Once a week

Hmmm... Seems like I'm just posting once a week lately. There is a reason for it this time around.

Last week, Katie got sick. She got sick in the middle of the night Wednesday into Thursday. We got her out of bed to find the yuckiness. So, we got her all cleaned up and she started getting sick again. I will spare you the grossness of the details, but she was not well.

Friday, she wasn't better.

Saturday, she wasn't better. We went to the doctor and he said to keep her drinking.

We thought she was better Sunday. Not so.

Monday I stayed home with her and she really was sick then. She hadn't had a wet diaper since Sunday and she was throwing up again. I called Ben and told him he needed to come home right away. We took her to the doctor and the doctor sent us to Children's Mercy South. Katie was dehydrated. Luckily, she wasn't severely dehydrated, just moderately. She was admitted Monday afternoon.

The staff wanted us to do oral rehydration with Katie. They said that a lot of times, children this small respond better to this treatment rather than IV. So, we were to give her 5 mL of fluid by syringe every two minutes for an hour. If she keeps it down, let her rest 15 minutes then give 10 mL every two minutes. Basically, give her 13 ounces of liquid over a two hour period. Yes, that is a lot of fluid for a tiny little tummy! She fought it real bad at first, but then Ben, my mom and I got a system down where we were able to administer the fluids without much fuss. We got about halfway into the second hour and she couldn't handle any more and got sick. All over me. In my shoes even. Yuck. But, at that time, I hardly even noticed. I was too concerned with her throwing up again.

The staff then let her rest for a couple of hours. During that time, our angels gathered around. My dad arrived, Ben's mom and sister and her boys arrived, and Bruce came. He and dad administered to Katie and I could tell she was more at peace then. Of course, she wanted grandpa to hold her instead of mom, but hey, whatever she wants!

We started to go through another round of oral rehydration with the next shift of nurses and doctors. After she got through with 100 mL of fluid, she was acting like she was going to be sick. Ben and I decided with the doctor's advice to start an IV so she could rest easier and not have to work at getting hydrated. So, the IV was started about 10:00 Monday night and she had her first wet diaper of the day just before midnight. Luckily, she had to be changed more that day than the days leading up to it combined.

We didn't rest well that night at the hospital and not much the next day either. Katie started coming around back to her regular self about lunch time on Tuesday. We could tell she was feeling much better because she kept wanting to get down and walk around. She was released late Tuesday afternoon. HALLELUIAH!

I stayed home with her again Wednesday thinking that she would be resting a lot of the day. Boy was I wrong! I wouldn't have it any other way though. It is so good to have my healthy little girl back.

The doctors and nurses and all staff in general at Children's Mercy were just wonderful. They talked to us and not at us and made us feel good about the treatments. They were very accomodating and loving to us in such a scary stressful time. I feel so fortunate that we have a wonderful hospital system dedicated to children so close to us. The facility was so bright and colorful. It was good to see something children can relate to so that it won't be as scary.

Jello!

A few years ago, Ben got me some molds from Jell-o to make "Jell-o" beans. It uses the jigglers recipe and you make jelly beans, but they're jell-o! I love them! Then, he found for me some molds to make Jell-o eggs. So, this year for Easter, we had lots of the jiggly yumminess. I made 6 different flavors and then put them on coconut grass. It was so fun seeing all the colors of the eggs and bean against the green grass. The bonus was eating them! Katie now loves Jell-o.

Katie likes to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." I'll start singing and then she'll start singing with me. It is so sweet to hear her little voice singing to me!

A co-worker introduced me to a product called Stress Tabs today. They are just a multi-vitamin, but have some extra B vitamins. That helped the stress level at work today. I didn't melt down like I did yesterday. It feels almost better to know that I'm not the only one feeling all this stress. Others are feeling it too, so we are now commiserating together. It's still stressful, but knowing that someone else is going through the same thing makes it easier for me to handle. I guess it's the old saying, "misery loves company."

I am going to bed soon. Hopefully I won't see every hour of the night and won't wake up for good before 5 am.

No dreams

I wish I had another dream to share, but I can't remember them! I have been so busy at work these past few weeks that I am stressed and not sleeping well. Then, last week, Katie was squirming away from me while I was changing her diaper and I grabbed her and tweaked something in my lower back and have been having pains. It was better on Saturday, but I did something to it again yesterday so I've bee hurting. So, didn't sleep well last night and don't remember if I even had any dreams.

There is lots going on right now, so hopefully I will be able to expand further later. Here's a list:

1. Katie thinks crawling is for babies--she's a walker now.
2. Work is stressful!
3. Went to a surprise 50 b-day on Friday. It was lots of fun! Katie was her charming self then fell asleep before we even got to the highway.
4. Spent most of Saturday at church getting ready for Easter. I was singing in the choir, so had rehersal in the a.m. Then, went and helped my mom prepare the breakfast for the entire congregation. It was a tiring day, but fun as well.
5. Had a terrible dining experience with Katie Sat. night.
6. Had Easter celebrations at church--good day all around there.
7. Got 2 1/2 hour nap!!!!
8. Spent time with family for dinner.
9. Had to work.

Work isn't going to let up any time soon, so I need to figure out how to leave work at work and not think about it at 2 in the morning. Any suggestions?

More on dreams

I had another strange dream early this morning. Seems like I have the weird ones some time after 5 am. This time, I was hanging out with the cast from the show Gray's Anatomy. I watch it every Sunday and am totally addicted to it. I have no idea why I was dreaming of sitting there chatting it up with the characters on the show. I even remember in my dream saying that I know you have real names, but I don't know them so I will just call you by your character name. Very strange. I don't know if you watch the show or not, but George (my favorite character) is having issues with his hair. In my real life dream, his hair was short and I told him I liked his haircut. The whole dream was like I was sitting with the cast interviewing them. Why do I have dreams like this? Very strange. I wonder if Katie will have similar dream experiences, or will she be like Ben and not remember the dreams so vividly?

Yesterday I almost had a mini meltdown. I think I'm more ok today. I got to work and nothing was going right with my instrument and the samples were invalid and I have to re-extract them and re-run them. But, my co-worker and I came up with a plan and everything will work out ok. To top it off, one of the local news stations wanted some tests done and wanted to film someone actually doing the tests. So, I was the lucky analyst chosen to do the tests. Now that that is over, I can rest easier. In fact, last night I did and I woke up feeling almost refreshed. We're going in the right direction now.

You know how when everything just gets to you and you don't sleep well and work is stressful and you don't have any time and you wish you could just run away and cry for a little bit? Well, yup, that's me. Breathe in...breathe out...breathe in...breathe out...

Saturday fun

Saturday was such a good day. We woke up to the sun shining, although a little earlier than I would have liked (thanks Katie).

After getting ready and a nap for Katie, she and I went shopping while Ben worked on the yard. We had to go get some more bird food! It seems like we are always getting bird food. I wonder how many we feed on a daily basis. I guess we have some good stuff cause I've seen probably a dozen or so varieties on any given day.

When we got home, nap time again. More for my sake this time though! So, we all got some rest time. After we got up, it was time to hit the trails. I found a bike trailer last year at a garage sale for about 1/4 of the store price. The trailer was used, but still in excellent condition. So Katie got to go on her first bike ride! She was so cute with her little helmet on. I was so excited that I forgot to take a picture! Next time for sure.

The trails that we were on were up and down A LOT. I haven't ridden since before I got pregnant, so it was hard for me to do all the hills. I felt accomplished though that I was able to get on the bike and go again. I know it will get easier when I get into better shape. I am looking forward riding with Katie more.

We stopped at a park a couple miles from home and let Katie swing in the big swings. They have the kind with the all around supports for babies, so we just let her go. We got her started and she started pumping and kept it going for a little bit. She loves swinging! She got to sit in the grass and play with the dried leaves too. It was so much fun!

Then off to Red Robin for yummy burgers and to the baby store for safety gates. When we got home, Katies barely stayed awake for her bath. When I left for church on Sunday, she was still sleeping! Yea!

So, it was a good weekend. I love the spring and experiencing it from the eyes of a child. Everything is so new to her and makes me look at things in a new way too.