So How Was Your Thanksgiving?

Well, ours was great…except for that whole trip to the emergency room thing! I know some of you have been waiting impatiently for this story. Well, it’s finally here!

The day started off fine. We got up, got dressed, had some pancakes, and hit the road for Granny Kat’s house to spend Thanksgiving with Jim's family in Jasper. Everything was fine.

We arrived around noon, and the kids headed for the box of toys they knew was waiting for them. Everything was fine!

Zachary and Jonathan with Gammy

But then Jonathan started sneezing. And then he started coughing…a lot. And then he started struggling to get enough breath to talk, which was rough for little Jonathan because he’s a TALKER! These symptoms progressed pretty quickly, and of course we didn't bring the nebulizer or any medicine at all, so it didn’t take long before we felt like a trip to the emergency room was pretty much a necessity.

So Jim took Jonathan to the ER. (Luckily there’s a hospital in Jasper!) and I stayed at Granny’s with the rest of the kids and Jim's family.

Before they even reached the hospital, Jonathan had stopped coughing and sneezing. When they got there, they checked Jonathan’s O2 sats and they were 94 and then 98 before he even got his first breathing treatment. They did give him a breathing treatment, then took some chest x-rays and did some blood work. All of this looked good. They gave him another breathing treatment before releasing him. The diagnosis was asthma-related allergy attack (or allergy-induced asthma attack, I’m not real sure) and Jim was advised not to take Jonathan back into Granny’s house.

We’re not really sure what caused this attack. We’ve been to Granny’s house several times before without any problems. Granny recently got a cat, so the cat is suspect #1, but Jonathan has been around cats before without any problems at all.

Since Jonathan was forbidden to re-enter Granny’s house, we had to cut our visit short and leave pretty soon after he and Jim got back from the hospital. It was a disappointment for everyone. Jim and Jonathan didn’t get to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner (which was delicious!) with the rest of us, Jonathan didn’t get to play with Gammy’s toys as long as he wanted to, and Jim hardly got to visit with his family at all.

On the upside, Jim and Jonathan did enjoy some really nice one-on-one time when Jonathan told his Daddy all the things he would do when HE was a daddy, like shave and make pancakes and give kisses to his babies “just like you do, Daddy!”

Heart-melting adorableness!

Anyway, he’s been fine ever since. Friday we contacted our pediatrician’s office and we should have an appointment with an allergist this week to hopefully find out for sure what triggered this strange allergic reaction. Personally, I hope it wasn’t the cat. I love cats and have high hopes of us having a cat one day.

Our Thanksgiving may not have been what we had hoped for, but it did make us realize one more thing that we’re thankful for. We are very thankful that God has provided us with hospitals, doctors, and nurses who can care for our children, especially in an emergency situation!

We sincerely hope that you all had wonderful Thanksgivings, but if they weren’t so wonderful, we hope that you were at least able to realize what your blessings are and be thankful for something you might have otherwise taken for granted!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Blast from the Past

I was going through some old picture files recently and came across this video. I’m pretty sure I never posted it before. I feel like I tried to post it, but the uploader wouldn’t work and I gave up. WELL, HERE IT IS!!

It’s not recent at all. This was taken in August of 2008, just after the kids turned 2, but it’s just so darn cute! They literally used to do this nearly every day! Not so much anymore. Part of growing up, I suppose. Alas.

Oh, well. Enjoy!

Fight for Preemies

Today is a special day dedicated to raising awareness about premature births.

My kiddos were born 6 weeks early. They were rushed almost immediately to the NICU, and although Jonathan, Zachary, and Reagan were all healthy enough to go home days before I was, Thomas was not. His tiny baby lungs were under-developed and he struggled for weeks to learn to breathe and eat on his own. He remained in the NICU a full month longer than his siblings, and when he finally came home for good, it was with daily breathing treatments and frequent visits to the pulmonologist to keep an eye on his lung development.

And as scary as his situation was at times. it was nothing compared to the experiences that many parents have to go through due to the premature births of their babies. Tiny, tiny babies born incredibly early, struggling not just to breathe on their own, but to live at all, and if they can make it through their first months, they may still face a lifetime of sickness and disabilities.

Every year 20 million babies are born prematurely. Some premature births, like my kids and other multiples, are expected and unavoidable. A woman’s belly, though it can get more humongous than you would ever think possible, does eventually reach its limit. There just isn’t room in there to carry multiple babies for a full 40 weeks. But there are also lots of seemingly healthy singleton pregnancies, that suddenly end with premature births, and doctors don’t always know why.

And so today, I and other bloggers write to share our stories and raise awareness.

For more information on premature births and ways you can help, please visit The March of Dimes.

Things We Love #2

Laurie Berkner!!!

I know, I know, she’s not for everyone.  I have some very good friends who don’t like her a bit, although their son does!

At OUR house, however, we are BIG FANS!

If you don’t know who Laurie Berkner is, let me enlighten you!  She is the head of the Laurie Berkner Band, a group that appears regularly for music numbers on NickJr (formerly Noggin), especially on the show Jack’s Big Music Show.

Her songs are often silly (“Pig On Her Head”) and mostly fast-paced (“My Energy”), but they also have really nice lessons (“I’m Not Perfect”).  I love that her songs encourage my kids (okay, me too!) to get up and dance!  A few months ago, a one-hour show dedicated to Laurie and her music aired on NickJr.  I recorded it and the kids and I watch it often! 

Here’s a clip of the kids watching and dancing!  (It’s a little long…you don’t have to watch it all!)

Check out the Laurie Berkner Band!  She’s sure to have you dancing too!

Note: I have not been paid by Laurie or anyone associated with her for this endorsement!  I just really think she’s great!

A Declaration from the King

Hear ye! Hear ye! By order of His Royal Highness, King Thomas the Wild, that it doth serve his supreme pleasure, all subjects of the quad-dom are hereby instructed to read and enjoy the following tales and illustrations. Due to his unending generosity, King Thomas hath provided these words for the benefit of all subjects, rich and poor alike, that through his wisdom, thine own lives shall be uplifted.

Providence hath seen fit of late to plague our glorious quad-dom with the evils of a most fearsome and vicious dragon. This very dragon hath ravaged the countryside for many a fortnight and didst take refuge in the mountains ere it could be slain. There the loathsome creature hideth, spreading fear throughout the realm

Fear of the dragon didst spread even to the very palace of the king, casting a shadow over the pure loveliness of Our Gracious Lady Reagan.

Good King Thomas therefore didst assemble all his mighty knights, that he might send them out to conquer the irksome beast and free his people of this terror. All the knights trembled at the task, save one. Sir Jonathan the Brave didst feel no fear of the dragon. He set forth on his perilous journey to slay the beast.

Sir Jonathan’s quest was long and full of danger, yet never did he turn back in fear. He pressed on with the utmost courage, til he didst discover the dragon’s lair. Such a battle then ensued that wouldst cause thy hairs to turn white upon thy head didst thou hear its details. In the end, victory was won by Brave Sir Jonathan of the Family Harris of the House of Jim, and he didst incredibly tame the dragon and bring it home to suit the pleasure of the king.

With joy didst the royal family welcome home their brave knight, and all the people of the quad-dom didst rejoice over the taming of the dragon.

Therefore, in his infinite goodness, King Thomas wisheth thee a most Happy and Dragon-free Halloween!