Well, I thought that I was going to have enough on my plate with bringing home a new baby on Monday and adjusting to life with 2 babies under the age of one...but of course, the Lord has other plans, and like the amazing reality show producer he is, he found a way to spice things up even more for the eager viewers that tune in to watch me and cheer for me from heaven...
Last night happened... and I'm sure friends, relatives and loved ones waited to see how things would turn out in breathless anticipation...
Like any normal dinner time, we made the decision early on if we had anything that could be "shared" with Faith. We have some fresh food feeders and they have been helping her to learn how to chew, while giving her opportunities to eat foods in their "normal" forms without choking...to me it has always been a win/win situation...
We were having steak. I chopped off and end piece and put it into the feeder (something we had done before with no issues) and handed it to her. About 10 minutes into dinner, the Little Diva started gagging...we didn't worry too much. For starters, the food was in the feeder and had no way of making it into her mouth to be swallowed. At first, I figured she had just been her overzealous self (because she loves to chew on meat in the feeder usually) and had gotten it too far back in her mouth. However, the gagging continued. I looked over at her to see that she was getting a contact rash around her lips and her neck was breaking out into hives...
This wasn't new either, I'd seen it happen before with foods she was allergic to. We would take it away, give her some water and watch her for an hour or so to make sure it wouldn't get worse (which it never had.) Of course, I was perplexed how a piece of steak would cause her to break out...but whatever. She gagged and spit up a bit and we pulled her out of the high chair.
We gave her some water, but then opted to give her a little Gatorade as a treat (again, something we'd done before with now problems) Well, I was watching her and noticed that the red rash was travelling up the side of her face. I decided to give her some carrots with her allergy/asthma medicine mixed in (something we had to do anyway) to help combat the rash. I knew it would take a little while to kick in, but I figured it wouldn't hurt. One spoonful of carrots went down, but then the second spoonful confirmed my fear- her airway was starting to close off. She started choking on the carrot puree and then threw up... I ran for her nebulizer to see if I could help her constricting airway at all with her albuterol while Jeff and our parents cleaned her up and watched her.
We didn't make it through much of the nebulizer treatment because I noticed that her eyes were starting to swell shut and get hives around them. I looked up at Jeff and said, "We need to take her to the ER now." Jeff quickly turned to find his keys, I passed her off to one of our parents (its all a bit hazy I don't know if it was my mom, Jeff's mom, or my dad...) and ran to find her insurance card in my wallet because I was thinking I would stay behind to take care of Phillie since I've basically been completely in charge of her schedule since we got home...but in the end, I couldn't let my baby go to the hospital without me.While I was grabbing the insurance card, Faith vomited again in our bedroom as Jeff carried her around collecting the rest of the things that he needed like his wallet and keys. He whisked her down the stairs and asked someone to clean up the vomit on the floor, I blurted out quick instructions for taking care of Phillie and ran down the stairs and out the door to the car.
Jeff had Faith strapped in, but I couldn't get into the car on the driver's side (our garage is a snug fit for a single car at best) Jeff told me I would have to wait to get in...so I paced...I then asked Jeff if he had his phone because I didn't have mine. He said no and went into the house to collect his phone. I opened the passenger side rear door where Faith was sitting and stroked her hair. She was having a hard time breathing, her eyes were weeping and she was rubbing them. Her face was turning red and swelling up. It seemed like it took a million years for Jeff to get his phone. I was getting frustrated waiting, wondering why it was taking him so long.
Just as I was getting ready to go shout from the bottom of the stairs that we didn't have time to lolly gag, Jeff came through the door like a white knight. He pulled the car out of the garage and I hopped into the back...he told me to put my seatbelt on...minor problem...after moving some furniture or something else large, the seatbelt was pinned behind the seat...so I was seatbelt-less...but I wasn't about to sit in the front. I needed to watch my baby...I hoped that if a cop was mean enough to pull us over, he/she would understand.
Jeff sped to the hospital, in spite of my pleas for him not to...I'm sure he was in the front thinking that he just wanted and needed to get her there and that if he had to speed to do it, so be it...and I was in the back thinking, " If we get pulled over, its just going to delay us getting to the hospital more and could mean the difference between a few hours in the hospital or more time, and I'm not wearing a seatbelt and if he rear ends someone on Boulder Highway because he doesn't see a stop light, I am toast!"
I tried to keep Faith occupied by singing her favorite playtime songs: The Eensy Weensy Spider, Popcorn Popping, etc. She stopped crying and smiled at me as I sang, but you could see that behind that smile was the "sicker than a dog" face that has been terrifying mothers for centuries...We got to the hospital and Jeff didn't even park the car. He cradled her and ran in with me close behind. He held back while I ran to the admitting window and said that my baby was having an allergic reaction. A few nurses ran to the front to assess her and they bumped us to the front of the line to check in. A doctor came up front to look at her because her oxygen levels weren't bad, but they weren't good either and he wanted to assess if they needed to pull her back right away or not. Apparently, her reaction was slow enough that we didn't need to be rushed right back.
Here is the funny thing...even though she was having a hard time breathing, even though she was red and puffed up, she was still smiling at everyone and being her normal friendly self. She charmed all the ladies at the front desk and the nurse that was taking her vitals to make sure she was okay. Even in a crisis she is a social butterfly.
Her reaction started to wear off a bit before they got us back into triage. She wasn't wheezing anymore (thank heavens) but she was still covered in hives and her face and eyes were still swollen. The doc looked her over and said he thought we'd be able to give her oral medication since the swelling was starting to go down and that they would watch us for an hour and send us home, the little albuterol she'd had, had helped to keep her airway from closing all the way (thank heavens for quick thinking)...
Well, apparently the swelling hadn't quite gone down enough...
The nurse who treated us asked if she took medicines well...and normally the answer to that question is yes...but her little body was just not ready to swallow ANYTHING yet...she fought the medicine when she realized she couldn't swallow it. She spit out most of the liquid Benadryll and we decided to take a break because she was sobbing uncontrollably...after our break, we laid her back and I tried the old "baby" technique of squirting the steroid medication by the side of her cheek so it would bypass her tongue and she wouldn't be able to spit it out...Well, she gagged and then SURPRISE more vomit...a lot more vomit...all over me, all over the nurse and her chart, all over everywhere...the nurse went to talk to the doc. When he came back he said that he was sorry but we were going to have to give her some shots...All I was thinking was, "Don't be sorry, I don't need an explanation. I WANT her to have the drugs!" I even said what I was thinking out loud. Our nurse seemed surprised that I wasn't more worried about her getting shots- but at that point I knew it was the only way that the meds she needed would be in her system and I would rather her have 2 minutes of pain than a night in the hospital...
A few minutes later, our awesome nurse came back with another nurse. The ER was full so we'd been sitting in the hallway. They had to take us back to the L&D ER suite (the only room that wasn't being used.) to administer the drugs. The counted to 3 and gave her shots in both legs at the same time so that we didn't have to poke her two different times in a row. By that point, Faith had fallen asleep so this made her a VERY unhappy camper. They apologized that they didn't have another room and said they couldn't let us stay in that one just in case they needed it and asked if we'd be willing to sit in the hall and try to calm her down again. We happily complied. We were just glad that they hadn't made us wait until there was a room to treat her.
Faith screamed and all the nurses came by and lamented with her. One of the nurses that had given her the shots came back and tried to make her happy with a glove that had a face drawn on it...she screamed even louder...we all laughed and I thanked the nurse for her efforts and explained that it was just way past her bedtime and getting the shots hadn't helped much. Eventually, she fell asleep, but people would approach us and wake her up, but she finally stayed quiet.
The doctor came back to look at her, her rash was almost completely gone (except for a few patches on her neck) and so he decided to let us leave a little early.
Of course, I had thought that with a shot of Benadryll in her system she would sleep through the night, but I wasn't so lucky...and of course, Phillie decided to let me know that she knew I was gone and to make up for lost time...We played the in bed, out of bed game until 1 AM, Faith woke up at 1:30 wanting something to eat, and then Phillie woke up at 2 wanting to eat and then we played the in bed, out of bed game until 4, and Faith wanted to eat again at 4:30...So, I am one tired mamma... one tired mamma who doesn't nap and feels like she can't because Faith's throat is still a little swollen and she still is gagging intermittently on her bottles (I have refused to give her solids today because I don't want another throw up fest because of the gagging), plus I have to set a timer and be on top of Phillie's feedings since she is so "easy" that she doesn't want to bother me when she wants to eat...
I'll get this down, right?
I love having company, but part of me thinks it may be easier when there aren't as many "cooks in the kitchen" because I will know when both girls have eaten and be able to get a REAL schedule for the girls. I am grateful for the help and so glad that my parents and Jeff's mom could come to help, don't get me wrong, but I'm also OCD about certain things and in my sleep deprived state I find myself having more than a few "open mouth, insert foot" moments when people are just trying to help and then I feel bad because I know I've hurt my mother's feelings, Jeff's mom's feelings, and my dad's feelings...sadly, I have a hard time letting go because, to me, its just easier to do it myself because I know that things will get done the way that I know that they work... I know there are other ways that things will work, and I keep trying to remind myself of that, but its hard to let go when you're a creature of habit who likes things in a certain order...
Someday I will conquer my OCD tendencies, but that won't be any time soon...my OCD tendencies help keep this house in order and right now I feel a little like we're living in chaos since I'm not on my regular schedule...
So why not have a trip to the ER...let's add to the chaos- maybe then I will learn what God is trying to teach me...maybe...
Hugs and loves until next time darlings.
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