People have asked me how I can work full time, be a mother, garden, knit, geek, and whatever else it is I do with my days.
Do you know what my answer is?
It's easy.
Do you know why?
I don't clean my house.
And by that, I don't mean that I have a housekeeper come by every two weeks. With no raises for Dave and me for the last 4 years and the addition of two children in daycare and a minivan payment to a budget that was barely making it before, we cut back on our housekeeper. (Not that I am complaining too much--there are folks who have it much worse than we do; we're just going to pay for 10 years for the daycare that kids 5 years of daycare expenses)
Anyhoooooo, no housekeeper. What I mean when I say I don't clean is that well, our house is usually very messy. We clean for guests--one of the reasons we have parties!--but on a Saturday morning if I have a choice of scrubbing the toilet and tub or getting sweaty and dirty in the garden, I am going to opt for the garden.
That doesn't mean that a dirty house doesn't freak me out. I have enough OCD in me to not like the clutter and mess and dirt and unfiled bills and toddler clothes to be sold and shoes on the floor and papers to recycle and magazines to read and blankets from a fort and the teepee from two Christmases ago and the toys scattered about and general crap that a family of 5 makes. But if I have to make a choice, I'd rather go outside and enjoy the natural untidy-ness of Mother Nature. (I never got the Mother Clean genes)
So last week, the Charlotte Observer had an article about Spring cleaning and dusting all the places at the top of the room you don't during the year and moving all the furniture around to sweep out from under it, etc, etc. It inspired me. We haven't deep cleaned the house since we moved in and although I don't have the time to do this sort of cleaning, I took it anyway. Of course, they also suggested that the rooms you spring clean not have clutter.
HA! I did it all at once.
And it's so nice. I've re-organized poorly organized storage. I've tossed old toys. (WOOOOOHOOOOHOOOOHOOOHOO!) I've made a huge pile for our garage sale. I've moved nearly all the kid crap out to the office-now-playroom. (They can keep a few toys inside. A. Few.) I've cleaned off crap, dusted high and low, and made executive decisions about what we need and what is just taking up space. Don't tell Dave.
I realized that I like it. I actually love a clean house. It is comforting to me to walk in and see open spaces and neatly arranged counters and shelves without crap everywhere. It feels like beauty. I think it is beauty. And I think it helps clean and clear my mind.
We hope it lasts for a while. Even Conor walked in after school one day and said "WOW! This room looks BEAUTiful! You tell me what you need me to do and I'll do it!" Even Dave is picking up his shoes and putting them in their New Special Place. (Everything has as Special Place. That's the only way I can do it)
Maybe the house cleaning will only last a week in this tip top shape. But I'm hoping my brain cleansing will last a little longer.
How do you do it? How do you keep your house clean either as a SAHM or a working mom? Am I just that lame? Well, don't answer that third question.
Friday, March 09, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
OMG. Are you on Pinterest? Follow me and I'll follow you back. I LOVE that site. All these great ideas of crafts for me to do, activities for the kids to do, ideas for gardening and decorating the home, great recipes to cook. I feel so creative and cool when I pinning links to my boards of activities I will do to make my life more beautiful and organized.
But I have to be honest with you. It is a fundamental characteristic of mine that I HATE clutter anywhere. And the idea of just collecting and collecting anything without using them drives me up the freakin' wall. (T-shirts, Dave Dougherty. I am looking at you) I can't stand wasting anything. And collecting without consuming makes me crazy.
So I only want to collect things on Pinterest that I really want to do. However, it is crazily easy to just collect and collect (recipes, crafts, gardening ideas) to a level that one cannot possibly do.
So my goal is to do the crafts and cook the recipes and use the ideas that I gather on Pinterest, and document it here. The problem is that I am not nearly the "crafter" that I would like to be. And my baking skills? Well, let's just say that they always taste good.
For example: here are some mini-cheesecakes that were quite popular on Pinterest.
And that's the prettiest one! Trust me, it's not just the original poster's skills at photographer at work here.
Today, I decided to organize our accessory cords. I found this idea in Family Handyman: You use ponytail holders to keep the cords together and then you put them in sandwich bags before putting them in a storage box. They are all neatly stored and you can easily search for what you need without tangling everything up.
But I have to be honest with you. It is a fundamental characteristic of mine that I HATE clutter anywhere. And the idea of just collecting and collecting anything without using them drives me up the freakin' wall. (T-shirts, Dave Dougherty. I am looking at you) I can't stand wasting anything. And collecting without consuming makes me crazy.
So I only want to collect things on Pinterest that I really want to do. However, it is crazily easy to just collect and collect (recipes, crafts, gardening ideas) to a level that one cannot possibly do.
So my goal is to do the crafts and cook the recipes and use the ideas that I gather on Pinterest, and document it here. The problem is that I am not nearly the "crafter" that I would like to be. And my baking skills? Well, let's just say that they always taste good.
For example: here are some mini-cheesecakes that were quite popular on Pinterest.
Here is my version:
Today, I decided to organize our accessory cords. I found this idea in Family Handyman: You use ponytail holders to keep the cords together and then you put them in sandwich bags before putting them in a storage box. They are all neatly stored and you can easily search for what you need without tangling everything up.
And here are a few bonus pictures of the kids, because, well they are so darn cute!
Off the approve the chicken coop placement.
Moving Forward
I realized that the last post left folks at the critical point without much resolution. We were in the hospital and not getting out any time soon.
Well, we did get out. The doctor ran into the room on Day 5 and told us to get out before Christopher took another nap. Although he started sleeping through the night without oxygen support starting Friday, his oxygen saturation was dipping tremendously during his naps--like 84% and 82% Friday and Saturday respectively. It took the nurses the maximum oxygen level to get him back to an adequate range---92% (not even normal which is 94% or over).
On Saturday night, he was flirting with needing support while he slept (hanging out around 90%) when the respiratory therapist came in, gave him is nebulizer treatment, listened to his chest, identified the last wheezy part and the commenced to bang the heck out of his chest. While the morning respiratory therapy soothed Christopher, this one made him whimper a bit. That said, I don't regret it because as soon as she was done, his oxygen rose to 94% and stayed there all night long.
So we got out of there as soon as we could. Stopping only for a second to have the nurse take Bridget's temperature and verify that indeed, it was rising and that, why yes, that was a crap-ass junky cough she had developed. The time, ironically, was 20 minutes after our pediatrician's weekend sick hours had stopped.
We took them both in on Monday and the verdict: Christopher was doing great (although likely to have asthma issues for a while) and Bridget had RSV.
I write that and let out a tremendous sigh, remembering how desperate we felt at that point. Fortunately, Bridget did not succumb to Wimpy White Boy syndrome with RSV and never really even got all that sick. Of course, we also didn't tempt fate and put her on steroids and albuterol immediately, so who knows. But her experience is how MOST kids get RSV. Christopher was the 2% exception.
That said, RSV has been going around Charlotte like the flu. In fact, we are not having any real flu season this year, but RSV has been happening in record numbers. On our Friday night at the hospital. we saw a PA do a happy dance because someone was admitted who didn't have RSV. In our walks (and walks and walks) around the pediatric floor, most doors were covered in a yellow drapery containing masks and gowns because RSV is so contagious, no medical professional is supposed to enter in without wearing masks, gloves, and a disposable gown. We were all (patients and professionals alike) worried about the newborn who had to come back to the hospital for jaundice. What a shitty time for that infant to need a few hours or days of billirubin lights.
I AM SO GLAD THAT IS THROUGH.
Bridget just had a high fever from a random virus and I was pretty dang worried we were looking at a pneumonia from her lingering RSV cough. Hallelujah, no. Just a virus. I'll take "Just A Virus" (JAV) any day of the week from now on out.
IN OTHER NEWS--and thank God(dess) there is some---we have seedlings all over the house for the garden (I botched the first round of eggplants and peppers and had to start again with a heating mat; I'm concerned about a late harvest) AND WE ARE GETTING READY FOR OUR CHICKENS!!!
I am so excited about our chickens!! We just ordered our starter flock today--6 hens of different breeds. They are all quite pretty and while 5 of them lay brown eggs, one lays blue and green ones! They will arrive in April, which will give us time to get the brooder box set up and Dave will have about 12 weeks to make our coop. It's going to look an awful lot like our treehouse, just with a roosting bar and laying boxes for the hens. Let me repeat: I AM SO EXCITED!!! It will take a while for us to recoop (HA!) the initial set up costs. But Chickens! in our backyard!! I cannot wait!!
The garden is even exciting me, too. We added a new bed out in the Back Forty (I call it the East Garden; Dave calls it the Back 40). So we can have lots of options for planting. Also, I keep forgetting to try our frozen veggies from last summer. It was only this weekend that I tried our frozen eggplant sauteed with tomatoes and peppers, spiced by a basil/oil ice cube from our garden. The eggplant was delish! This means we might be able to grow and freeze enough to never spend outrageous amounts of money for great eggplant again! It's worth the seedlings everywhere, I think.
I could blog forever right now. The kids are asleep and it's the first kid free and work free moment I've had in recent memory.
Well, we did get out. The doctor ran into the room on Day 5 and told us to get out before Christopher took another nap. Although he started sleeping through the night without oxygen support starting Friday, his oxygen saturation was dipping tremendously during his naps--like 84% and 82% Friday and Saturday respectively. It took the nurses the maximum oxygen level to get him back to an adequate range---92% (not even normal which is 94% or over).
On Saturday night, he was flirting with needing support while he slept (hanging out around 90%) when the respiratory therapist came in, gave him is nebulizer treatment, listened to his chest, identified the last wheezy part and the commenced to bang the heck out of his chest. While the morning respiratory therapy soothed Christopher, this one made him whimper a bit. That said, I don't regret it because as soon as she was done, his oxygen rose to 94% and stayed there all night long.
So we got out of there as soon as we could. Stopping only for a second to have the nurse take Bridget's temperature and verify that indeed, it was rising and that, why yes, that was a crap-ass junky cough she had developed. The time, ironically, was 20 minutes after our pediatrician's weekend sick hours had stopped.
We took them both in on Monday and the verdict: Christopher was doing great (although likely to have asthma issues for a while) and Bridget had RSV.
I write that and let out a tremendous sigh, remembering how desperate we felt at that point. Fortunately, Bridget did not succumb to Wimpy White Boy syndrome with RSV and never really even got all that sick. Of course, we also didn't tempt fate and put her on steroids and albuterol immediately, so who knows. But her experience is how MOST kids get RSV. Christopher was the 2% exception.
That said, RSV has been going around Charlotte like the flu. In fact, we are not having any real flu season this year, but RSV has been happening in record numbers. On our Friday night at the hospital. we saw a PA do a happy dance because someone was admitted who didn't have RSV. In our walks (and walks and walks) around the pediatric floor, most doors were covered in a yellow drapery containing masks and gowns because RSV is so contagious, no medical professional is supposed to enter in without wearing masks, gloves, and a disposable gown. We were all (patients and professionals alike) worried about the newborn who had to come back to the hospital for jaundice. What a shitty time for that infant to need a few hours or days of billirubin lights.
I AM SO GLAD THAT IS THROUGH.
Bridget just had a high fever from a random virus and I was pretty dang worried we were looking at a pneumonia from her lingering RSV cough. Hallelujah, no. Just a virus. I'll take "Just A Virus" (JAV) any day of the week from now on out.
IN OTHER NEWS--and thank God(dess) there is some---we have seedlings all over the house for the garden (I botched the first round of eggplants and peppers and had to start again with a heating mat; I'm concerned about a late harvest) AND WE ARE GETTING READY FOR OUR CHICKENS!!!
I am so excited about our chickens!! We just ordered our starter flock today--6 hens of different breeds. They are all quite pretty and while 5 of them lay brown eggs, one lays blue and green ones! They will arrive in April, which will give us time to get the brooder box set up and Dave will have about 12 weeks to make our coop. It's going to look an awful lot like our treehouse, just with a roosting bar and laying boxes for the hens. Let me repeat: I AM SO EXCITED!!! It will take a while for us to recoop (HA!) the initial set up costs. But Chickens! in our backyard!! I cannot wait!!
The garden is even exciting me, too. We added a new bed out in the Back Forty (I call it the East Garden; Dave calls it the Back 40). So we can have lots of options for planting. Also, I keep forgetting to try our frozen veggies from last summer. It was only this weekend that I tried our frozen eggplant sauteed with tomatoes and peppers, spiced by a basil/oil ice cube from our garden. The eggplant was delish! This means we might be able to grow and freeze enough to never spend outrageous amounts of money for great eggplant again! It's worth the seedlings everywhere, I think.
I could blog forever right now. The kids are asleep and it's the first kid free and work free moment I've had in recent memory.
Friday, February 03, 2012
Still Here for A While
So, why not a bar in a hospital? Who needs it more than those of us spending the night with our sick loved ones and are too revved up to get to sleep. And it's not like medical personnel are so stingy with the medications. When I was in maternal care with the twins, they were passing out ambien like candy for me to go to sleep. And after the c-section, they were very open with the percocet. They kept trying to push the extra strong stuff and I kept telling them I needed one half pill of the weakest.
I think therein lies the issue. So what I want is a glass of wine. And a hospital bar would offer is a choice and between a double martini and a fifth of vodka, all the while watching until I drink the whole thing in one gulp.
(((sigh)))
Anywho, Christopher is doing fantastic during the day. He is so active and engaging he doesn't look sick at all. I forgot to mention that our pediatrician told us that Christopher was the happiest child she had ever checked into the hospital. So he's great during the day.
But when he sleeps, his oxygen plummets below 90% saturation and sometimes down to 85 or 86. I finally had some time to check Dr. Google. 86% does not indicate immediate danger at this age, but it can cause some long term damage? I don't understand that. I just know it's not good.
But they put him on oxygen and he gets better. He just needs to sleep a night without oxygen to get home. I thought we'd go home today based on his activity while awake yesterday. Now I think the earliest is tomorrow if he doesn't have any oxygen tonight. But I think we're looking at Sunday to come home.
So asthma.
One of the pediatricians stopped by yesterday. I was apparently in a mood for chatting because I told her and the nurse in the room all about a new study I'm working on analyzing a medical virtual community, asking for their feedback and insights. The doctor and I ended up chatting for quite a while about that until we started talking about the A word.
She says it's possible that Christopher is on the path for atopic asthma, because of his eczema which is related to his seasonal allergies and now this strong reaction to RSV. I would like to take a minute and do the double bird flipping booty dance towards his first pediatrician who said there is NO WAY POSSIBLE THAT ECZEMA AND ALLERGIES ARE RELATED even when I said it seems to me and the RESEARCH I SAW that they were!!! Asshat. Which is why we switched to our new pediatrician who LISTENS to us, especially when we talk as though we are typing in caps and italics.
We aren't going to be exploring any asthma diagnosis right now, though, until March. Why, you ask as did I? Because for the next 4 weeks and the every other day visit to the doctor to check Christopher out, we're going to be more concerned that he is still breathing right now and not any long term issues. I really don't know what she said because my head exploded after the You Will Be Seeing Us WHOLE FREAKIN' LOT FOR THE NEXT FOUR WEEKS part.
So this morning's pediatrician stopped by. And um. Good news. He's going to be fine. There's no bad news. There's just a whole lot of waiting. He has to be off oxygen. And while I was excited that he is down to 1/2 liter while he's sleeping, that's not the best news we could have. He still hasn't "turned the corner" yet. We are still on the straight path and it's too foggy to identify the corner. I thought we were well past the corner, but we're not. So he gets out Saturday? Unlikely. Sunday? Maybe. Sometime next week? Probably.
So join me on this adventure with the other bleary eyed, wild haired parents walking the halls of the children's hospital in our pajamas looking for coffee.
I think therein lies the issue. So what I want is a glass of wine. And a hospital bar would offer is a choice and between a double martini and a fifth of vodka, all the while watching until I drink the whole thing in one gulp.
(((sigh)))
Anywho, Christopher is doing fantastic during the day. He is so active and engaging he doesn't look sick at all. I forgot to mention that our pediatrician told us that Christopher was the happiest child she had ever checked into the hospital. So he's great during the day.
But when he sleeps, his oxygen plummets below 90% saturation and sometimes down to 85 or 86. I finally had some time to check Dr. Google. 86% does not indicate immediate danger at this age, but it can cause some long term damage? I don't understand that. I just know it's not good.
But they put him on oxygen and he gets better. He just needs to sleep a night without oxygen to get home. I thought we'd go home today based on his activity while awake yesterday. Now I think the earliest is tomorrow if he doesn't have any oxygen tonight. But I think we're looking at Sunday to come home.
So asthma.
One of the pediatricians stopped by yesterday. I was apparently in a mood for chatting because I told her and the nurse in the room all about a new study I'm working on analyzing a medical virtual community, asking for their feedback and insights. The doctor and I ended up chatting for quite a while about that until we started talking about the A word.
She says it's possible that Christopher is on the path for atopic asthma, because of his eczema which is related to his seasonal allergies and now this strong reaction to RSV. I would like to take a minute and do the double bird flipping booty dance towards his first pediatrician who said there is NO WAY POSSIBLE THAT ECZEMA AND ALLERGIES ARE RELATED even when I said it seems to me and the RESEARCH I SAW that they were!!! Asshat. Which is why we switched to our new pediatrician who LISTENS to us, especially when we talk as though we are typing in caps and italics.
We aren't going to be exploring any asthma diagnosis right now, though, until March. Why, you ask as did I? Because for the next 4 weeks and the every other day visit to the doctor to check Christopher out, we're going to be more concerned that he is still breathing right now and not any long term issues. I really don't know what she said because my head exploded after the You Will Be Seeing Us WHOLE FREAKIN' LOT FOR THE NEXT FOUR WEEKS part.
So this morning's pediatrician stopped by. And um. Good news. He's going to be fine. There's no bad news. There's just a whole lot of waiting. He has to be off oxygen. And while I was excited that he is down to 1/2 liter while he's sleeping, that's not the best news we could have. He still hasn't "turned the corner" yet. We are still on the straight path and it's too foggy to identify the corner. I thought we were well past the corner, but we're not. So he gets out Saturday? Unlikely. Sunday? Maybe. Sometime next week? Probably.
So join me on this adventure with the other bleary eyed, wild haired parents walking the halls of the children's hospital in our pajamas looking for coffee.
Thursday, February 02, 2012
I Honesty Didn't See That Coming
Greetings from the hospital.
Everything is going to be ok. But Christopher doesn't have pneumonia; he has RSV. I think it's good news that this is not pneumonia, because the course it is taking would be a Really Bad Path for pneumonia. But the RSV is taking a real toll on him.
Generally, RSV is a concern for children under 1, especially preemies. Christopher was a preemie, but is well over 1. I do think, though, we are looking at some asthma issues developing and this is why his RSV hit him so hard, while when Bridget had it (we think), it was just a really, really bad cold.
In any case, Christopher is in here for a few days at least. You can't treat RSV because it is a virus so you treat the symptoms. His main pain problem is significant congestion making it hard for him to breathe. The congestion is described as "coarse" by the respiratory therapists--worse than wheeze, but not as wet and dense as pneumonia. RSV! His oxygen saturation level gets too low (waaaay too low) while he sleeps so he is on oxygen. He can't leave the hospital until he can sleep a good amount (usually 8 hours) without needing oxygen.
We hope to get out Saturday or Sunday. I don't think there is any way in H-E-Double-Hockey sticks we will get out tomorrow.
I realize the benefits of blogging about important episodes later when you can get perspective and add insights and humor. Bu sometimes you just need to get it out.
Things that are interesting, worth developing some perspective:
* this is a highly contagious illness, so the medical staff, if they are going to touch him, have on all sorts of masks and gloves and disposable robes.
* Even sick and even tiny, my son takes up a boatload of room. I slept with him in his bed last night, fixing his oxygen when it fell off and the monitor beeped. And thank god(dess) for the respiratory therapist who, at the 4 am treatment, finally slid him over in the bed so I could actually get my whole body on the bed. A twin bed can have an adult size and a child size portion as long as the child isn't doing this.
*Presby Main still serves fried chicken on Weds. Woohoo!! It was the third thing both Dave and I thought after they told us to go to the hospital. After: Oh and Shit. So yes, the thinking was. Oh. Shit! Fried Chicken on Wednesday. Oh, maybe it was the 4th thing we thought. But it was up there. Yes, we've spent a lot of time at this hospital.
*While Tuesday was my turn to freak the freak out over Christopher's health, Wednesday's was Dave's. We share that way.
Goal today: to take a shower. My first one since Sunday. It's been a rough week.
Everything is going to be ok. But Christopher doesn't have pneumonia; he has RSV. I think it's good news that this is not pneumonia, because the course it is taking would be a Really Bad Path for pneumonia. But the RSV is taking a real toll on him.
Generally, RSV is a concern for children under 1, especially preemies. Christopher was a preemie, but is well over 1. I do think, though, we are looking at some asthma issues developing and this is why his RSV hit him so hard, while when Bridget had it (we think), it was just a really, really bad cold.
In any case, Christopher is in here for a few days at least. You can't treat RSV because it is a virus so you treat the symptoms. His main pain problem is significant congestion making it hard for him to breathe. The congestion is described as "coarse" by the respiratory therapists--worse than wheeze, but not as wet and dense as pneumonia. RSV! His oxygen saturation level gets too low (waaaay too low) while he sleeps so he is on oxygen. He can't leave the hospital until he can sleep a good amount (usually 8 hours) without needing oxygen.
We hope to get out Saturday or Sunday. I don't think there is any way in H-E-Double-Hockey sticks we will get out tomorrow.
I realize the benefits of blogging about important episodes later when you can get perspective and add insights and humor. Bu sometimes you just need to get it out.
Things that are interesting, worth developing some perspective:
* this is a highly contagious illness, so the medical staff, if they are going to touch him, have on all sorts of masks and gloves and disposable robes.
* Even sick and even tiny, my son takes up a boatload of room. I slept with him in his bed last night, fixing his oxygen when it fell off and the monitor beeped. And thank god(dess) for the respiratory therapist who, at the 4 am treatment, finally slid him over in the bed so I could actually get my whole body on the bed. A twin bed can have an adult size and a child size portion as long as the child isn't doing this.
*Presby Main still serves fried chicken on Weds. Woohoo!! It was the third thing both Dave and I thought after they told us to go to the hospital. After: Oh and Shit. So yes, the thinking was. Oh. Shit! Fried Chicken on Wednesday. Oh, maybe it was the 4th thing we thought. But it was up there. Yes, we've spent a lot of time at this hospital.
*While Tuesday was my turn to freak the freak out over Christopher's health, Wednesday's was Dave's. We share that way.
Goal today: to take a shower. My first one since Sunday. It's been a rough week.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
I Am So Tired....
Sometimes, I have to blog to get some things out of my head so that I can move forward and do other things (e.g., work).
So Christopher has pneumonia. This is our fourth pneumonia in the family. Conor had it once and Bridget had it twice. He has had a cough since Christmas, but nothing too worrisome; we all have some sort of dust/pollen allergy over here. Then Sunday night, his cough got a lot worse and he started running a fever. In our house, viruses start with fever and turn into coughs. Pneumonia (at least for Bridget) starts with a cough and then turns into a fever.
Conor and Bridget also had substantial lethargy with their pneumonia,which is why when I took Christopher in Monday morning to the doctor with a 99.5 fever and a engaging, funny, ACTIVE disposition, I felt like I was being an overanxious mother.
Nonetheless, the doctor heard the crackling and wheezing in his lungs immediately. I congratulated Dave and me for being wonderful parents and developing our lay skills at identifying early signs of pneumonia in our children. Indeed, the doctor suggested we only needed to use albuterol on an as needed basis instead of a strict 4 to 6 hour schedule (like we did for Bridget).
I was even more proud of us when Christopher's fever spiked to 102 Monday afternoon. We were ahead of the curve! He was going to have two good antibiotic treatments before the dreaded Nighttime Fever Spike. I was expecting this to be an Easy Peasy pneumonia.
Ha.
We gave him ibuprofen at 9:30 (easy peasy!) and another albuterol at 10:30 (coughing but under control after the meds) and settled in for sleep. About 1:30, I woke up next to a burning, wheezing ember of a toddler. The 103 temperature was especially bothersome because he should have been covered by the ibuprofen. (We are thinking this morning, it would have been 105 if we hadn't treated earlier in the night). I dosed him with Tylenol and debated giving him his next albuterol an hour early. The wheezing, holding his breath at the top, and the coughing up of the lung made Dr. Mom decide to give him his albuterol early.
But then. It didn't get better. The fever stayed at 102.5 and the wheezing, struggling breath wasn't going away like it did earlier. I would like to also point out that what is happening at this point is NOT AT ALL like we experienced with Conor's and Bridget's pneumonia. Yes, we've had to alternate between tylenol and ibuprofen for high fever before, but the breathing has usually been taken care of by the albuterol.
I started to debate calling the triage nurse. What could they do at the hospital that I wasn't doing already? But could I give him more albuterol earlier to help him breathe and sleep. So I called. Dave told me this morning that he thought I wanted to take him to the ER. No, I wanted to give him more albuterol. And, honestly, to make sure Christopher's path wasn't similar to a friend of ours who nearly died last Christmas. (Yes, Anne, your illness and near death scared us then and scares us now. When a friend's Facebook posts go from "I've got the flu" to "Here is Anne's CaringBridge Page", I think that is the definition of having the bejeesus scared out of you. Pneumonia isn't something to trifle with)
So yes, after the triage nurse had me report what Christopher's ribs looked like as he breathed and to count the number of breaths he was taking per minute, he told us to Go Directly To the ER. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect $200. (Instead, start writing the $200 check)
There was no one in the Presbyterian Main Hembly Children's ER (Shout out for this pediatric ER! Go there!) and the triage nurse and receptionist tag teamed us into the system and to the doctor ASAP. Christopher's oxygen saturation at this time was about 93%. As the doctor told us later, 92% is when you start to worry. Personally, I do not find 93% to be a "Yippee, Hooray" kind of number.
The doc came in poked, prodded, listened, and discussed with us what was going on. There was some discussion about whether Christopher has asthma because he takes flovent and that we have albuterol hanging around the house. It took a couple of tries to get him to understand that our (old) dr tested for asthma (no), allergies yes and that's why we use the flovent, The albuterol is leftover from Bridget's pneumonia, and honestly, I think the pediatricians like us having that around the house.
ER Doc prescribed two breathing treatments in the ER and steroids for home use. The treatments got his oxygen saturation up to 95% (not yippee, but not on the border of freaking out, either). And then we talked about the steroids.
The ER doc went back to Christopher's initial lung scan from NICU and said he saw a gray spot indicating Respiratory Distress Syndrome. I pretty strongly said "THAT had never been brought up before" not mad at him, but bugged that no one mentioned that earlier considering all the lung/respiratory issues both twins had have. In any case, we got out of ER and arrived home about 5 and went back to bed. Around 6:30, Bridget started pounding on my head to WAKE UP!! TIME TO GET UP, MOMMY!
So it looks like Christopher is developing mild asthma, probably related to being a preemie. We follow up with our doctor on Friday to get more information about this.
Dave is home today so I am supposed to be working on my research papers (one submission due today! another tomorrow!) and prepping my class on Thursday. I am so emotional that when my co-author just emailed me that the one we're submitting today looks great, I started tearing up. (I just did it again) I'm very excited about these two papers; they are part of a new program of research I'm doing and I want them to be good. But I'm also concerned about my son dying (he's not, but I wasn't convinced last night) and it's a lot to be processing all of this on an incredibly small amount of sleep.
I had to get this out so I could start focus on my other stuff. It takes some time to write this, but it frees up my brain to focus on other things.
So Christopher has pneumonia. This is our fourth pneumonia in the family. Conor had it once and Bridget had it twice. He has had a cough since Christmas, but nothing too worrisome; we all have some sort of dust/pollen allergy over here. Then Sunday night, his cough got a lot worse and he started running a fever. In our house, viruses start with fever and turn into coughs. Pneumonia (at least for Bridget) starts with a cough and then turns into a fever.
Conor and Bridget also had substantial lethargy with their pneumonia,which is why when I took Christopher in Monday morning to the doctor with a 99.5 fever and a engaging, funny, ACTIVE disposition, I felt like I was being an overanxious mother.
Nonetheless, the doctor heard the crackling and wheezing in his lungs immediately. I congratulated Dave and me for being wonderful parents and developing our lay skills at identifying early signs of pneumonia in our children. Indeed, the doctor suggested we only needed to use albuterol on an as needed basis instead of a strict 4 to 6 hour schedule (like we did for Bridget).
I was even more proud of us when Christopher's fever spiked to 102 Monday afternoon. We were ahead of the curve! He was going to have two good antibiotic treatments before the dreaded Nighttime Fever Spike. I was expecting this to be an Easy Peasy pneumonia.
Ha.
We gave him ibuprofen at 9:30 (easy peasy!) and another albuterol at 10:30 (coughing but under control after the meds) and settled in for sleep. About 1:30, I woke up next to a burning, wheezing ember of a toddler. The 103 temperature was especially bothersome because he should have been covered by the ibuprofen. (We are thinking this morning, it would have been 105 if we hadn't treated earlier in the night). I dosed him with Tylenol and debated giving him his next albuterol an hour early. The wheezing, holding his breath at the top, and the coughing up of the lung made Dr. Mom decide to give him his albuterol early.
But then. It didn't get better. The fever stayed at 102.5 and the wheezing, struggling breath wasn't going away like it did earlier. I would like to also point out that what is happening at this point is NOT AT ALL like we experienced with Conor's and Bridget's pneumonia. Yes, we've had to alternate between tylenol and ibuprofen for high fever before, but the breathing has usually been taken care of by the albuterol.
I started to debate calling the triage nurse. What could they do at the hospital that I wasn't doing already? But could I give him more albuterol earlier to help him breathe and sleep. So I called. Dave told me this morning that he thought I wanted to take him to the ER. No, I wanted to give him more albuterol. And, honestly, to make sure Christopher's path wasn't similar to a friend of ours who nearly died last Christmas. (Yes, Anne, your illness and near death scared us then and scares us now. When a friend's Facebook posts go from "I've got the flu" to "Here is Anne's CaringBridge Page", I think that is the definition of having the bejeesus scared out of you. Pneumonia isn't something to trifle with)
So yes, after the triage nurse had me report what Christopher's ribs looked like as he breathed and to count the number of breaths he was taking per minute, he told us to Go Directly To the ER. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect $200. (Instead, start writing the $200 check)
There was no one in the Presbyterian Main Hembly Children's ER (Shout out for this pediatric ER! Go there!) and the triage nurse and receptionist tag teamed us into the system and to the doctor ASAP. Christopher's oxygen saturation at this time was about 93%. As the doctor told us later, 92% is when you start to worry. Personally, I do not find 93% to be a "Yippee, Hooray" kind of number.
The doc came in poked, prodded, listened, and discussed with us what was going on. There was some discussion about whether Christopher has asthma because he takes flovent and that we have albuterol hanging around the house. It took a couple of tries to get him to understand that our (old) dr tested for asthma (no), allergies yes and that's why we use the flovent, The albuterol is leftover from Bridget's pneumonia, and honestly, I think the pediatricians like us having that around the house.
ER Doc prescribed two breathing treatments in the ER and steroids for home use. The treatments got his oxygen saturation up to 95% (not yippee, but not on the border of freaking out, either). And then we talked about the steroids.
The ER doc went back to Christopher's initial lung scan from NICU and said he saw a gray spot indicating Respiratory Distress Syndrome. I pretty strongly said "THAT had never been brought up before" not mad at him, but bugged that no one mentioned that earlier considering all the lung/respiratory issues both twins had have. In any case, we got out of ER and arrived home about 5 and went back to bed. Around 6:30, Bridget started pounding on my head to WAKE UP!! TIME TO GET UP, MOMMY!
So it looks like Christopher is developing mild asthma, probably related to being a preemie. We follow up with our doctor on Friday to get more information about this.
Dave is home today so I am supposed to be working on my research papers (one submission due today! another tomorrow!) and prepping my class on Thursday. I am so emotional that when my co-author just emailed me that the one we're submitting today looks great, I started tearing up. (I just did it again) I'm very excited about these two papers; they are part of a new program of research I'm doing and I want them to be good. But I'm also concerned about my son dying (he's not, but I wasn't convinced last night) and it's a lot to be processing all of this on an incredibly small amount of sleep.
I had to get this out so I could start focus on my other stuff. It takes some time to write this, but it frees up my brain to focus on other things.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Toddler Talkings
The kids are saying some very cute things lately and I want to remember them before it's too late. Despite our first blog's semi-disappearance (we all lost our blogs on Salon, including Julie Powell's blog--the one the book and movie Julie/Julia was based on), I frequently wrote about Conor's development. The twins are getting short changed in this regard. So, I may be writing some short entries over the next few decades (!) so I can say a bit more about what they are doing.
I'm just freakin' busy. And although I have time to write a FB status update most days, I don't have enough time to do that with the blog. (As my older son just CHING CHING CHING CHING ninja attacked me on the arm this very second, I don't always have the patience either)
So, here we go.
Bridget likes when I tickle her parmpits, but does not like it when she hurts her belbow. Truly, she loves to eat doodles with red sauce and a lot of parmesean cheese. When guests are over, and she, ahem, passes gas, they might expect her to excuse herself when they ask her "What do you say?" Most people are surprised when she proudly shouts, "I TOOTED!"
We are pretty open with bodily functions around here. Tonight, Dave said to Christopher as he changed him for bedtime, "Oh my goodness! Where did all this pee pee come from in your diaper?!"
Christopher thought for only a moment before he stated the obvious, "From my penis."
I'm just freakin' busy. And although I have time to write a FB status update most days, I don't have enough time to do that with the blog. (As my older son just CHING CHING CHING CHING ninja attacked me on the arm this very second, I don't always have the patience either)
So, here we go.
Bridget likes when I tickle her parmpits, but does not like it when she hurts her belbow. Truly, she loves to eat doodles with red sauce and a lot of parmesean cheese. When guests are over, and she, ahem, passes gas, they might expect her to excuse herself when they ask her "What do you say?" Most people are surprised when she proudly shouts, "I TOOTED!"
We are pretty open with bodily functions around here. Tonight, Dave said to Christopher as he changed him for bedtime, "Oh my goodness! Where did all this pee pee come from in your diaper?!"
Christopher thought for only a moment before he stated the obvious, "From my penis."
Friday, December 16, 2011
If The Blog Doesn't Post, It's Me
Hmmm, wasn't there a Jimmy Buffet song that went something like "If the phone doesn't ring, it's me?" I seem to recall an underground bar in Chapel Hill (Trolls?), cheap beer and singing that verse. Or not. There's a lot that's a bit foggy about nights in Chapel Hill, and that was, ahem, a few years ago.
In any case, even though I haven't been here in a few months, that doesn't mean I haven't thought about you daily or that I haven't written dozens of brilliant posts in my mind. (Both meanings of that sentence--there were written in my head and they were brilliant and only in my head were they actually brilliant)
In any case, my sabbatical is coming to an end. 3 more weeks and the spring semester starts up. It's been a great leave. I worked and I fell in love with my life and my research again. (I've been wondering which blog I should put this on--my personal or professional one) But since there will be family updates, we are here instead of there.
I shall also continue on the theme of how much FREAKING easier our life is now that it was 2 years ago, 1 year ago or even 6 months ago (although 6 to 9 months ago are when things starting really easing up). Friends even comment to us how obvious it is that things are easier. I think one telling factor is that when they something cheery like "Happy Easter" I don't respond with "Fudge you!", only I didn't say Fudge. (True story from Spring of 2010).
Anyhoo, the twins have moved into big kid beds and they Want To Stay There All Night. And when they don't, we have taught them to just Just Get Up and Walk Into Our Room (lesson learned from the firstborn). So far, Christopher has taken us up on that offer and it is a joyous thing.
The twins have also become very verbal, telling us about their day and their friends and have quickly learned to tell Santa what they want for Christmas. This includes Bridget shouting her requests to our new Elf on the Shelf (Elfie) and taking the Santa potholder off the cabinet and telling him, too. It's obviously important to cover all your bases before Christmas.
Conor, either inspired by the twins or from other kids in our carpool, has become more verbal, too, and is actually revealing facts and stories from his day at school. You cannot imagine my relief at this. Forever, Conor has not told me anything about his day. Bridget, at age 2, was more revealing about what happened during her day than Conor ever was. But now, I am hearing stories! With kids' names!
And who knew our introverted son was such a ham? The life cycle of piano lessons has been:
He was begging to stop lessons before the recital and now he's back to enjoying it and doing really well. I'm really proud of him for that.
OK. We are in the midst of Holiday Frenzy 2011. We have had a 10 day stretch where only 2 nights have been free and some days we've had 2 and 3 events to attend. Tonight, we're hosting a reception for our graduate program to honor our newest doctoral student and my first student to get her PhD. There's a real sense of ownership over the grad students and I'm so excited for her. It's also nice to see how our relationship is changing from mentor/mentee to more of colleagues. Saturday is graduation and I get to help "hood her". It's something like this and a pretty big deal.
So, yes. Busy. Fun. Life. Work. Better. Much, much better. That pretty much sums up my life right now.
In any case, even though I haven't been here in a few months, that doesn't mean I haven't thought about you daily or that I haven't written dozens of brilliant posts in my mind. (Both meanings of that sentence--there were written in my head and they were brilliant and only in my head were they actually brilliant)
In any case, my sabbatical is coming to an end. 3 more weeks and the spring semester starts up. It's been a great leave. I worked and I fell in love with my life and my research again. (I've been wondering which blog I should put this on--my personal or professional one) But since there will be family updates, we are here instead of there.
I shall also continue on the theme of how much FREAKING easier our life is now that it was 2 years ago, 1 year ago or even 6 months ago (although 6 to 9 months ago are when things starting really easing up). Friends even comment to us how obvious it is that things are easier. I think one telling factor is that when they something cheery like "Happy Easter" I don't respond with "Fudge you!", only I didn't say Fudge. (True story from Spring of 2010).
Anyhoo, the twins have moved into big kid beds and they Want To Stay There All Night. And when they don't, we have taught them to just Just Get Up and Walk Into Our Room (lesson learned from the firstborn). So far, Christopher has taken us up on that offer and it is a joyous thing.
The twins have also become very verbal, telling us about their day and their friends and have quickly learned to tell Santa what they want for Christmas. This includes Bridget shouting her requests to our new Elf on the Shelf (Elfie) and taking the Santa potholder off the cabinet and telling him, too. It's obviously important to cover all your bases before Christmas.
Conor, either inspired by the twins or from other kids in our carpool, has become more verbal, too, and is actually revealing facts and stories from his day at school. You cannot imagine my relief at this. Forever, Conor has not told me anything about his day. Bridget, at age 2, was more revealing about what happened during her day than Conor ever was. But now, I am hearing stories! With kids' names!
And who knew our introverted son was such a ham? The life cycle of piano lessons has been:
- Love it
- Hate It
- RECITAL: Love, Love Love it!
He was begging to stop lessons before the recital and now he's back to enjoying it and doing really well. I'm really proud of him for that.
OK. We are in the midst of Holiday Frenzy 2011. We have had a 10 day stretch where only 2 nights have been free and some days we've had 2 and 3 events to attend. Tonight, we're hosting a reception for our graduate program to honor our newest doctoral student and my first student to get her PhD. There's a real sense of ownership over the grad students and I'm so excited for her. It's also nice to see how our relationship is changing from mentor/mentee to more of colleagues. Saturday is graduation and I get to help "hood her". It's something like this and a pretty big deal.
So, yes. Busy. Fun. Life. Work. Better. Much, much better. That pretty much sums up my life right now.
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