3 am

Saturday night was a lot more peaceful... all the reports from Mom and Dad were looking ok with Bowen and Hayley had decided she was ready to eat something by supper time. We'd been on clear liquids since admit, and she'd been less than interested in pretty much all of it anyway.

I asked the nurse if we could give her chips (she'd spotted them on the "guest" plate) and the nurse gave us permission and told us she would get in touch with the doctor to see if it was ok for her to have whatever food she wanted.

She ate. And ate. And ate! Jello, ice cream, cheese, chips, cookies and drank a juice and a BIG cup of sweet tea. The nurse came in after she had inhaled it all and told us the doctor had said "Let that baby eat!" which was good considering there was no going back.

Since her appetite had come back and we'd gone most of the day without breathing treatments when the doc rounded he decided to stop the IV and see how Hayley would do on her own through the night.

She was ESTATIC for the "cord all gone!" as we had spent most of the afternoon saying "Hayley, be careful! Don't get tangled in your line!"... the better she got to feeling, the more stir crazy she got in the bed. And decided she was ready for one of her night gowns and her big girl panties.

Her voice was getting stronger and she had this cute little squeaky wheezy voice when she talked. She charmed all her nurses once she got to talking. (And pulling her gown up as soon as they entered the room saying "check my tummy!!")

We went to bed pretty early. Hayley was still a little frustrated with the iv/splint in her arm and kept saying "I can't suck my fingers... I want to suck my fingers" ... I tried to get her to try sucking on her left hand to which she said "then I can't rub shake baby like this!" but she was worn out.

We all slept hard... there were several times that the nurse came in and scared me half to death (and I'm sure I did the same to her by jumping) when I realized she was standing over the bed. Michael told me the next morning that they had come in several more times and listened to hayley but not woken anyone up. I didn't even hear the door open and shut, unlike the first night when I heard everything!

Around 3 a.m. Hayley woke up and was wide awake. She wallered and whined and I tried to get her back to sleep. Then Michael handed me the phone. It was Mom calling. Bowen was getting worse. I know now that Hayley woke up so that we would get that call... otherwise, we would have slept through the phones vibrating without question.

I went out in the hall to talk to Mom. I asked the nurses if they could give me any idea of whether I should bring Bowen in through the ER... they weren't much help, but its not like they could tell me anyway.... we decided for them to bring Bowen. Michael immediately went down to the ER to get the admision process started and wait on mom and dad to get there.

I don't know at what point Hayley and I fell back asleep but daddy came up and joined us in Hayley's room while Mom and Michael stayed with Bowen in the ER.

Around 5, Michael let me know that they were getting rounded up in the ER. I met them in the hall around 6 and Hayley woke up enough to talk to her Big Dave. Mom and Bowen and I sat down in some of the hall chairs and I was able to get her to drink some pedialite...the first thing she'd had since 9 p.m. the night before. Her breathing was not as bad as hayley's had been and mom said she already looked much better. They got all their discharge paperwork, 2 more prescriptions and headed back home.


to be continued.

hours in

They took Hayley from us to do the IV and lab work... it startled me when the nurse reached out and Hayley went to her and out the door... the respiratory lady must have seen the panic starting in my face, so she explained that they do that to keep the parents from falling apart and thus the kids being more panicked as well. Made sense, but still, a little startling.

She came back about 20 minutes later...she wasn't hysterical and the nurse said she had done great. That they'd never had a child her age sit so still and hold her arm so still.

Hayley was immediately taken with the pulse-ox monitor that the would put on her finger to check how much oxygen was in her blood. She had to have several more treatments throughout the night. She did good for the most part but began fighting against the mask in the early morning hours...she just wanted to sleep I think, but I'm sure it was overwhelming for her to keep having people come in and out every few hours.

We didn't get a whole lot of sleep but managed to catch a few hours between check ups with the staff.

Saturday morning mom and dad came over with Bowen...she had started coughing and her face was all flushed... they took her to the morning clinic at the Pediatricians office. Flu.

Luckily, Bowen saw the same doctor that had been supervising Hayley's care in the hospital. She was able to tell mom and dad that her respiratory/airways were clearer than Hayley's so they should be able to treat her at home. She gave them a tamaflu script and a script for another antibiotic for the congestion.

Mom called later to say the pharmacy didn't have one of the medicines for Bowen and couldn't get it until Monday. I got so frustrated that we couldn't get the meds we needed for her! When Hayley's doctor rounded that evening he was able to call the pharmacy to approve a substitute, but the pharmacy was closed by the time he called.

to be continued.

on the other side

Whew.

I don't even really know where to start on this as my mind is flying a million miles an hour still.

We've had the scariest moments of our entire parenting life, all 2.5 years of it, within the past few days. I'm just glad to be on the other side of it now.

My girls are healthy girls. No major illness or sickness in their short lives. Both eat well, meet all their development markers, the whole nine yards. We've been blessed with healthy kids.

Then.

We landed in the pediatricians office Thursday with Hayley... flu. great.

We went back to the pediatrician Friday. She couldn't hardly breath. She was laboring, not talking, not drinking or eating or doing anything but whining.

The doc saw the fear in my eyes. He said "If you haven't been on the internet I'm sure you probably will and you'll see that kids die from this. But listen to me, this is not going to happen. This is not going to happen here."

I hadn't been on the internet... I hadn't even thought of that... but now I had. ugh. It was so scary to not know what was going to happen... even as I saw Hayley start improving within minutes of getting her first breathing treatment... I still didn't know what would happen next.

We rode the ambulance to the hospital. Direct admit to peds.

The nurse came in with a full mask.

I realized then that we were going to be their infection control patient. Droplet precautions.

Severe flu. Irritated airway. Croup.

IV. Labs. Xray. Breathing Treatments. Pulse Ox.

2 nights in hospital.


to be continued.

a little reflection

Dear Self,

When one gets to the grocery store and has survived 6 of 20 aisles with 2.5 year old in buggy, do not be befuzzled by the items remaining on your list.

Regular light bread.

And then have the following conversation in your head:

Huh? Why would I need that? Is that my handwriting? Yes, its definitely my handwriting.... but why would I need regular light bread? I don't even call it light bread... so that doesn't make any sense.... and I've got whole grain bread on the list 5 items up... maybe I just forgot that I already had whole grain bread and meant to write it again... I mean, why would I want regular light bread? I'm not planning on having sandwhiches... huh, I must have meant the whole grain.

Dear self,

That would be: regular light bulbs.

You know, to actually have a working light in the kitchen other than the built-in over-the-stove hood light.

which makes WAY more sense

especially when you get home and put groceries up in the dark.

Bowen & The Dress

Yes, The Dress. With a capital T and capital D.

We dedicated the girls at church yesterday. So, we had to make sure that the dresses I'd been holding out for them to wear would fit and be all perfect... so Thursday, Mom came by the house to assist in dress evaluation.

Hayley's fit like a charm... the 10 seconds she allowed us to try it on her.

Bowen...well, Bowen was... uh, a little, less than impressed with this experiment.

The dress I had for Bowen to wear was actually a dress given to Hayley when she was born and I promised the giver that Hayley would wear it for her dedication. Well, then things happened, and Hayley got to be 2 and didn't get dedicated before then... so we decided to use the dress on Bowen. It was more of a christening style dress...very formal, ribbons, lace trim and that material that pageant dresses are made of, but not fluffy like a pageant dress. (yes, I'm obviously super mom when it comes to fabric detection)

So, we were going to slide the dress over the clothes Bowen had on just to make sure that it would fit through the neck and shoulders.

Simple enough.


N. O. T.

As soon as I slipped the dress over her head, her face turned blood red, her mouth opened in silent horror and alligator tears started flowing... then, the screaming commenced! She screamed top-of-her-lungs-someone-is-cutting-my-arm-off screamed and screamed and screamed.

I looked at Mom, she looked at me...

More screaming.

So I go to try and get the dress off... which as a side note, was not too small or too tight or anything.

More screaming. Maximum intensity screaming.

We get the dress off and I start bouncing and soothing.

The screaming subsides... Bowen looks down at the dress that is now is Mom's lap and gives it the evil eye and goes "brhm!" at it.

So, um, not neccessarily a good sign for Sunday's attire.

Mom holds the dress up to put it back on the hanger.

More screaming when it hits her line of sight.

Oh. My. Word.

So we brought backup dresses yesterday, but for whatever reason, the fancy-smancy dress no longer offended Bowen on church day. (even though she spent all of Sunday school in a white onesie and tights so that we wouldn't be pushing our time limit of dress wear). Not only did she wear it, she put on a SHOW up on the pulpit stage, talking, waving her arms around... generally being the center of attention while the dedication was proceeding.

I think we've found our performer.

hayley's song..

yesterday I decided was a good day to start teaching Hayley a new song... she's got all the other ones pretty well down... Peter, James & John, check. Whole World in His Hands, check. Hokey Pokey, check. Jesus Loves Me, check.

So I decided to teach her "My God is So Big!" which, in case you've forgotten your preschool musical theology says "My God is so big, so strong and so mighty...there's nothing my God can not do. The mountains are His, the valleys are His, the stars are His handiwork too. My God is so big! So strong and so mighty, there's nothing my God can not do!"

As we were getting her settled for bed, and I was honoring her request to "lay me couple of minutes" after we'd sung our nightly rounds of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Loves Me, The Wheels on the Bus, Zaccheaus and Peter, James & John (what can I say? she had the best of her stalling britches on at bedtime) she started singing on her own....


My God is so Big.......and caught no fishes.


eerrrr, close enough.

Check Out Jo's New Single!!

Can't wait until there's a full music video is released!

Do it Jo!

Rules of Motherhood

and my musings on such....

Things you don't think about when you talk about starting potty training:

1. If you use a "little" potty... you have to empty and clean that thing. Yuck and yuck.
2. Messing up big time in a diaper is a lot easier to clean up than removing a EasyUp (we used the Pampers version of a Pull-Up) that is full and nasty.
3. Just because your toddler can successfully go to the potty does not mean they can successfully or even consistently wipe their own little hineys.
4. There is no such thing as "works for all" training for parents for training their kiddos. In fact, I'm not all together unsure that our toddler didn't train herself and we just observed the process.
5. That you should also be training your child as to when and where it is ok to proclaim their potty victories loudly... home, ok... public restaurant full of people, not so much.

Things you should forget about ever happening:

1. You or the infant child ever, ever, ever not smelling like spit-up. Ever.
2. Sleeping past 7 on a consistent basis, weekends included.
3. Just getting in the car and going out to eat supper (and subsequently, getting to eat supper once you arrive at a restaurant).
4. Privacy in the restroom once you start potty training.
5. If you have girls, being able to put on chapstick without sharing.

Things you have to look forward to talking your way out of:

1. Why daddies don't wear makeup and toenail polish and mommies do (or aunts and grandmas do, as in the case with makeup in our family)
2. Body parts. And how to keep ones hands off of them. Or for nursing moms, how not everyone has milk "in dere"
3. "I want to go to someone else's house" on every other day of the week.
4. "I not want ...." and how want doesn't determine what happens or doesn't happen.
5. Sharing vs. trading vs. taking turns vs. yours vs. mine vs. ours vs. 2-year-old-willpower.

Things that will baffle you:

1. When a child who has always gone to bed and stayed there is suddenly incapable of doing so without a complete and total meltdown after being sent back to bed 5 times in 10 minutes.
2. When a child remember something that you told them once and throws it back at you 3 weeks later in perfect timing.
3. What is constituted as suitable cartoons for kids... um, I think not, to almost everything. Dinosaur Train and SuperReaders.... Clifford the Big Red Dog and Curious George make the cut... Almost everything else does not.
4. Just how much of your own traits, inflections and behaviors can be mimicked by age 2.5
5. How a 2-year old is "still tired" every morning at 7 when its time to go to daycare, but same 2 year old is up at 6:30 ready for breakfast on Saturday.

You know that they say that each child is totally different from the last... this is not a joke. Do not underestimate that truth. I have one very mischeivous, octopus-armed 7 month old that will prove it in NO. TIME. AT.ALL.

cousins much?

Seriously Breeze... ease up with the photos

Dear Noon

Dear Noon/Lunch,

Please get here soon. I'm starving and have depleted my snack supply of desirable munchables for this morning.

Love,
Meghan


PS If its not too much to ask, can my french fries be super hot and salty from the cafeteria? Thanks a bajillion.

2011 Reverse Bucket List

Since I'm no good at resolutions, here's my Accomplished list for 2011, a Reverse Bucket List... but not quite as significant as a Bucket list at this point in the year.

And I would number these, but there is NO way, I'll ever, ever, ever remember what number I'm on, so no numbers for you.

• I have successfully changed 2 little boy diapers without getting me or any of his surroundings getting wet. No, we do not need to talk about my first attempt at this, thankyouverymuch.
• I have witnessed and cooperated with my 2 year old when she held her arm up and told me she needed some too (deodarant at 2? why of course she needs some! not. but she got some.)
• My Bowen has slept ONE.NIGHT. from 10 - 6.... please, please, please 2011, bring many, many more of these my way.
• I have made plans for one VERY fun night... March 18th... Mandisa and Anita Rinfroe in concert/comedic greatness... with my ladies' Bible groups... CAN.NOT.WAIT
• I have become one of those people who leaves their pillow Snuggie underneath a pew at church so I'll have it for next time.
• I have maintained my ban on Sunkist.

true story

Ok, I try not to put a whole lot of stuff out here that relates to work... but seriously, you have to know how funny this is.


We got a call about someone wanting to do community service at our facility.

We work with all kinds of programs through DOL, etc. for work training and we have a volunteer organization and clinical agreements with several of the local healthcare degree programs, so we have people coming in and out for various reasons, no biggie.

Well.

This person meant community service, community service. As in, part of probation.

Hmm.

Ok, what were you charged with?

DUI.

Oh ok, let me look into it and I'll call you back.

30 minutes later, after checking into it, I call her back.

Her ringback...

"It's a quarter after one, I'm a little drunk and I need you now.

no. way.

Dear... W2s

Dear W2s,

Please stop trying to kill me. Or make me have a heart attack. Or live in a state of constant panic.

I have problem solved 3 levels of crisis already.

And now I'm on a deadline.

As in, don't tear up anymore because you've got to be finished today.

The end.

Confession

I have a not-so-Christian thing to say.

I despise "forward-me-Jesus" emails.

I mean it.

Like, "you'll be blessed if you send this to 10 friends"

or

"If you don't forward this, you don't beleive"

or

"Jesus loves those who can pick 10 of their friends who will read this poem, sing kum-ba-ya and wear a robe to work"

ok, that last one was a stretch.

But, you get me, right?

I mean, really??

Do you really think, Jesus, Messiah, is in heaven debating beleivers worth based on email preferences?

I think not.

I think... if you want to be blessed, spend the 3 minutes it took you to read 5 pages of email addresses before you get to the 2 minute poem about denying Jesus in email deletion, to pray.

And really,

Death on a Cross is not equalized in loyalty by Jesus forwards.

Maybe that's harsh.

Maybe its very unChristian of me.

Maybe I'll get kicked out of the "good little pastor's wife" club (even though I don't know if I'm in it to begin with..haha)

But faith can not be marganilized or magnified by the number of Jesus emails we generate or receive any given day.

It is much, much bigger and about so much, much more.

That being said, if you sent me something that says I'm going to hell for not forwarding it... let me know how much of a blessing that turns out to be in your life. (wait, was that a little harsh?) You are now speaking with my deleted items folder. Hope you aren't disappointed.

And, for the record, I know someone else who doesn't agree with angels swarming around her head because she sent a forward. Right Lightening?

Disclaimer: Which has to be in small font or its not as powerful. This is not targeting any of you who email me. Please do not put your offended britches on and report me to my mother.

2011

Dear 2011,
One of these days, I'll get around to blogging in you. Until then, please enjoy some of my favorite bloggers posts which are listed on the right edge of your screen, or you know, actually be productive outside of the internet world.

Until next time,
Meghan

Just A Touch of Christmas

You local folks probably know by now how we spent the later part of our Christmas… but for those of you who don’t, we welcomed a nephew at 7:15 a.m. on December 26th, which means we arrived at the hospital around 4 p.m. on Christmas Day. Both Mom and Baby Boy, whose real name is Grady William Smith, are home and doing well and we’re all still working on catching up on our sleep from our hospital night.


I couldn’t help but think how Mary must have felt on the night of Jesus’ birth… and how very different that must have been from what we know of labor now. There was not a nurse, there were not pain medicines, there certainly wasn’t a nursery staff waiting to clean and bath baby Jesus and a doctor wasn’t standing by to proudly catch the baby and call the time of birth.

They were in a stable… a dirty, animal filled, most un-hospital of locations. We don’t know if Mary had any family with her other than Joseph. We don’t even know if anyone heard her labor pains and came to assist the teenager welcome her first son. There was no lactation nurse to coach her through those first feedings and no pediatrician to reassure her nerves that her baby was doing fine.

Yet, she had the hand of God upon her, even more than the way He holds mothers now. Her son, the Christ child, Heaven sent in the most literal of ways. In her lap, from her womb. I mean, woah. And as if that isn’t enough the largest army of angels arriving to glorify. You have to wonder if Mary and Joseph really thought it was happening to them… even after the angels visits, even with all of the prophesies aligning in their lives.


How do you wrap your mind, your heart around the events of Christ’s birth? Especially if you are His mother and father… first-time parents, scared, unsure, young and far, far away from your hometown. It is no wonder that the Nativity story is the most widely known story of the Bible, and yet, still one of the hardest for us to completely embrace. We don’t know what life was like outside of the words of Scripture, but I’m sure that it wasn’t all roses and rainbows in the days of Mary’s pregnancy and delivery.


As we go into another year, which came all too quickly I might add, I urge us all to look at the world around us and the roads we travel, and find in them the way Scripture is God-breathed in our every days. May our struggles bring us to the place of Job, our joys to the face of Elizabeth, our loyalties to Ruth and Naomi, and our salvation to our Lord.

trained...er, not really

So today I got my first training in little boys and diapers changing....


one that resulted in high-pitched shrieking and a change of clothes for Baby Boy.

yeppers, Aunt Meg has a lot to learn about little boys!!

a new year hayley-ism

Michael: Alright, you found them. Which one do you want to listen to?
Hayley: Wait, I need my D.C.

That would be, CD player