Where Have You Been?

I'm sure that you are all wondering that. Where have you been? It's been weeks since there was an update....it's not like you have anything else to do....

September was an exceedingly busy month for us. We began the month with Chris' trip around Lake Ontario. He was gone for 11 days. After he returned home, I spent a busy 2 weeks putting together classes for the kids at our study weekend. The study weekend was a blur of tending kids. Sunday was Byron's birthday party and the following Monday Chris left for his training in Minnesota. He was to be gone for the week. I thought to myself, I don't have enough to do, so I'll paint the kitchen while he's gone! (We had painted half of it last summer, but still had half to go.)

Monday morning, Chris left early for the airport and I loaded the kids up to run some errands. The last stop we made was to Sherwin Williams for a few quarts of paint. We came home and put in a day of school before I began to sand the cabinets. I had them all sanded and ready to paint by the time I put the kids to bed. Unfortunately, it was about this time that David really began to get sick. He had been feverish off and on all day and after dinner he threw up.

At this point I KNEW he really wasn't feeling well. David hanging out in the schoolroom

I wasn't sure if he was going to keep up with being sick, so I bathed him and arranged the cot in our keeping room. He went to bed as did the girls and I put the first coat of paint on the kitchen cabinets. (I painted all the red.) I got to bed pretty late and sometime during the night, David woke me up for more medicine for his cough and fever. I stumbled out and gave him the medicine and put him back to bed. I'm not sure when he crawled into bed with me, but I remember laying there listening to him breathe and thinking this sounds like the last time he had pneumonia.

In the morning, he was still breathing that way, so I called the pediatrician as soon as the office opened. I felt funny calling them. He wasn't complaining, he wasn't wheezing. He was just breathing rapidly. They were able to give me a 9:30 appointment (I'm so glad now) and I rushed to find care for the kids and get everyone out the door to make it there on time. David was chatty and seemed ok.

The first thing they did was a pulse/ox check. The nurse, after looking at his numbers said, "This can't be right. I'll get another machine and check it again." I was pretty sure, though, that it was correct. We'd been down this road before a little over a year ago. I was more and more sure that he was suffering from pneumonia again. His oxygen levels were at 88%. Normal is 99-100% and for David even 97% is acceptable (his mitral valve prolapse contributes to a lower oxygen saturation). The pediatrician ordered an immediate breathing treatment. This brought his oxygen up to 92%, but not high enough to sent home. He was given another breathing treatment and this one brought him up to 94%. Still not good enough. He was given a shot of steroids and another breathing treatment, but he was still not breathing well (still very rapid) and his oxygen was just not good enough. The pediatrician then said the words I was dreading to hear. "I think I'm going to have to admit him to the hospital." Chris was out of town. I had no idea what I was going to do with everyone and I hated the thought of leaving David there alone.

Having yet another breathing treatment with his "dragon" mask

Fortunately, through a lot of shifting, I was able to get all my kids taken care of and the baby was sent to respite care. My cousin even took them for the night so that I could stay with David that night. He was better in the morning, though still not enough to go home. Poor kid. He hated being there because it was "boring". Yeah, tell me about it. At least you got to sleep in a bed and not in the not so aptly named LazyBoy plastic hospital chair of torture.

The second night, I was unable to arrange for overnight care of the other kids, so I left David to come home with the kids. After they were in bed, I finished a second coat of red paint. Again, I got to bed late, but it was nearly time for Chris to come home and the kitchen was still tore up.

On Thursday, I was able to drop the kids' off for the morning and head back to the hospital. David had had back to back breathing treatments (every four hours) all night long. When I arrived in the morning, he looked fantastic. I was certain he would be able to go home. After the doctors made their rounds that morning, it was confirmed that he was good to go and we made a break for it.

Thursday night I was able to get a coat of brown on the doors and Friday morning, after baby went for his visit with his mom, I put on the second coat and worked like crazy to clean up the kitchen before Chris' 1pm flight landed. With just minutes to spare, the kids and I finished cleaning up the house for his arrival home.

Now, this past Sunday was my first day teaching the Kindergarten Sunday School class and then Monday was our first co-op. I am so glad that it's October now. I don't think I could take another month like September.