sandwich I made. She only wanted to eat apples. I made her brother and sisters have a few bites of sandwich first so they were all eating apples. Finally, I pulled her sandwich apart and told her to just eat the cheese or the bologna. Stubborn refusal. She eventually put the bologna in her mouth, but refused to chew. All the while, she's crying and acting like she has no skeleton whenever I get near her. I stepped out of the room to put her big brother in time-out and when I returned, I witnessed her hitting one of her sisters. Now she has to go in time-out, which was unfortunately occupied. So I put her on the floor of the office with strict instructions not to touch ANYTHING. I proceed to feed the baby.

Sometime later, she wanders out of the office with some sort of thick, clear grease all over her face as well as some in her hair and on her clothes. It took me a while to figure out what it was -- sunscreen. The kind that looks like a big fat tube of chapstick. Another time-out. We finally make it upstairs for their naps and she still has that bologna in her mouth. Eeeewww. I let her spit it out.

For as strong willed and demanding as she is, she can also be the sweetest of the three. That afternoon, one of her sisters was accidentally hit by her big brother. I get him to apologize, but it was a "sorry" from across the house. So big sister came over and tenderly hugged her. It was sooooo precious.

Christmas Decor

We spent Saturday morning putting up our Christmas tree. It was fun (and only a "little" stressful) with four little ones helping. They were so thrilled to be hanging the ornaments and were frustrated when I had breakable ones for Daddy to hang and then when we ran out. Soon, their focus was back on the tree where they continuously rearranged the ornaments they had already hung. Our tree is now bottom heavy with ornaments and many branches have two and even more ornaments hung on them, but it's definitely our FAMILY TREE. Later that day, Daddy and my oldest worked on our outside decor. So between the decorations and the cold snap, it's really looking and feeling like Christmas.

The kids are also enjoying looking for houses decorated for Christmas when we are out driving. It's so much fun. And it keeps them occupied! We will have to take them out one evening soon to look at some on the "good" streets around us where lots of houses have gone all out.

My run of luck continues...

I get all the kids down for a nap (well, all except the two at grandma's -- gotta love Wednesdays), when I get a bug up my butt to clean out the refrigerator. Trash pick up is tomorrow, so it seemed like a good idea. Most of it went in a trash bag, but some went down the disposal. I carefully pushed it through in small batches so as not to clog anything. It didn't work. When I turned off the disposal, the sink started filling up. Only an inch or so, but eewww. Then I noticed the other side of the sink had some of the "backwash" in it, too. I decided to go fold some laundry while I contemplated on what to do about the clog when I saw that the "backwash" was all over the floor by my washing machine. Gross. Nasty, icky water filled with ground up stew seeping out from under my machine. Disgusting!

I call my husband expecting to get read the riot act, but he surprised me and handled it very well. So a call to Roto Rooter and $150 later, I find out we have roots growing in our sewer pipe. I was just so thrilled that the whole thing turned out to NOT be my fault. I just happened to be the one using the disposal at the time. That's what I get for cleaning out the frig.

So after the kids were all in bed, my husband pulls the machines out from the wall and I get to squeegee, wash, and bleach the floors (and walls and pipes). The floor has never been so clean!!

Oh, and by the way, I woke up this morning with a baseball sized black and blue welt on my butt from my fall yesterday. Thank goodness the evidence is hidden and I'm not left with some visible example of my extreme clumsiness!!



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I've been letting the kid's stay up late (at least for us!!) to watch some of the holiday specials. Here's a picture of the girls enjoying "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" tonight in our bed. My oldest insisted on watching it in the living room by himself. Whatever!

One of those days...

Do you ever just have one of those days?

Today actually was overall pretty good. I managed to not plug the kids into the TV all day (don't get me wrong--it was on, but just not the focus). The girls and my oldest son helped me make pumpkin bread this morning, they colored pictures and played with stickers and Tinker Toys, I got some laundry folded and a few loads done, including some mattress covers for my middle son's bed. I assembled (probably too strong a word) a new stick vacuum for my middle son's room, made Rice Krispy treats (chocolate ones...mmmmmm), and got dinner on the table for the kids and me (my mom did the cooking, I did the reheating). So overall a good day.

Here's where it went wrong:
It actually started yesterday when lifting a tea cup out of the microwave. Probably should have checked the handle first. Second degree burn to the inside of my middle finger (appropriate). So that was blistered up today. After the pumpkin bread had been in the oven for about 10 minutes, it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't added anything to make it rise--no baking soda or baking powder. I double-checked the recipe. Sure enough I found "2 tsp baking powder" listed right there with the other ingredients. Just missed it. You try baking with a 5-year-old and three two-year-olds. I don't recommend making pumpkin bread without the soda. It had to hit the trash. So I re-made the bread during nap time.

I went to put my can of soda on the counter and missed...by a lot. Or so I was told by my middle son's nurse who was a witness to the whole thing. I, apparently, wasn't looking at all. It provided her a very good laugh. The soda just hit the ground and splashed all over the floors and cabinets. Eeewwww. My socks were wet, too, but I didn't feel it. My first clue was the sticky footprints I was leaving behind while getting the wet cloths for the Swiffer. Argh!!

I was just carrying a bowl to put the salad in for dinner and it inexplicably slipped from my hands and shattered all over the floor.

And finally, the piece de resistance: I slipped down the stairs after laying the baby down for the night (of course, he woke up, but luckily didn't fuss). I have no idea how it happened--my feet just came out from under me and I bounced on my butt down about 4 - 5 steps. The top of my left foot and the right side of my derriere are now throbbing.

I think my sleep deprivation over the weekend (my middle son's Friday and Saturday night nurses both cancelled their shifts and he was quite ill so no sleep) have finally caught up with me. And rather than go to bed early tonight, I'm blogging!! Cheap therapy.

But like I said, it really was a good day overall. Sick.