Friday, June 26, 2009

My little chatterbox

Hailey is non-stop chatter. You may not understand what she's saying, but that doesn't stop her. Notice the cell phone in her hand. :-)
Last night, when we were leaving the gym, I told Joe I wanted to go to Target to get some sandals. I took Hailey with me and Joe took Talon and Lacy home. Hailey talked the whole way there, and the WHOLE time we were there. Our gym is behind a Sonic, so we always drive through the parking lot to get to the gym. On the way to target we passed another Sonic.

Hailey: I just saw the new play place again. (That's the gym. The old play place is Bashas) I think we're driving in circles.
Me: No, we're not driving in circles.
Hailey: Oh, maybe we're just driving back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth?
Me: *Lauging* Nope. Not that either.
Hailey: But I DID just see it...

In the shoe department people were coming from other isles just to see her and laugh at us.

Hailey: Mommy, can I try these on?
Me: Hailey, you don't need those.
Hailey: I KNOW...I just want to try them on!
Me: Whatever.
Hailey: They fit me! Can I have them? Mommy, look, they fit me, can I buy these?
Me: No Hailey. You said you were just going to try them on, and you have shoes almost exactly like that already.
Hailey: No I don't. These have princesses on them. Mines are Dora.
Me: No Hailey.
Hailey: Ohhh say...(that't OK in Hailey talk)

Then she puts them back and starts all over with another pair. She was also trying to buy shoes for Lacy whenever they were too small for her.

Hailey: Mommy these are cute. We could buy them for Lacy. They would be cute on her.
Me: Lacy already has shoes. She doesn't need those.
Hailey: But they're little and they would fit her.
Me: She doesn't need them...plus they are too big (or small).

We must have had those same conversations a thousand times while we were there. I even tried this a few times:

Me: Hailey, can you just shut your mouth for a minute please?
Hailey: Sure mommy, I'm sorry, I'll be quiet for two minutes...no, three minutes because I'm three...can you help me put these back up? Can I try these on?
Me: I thought you were going to be quiet?
Hailey: Oh, sorry. *whispering* Do you think these will fit me? Can you help me get these down? Do you think Talon wants new floppies too? Oh, those look like daddies. Should we buy some for daddy?...

When we got home Lacy was in bed and Joe and Talon were sitting by the couch eating dinner, watching the 11th inning of the D-backs game. We were there for about two minutes when Joe said, "Hailey, I love you, but it was really peaceful before you got here."

"I love you too daddy...do you want to see the floppies we got for Talon? They're in here...mommy can you get Talon's floppies out so we can surprise him?"

How can you get mad at that?

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Doctors

Last night after Hailey brushed her teeth, she opened her mouth to show me how great her breath was. Holy crap! One of her tonsils looked like a brain!! They were both so swollen there could only be about ¼ inch between them. I showed Joe and he said, "I wonder how she can even breathe." She said it didn't even hurt.

Lacy had been all stuffed up and whiney for the past couple of days. She has also been running a bit of a fever, but nothing a little Tylenol can't get rid of.

So I figured what the heck, take them both.

This morning I got ready for work and then hung around the house until the doc's office opened at 8:30. I was able to get an appt. for 9:45.

About an hour and a half later Hailey has tonsillitis and Lacy has a double ear infection. Great! Lacy has had an ear infection just about every time she has been in that office. Time for tubes. That appointment is Monday morning. The first one is a consultation, you know, so they can squeeze out a little bit more money out of it. Seriously, our pediatrician already did a consultation just get on with the tubes. Nope. They need us to come in so that they can agree to make a real appointment. Whatever!!

We also talked about her breathing episodes. We have been doing something new, thanks to Aunt Helen. My mom was telling her about Lacy and she said that one of her sisters did that once and her mom (my Grandma Horihan) slapped her. I laughed out loud when my sister told me, but then I asked if it worked. hehe. Anyway, when Lacy has started turning blue we have been open-handed hitting her in the chest. Not real hard, more like a thump. It seems to work to get her to take a breath and cry normally. She hasn't had an episode for 8 days, but has started A LOT! As many as three times a day sometimes. Our sitters all know what to do and aren't scared, so that's good. Thanks for all of your kind comments, thoughts and prayers. We really appreciate them!

♥ Kathy

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Episodes

I am starting to feel like Lacy is having too many of her episodes.

5/21/09 - Her first episode. Called 911 and spent two days in the hospital. Witnessed by me, Joe and Alicia.

6/10/09 - At Flancer's for dinner. She started crying when (I think) she hit her bum on the table. I couldn't get her to stop crying and she had a full episode. Joe and I took turns outside with her until everyone was finished with dinner. When we got home she slept for 12 ½ hours. Jono and Joy witnessed this one with us.

6/11/09 - At mom's house. She started to turn blue, but when mom picked her up she took a breath and cried normally. She started to turn blue in the car when we were leaving, but got what she wanted (a juicy juice) and stopped crying again.

6/15/09 - At Swim Kids. Joe let Lacy play in the pool for a little while, then got her dried off and redressed. She wanted to go back in and I wouldn't let her. She started crying. Joe took her from me and said he almost got her to avoid it by continually breathing in her face. She had another episode, complete with a seizure lasting a couple of minutes. She fell asleep on my chest afterward. When we got home she went straight to bed and slept for at least 13 hours.

One common thing about all of these episodes is that they were all around 7 or 7:30 at night. I don't think she has ever done this at any other time of the day.

I am going to try to get one on video. The neurologist at the hospital said it would be helpful. He gave us his card and I'm debating on whether or not to call him back to let him know how often it is happening. I don't know if that is normal. The research I have done said that kids grow out of it by the age of 5 or 6. Once a week for 4 years?? I don't think so! There has GOT to be a better way.

Friday, June 12, 2009

May 21 - Graduation Night & 911

On May 21st Bailee graduated from Mountain Pew (sorry I can't help it). Unfortunately, we have no pictures because we never made it there.

We were all ready to head over there to sit in the rain and watch her walk with her class. The sitter showed up and I handed Lacy over to her. She started crying. I, being the wonderful mother than I am, ignored her and started to gather up my stuff to leave. I turned around and she was not breathing. She was crying so hard she never took a breath. I took her from Alicia and tried to blow in her face. Nothing. She started to turn blue. I yelled at Joe who was on the phone with Bailee's dad. He hung up mid-sentence, took Lacy from me, gave me his phone and told me to dial 911. I couldn't get the darn thing to work. I panicked, threw it on the counter and took Lacy back. He called 911. In the meantime Lacy had passed out, her eyes rolled back and she was having what appeared to be a seizure. I was completely freaking out and could not stand still. I started pacing back and forth with her.

I need to take a moment here to recognize Alicia's calmness in the whole matter. As soon as Joe told me to call 911 she gathered Talon & Hailey and took them upstairs to play. Had she not been there, we would have had two parents and two kids ALL freaking out. She is awesome!! If that was tryouts...she definitely made the babysitting team. :-)

So, I went outside with Lacy to wait for the paramedics. We were standing under the awning and I could hear the sirens in our neighborhood for what felt like hours. Can't they find our house? How long is this seizure going to last? Will there be long-term damage? What are they telling Joe on the phone? There were a million questions running through my mind. Finally her little body stopped jerking and went limp. Slowly the glossiness in her eyes faded and she could see me, and I could see her. I stopped shaking.

We went inside with the paramedics and they checked her vitals. They were surprised to find no fever. Apparently seizures are common with high fevers. When they started poking her she started to cry, but she was completely exhausted. When they finally let her have some juice she wouldn't even hold her own bottle. They strapped her car seat to a gurney and transported us to Banner Gateway, while Joe followed in our car.There they did a blood test, urine test, cat scan and x-ray. They came back a second time to get another urine sample, via catheter, because the lab spilled the first one. That sucked! Everything came back normal. Then they got ahold of our pediatrician, Dr. Madrid. He told them not to send us home until we knew what had happened. Since Banner Gateway does not have a pediatric unit anymore, they called another ambulance and transported us to Banner Desert. Lacy was asleep when they finally arrived to take us, and slept the whole way there.

They told us to plan on staying the night, because they would most likely not run any more tests until morning, so Joe went home for a change of clothes and some toothbrushes. We also called Joe's mom to relieve our sitter, who I'm sure was past ready to get out of there! Thanks Charlotte!!

It was about 1 am when we arrived, and they had a scary looking crib/cage in the room. Heck no! We need a bed! I put her in it for a few minutes and she was scared to death of that bed trap. Normally Lacy is a very good sleeper. She prefers to sleep alone in her crib, but this was not a normal night and I knew I would not get any sleep at all without her next to me (you know, making sure she was still breathing and all). After some begging, and lots of warnings from the staff, we finally got one. They were not letting her have anything to drink or eat, so we had to keep the liquids coming through an I.V. They had to re tape it a couple of times and she HATED that!! They finally left us alone around 3 am and we got a little bit of sleep. Look at how tired she is, poor baby.Joe had an awesome chair, so I gave him some "bed" time too the next day. :-)They came back at 6 am. The nurse told us that they would be doing a EEG and a MRI. She told us that the MRI room was all booked up that day and that we might need to stay another night to get in. Unacceptable. They said they would work on it.

A Neurologist game in and talked to us while we were waiting. He said that he didn't think she had a seizure, but a breath holding episode. Huh? He brought us some literature about it and said we should go ahead with the tests, but he didn't think they would show anything abnormal. You can read about it HERE.

We had to try to keep Lacy awake so that she would sleep for the EEG. The nurse asked when her normal nap time is. Really? She only slept three hours last night. Her nap time could be now if you would leave us alone. She insisted I pick a time. I said 11. Immediately I thought it was a bad choice. How were we going to keep her awake, not eating and only having clear fluids until 11? It was hard. I told them a couple of times that she was ready, but the technician still didn't come until 11. That test was weird, but she was an angel. They hooked a million little electrons on her head, wrapped it in gauze, then waited for her to fall asleep. It only took about 30 seconds. After about a half hour she woke her back up with a strobe light. Lacy thought it was hilarious and started laughing at it. So cute!!

Luckily, the staff agreed to stay later for us and we were scheduled for an MRI at 4:00 (or was it 5?). We finally got in around 6:30. They had to put Lacy "under" for the MRI. That was scary for me, but they said she did a great job.

When she came out of the anaesthesia they let her have a drink and some food. It was really funny to watch her try to eat her bread. She kept smacking it on her cheek and then rubbing it over to get it in her mouth. I wish we would have gotten some video of that!After all the tests came back normal we left with what the neurologist said. It was not a seizure, it was a breath holding episode, and she would probably do it again, but there is no long-term damage. We were told to time her "seizure like activity" and as long as it is less than 5 minutes we do not have to do anything at all. Except FREAK OUT!!