Maddie's first Valentine's Day - a visit to the ER!

Well, this has been the longest Valentine's Day ever!! I think I mentioned in a previous blog that Maddie had her first cold. She's been congested and coughing most of the week, but it never seemed too serious until she woke up around 3:00 this morning. I was already awake because Travis was having a coughing fit and her breathing suddenly sounded very odd - almost like she was stuttering and I could tell that she was struggling to breathe. So I picked her up and rocked her and she was acting like she was hungry so I nursed her for a bit and she seemed to fall back asleep, but then her breathing started sounding horrible again so I start heading downstairs where Travis was hacking his head off and she suddenly spits up everything she just ate down my shoulder and back which is not like her at all. I told Travis that I think she needed to be seen by a doctor and of course we had the older three kids upstairs sleeping; so he stayed home with them and I headed to the ER with Maddie. Her breathing the whole way there was making me a nervous wreck - I could really tell that she was working hard to breathe. We got to the ER and they admitted us and this is when the real fun started! The nurses that were working were fantastic - they were so sweet to Maddie and very kind to me, but they had quite a few problems doing what they needed to do b/c Maddie's veins and all are so small. First, they wanted to put in a cathedar to get a urine specimen and the nurse tried 2 or 3 times and couldn't get it so she called in another nurse who was finally able to. Not fun! Then they wanted to start an IV line - yippee. They put this cream stuff that would numb her skin on three different spots so that they had three different spots to choose from and of course trying to put an IV line in a baby's vein is not easy so it took multiple times to finally get it, but once they did I noticed that it was leaking so while they were trying to fix the leak they accidentally pulled the IV out!! NNNNOOOOOO!!!!! So then they had to put another one in, but in the other arm this time and they didn't bother to use any numbing stuff. That took a new nurse to finally get the job done. THEN they wanted to draw blood which I thought they could just use the IV, but nope - they used the opposite arm and the girl stuck and stuck her poor little arm and finally the girl was able to get some blood for two vials. BUT apparently it wasn't enough b/c another nurse came back in later to draw some more blood!! Finally, that was all done and they admitted us. So since about 6:30am we've been in a private room and she's been receiving breathing treatments, a bag of antibiotics and a bag of fluids for dehydration. She tested negative for RSV, pneumonia and influenza so she has some sort of a bronchial infection. She has tubes coming out of everywhere too - there's the IV coming out of her arm, a thingy on her foot to measure her oxygen and oxygen up her nose. So it's impossible to cuddle with her b/c of it all and that drives me nuts! She slept a lot during the day and is finally asleep for the night - at least I hope b/c I am pooped. The nurses have all been great and they all just love her hair! She does weigh over 12 pounds now which doesn't surprise me considering how much she eats. But hopefully we can go home tomorrow because she sounds so much better now. To top things off - Travis walked over to the Saturday clinic to see if he could get something for his cough and come to find out he has Bronchitis and something else that he can't remember. UGH! So he's got some meds that will hopefully help him out and let him get some good sleep. Oh and here's the weird thing - the bed they have in the room for me to sleep on has a mind of its own b/c it doesn't matter if nobody's sitting on it or even when I am sitting on it, but not moving - it'll start moving all on its own! Suddenly the foot of the bed will go up or the head of the bed will move - it's really weird.

The older three kids spent the day with grandmas while we were at the hospital and Grandma Joanne had a very special V-day planned for all 6 of her grandkids! She was brave enough to have our 3 kids and Travis' sister's 3 kids over for a dinner by candle light and then they all are spending the night. Yikes!! Travis called to make sure that she was still alive and that the kids didn't have Grandpa John tied to a chair or something and it sounds like the night was going very well and the kids were having a blast. I had planned on making a steak dinner for the two of us to have, but we'll have to do that another night. We did get milkshakes from the DQ though thanks to Grandma Carol & Grandpa Marvin - YUM-O!

From what I heard, Lexi did GREAT at her volleyball game today! She told me that she wasn't as afraid of the ball this time and got a couple of good hits in and a good serve. I knew she'd get braver the more she played! We love that the kids are getting more active, but they're going to run us ragged! Kiegan was telling me the other night that he wants to play basketball at the Rec Center, baseball at the Boys & Girls Club and JFL Football (only if Travis will be his coach). Oh and he's also mentioned wanting golf lessons....we'll see about that one. Patrick has also been going to a wrestling clinic so they're all busy with something!

Tuesday morning we get our new upstairs windows put in. That will be so nice! I won't know what to do without having the rattling windows to listen to and the boys room having snow on the floor during the winter. Yes - that's how old our house is! Eventually, we'd like to replace the dining room windows and the bay window in the living room. We think it'll make a huge difference on our heating/cooling bills.

It's almost 11:00 now - I should probably try to get some sleep. Cross your fingers that we get to go home tomorrow!