Last Days of School

Justin’s fun teacher made up a theme for each day the last few days of school.  This was dodge ball day and you had to wear a funny outfit or costume.  This was as funny as Justin would get, and most of it didn’t actually make it to school, he got too embarrassed to dress up.

Emma spent the last two days of school sick, we got the sickness at our house.  Rett got it, then me, Ash, and lastly Emma.  She couldn’t believe anyone would have to miss the last day of school!  She perked up and I took her in for the last afternoon.

We are so happy to be out of school for the SUMMER!!!

Here We Go.

The insurance claims are starting to roll in now.

And guess how much they are paying today.

I am so excited to see the rest of the bills come in. Yuck!

Where to Begin…

I have lots to catch up on on the journaling.  We had  a different Christmas.  (I say different because it is to sad to say “BAD” Christmas, and it really wasn’t all bad, just some bad)  Rett got really sick on Sunday before Christmas and then never got much better.  After a quick trip to the Quick Care on Thursday (27th) in Caldwell told us he had pneumonia, we decided to come home because he was just not feeling good and I thought he would be better in his own bed and on antibiotics.  He didn’t get better over night, actually his breathing was not good at all so Friday morning we went to the hospital and stayed there for three days.

Day 1

Day 3

He is feeling much better and we are glad to be home. This is just a summary of our crazy Christmas break!  We don’t ever want to do that again!

Rett’s Follow Up.

Rett went back for a follow up appointment, everything looked good.  His lungs sound clear, which is really good.  The Doc just encouraged me to keep him from getting sick, easier said than done.  We have been staying home a lot.  After his appointment we went to get a few groceries…. four carts and two hours later…

I haven't been grocery shopping since before Christmas so we were a little low on things.  Hopefully we can “hibernate” a little longer now.

Hospital Day 3

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!

Rett’s Hospital Visit Day 2

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.

Rett’s Trip to the Hospital

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.

Just Not Feeling It.

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.

Kind of Sick

We have been kind of sick at our house this week.  The kids all have a runny nose, cough, and all of that yuck.  Claire bear fell asleep at six o'clock, she of course woke up at ten and then didn’t want to go to bed at all!  It was not a fun night!  We have had lots of rough nights this week, I hope we are getting over it soon!

Sick Days

We are finally getting our winter flu I guess.  It has been so nice to not be sick at all this winter, I knew we couldn't escape it though….  Justin got sick Friday night (of course always over the weekend when the Drs office is closed)  He was miserable, like not talking, and just laying around.  Finally Sunday morning he woke up and was talking again and brought out some toys to play with.  I knew right away he was feeling better.

 

I did make him get dressed, brush teeth and comb hair.

He and I stayed home from church anyway, Ryan and I had to tag team.  Ryan had to teach and so did I so we just traded half way through church, isn't that fun!  Justin is still coughing, but is much better, I can tell by his obnoxiousness.  Now Claire has it though, and so it goes around and around!

Ready for church

We were actually early for church yesterday, it was nice for a change. We didnt all get to stay for all of the meetings. Emma, Claire, and I are all coughing our heads off still. Claire just got it Saturday, poor thing. It is so sad to see her be sick, she just moans and looks awful. Hopefully she will feel better soon. She also had her first tastes of rice cereal. She is a good eater! We are just staying home today, trying to get feeling better. Ryan is around, sort of, he is driving loads of barley from here to Gooding. Ashley is planning her birthday, she is so excited. I dont know what we are getting her yet. She wants some camping stuff, lantern, tent, etc. She is ready for summer already. I wish we could just get some spring weather. I cant think of too much else going on here today. Just hanging out, I need to look at scout stuff for this week, and laundry, fun, fun!