Let's all go to the ER!

As if giant hives weren't enough, Avery came home from day care a while ago with an adorable little croaky voice and a pretty listless personality.  It was a bit concerning and got worse when he just laid around all evening, looked exhausted, and started wheezing.  It got a MUCH more concerning when he had a coughing fit in which he was trying to cough, cry, vomit, and breathe all at once.  (Hey, he's a multi-tasker like his mom!)  So I tried to call my neighbor to watch Cassidy - no answer.  Then I realized that I really don't have good contacts on base of folks that I can rely on in situations like this.  All my close friends live off-base.  Boo.

So, off to the ER we went!  No diapers, just a bottle halfway filled with juice for Cassidy, no socks on Avery, no coats.  I was definitely prepared.  Of course, Avery didn't want to walk (who can blame him?) so I dragged in Cassidy (asleep in her car seat) and lugged in a big ole toddler to the ER on base, filled out a few papers and we got in pretty quick.

I had already called my mother-in-law, so I knew it was croup, but the coughing fit freaked me out to where I didn't want to wait for a doc's appointment.  The ER confirmed it was croup and started in on him.

He was a total trooper.  Probably because he was too tired and upset to protest.  He took the little heart monitor on his toe, he let them put the bracelet on, and he even allowed the blood pressure cuff to stay on his arm and blow up every once in a while (we called it the "balloon on his arm!").  He took the syringe (in the mouth) of steroids to open his airway ("it's yucky!") and the fever meds ("this one is yummy!") and even liked the little mist mask they put on him.

Has anyone ever looked so pathetic and sad??

 Cassidy, not to let the attention stray too long, decided to wake up and demand to be held, walked around, and allowed to touch dangerous things . She did not enjoy the 2 hours I walked her up and down trying to get her to go back to sleep (it was easily midnight by this point) and I ALSO DID NOT ENJOY THIS.  Avery laid around, played on the iPod, and finally fell asleep where he promptly peed through his diaper. Twice.  Hey, I was giving him fluids!!

Fun bonding time

 Cassidy finally zonked, Avery was out, and I was waiting for SOMEONE to release us and dozed off myself.  Finally after three hours being there, we got released.  Our medical team was really nice, but the night shift must get to you.  We had conversations like this:

Doctor(?) guy: Oh, your kids are asleep
Me: Well, it is like 5 hours past their bedtime.

Doctor(?) guy: Do you want stickers?  I can get them stickers!!
Me: Well, it's almost 2am - I'm not sure they really care that much

Anyway, I lugged a limp and exhausted Avery, a heavy and recently awake Cassidy in her car seat, and my sleepy self to the car.  No one had coats, Avery was sans pants.  It was a pretty awesome Supermom moment.  To make Avery feel better, I even let him ride in the front seat (calm down, everyone, it's a 90 second drive to our house). 

Got them home, sent her to bed, sent him to bed with a a cold mist humidifier, then realized I was wide awake at 2am, so I finished watching my DVRed Emmys, emailed my boss that I was planning on staying home to monitor Avery and zonked out.  Too bad there's a chicken pox vaccine now, or I'd be anxiously awaiting that as well!

Another Pink Beach

So, I don't know if you all recall my battle with pinkeye but recently, another Beach came down with something much scarier.  I wake up to find Avery looking like this:

Holy shit, right?  Luckily, my mother-in-law is an urgent care pediatrician and doesn't mind getting text pictures/calls from her daughter-in-law in the wee hours of the morning for a diagnosis.  And the diagnosis was: he's allergic to something . So I SCOURED my house for anything new I might have introduced him to.  I threw out the new stickers we used to encourage potty training, the glowsticks he sleeps with when he's afraid of the dark, and the dishwasher detergent, just cause it was new.

Day care freaked out and declared it to be chicken pox (paranoid much?) so I had to stay home with him a day until I could convince them he wasn't introducing the plague to any other kid.  Funny, because they keep calling chicken pox "CP" which, in my world, is what we call child pornography, so I was getting confused.  Anyway, after starting a regimen  of Benadryl, everything would fade, then come back.

Then the hives darkened and my mother-in-law declared it to be Giant Urticaria, which just means GIANT hives.  No known cause, no known cure.  BUT,  diagnosis made me feel much better.  We kept up the Benadryl and within a few days, it was slowly faded.  I managed to convince day care it wasn't the pox and they let him come back to school, even though he was pretty splotchy.

So, hard telling if he was allergic to something or not, but the hives have faded and we're back to regular in our household.  Good times, good times.

Still pregnant. Still hate being pregnant.

Look at the baby, not my cartoon genitals, please.

Hey, it's been a while since I mentioned that I'm pregnant.  Just like everyone said, it won't be as "OH MY GOSH!!" the second time around, and I don't have the time to be blown away by every little thing when I'm working full time and chasing around after a toddler.  But, I'm still pregnant - 24 weeks, and according to the Googles, our little girl has a whole face developed now. I hope it's cute!

This pregnancy has been really tough for me, I won't lie.  Note that I'm writing this at 1am because I'm sick.  Again.  Since I've gotten pregnant, I've taken 3 days of work off, and will probably take tomorrow off as well, which I just flat out can't afford to do with our busy tempo.  First trimester was a lot more nausea than last go-around, and I had to get on meds to help me cope with that so I don't vomit in my neighbor's yard while walking the dog.  Again.  (Good thing we do walks at 5:30 in the morning and no one was around to see me!)

This trimester has brought on the heartburn a little earlier than I had hoped, and the sciatica is BRUTAL.  I sit down to do some work at the dining room table, and when I stand up, I can't put any weight on my left side because of the shooting pain down my back, butt, and leg.  Kinda like when you're at a bar taking shots and you feel totally sober until you stand up.  Just like that.  Except I'm not drinking, so it's not fun.

I guess last time I was post-bar-exam and pre-Air-Force, so I had nothing to do but sit around and relax and enjoy being pregnant.  I would walk Dash in the ocean every day, get the nursery ready, and really enjoy my free time.  Now, I'm cramming myself into a uniform, trying to prepare for a court-martial, remembering what Avery needs at day-care, working to close on our new house, and trying to spend a bit of quality time that that guy who got me into this situation to begin with.  It's tough!

But, you have to thank God for your blessings.  Other than pregnancy-related illnesses, we are all healthy.  many people try and try to get pregnant and can't, so I'm lucky that we haven't had trouble doing so when we want to.  I have a well-paying job and a toddler who is ridiculously adorable and sleeps through the night.  I also like my hair. 

So, that's all for my 1am post of ranting/trying to be thankful.  I'm off to lay around, not sleep, and wait until 5:30 to call in sick to work, but then email everyone and demand that work be sent to my house.

Unpretty in pink

In the hospital ER.  Good times.

Guess who's the first Beach to have pinkeye!  I'll give you a hint, it's not the 10-month old who goes to day care every day.  It's me, the mom!  Yep, after itching led to redness, led to squinting, and many members (MANY MEMBERS) of my office saying things like:

"Um....it looks worse"
"OH MY GOD!"
"Whoa, what happened?!"
"Can you even SEE out of that eye?"

I decided it was time to go to the doctor.  So, one quick call to the ophthalmology clinic on base got me to an answer of "Sorry, we're specialty - you need to talk to your doctor first."  Fine.  One quick web look up of my doctor's appointments showed me that she has no appointments for any reason at any time in the next two weeks.  Fantastic.  So, after many more comments and stares, I went to the emergency room where I got a hospital bracelet and everything.  I felt bad - I really just needed eyedrops for pinkeye and some poor sap had to admit me and everything for a 30 minute visit.

So, Jon gave me the first drop tonight and nothing new to report.  Except that my eye feels worse now.  I'm so glad I learned to wink and that I wink with my left eye because I'm eternally winking right now.  So that should be fun when my client tomorrow thinks I'm hitting on him the whole time.

Also, a little girl stared at me in Target today because I look so hideous.  And I have to wear my glasses now.  I was so bummed about my ugly eye and my ugly glasses that I came home and did what I promised myself I wouldn't do anymore: I cut myself bangs.  So, add ugly bangs to that list.  My impulsiveness and overconfidence in my ability to cut my own hair never ceases to amaze me......