A lady from my ward {Angela H} offered to throw me a baby shower. It was so nice. It was a lovely Baby Shower decorated in Valentines Day Décor. There was a lot of yummy food.
There was a heart banner that read, "Baby H" across the hearts. So
cute. A decorative cradle with tulle and crocheted pink flowers
inside. There was red heart candles, plastic pink pacifiers, and other
decorations.
We ate the delicious food and talked, while everyone took
turns holding Baby H. I let Little Miss R open most of the gifts, while I held Little Miss K or Baby H and watched. She did a great job and loved it.
We thanked all those who helped, but
especially Angela. I don't even know her very well (yet) and
she was so generous to offer to throw us and give us this {Amazing Baby Shower}! It was a beautiful shower, and we were so happy to have it. We received many generous, lovely gifts for Baby H. Thanks to my friend Nelli for taking most of these pictures of me at the Shower! Happy Valentines Day! We are celebrating
Valentines Day this year at home. Little Man E and Little Miss R went to their
Valentines Parties at school and had a wonderful time. I
made Valentines with Printable cards, Cookie Pops, Heart Fruit Snacks,
and Treats for each one of the kids. I also bought a card for Mark, and
gave him some chocolate treats to go with it. Mark bought me a dozen
red roses with lilies, and chocolates. He also bought the kids some
treats too. We made a yummy dinner together. But first we fed the kids
Macaroni and Cheese, and vegetables and put them to bed early. Then we
ate our yummy dinner alone, {Mark made most of it} steak, shrimp, crab,
salad, bread, cheesecake, sparkling cider and sparkling grape juice.
It was so delicious.
But while we were trying to eat together, Baby H
kept on crying in our room, and we had to comfort her, repeatedly. We
were getting worried about her, because she has a bad cough and she is
breathing really loud. We decided that if she hasn't improved by
tomorrow morning, that I will take her to the Doctor, or the Hospital.
We brought her out to enjoy the rest of our dinner with us, and we had a
romantic night together. We had a lovely Valentines Day together. :) But
when we went to bed, it was really scary, because Baby H (who was
sleeping in my arms), was coughing a lot and breathing loud and having a
hard time eating and breathing hard. Mark gave her a blessing of
comfort. It was a scary night. Worrying when you're so tired, makes it
worse. I hardly got any sleep, until, I gave her to Mark to hold, and I
went out to the Living room to sleep for a couple of hours. We decided
we'd take her into the Doctor tomorrow.
Friday February 15th 2013
Today
is the anniversary of the day that Mark proposed to me, 11 years ago.
We usually celebrate Valentines day two days, including this day,
because we celebrated it together, when he proposed 11 years ago. So we
have celebrated this day, ever since, as well as the 14th. But Baby H
wasn't improving. She was breathing hard, loud and fast and coughing a
lot. She was having a hard time eating, because she was having a hard
time breathing. We were really worried. So I called her Doctor, to see
if we could bring her in. They could get her in a later
appointment, but not very soon. So because of her young age (7 weeks),
they told us to bring her into the Hospital, to see what the problem
was. Breathing and respiratory problems with newborns, are really
dangerous, because they can stop breathing, a lot sooner with that, than
older children and adults can. So Mark came home from school, (at his
usual time) and I took Baby H into the hospital at 1:00 pm. I knew that
she was sick and having problems that were scary, but I didn't realize
how bad it was. I thought that they would give her an antibiotic, and
send us home. But I was wrong. They ran tests on her. They tested her
oxygen level {it's supposed to be 100 percent} but it was closer to 60
and 70 percent. They did x-rays of her chest. They tested her for
RSV. They said that she has the beginning signs of pneumonia, so they
wanted to admit her the hospital. It was scary. But I was going with
her, because I am breast-feeding her. So it made it less scary, since I
could be there with her, to protect her.
We called Mark who had a
class at 3 pm {which I thought he'd easily be able to get to} and said
that we were going to not make it home, because they were still doing
tests and were going to admit her, so he called his mom to come over
and watch the napping kids (Little Miss K and Little Man C) and wait for our school
kids (Little Miss R and Little Man E) to get off of the bus. So she did. They wanted
to put an IV with antibiotics in her. I thought it would be no
problem. Especially since when Little Man C was a day old, they gave him
antibiotics, and put the IV in his arm with no problems at all. But
apparently, with some newborns, their veins are so small, that it is
difficult to get an IV into them. So what I thought would take 30
seconds (putting her IV in); turned into an excruciating 30 minutes.
They tried vein after vein, in different parts of her body: both arms,
and legs, and it didn't work. She was screaming bloody murder, so loud
the entire time. I was holding her, and crying too, hoping and praying
that they would find a vein that would work. It was so sad, because she
wanted me to save her, and I couldn't do anything but endure her
screaming, and watch my baby being put through that agonizing ordeal. So
sad. But they finally decided to try her right foot, (next they would
try her head, so sad) and I was praying so hard that it would work. And
luckily, I did work! Hallelujah, the screaming stopped. It was such a
relief, that it finally worked and they didn't have to put it in her
head (that would have been sad).
After that, Mark came with his father, (his mom was watching our other kids) and they visited us and gave
Baby H a Priesthood Blessing, for the sick. They blessed her that her
body would be able to heal and get better. The nurse brought me food. We were still in the Emergency Room, waiting to be
brought upstairs to our room. They put one hospital bracelet on Baby H,
that was too big and kept falling off. Which was a little nerve
wracking, since the only time that my kids had been in the hospital, was
when they were born and they had like 5 security bracelets on
(so people couldn't steal them). So I was a bit nervous to
ever leave baby H's side while we were in the hospital, because I felt
like I had to protect her, since their weren't any precautions, on her
behalf. After Mark and his Dad left, we were admitted to the 2nd floor, to
baby H's room.
Luckily, my meals were included in Baby H's admittance. So that worked out
really well, that I didn't have to go to the cafeteria to eat all the
time. Which was a huge relief, because I
didn't want to leave Baby H's side for a moment. They were saying when they put Baby H's oxygen
tubing on, that she has such tiny ears, and is so small. They normally
don't have babies on their floor, unless they are going to the ICU wing
(which I am grateful that we aren't going to). They brought me a huge
metal crib, for her to sleep in, and I put her in it, during the day,
but we slept with her in my arms. I wanted to keep her safe, and she
doesn't like sleeping anywhere else, but in my arms. We went to bed (with Baby H in
my arms). She coughed the whole night. It was really scary, because
she was coughing so hard. I would wake up, when she would start
coughing and sit her up, to try to get yucky stuff {flem} out of her
lungs.
The nurses came in all night long to check her vitals too, and
to keep the antibiotics and oxygen going into her. It was so sad to see
her all hooked up to all the wires. She had a stabilizing board on her
foot, along with the IV cord to keep it in place too. Also oxygen
tubing into her nose. She was nursing regularly (like usual) during the
night. But she was having a hard time, because she was struggling to
breath. So we had to do the saline drops up her nose, and use the bulb syringe to clean out the yucky boagies in her nose. That seemed to help
her, to eat. We both struggled to sleep during the night. It was
a long night. It's hard to be so tired, and so worried at the same
time, it makes things worse. It was a hard night. All of the nurses and doctors were very accommodating and took care of Baby H very well. We stayed in the hospital for 3 1/2 days, where she received antibiotic, nebulizer and oxygen treatments. They sent us home {when she had stabilized and improved enough} with a nebulizer with medication and an antibiotic for Baby H. We loved having my SIL Summer and friend Nette, along with my kids, and Mark come and visit us, while we were there. The girls asleep in their room. So precious. Mark giving Baby H her nebulizer treatment, at home. It's pretty difficult having a newborn; {who is so tiny}, be sick. We have never had this issue to deal with before, since we keep our kids home, when they are first born. But we also never had children going to school, when we had a baby before. Our oldest was in Kindergarten, when number 4 was born. Now he's in 2nd grade and our daughter is in 1st grade. I have also come to the conclusion that having a baby during the winter time {prime RSV and pneumonia season} is a very difficult thing; especially when you have children who attend school, full-time {bringing home all kinds of germs}.
