30 Days of Thanks: Day 29

Ok. So a little late. But I'm gonna finish out the month. Thank you Lord, for the health of my sweet Emma. She seems to be recovered, if not completely than awfully darn close to it. She has no fever; she has her appetite back. Even her coughing is almost completely gone. We still have a few days left of antibiotics for her ear infection, but I am so thankful I don't have a sick toddler anymore!

30 Days of Thanks: Day 21

Forgot/didn't have time to blog yesterday as we spent nearly all day out of town for a doctor's appointment. Yesterday I was thankful that Emma has made drastic improvements. The doc said her lungs sounded clear (yay!) and continue what we were doing although we could cut down some on the meds & breathing treatments as long as she continued to do well.

30 Days of Thanks: Day 20, Our Awesome Pharmacist

Today I am oh-so-grateful for our wonderful pharmacist. When I took Emma to the ER on Tuesday and she was diagnosed with RSV, the ER doc told me to follow up with our primary care physician ASAP. I told him we still had some albuterol for breathing treatments, so he did not write me a prescription (I will not do that again!) for more since we would be seeing our regular doc soon. I called before we even left the parking lot and had an appointment scheduled for Wednesday at 2:30. The next morning, the doctor's office called and said we could not get in until Monday because our doctor was ill and would not be in. Not thinking about the prescription, I said no problem because I was pretty sure I could handle this, having dealt with RSV once before.

Then came Friday. I notice we were getting down to just a couple of packages of medicine (5 doses each), and Emma had been needing treatments more often. So I called the doctor's office and told them I needed another doctor in the office to write a prescription for us so we could make through until Monday. I was told no problem. Then at 4:00 the receptionist called me back to say all the doctors had been in a meeting and closed early for the day without anyone writing Emma a prescription. No one was on call and no one was left at the office. Sigh.

So I called the ER we went to on Tuesday. That doc was not on call then or at anytime this weekend. No one from our doctor's practice was on call all weekend. Her old pediatrician was not on call, nor was anyone from his office- all weekend. Don't get me wrong- the nurse I was talking to was GREAT. She tried everything she could to get me a prescription without having to bring Emma back, exposing her to more germs with an already weakened immune system or exposing more people to RSV (including checking the on-call schedule for the whole weekend for us for every doctor we had ever seen). But legally, there's only so much they can do because the ER doc we saw did not write anything in her chart about needing a prescription. (Here's where I began kicking myself for telling him we didn't need one.) I told her we would come in to the ER if we had to and hung up, thanking her for all her help.

As a last ditch effort, I call our pharmacy and explained what was going on to our pharmacist, who had already helped a lot by dosing out Mucinex and Triaminic for a 25 pound 2 year old (I honestly think we'd have ended up back at the hospital without that). He said, "No problem. I'm sure your doctor will ok a refill on Monday. Come on up and pick up some more medicine anytime before we close." What a life-saver! He saved me a 45 minute trip to the ER where we would have been had to wait who knows how long while exposing her to who knows what just for a prescription refill.

So long story, but I LOVE our pharmacist! That's the kind of treatment you don't get at big name stores, but he considered it no big deal. So Thanks Shane! You're the best!

30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 18

Today I'm thankful to have off next Wednesday already so I can go to the midwife appointment I had to reschedule. I did not want to drag Emma all the way to OKC today OR expose anyone there to RSV. It's bad enough that I am exposed, but I don't want to expose any other pregnant women- or worse, newborns- to it!

30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 15

I had a post in my head yesterday but never got a chance to sit down and type it out. So here's yesterday ;)

Today I am thankful for the peace we have in God. For the ability to simply trust and know that all is in His hands, and that He wants the best for us all. As I care for my little girl, ill with RSV for the second time, I am honestly not even worried. I will do my best to care for her and ease her discomfort, but I rest easy knowing that all is in God's hands.

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." Jeremiah 29:11

Battle of the blog

Just as I was determined I was going to keep up on my blog, Emma came down with RSV and we spent some time at Jackson County Memorial Hospital in Altus. She now owns her own nebulizer (which I am pleased to say we have not used in a couple of weeks) and got IV fluids, antibiotics, and oxygen. She wouldn't eat more than a teaspoon or so of baby food and didn't nurse well, so she lost a couple of pounds but is all caught back up now.
Emma's now sleeping in her own bed- not because we didn't enjoy snuggling with her all night anymore but because we were unintentionally waking her throughout the night and she sleeps much better in her own room.
Emma is also learning so much so fast! She has been pulling herself up to standing since she was 4 1/2 months old. She started crawling at 7 months, got her first (and so far only) tooth 2 weeks after that, and started "cruising" or walking holding on to couches, furniture, etc. at 8 months and is getting better and better at it! She has said some words although I'm not convinced she knows what she's saying. So far she has said Mama and Dada many times, Jaya (the dog) several times, Layla (one of the cats) a couple of times, and "Bye-bye Dada" once(well several times but only one occasion).
Pictures when I get home and more blogging (barring unforeseen circumstances) in the future.

I'm baaaaaccckkk...

Ok. I've been a total slacker. I really enjoy blogging, but it seems life has just gotten in the way the last couple of months. I'm determined to keep it up from now on. (We'll see) In stead of going on and on, I'll be brief and put up a few months' pictures in review a little later.
Well, we've all been ok, aside from Jason's gout and some stupid Oklahoma (or Snowklahoma as it has been renamed) weather. Thanksgiving was great, Christmas was wonderful too although stretched out due to a blizzard. Emma will be 7 months old tomorrow and is just so much fun! She's babbling almost constantly now, has been sitting up on her own for almost 3 months now and has pulled herself up on furniture for a couple of weeks now. She has tried many different fruits and vegetables and a couple of different meats. She loves trying to grab my food off my plate, but doesn't have any teeth yet so she doesn't get much.
I've been watching Jason's cousin's two kids- Rebecca who is nearly 4 and Cullen, 3 1/2 who have been having a blast playing with Emma everyday!
Pictures to come soon and I promise to be better about updating so come back soon!

Emma's first cold

Emma's just getting over her first cold. She & I (Jason had to work) went to OKC Saturday to my friend's son's first birthday party. It was great getting to catch up with friends that I haven't seen much (or some of them at all) since we moved. Then we met my dad and little brother for dinner on our way out of town (and I forgot to take pictures!) at Waffle House. By the time we got home, Emma was congested and "snarfing" (that's what my mama always called it) so we had to use the "booger-getter" (another of mom's euphemisms) which she DID NOT like! By the time we got to Brenda's after church for lunch, she had a low-grade fever. I gave her Tylenol and we took a nap. She seemed to be feeling better so we went back for church Sunday evening, but by bedtime, she was choking om the drainage frequently and her fever was getting worse.

She seemed a little better Monday morning, but not for long. She's on SoonerCare now since she can't be on our new insurance through O-EPIC, and we had to switch doctors because the old one didn't take it, and they wanted me to bring her in Wednesday. I kinda grumbled to myself and made the appointment, thinking to myself that if I could get in sooner somewhere else, we just wouldn't go to this doctor. When they started taking all our info and got to date of birth, she said, "Oh! This is just a little baby!" To which I replied, "Yes that's why I hoped I could get her in today since she's had a fever for 2 days now." She told me there was no way today would work but put me on hold and came back to tell me they could squeeze me in first thing in the morning. I was ok with that (by this time after multiple calls to SoonerCare it was almost 3:00) so we went Tuesday at 8am, and I really liked this new doctor. He was very thorough and tested her for the flu and took blood for a CBC and blood culture just in case but told me he was pretty sure she just had a viral infection (a cold) but to keep a cloise eye on her and bring her back right away if her fever returned since fever can be dangerous in such a young baby. Other than a couple more run-ins with the booger-getter, she's been just fine since then, but we're getting ready to go back for a follow-up appointment.

Home again (Again)

Emma responded well to treatment and we are back home now. Her jaundice was not severe, so we were not too worried about it. (I had severe jaundice as an infant and turned out fine.) She was also dehydrated though. I had to have Magnesium Sulfate in my IVs at the hospital and was told that would delay my milk coming in (but it's great now), and apparently Emma wasn't getting enough water out of the colostrum, so we were worried about not having any wet diapers for a very long time. She did have to be on IVs for her stay because of the dehydration (and bili-lights apparently make that worse) and didn't have much of an appetite because of the extra hydration. But now we are back to normal with dirty and wet diapers and feedings. I'll try to post a more cohesive birth story and re-admission story at some point, but my brain is mush now and prbably will be until I get used to our new sleeping schedule:)

Back to the Hospital

Yesterday when we were discharged, they said Emma had slight jaundice and we needed to come back today to recheck it and see if it was improving or worsening. We took her in for a quick blood draw after church and she did so well! She didn't even cry! Unfortunately, the doctor said her levels were worse and she needs to be re-admitted. The good news is since she was discharged yesterday she will not go back to the nursery and will have her own room in pediatrics, so Jason and I can stay with her, and it won't even interfere with breastfeeding. Of course we are concerned and appreciate any thoughts and prayers sent our way, but we are thankful we will be able to be with her. Our internet was spotty while we were there before, so I can't promise updates before we get home and we are unsure how long it will be (it just depends on how long it takes her to respond).

Sick of being sick

Sorry the ultrasound pics haven't been posted. I don't know how to work the scanner and Jason has been busy. I'm also super-sick. My really bad allergies turned into a REALLY bad sinus infection overnight. Every tooth in my mouth hurts. Every bone and muscle in my face hurts. The right side of my face just under my eye is so tender I keep looking in the mirror to see if it is bruised. It hurts to laugh, smile, chew, cough... (you get the idea). It even hurts to wear my glasses because they sit on my face. And my nose is running so much it's raw from blowing it and I've taken to shoving kleenex up my nose instead of blowing because it hurts less. So, needless to say, blogging has not bee the top of my priority list. The good news, however, is that I am far enough along to take antibiotics now. I don't know what I would do if I wasn't. Hopefully, I'll feel lots better in a day or two and will get the pics up soon.