Baby Showered and Hospitalized. Feb. 2013

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}.

November: Visits, Haircut, Thanksgiving, Mission Call, Twilight

This is a walk that we took, while we were up visiting my Grandma, Aunt Luetta and my Mom (who was there visiting and helping).  We had a very nice visit with them on a 5-day weekend.  We got to visit with some of my other relatives while we were there (because there are a lot of them), including my Aunt Patty and Uncle Rob.  On the walk, we found a sweet neighborhood kitten, that let all of us hold and pet it.  Very kid friendly.

The top pictures are of Mark giving Collin his very First Haircut.  I had a really hard time letting Mark cut his hair for the first time; because he had all of these bright red curls.  So adorable.  Mark cut it pretty short.  Little Miss R and Little Man E performed together in the school-wide Veteran's Day Assembly.  It was full of patriotic songs, that were very moving.  We were so proud of them!  It was nice to be able to have Mark's mom come and watch the kids perform also.

We had Thanksgiving at our home, the weekend before Thanksgiving week.  We like to establish our own traditions with our little family (even though we very much enjoy having the festivities with our extended family as well).  I gave the kids Thanksgiving Coloring and activity sheets, we read Thanksgiving books, watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, passed around a 5 kernel burlap sack, and each of us told 5 things that we are thankful for, and we talked about the 1st Thanksgiving.  It was wonderful.  Then we went up to Washington {we picked up my mom, on the way up and she rode there with us} and celebrated Thanksgiving with my side of the family, because it was our year to do that.  We had a fabulous time celebrating with them also.  We had all of my 6 siblings (except Tommy who is on his mission) and their families there for at least part of the celebration; although my sister's (Celestia) hubby wasn't able to come (because he's recovering from a recent surgery) and so she brought him home some food.  Afterwards, my sister Angela and I went to the Black Friday Event, and scored some fabulous deals for our kiddos.  But let me tell you, doing that while nearly 8 months pregnant, was not the best choice on my part.  My feet were SO swollen when we got home {which they usually are at this point in my pregnancy}.

The top 6 pictures are of the kiddos spending time with their cousins, while we were up visiting my side of the family in Washington.  They always love spending time with their cousins.  They built forts, had sleepovers (we watched the "Grinch" and made Chocolate chip cookies), helped Grandma decorate her Christmas tree, ate Thanksgiving at the "kids tables" and had all kinds of fun on our 5-day weekend up there for Thanksgiving.  Bottom 2 pictures, are of spending time with Mark's sister Kristy's family when they visited, and when we had Mark's parents over for dinner.

I was so thrilled when my little brother Joseph got his mission call in the mail while I was up there!  Usually with living away from the area (and everyone else in my family still is around there), I am the only one who doesn't get to be there (in person) for my brother's to read their mission calls (I usually have to listen on the phone).  But Joe got his while I was up there.  It was so exciting for us to be there when he opened and read his call to the RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA MISSION (English Speaking).  It was extra exciting, because our brother Thomas (pictured above left), is on his mission in the SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA MISSION (Lao and Mein Chinese Speaking).  They will be overlapping on their missions, for about a year (Missions are 2-years long).  Apparently, Joe might even be able to go be Tommy's mission companion for a couple of days, on the way down to the MTC, in Provo.  Which would be so neat for them.  The kids (and Mark and I) are so proud of Joe and Tommy for serving the Lord; and also of Mark's parents who recently returned from a mission in the DES MOINES, IOWA MISSION (English Speaking).

Well, Twilight Breaking Dawn 2 came out, and I had to go Opening night, with my Sister-in-law Summer.  It was awesome!  We loved it.  I was surprised that my Bella/Edward t-shirt still fit me, while I am super prego (I've worn it to all of the other showings of the Twilight saga).  Then while we were up in Washington, Mark and I went with Angela and Grant, and it was super fun too.  Last picture is of Little Miss R showing off her prizes, from when she went to the ER to get one staple in her head from getting an owie.  We have had the worst luck with owies with our kiddos lately.  I hope that it goes back to normal soon, which is no more owies.  But I guess with active kiddos, it's bound to happen occasionally.  It's just hard to watch them go through it.  Our Poor baby.

 Some of Little Miss R's {6 year} pictures from her Session.  To see more, view my Photo Blog.

Some of Little Miss K's {4 year} pictures from her Session.  To see more, view my Photo Blog.

 Some of Little Man C's {2 year} pictures from his Session.  To see more, view my Photo Blog.

Our Poor Babies!

Our Poor Babies!  During the Spring and Summer this year, we had 3 trips to the Emergency Room, which is quite the rarity for us in our family (the only trip to the ER being when Little Miss R was 3, got hit in the head accidentally by a rake; her head needing staples).  But with active kiddos, especially an active little boy, Little Man C; I guess it was coming at some point.  Little Man C went twice, once for his forehead (he ran into a corner of a metal chair at McDonalds play-land) and once for his chin (he tripped and split it open).  He got 6 stitches for the first episode and super-glue for the second.  Mark took Little Man C in for the first (it being the most serious of all of our ER episodes), thankfully, and I was grateful for that.  It was hard enough to be there when it happened (at McD's), having to hold him still with a wet towel on his forehead, trying to stop the bleeding (with both of us crying).  Luckily, there were some really nice people there that called Mark for me, because I was a bit hysterical and trying to hold a very wiggly baby still.  Little Miss K (for her forehead owie; she got hit in the forehead accidentally by a broom) got super-glued also.  They figured that that would be less traumatic, for her, and still be able to hold it shut.  She behaved so well for them, holding still and doing exactly what they needed her to, that they said that she should come and teach a class to kids on how to act in there.  I was glad that she was doing what she needed to do.  It made it less traumatic, I think.  But I think she was nervous about it, though because she was talking to the staff, nurses, and physicians non-stop, constantly.  We gave them icecream, balloons or pizza after their trips to the Emergency Room.  Plus they got lots of stickers from the staff there.  I was quite upset the second time that I brought Little Man C in, because it was within only a few months, that all of these happened; and wondering if we need to put him in a bubble or something.  I asked the acting physician about it, and he said that he got stitches like 12+ times when he was an active little boy (before age 12).  His advice to me, "Calm down.  He'll be okay.  He'll grow out of it.  I did".  I have to admit, that did make me feel better.  Although, I hope that we don't have to take Little Man C in, as much as his parents did.  Well, I think we've had our fair share of this kind of excitement for now, and hopefully forever.
 

Poor Little Man E!! Ouchy! :(

This is how Little Man E's nose looks normally.

And this is how it was a couple of weeks ago, when we were up in Washington. This picture isn't distorted. His nose was REALLY Swollen! Ouchy!! :(

We went to my niece S's baptism and then a luncheon with my side of the family at the park and then the next morning when we got up for church, this is how his nose looked! It scared me, because I had no idea why it looked that way. I was worried, so I was asking him questions about it, and I even asked a doctor's opinion at church. I was asking him questions about what happened and trying to figure it out.

Finally after church, when we were at my sister Angela's house. Little Man E and Cousin T, started talking about how they were running the same direction (at the park the day before) and then Little Man E, stopped and turned around and Cousin T, hit him in the face, head on, while running, so that is what caused this.

I was so relieved to have figured out the problem. I gave him I.B. Profen for the swelling and we iced it. It has completely gone back to normal now, but I am so thankful that something wasn't really wrong with his nose and that it is all better. Phew!

Misquitos are my Nemesis!! :(

We were outside playing in our yard, and I (like always during the summer) got attacked by mosquitoes. I must have yummy blood {maybe I need to eat more garlic!?!}, because they prefer me over any of my other family members, it seems like.
Plus Mark will get a mosquito bite and it will be gone the next day. It's seems unfair. But check out how swollen my hand got from a bite this time! Ouch! Not fun!!
Once I got a spider bite on my left arm, and it did the same thing! Bites don't agree with me! I am going to call the mosquito control center and have them spray our area. We live near a pond, so that's why there's a lot.
It's a good thing that I don't hang out with vampires! ;) {I just read about them!}
P.s. It's been a couple of weeks now since this happened, and my hand is back to normal completely! Phew! I wondered how long it would last!!

Hello Emergency Room! My name is Little Miss R.

We were outside doing yard work and Little Miss R was accidentally hit with the rake on her head. Ouch!!!{at 6:45pm}! There is a little gash on the right side of her head, under her hair and it was bleeding pretty good, getting all over her hair. So I decided to take her to the Emergency Room at the hospital {at 7:00 pm}. I have never taken any of my children, myself or my husband to the E.R., so this was definitely a first for our family. We had to wait for about a half an hour before she was seen and we were admitted. The nurse {at 7:35 pm} was saying that we were lucky that it was under her hair, because it would only leave a scar under there which is rarely seen. But she might complain about her hair not doing what she wants when she is 16 and going to the prom, because of a little bump. We were hungry and asked if the cafeteria was open. It wasn't. An admittance lady gave us a couple of dollars to buy food out of the vending machine, because I didn't have any cash. That was really nice.
Anyway, she really had strawberry red blonde hair today. More so than usual. Little Miss R wouldn't let the nurse take a real good look at it, but from what she could tell, she said Little Miss R, would need stitches. But since stitches are kind of tramatic, because they take a while to put in, they wanted to put a STAPLE in her head. Apparently it is very common and fast, so it made it easier. I have had stitches a few times, but I had never heard of staples being put into someone, especially their head. She said that they do that a lot in people's heads. Freaky. But Anyway, Little Miss R was running around the E.R. and playing, she really wouldn't let me put something for pressure on her head. Then she exhausted herself and fell asleep {at 9:00 pm}.
By the time they called our name to go back and be taken care of, it was two hours later {at 9:30 pm}, which wasn't as long as I thought it would take (I was told 3-4 hours initially). We went back, and it was a blessing that Little Miss R was asleep, because they could actually clean her wound and she didn't inhibit them from doing so. She fussed and wined in her sleep while they were doing it though.
Well, by the time that they had cleaned it, the doctor looked at it and suggested staples again. He said that they could numb the area, but heads doing have very many nerve endings and if he numbed it, she would wake up and then have to put the staple in and feel owies twice. But if they put the staple straight in, then it would only hurt once for a few seconds. Oh! The choices we have to make as parents. I was torn, but told him to go ahead and put it in. I am a BIG wuss and don't like seeing blood or shots. So I didn't look when he put it into her head. Ouch! My Poor Baby Girl! She woke up screaming and crying! I felt so bad for her, I rocked her, and nearly was crying myself! I asked them for some tylenol. They brought it and then I had to convince her to take it, all the while she was saying, "Let's go Mommy! I don't like the hospital." I said, "The owies are all done baby. It's okay." She took the tylenol and then they gave her a whole roll of 20 princess stickers! Then we left with Little Miss R in my arms, holding her close.
I asked her where she wanted to go eat and she said, "McDonalds". So I took her through the drive-in {by this time it was 10 pm} and we hadn't eaten dinner yet. So I got her a happy meal. That made her happy--imagine that. What a tramatic day for her and me, for our whole family.
Luckily when I got home, Baby K, was still asleep, I had put her down right before we left. Mark and Little Man E, were really concerned about Little Miss R, and how she was doing. Little Man E, wanted to see her owie. It's weird because her wound is totally clean, yet it still looks red. The nurse says it's because that is what the color of her skin underneath is.

Grande Ronde Lake and E & R {08.2007}

Last Saturday, July 28th, we went up to Grande Ronde Lake, in the Elk Horn Mountain range. We had so much fun fishing, eating a picnic, playing in the water and spending time with each other in our beautiful surroundings. Little Man E liked “swimming” and Baby R enjoyed playing in the mud! :) We had a great time. Little Man E is really starting to talk in sentences, very well, He has been saying lately, “Come and play with me” and “I love Baby R--she plays with me”. It is so cute. Baby R has been able to express herself better with words lately too. She has been saying “All done” when she wants to get out of her highchair and is done eating. Little Man E has had a reoccurring diaper rash for the last month, and we didn’t know what it was from, we tried Desitin and it didn’t seem to help. Every time we changed his diaper, he was in pain. Well, we took him to his new pediatrician, (we switched our kids to a new pediatrician because of what happened with Baby R and her hives (picture in a below post, or click on this link), how I said that their old doctor, shouldn’t prescribe amoxicillian to Baby R (because I’m allergic to it) and he didn’t listen to me, and prescribed it anyway, and then she got hives and he thought it was an allergic reaction (I told him it was probably from the antibiotics) to the chicken pox vaccine, and told me to keep on giving her the antibiotics, so I did--and she got even worse. And then they finally told me that I had been right all along (not in so many words)--but told me to stop giving her the antibiotics). Well, it is such a relief, because this new pediatrician seems to actually LISTEN to me--what a concept! He told me that it looked like Ethan had a strep infection, and wanted to prescribe a cream for his bum and oral antibiotics. And I told him about how Baby R and I are both allergic to amoxicillian, and so he didn’t prescribe Little Man E that, he said, “he is in enough pain, we don’t want to potentially add to it”. What a nice thing--that he listened. And the meds are working for Little Man E, what a relief!

Little Baby R {Owies: Hives} and Baby E {05.2007}

We have had some very fun times with the kids lately. But some stressful ones too. Baby R was taking amoxicillian for an ear infection and broke out on her entire body with Hives (Not surprizing b/c I am allergic as is A LOT of my family)!! It was sooo hard to see my baby sooo swollen and itchy. Poor baby! I am just glad that we figured it out and now she is recovering.