Mom stayed Monday and helped me get the house back in order. She and Ash had all the Christmas down in a few minutes. It was nice to get it cleaned up and the house looking better.
Ryan spent a few days close to home and helped me with the annual clean out. He is NOT a pack rat, and it is nice. I feel so free of clutter and the house is easier to keep clean. I am always sad to throw away stuff, the suburban was packed with DI donations. But I am always glad to have it gone! What an end to 2012!
Now that is much better!
Rett got his gown dirty and I didn’t want another one! So we got dressed to go home. Ryan had brought in a few toys and the ipad (thank goodness!) All the new nurses wanted to see the baby who could play the ipad. It really was a life saver because he was NOT wanting to stay in that room another minute. Because we were tested for whooping cough (which results take days to get back) we were quarantined to our room. I knew he didn’t have it, but I let them test him anyway, I didn’t realize it would lock us up (and cost a lot of money). That was pretty torturous! Sunday dragged on. I knew everyone was at church, Bob and Sara were blessing their new baby and we were stuck in the hospital. We missed all of our Telford Christmas parties. The other kids got to go to most of it, but Ryan, Rett, and I were out! We were sad.
I had to take a picture of our room for the kids. Emma had a million questions for me when we got home. Her room is labeled St Agatha’s Hospital. She loves to play nurse and has a new bunch of face masks and other odds and ends I brought her from the real hospital for her collection.
Rett was back to his normal self for sure. He was all over the place and eating and drinking much better on his own now. Ryan came after church and dinner and brought us home. We are trying to be really careful that we don’t get any more sickness in this little body! We are so thankful for modern medicine and that we have a healthy little boy again!
On the second day in the hospital the respitory therapist though it would be a good idea for Rett to get around. He had been all tangled up in bed for too long! I like the idea of him getting un hooked, but I didn’t think he would really move from his bed. I was surprised, he climbed right up in the window to look out at the trucks driving by. Another new word he learned to say in the hospital! He ran up and down the hall until he got coughing too much. It pretty much did him in for a while.
We had to keep his arm wrapped up really good so he wouldn’t pull out that iv. That is the last thing we wanted to have to re-do.
He was so excited when Dad got there. He pointed at the door and said Dad all night long after he left. Mom came early this morning to take care of the other kids. It was nice so then Ryan could come and go as he pleased. Sara also kept kids, and Grandma Telford had a few. I was so glad to have so much help. I didn’t even worry about the others at all, just missed them. I haven’t ever been so homesick in my adult life! It was quite lonely.
We were glad to let him go and coughing is actually the best thing for him, to try and expel the bad stuff in his lungs. He wasn’t too happy to be tethered back up after he had been free. By the afternoon he was able to be off of the oxygen completely. We just had to sleep the night with out any and then we could go home. I spent all night with one eye on the oxygen monitor. He stayed in the low 90’s all night on no oxygen. We were happy.
On the night of the 26th Rett just still was feeling so bad, and we were getting really nervous. In the middle of the night I looked up a Urgent care in the Boise area and we took him in as soon as it was open. We didn’t get the news we wanted. His X ray showed pneumonia concentrated in the right lung. The doctor figured it was viral, (which antibiotics cant fix). He wanted us to go to the hospital but we just wanted to get him going on the antibiotics and get a breathing treatment to open his lungs and then I knew he would be better. We went back to Mom and Dads and got the kids and went home. He stayed the same, not improving he was pretty much in and out of sleep for the last couple of days. We gave him a breathing treatment at home before bed and he slept all night in his bead. I went to get him out in the morning and he couldn’t catch his breath from coughing. His lips were dark looking so I knew he couldn’t get good air. We gave him another treatment with the nebulizer and then took him to the Gooding ER. We went there because we knew we could get treated immediately. (In Twin we would have had to wait for hours.) His oxygen levels were in the high 70’s when we got there. They hooked him right up to an iv and we worked on trying to get his oxygen up. It did get a little better, but when he was awake he wasn’t cooperating with breathing treatments. We did four treatments twenty minutes apart. We put him in one of those oxygen tents and his oxygen was still in the lower 80’s. When we talked with the doctor he said one of the doctors wouldn’t touch us (a baby) the other doctor was willing. But we just thought we should take him to a facility better equipped for taking care of babies. The Doctor agreed. So Rett and I got a ride in an ambulance over to Twin Falls. He perked up a little and looked around while we drove. I thought the other kids would have LOVED this! Ryan followed behind in the suburban.
They took us right to the pediatric floor where they stuck his oxygen tubes in his nose with sticky stickers and he couldn’t pull it off (well not as easily pull it off)
He wasn’t much for fighting anyway he just laid there most of the time. He did cry every time someone would come in the room. He was tested for EVERYTHING,(influenza, RSV, whooping cough) and everything came back negative. We did not let them poke him anymore than we thought necessary, which was twice (once for the iv and one other blood draw) He was just a sick little boy. Ryan and I were just so concerned about getting him some nourishment, he hadn't eaten good for days, finally Friday afternoon they put some “food” in his iv. That was a great comfort to us.
He slept pretty good the first night. He had an oxygen monitor taped around his big toe that had a red light on it. As soon as the lights went out he was wondering about that red toe. He yanked it off all night long. He also learned how to say toe.
It was a long day, thankfully we got him stable and going on the right track. He had 2 needle pokes, 2 X rays, 5 nebulizer treatments, antibiotics, continuous oxygen (up to two liters in the night) and constant poking and prodding from really good nurses, we were happy with them. Ryan left us there and went home to take care of kids.
I love traditions! We had fondue up at Bret and Jen’s house. It didn’t disappoint. Rett was screaming crying though it all, he was not a happy boy. The table of boys, we hoped they would finish and move on so the adults could sit but they loved cooking their own meat! What boy wouldn’t!
The teens and Ryan, Trish,and Eric.
Aunt Kristin with the tweens.
Jen and Kiley gave us a recital on Jen’s beautiful grand piano.
Dallie and Claire spent as much time coughing on each other as they did playing! They did both feel better by this day so they were playing more.
We had a great gift exchange. It was a fun night.
Christmas Eve is always a LONG night. This year was no exception, we had kids asking all night long if it is time yet. We, I consented at 5:30 mainly because I couldn’t sleep anymore either. We made out pretty good again this year. Rett slept through all of the opening. Claire was cute but definitely not her normal over excited self.
I didn’t take too many pictures I guess… My favorite gift for Ashley was her cute new duffle with her name on it! So cute!
That was pretty much all, I love the mess of the morning, it is all so exciting!
Then Rett joined us, but couldn’t be coerced into opening any of his own presents, his bus was from Santa so he didn’t have to open it or work at it, he played with it for a minute.
The other kids opened his presents and were happy to do so! We packed up shortly after and went to Grandma Nielson’s for a few days.
Christmas Eve was a pretty low key day, we were just hanging out waiting for the evening’s festivities to start.
Claire is so much like me it is amazing, but then she can make Ryan’s funny faces, that only Ryan (and Claire) can make!
We went to Bob and Sara’s for Christmas Eve. We had a good time, really good food and great entertainment. The best part was our “LIVE” baby Jesus. Wyatt played the part perfectly, the donkey had to help keep the binkie in, but it was perfect!
We had a few extra’s too. One of Justin’s friends from school Dillon and his little sister Courtney. That was really fun for Justin! Claire was asleep through the entire thing, you can see her feet in the second picture, she was feeling bad too.
The kids opened their PJ’s Christmas Eve, some were really excited.
Some not so much, poor sick babies!
Claire was sick also, she wanted to be so happy but we just didn’t get the enthusiasm out of her that we normally have, even if it is just pajamas.
Rett didn’t open one present himself. He just was too sick.
Rett was feeling pretty crumby and fell asleep on the couch like this,
This would be no big deal for any of our other kids, but Rett only sleeps in Rett’s bed. He wasn’t feeling good at all!
Poor baby.
We had a busy, good Sunday. Our family was the speakers for Sacrament Meeting. It was fun to have the kids speak with us. I didn’t have time to get nervous because I was trying to help everyone else be ready for their parts. The kids did great. We were pleased with them. Ryan and I both told stories from our favorite and memorable Christmas’s. I was pleased, Ryan wasn’t. He is hard to please when it comes to talks though.
We also got to do sharing time in Primary. That was fun! I would do that 100 times rather than speaking! The kids had a great time, and so did we. We are happy to be done though and just enjoy this week!
Claire’s favorite primary teacher Sister Buckner made her a hooded towel. She told me all day that she thought she needed a bath.
We love our ward and all of the people in it, this is a great place to live! We feel blessed!
The snow around our place has definitely been broken in! The kids have been at it every day! Claire came in with her “Merida” hair and had a branch all tangled in it. She didn’t even realize it. This poor girls hair is WILD!
(Ash helped with the pictures) We have been enjoying our few days off before Christmas. It has been really nice!
The school parties were wild and crazy as usual. I needed to be three places at once. Ashley had an away game, thankfully Ryan could go watch. I was helping in Emma’s class and went back and forth to Justin’s class. Rett was a wild mad man as usual, he was screaming by the time it was done. Everything happened right during his nap time and he wanted to go out side and it was 12 degrees! Needless to say it wasn’t my favorite party, and we were glad to get home and be out of school for a while.
Emma’s class made hats out of balloons, it was fun.
Justin was excited for his gift exchange.
Justin’s teacher included Claire and gave her this fun zebra striped blankie, she has hauled it all around since. Jaci and Claire were in conversation here;
We are so happy to have a break for a while!
