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!