Midnight Madness!

Last night I had to bring one of the girls to Target, then Walmart, to get a couple of items for a field trip she is going on from tomorrow until Friday. I also had to get a couple things for Baby that I've been putting off getting 'cause it's so hard to take her out still. So off we went with Baby and a couple others along as well. First stop: Target!

When we left Target, I suddenly got hit by a severe stomach ache. The kind that feels like you are going to throw up any minute. I think I was suffering Chocolate Toxicity 'cause I had eaten an excessive amount of chocolate that had been kindly left in my basket from the Easter Bunny. Well, we trotted off to Walmart and then on to home. It was already nearly midnight and I still had Baby's diaper to change, a few night diapers to get on, or have someone else do, a neb to give to my baby, nurse her, get myself ready, and such...

Well, after finishing most of my duties and on my way over to throw a blanket over one of the younger kids, who had fallen asleep on the couch while I was gone, I noticed she didn't have a night diaper on yet. At the same time, I was struck by a sudden, severe cramping in my stomach and knew I had to get to the bathroom. I threw the blankets on the sleeping one on the couch, crossed my fingers she wouldn't pee while I was in the bathroom, and ran. I finished up pretty quickly, grabbed a diaper, went out to put it on her and saw a fresh, huge wet puddle on the couch. I just cringed and woke her up to strip down while I began to remove blankets, start washing up the couch and send her in another direction to sleep so I could let the couch dry overnight.

I washed my hands again, got fresh blankets, threw wet ones in the tub to wash in the morning, and tucked in....only to see Baby's oxygen saturation level drop from the lowest they want her to be, at 90%, to the upper 80's. I was SO exhausted and felt SO sick that I tried first to just get her to shift around, which would hopefully make her wake up enough to draw deeper breaths and get her sats up again. For the next hour, from 12:45 a.m. to 1:45 a.m., I would drop to sleep, only to be harshly awoken to the alarm of her desat'ing...push "silence" button, wiggle her, fall asleep, and jolt awake again to the "beep-beep-beep-beep!!!" of the alarm!!!

I finally realized her sats were just sitting at 89% without going up and when it would drop, it was going down to 84% or so. I got up, got her oxygen tank set up (switching the gauge from an empty tank to full one, checking the level, get tubing on it), got her little cheek patches ready on the nasal cannula, and then had to get them set up on her without her whipping her head around and rubbing them off kilter with her fists (she hates wearing them). I managed all this, got her oxygen started and to a flow that brought her back to mid-90's, and tucked back in...only to be hit again by horrible stomach cramping.

Back to the bathroom...then on to get a cup from the kitchen for use for stomach content...back to bed....back up again seconds later, puking. Finally, some relief from the stomach ache!!!

Back to bed finally after being up about an hour....only to hear our young son wake up screaming, then his pounding feet coming down the hallway to find me. I pulled him into bed with me, got tucked in again, only to have him spy my puke cup and insist on having a drink of water. I hustled back out to the kitchen and got him some water and Cheez-Its, since I figured he was probably a bit hungry too (I knew he probably fell asleep without anyone that was at home with him making sure he got a snack before sleeping). He finally settled in about 10 minutes later.

A short while later, Izzy woke up crying and came to find me. I got her tucked in by me too and finally got to sleep about 3:45 a.m., in time to hear my hubby's alarm clock starting to beep. I passed out...only to be woken up by E about 4:15 a.m., letting me know he was leaving to work, then on a trip for the week.

Next wake-up call came at about 6 a.m. or so from my baby, needing to eat. I got her settled back in again about 20 minutes before having to start getting my school girls up!

Needless to say, I pretty much got nothing done today until this evening...now I'm finally getting some cleaning done with some of my middle girls.

Whew! Sometimes you have to wonder if you'll ever make it through all this!!! :P

But, I'm actually pretty surprised how good I feel finally...no hint of stomach flu or anything...only a trace of a headache left. Now, only hoping that my kids will go to bed early tonight!

Morning Izzies...

Morning started out with me peeling my eyes open to Izzy pounding Yodi on top of his head. I scolded her severely as he howled. She left with a royal frown, not to be seen again. Yodi and I ate breakfast and then went wandering down to the bedrooms to start stirring the household up a little. Izzy was just on her bed looking at a book, so as we were leaving the bedroom, she came cruising after us. Yodi did a little fast trot to get out of her way. I'm sure she was thinking he was afraid of another pounding so she quickly assured him, "I'm just going to the bathroom and then I'm going to get my Morning Dress on!" Sure enough, she went bathroom, went down to retrieve her Snow White princess dress, came up with it on a hanger, stared it up and down, and declared, "I don't like this dress, Mama!" I looked up and said, "Oh. Should I put the collar back on? Then will it be better?" She scowled and said, "No. I still won't like it. Even with the collar on." She stomped back downstairs and found another beautiful dress and came back up again, "Should I just wear this one again, Mama?" It was one she had taken off yesterday. She is just a princess, through and through, just like all little girls her age, I'm sure!

Baby has finally been baptized!

Well, Baby is six months old and FINALLY is baptised! We were supposed to have a joint baptism with E's sister's and her husband's new baby but our little lady ran a low-grade temp yesterday and, that, combined with the fact we had two other kids run temps earlier in the week, we thought that it was probably best not to take a chance and get her baby sick.

Some funnies this week: Izzy tells me, as I was lying next to her on the couch, hoping she would fall asleep so I could keep cleaning the basement: (as she was rubbing my eyes lightly) "That's okay if you fall asleep...'cause you're the Queen!!!" Yes, my dear dolly. I like that mentality! Now if any of the other kids ever question any of my commands in the future, instead of saying, "Because I'm the Mom, that's why!" I will say, "Because I'm The Queen, that's why!"

Last weekend, after we came home from the homeschool conference we attended a few hours away, and picked up kids from various places, our Princess Izzy flounced out of the van, pigtails swinging, and announced, "I feel like I'm never gonna cry again!" What a cute way of saying she is just that happy! We know we weren't the only ones who had a marvelous weekend! She and her cousins are Princesses and they had a royal blast together for the weekend! :)

And, the other night while we were celebrating our little guy's second birthday, Izzy announced to anyone who was interested, "Hey! Hey, I'm not three anymore! Hey, you guys. I'm not three anymore, it's not my birthday! I'm not three anymore 'cause it's someone else's birthday now!"