Busy Times

This picture is from last Sunday, Easter. We've been through a busy week since then. On Easter D was sick, but not too bad. Bad enough that only T, J, and Z went to church. I stayed home with the girls and D; I did dress the girls up, though! We took this picture after the boys got home from church.

By Sunday night Z was throwing up. By Monday night everyone in the home was throwing up but me, and I was wishing I would, I felt so naseous! D was also very sick again. By Tuesday morning the vomitting had stopped, but D was even worse. T stayed home from work to recover, but ended up caring for Z, H, and G, who were feeling MUCH better (than T at least!) I took D to the emergency room and he was admitted to the hospital. Again. Not only was he dehydrated, but his intestines were just sick of being sick and decided to stop working. Poor guy! They had him feeling better pretty quickly, but it took a while for him to be ready to come home. He was finally discharged last night (Friday).

The kids were back in school by Wednesday, and all feeling much better. Z's birthday was Friday, along with a slumber party with 4 friends. We were determined that he would have a great birthday, and I think he really did. The boys played, played video games, watch the Transformers movie, and said "Dude!" more times than you can imagine!

So I guess life is headed back more toward normal!

We did learn some good lessons this week, and had great help from friends. This was D's 4th hospitalization this year! It looks like he's just a kid that gets sick easily, and gets really sick when he is sick. We had already realized that we would not be able to stay days with him in the hospital, but would split overnights. I hadn't counted on how heartbreaking it would be to leave him in the morning! I made a few phone calls and now have a handful of foster-grandmas for D who are willing to come sit for a few hours with him when he's in the hospital. And I thank God for that! On the way to pick G up from preschool I was on the verge of tears, frustrated with the whole situation, and I thought of my friend K, from church. I thought she might not have time to sit with D herself, but she knows about everyone in our entire church, and she might know not only who would have time, but also who would enjoy it. Ten minutes later she'd taken the whole thing out of my hands and by that evening had a list of foster-grandmas on call for when ever D was hospitalized! I am so thankful to K for stepping in. And glad that I listened to that little voice, (which I give credit to God for!) that was urging me to give K a call. Now we have a group of people who may not be able to do foster care themselves, but will enable us to be good foster parents to D! God is Good!

I also have some final thoughts on vomitting and a diarrhea story, so stop reading now if you're easily grossed out. :) Do you have any idea how many different ways people can throw up? I mean, how many different styles there are? And kind of funny how their personalities are matched. Z is quiet - you almost don't know he's doing it! And typical Z, very proud that he got to the bucket in time!

H is scatterbrained. It's like she has no idea she's going to throw up until it's coming out of her mouth. She also gets distracted between heaves, so even with stuff hanging from her face, she's looking around the room trying to see who's doing what, and seems surprised when another spasm hits 2 seconds later. (And by the way, if you cup your hand over your mouth when you're vomitting, it doesn't stop the vomit, it just gives it sort of a sprinkler action as it sprays between your fingers.)

G is a screamer. I didn't know you could vocalize *while* you are throwing up. I seriously flashed forward and thought "This is what she will sound like when she's in labor some day!" It was quite an interesting day.

On the bright side of things (because you have to look for a bright side!) when they put the feeding tube in D's stomach, they did something to the top of it to close it off to stuff coming back up out of the stomach. The purpose was to help with acid reflux, but it also serves to make him unable to vomit. So he may be high maintainance in many other ways, but he can't spray vomit on me!

On the other hand (or, shoudl I say, the other end), he is still able to poop, which leads to my diarrhea story. On Friday in the hospital at lunch time, D was a little fussy, but ok, so I took G down to the cafeteria to get some lunch. She was hanging out with us at the hospital, something she found very fun. Go figure. (although the cable tv, nickelodeon, and the Disney channel probably had a lot to do with it) Anyway, we went down for lunch and brought it up to D's room. When we got back he was in a GREAT mood. Kicking, laughing smiling. Hooray! So we waved hi and took our food to the desk at the side of the room and ate a quick lunch. He was laughing and smiling at us. So I ate first, washed up, and then went over to pick him up. Wow, did I find out why he was happy! The nurses had cradled him in with rolled up blankets, and he'd filled in that cradle/crater with liquid poop. It was every where! He was playing in it with his hand. Laughing and smiling. He had to feel better after purging all that. Even the nurses were impressed. (It's not often that you actually get to hear a nurse say "Oh, this is so gross!")

So that's the latest from my house. It's amazing how much better a good nights' sleep will make you feel! I'm so glad to be home!