kristaphillips I had this post all written last night and was getting ready to post when all crap broke lose.
This is a shortened version of what I WAS going to post:
THROW UP
Threw up two mornings in a row. Has a nissen so shouldn’t throw up. I don’t think this is related to her change to bolus, not sure what is up.
WHOOPSIES (I didn’t shorten this up…)
Annabelle’s “normal” spot is in the living room on the floor with her boppy. (she doesn’t need the boppy to sit up, but it helps cushion her when she decides to fall backward!) This lets her see everything that is going on, feel like she’s “part” of the action.
Today, however, she was a little TOO part of the action. I was in the back of the house and asked Gabriella to bring me something (was doing laundry) and she ran upstairs to get it, like her wonderful exuberant self. She bounded down the stairs and across the living room… and OVER Annabelle.
Or, more aptly put, ONTO Annabelle.
I heard Lacy yell, “GABRIELLA! You stepped on Annabelle!”
And I ran, wondering why I wasn’t hearing Annabelle cry!
I got to the living room (Dad was in there too) and Annabelle, who had been sitting up, is STILL sitting up, however is leaned all the way forward, her head to her legs. At first I though, okay, she just got tilted, because she still wasn’t crying.
Then I got on my knees and looked at her poor baby face.
You know when a kid is crying and they are so upset they can’t even catch a breath to scream so they inhale a billion times before the loudest wail you’ve ever heard?
That is what Annabelle was doing. Her face had a look of PURE torture.
I picked her up and the flood of blood-curling screams commenced.
All the while, Gabby ran and shut herself into the bathroom, screaming because the whole thing scared her, rightfully so!
It took me a good 10 minutes to get Annabelle to calm down. Her sats were lower while she screamed (and from holding her breath!) but they recovered just fine when she calmed down.
Took me another 10 minutes to calm my Gabby down too.
All in all, they are both unscathed from the incident.
Annabelle will keep her spot on the floor, however she will be moved a little farther over to not be quite so in the middle!
Tea Party!
Had a tea party for my girls!! They dressed up, I gave them each a special necklace of mine to wear for the occasion, and used some tea dishes had from my Grandma Johnson. (They were VERY VERY careful with them!)
On the menu was:
Dog of hot (hot dogs)
Peanut butter de la jalee (PB&J)
Sandwich of Ham (ham sandwich)
Cheesy buwnay (little cheese crackers in the shape of bunnies)
Cookies
and of course TEA!
I served them, of course, complete BAD fake English accent and all! THEY LOVED IT! And Mommy had fun making them all smile and giggle!
Hopefully in a year or two, Annabelle can join our teaparty too!!
Praise/Prayer Request!
Hubby got a phone call for a job interview!! It’s with a staffing agency (so would probably be a temp to perm job) but anything is better than nothing! Please pray that God’s will WILL be done, and if this is the job for him, that he would get it and be able to start QUICKLY. And if it isn’t, that God show us what job IS!
~end previously written post~
So, this brings me to yesterday evening when Annabelle started to get cranky so Momma abandoned her attempt to blog.
Her crankiness got worse, and by bedtime, it was just constant screaming. Nothing helped. Rocking, Venting Gtube. Binky. Music. Dolly. After a half hour (and Momma having horrible memories of a few weeks ago and lifeflight and CPR) I called the doctor (to let them know we were bringing her in) my husband (to get his butt home from work) and my sister (to see if she could stay with the kiddos.)
She continued to cry the WHOLE way to the hospital… until about 5 minutes away from the hospital. Then she fell asleep. At the hospital, she just looked at everyone and was like, “What?”
Mom was GRRRR!
However, I am SO glad she was fine. We gave her tylenol there, and monitored her for a while, and did an EKG which was unchanged, then they let us go home. (They were going to keep her to monitor overnight, but we convinced them to let us take her home since she looked so much better.)
The only hmmmm thing is that her blood pressure was high. But I thought, she cried for so long, it might just take a while to calm down. But we took her to clinic today, and it was still high. VERY VERY high. (her top number was in the 140’s… which would be high for even ME!)
So we gave her a dose of a 2nd blood pressure medicine, monitored her for an hour, then retook her blood pressure. It had come down a little, so they let us come home. But we have to take her back again tomorrow for a recheck.
Oh, and today was the first day of school, so on top of not getting home until 3 a.m. (then having to give feeds and meds) I also had to take kiddos to school this morning, then take Gabby to her kindergarten testing before Annabelle’s clinic visit.
*yawn* I’m a bit tired, to say the LEAST.
So tomorrow is still a big day. Scott has his interview. Girls have first full-day of school. And Annabelle, Gabby and I are headed BACK to clinic for the 3rd time this week (4th trip to Nashville counting the ER.)
I, personally, would love to curl up in bed and sleep for 12 hours straight right now. Instead, I am going to bed early, giving 10 meds/feeds to my husband, to give me a few hours of sleep before I have to get up at 2a.m. for her feeds again.
I really do. It’s not easy. I’m not always very good at it. (aka please don’t come to my house because it is pretty much a MESS right now and I’d be horribly embarressed!) but I try, and it has such GREAT rewards, like eskimo kisses and bedtime hugs and little girl giggles and “Mommy, I love you”‘s. And those are just a FEW!
Trips to the ER and sleepless nights and crazy days and messy houses are SO very much worth it!!
{{{KRISTA}}}
Can't say much about the rest but praying for all of you.
But, my son has a Nissen. Had it at about 4mos. He couldn't burp for a couple months, but by a year could throw up. At 4, he still doesn't often even when he's obviously got a tummy bug, but he CAN.
He never had a G-tube and maybe they did Annabelle's tighter than Christopher's. I'm sure your docs told you. But I do know kiddos with a Nissen can throw up under the right circumstances… :/
Praying for all of you. And that whatever it is that's causing Annabelle to throw up goes away.
Wish I could have stopped to stay hi when I saw you sitting in the lobby at school. Praying as always!
We have had major issues with feeds – the only thing that helped (aside from breast milk only) was completely getting rid of formula and switching to a blended diet. I just wanted to share since you probably won't find a doctor that will suggest it to you. It may not be the best for Annabelle right now, but might be something to think about – it can slowly be introduced like you would baby food – then you can blend up family meals or make special blends. Look up blended food for tubies on Facebook.
Love the idea of the tea party! I wish I could do that but I have boys … my boys are more suited to "demolition" parties or "racing" parties!
I will be praying for Scott and his interview. Also, will pray for Annabelle's BP to be regulated, for the feed transition to go smoothly and for you to get some sleep.
That tea party sounds amazing….you are SUCH a good mom, Krista.
I'll be praying for the potential job! And for Annabelle's blood pressure to get figured out.
Carol, they did do Annabelle's extra tight (she had an odd shaped stomach and he said that was the only way he could do it.) My BIGGEST problem with her throwing up is that she has chronic lung disease and we can NOT have her aspirating stuff into her lungs. She seemed to cough up and "reswallow" whatever went into her airway, but it makes me nervous none-the-less! Plus, there is the whole thing of why she was throwing up in the first place, nissen or not!
Tara, It was nice to see and wave to you from afar!!!! Happy first (now second) day of school!!!!!
Anon: That's an interesting thought. I'll do some research. NOt sure dr's will go for it, but we ARE trying to do PO feeds and are starting to work with speech soon to eat by mouth, so we can switch to table food.
Tammi – THANKS for your prayers! yes, not sure your boys would appreciate the teaparty thing, HA!
Katie – THANKS girly:-)
Krista,
I just wanted to give you a cyber hug! I would have so done the same thing with taking. Annabelle back to be checked out. I have also had those "wasted" trips and was so glad when they didn't make me feel like a fool but always reasured me it was better to be safe than sorry.
I hope things are a little slower for a while and that you can catch up on your sleep. That always makes things easier to deal with.
I think your a great mom and I'm so glad you take time for tea parties with your girls. Those are the things that you all will remember.
Prayers for your husbands job to come though also.
Heart hugs and prayers,
I too love being a mom…whether or not I get any sleep. Oh…please don't drop by my house unless it is every other week and only on the day that the person that cleans has been there.
I am amazed at all you do and as much as I am excited about the boys being in school…the thought of drop-offs and pick-ups and trying to get ANYTHING done scares me. I know it will get done, but it always seems to take a while to get things organized when they go back.
Many prayers as always for Annabelle and your whole family.
I'm not a mom, but I love to read about it 🙂
That tea party sounds awesome!
Praying for you all and everything!
Krista, you are absolutely amazing. I love reading your posts and am so glad Annabelle is doing okay. So funny about her being run into. It must've been a shocker for her! LOL
I wish I was closer so I could help somehow, but will still send up prayers for all the kiddos and you and your man. 🙂