7 Quick Takes Friday

1. 9 days until Christmas. Gulp! I’ve been so busy! Gift buying is thankfully finished, as is the first batch of fudge (and mostly given out today, the last day of school for my local-school kids. The tree is still only trimmed with the kids’ things and the adult stuff is still out. I haven’t wrapped, gotten our picture (and my hair SO needs to be colored!) or even thought about cards. Why, o why, does our Lord’s birth have to be celebrated with such a long to-do list??

2. Laura Update: The rheumatologist thinks it’s probably arthritis, but wants to wait for the blood work results as well as the bone scan. Blood work was yesterday, bone scan is on Monday. In the meantime, she’ll be on Naproxen (prescription strength Alleve) and needs orthotics in her shoes (gets fitted next Thursday). This morning I asked her how she felt after the Naproxin had time to take effect. Her answer? NOTHING HURTS!! For the first time in almost 3 months! Hallelujah!

3. I admit that I’ve been running around a little like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off. We haven’t had this medical stuff in so many years that I’m out of practice with it. I have, however, been keeping everyone (pediatrician, nurse, even gym teacher!) in the loop–I’m a FIRM believer in inclusion when it comes to information. The more everyone knows, the better they can handle the situation.

4. My next-door neighbor and I are building a nice new friendship. It’s hard working around kids and her work schedule, but I’m happy to have a “next-door friend” again after losing my last one when she moved.

5. Pursuant to #4, I’m babysitting her son for a few hours tomorrow. He’s 16 months old.  Consequently, I need to get on my hands and knees and see what he can put in his mouth and choke on. The older kids get, the smaller their toys get!

6. One of my children is really doing a LOT of lying lately. I’m not one to be a good mother and sit down and look at verses on stuff with the kids, but in this case, this child and I are going to do just that. We’ll look up the verse and what God has to say on lying and that child is going to write it down. Because both Jim and I are getting extremely fed up with the situation!

7. I wish I could think of a seventh thing, but I just can’t. Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

Which of You by Worrying Can Add a Single Hour to Your Life?

So. Laura’s MRI went off without a hitch. She did fabulously well–laying still for about an hour. Then we met with the surgeon, who again examined her, only more thoroughly this time. Then he asked about her activities.

??? I thought. School, piano lessons, DS, TV, playing like a regular kid.

Because, apparently, her pain follows the bone line between her legs (the ischium) and is common with horseback riding, or pro bicycle riding. Obviously things Laura does not do.

He wants us to see a rheumatologist, which we are doing tomorrow at DuPont in Delaware. I just couldn’t do that drive to CHOP one more time. This past visit it took us 1 hr 45 mins to get there. DuPont about an hour away.

He said in two of the last six cases of this kind of pain it was autoimmune. I didn’t know what that meant, but have since learned he meant arthritis. She’s also experiencing pain in both her feet, so that lends itself to the diagnosis as well. I haven’t been this nervous about a doctor appointment in YEARS–since they were little, little ones and all their medical problems were at their height. We’ve had such smooth sailing for so many years that I’m out of practice with this.

If you are a pray-er, please pray for Laura.

For Today

FOR TODAY November 28, 2011

Outside my window…Unseasonably warm and sunny.

I am thinking…about scheduling Laura’s MRI

I am thankful… that I haven’t caught the virus. Yet.

In the kitchen…tonight is a rotisserie chicken per my husband’s request. Also a LOT of leftover turkey. TOO MUCH.

I am wearing… black shirt with Braille on it, great jeans and black clogs.

I am creating… a menu for the week and a grocery list.

I am going… to the grocery store and then Ethan’s dentist appointment.

I am wondering… when Intuit is going to fix the bugs in their system when it talks to my bank. It’s been almost 2 months and I’m getting annoyed.

I am reading… At Home In Mitford by Jan Karon. Re-reading, actually, for about the dozenth time.

I am hoping… that my husband gets over this virus soon. And that the MRI finds out what’s wrong with Laura.

I am looking forward to… the Christmas season and all the fun it has.

I am hearing…the Mickey Mouse club in the Playroom. Ethan’s home today and listening to it. Otherwise it’s been all Christmas music all the time.

Around the house… my desk is, yet again, a complete disaster zone!

I am pondering… what time I’ll actually sit down and work on my bible study that we’re doing tomorrow.

One of my favorite things… the sunshine streaming through the front door.

A few plans for the rest of the week… women’s Bible study tomorrow, hopefully an MRI for Laura (although it might be next week instead), putting up the tree and decorating the house, Christmas shopping online.

 

Thanks, Jen, for this idea!

Happy 10th Birthday to My Miracles!

The Big Double Digits is here! Happy Birthday to Bennett, Ethan and Laura!

This is a repost of the email I sent out to friends and family the day I got home from my 2 week hospital stay (11 before and 3 after they were born)

Hello dear friends.

Some of you will know the following, but many of you don’t, so I’m sending to all.

I haven’t emailed an update in a long time because I went into the hospital on August 14th with a ruptured sac. Baby A, Connor John, had broken thru. Our local hospital didn’t have the nursing staff for 24 week old quads, so I was sent to Christiana hospital in Delaware (not even in my state). It was touch and go for a few days–I was on Magnesium Sulfate (very nasty), but came through ok. I settled in for the long haul of bedrest.

Saturday the 25th started like any other day. We monitored the babies around 10-10:30. Then I started having contractions. Before I knew it, they were 2 1/2 minutes apart and I was 4 cm dilated. They took me in for a c-section 2:00 ish.

Connor John came at 2:08 pm weighing 1 lb, 9 oz.
Bennett Quinn arrived at 2:09 pm weighing 1 lb, 11 oz.
Ethan James came at 2:10 pm weighing 1 lb, 11 oz, and
Laura Grace finally got pulled out at 2:13 pm weighing 1 lb, 10 oz.

They were immediately whisked away to the NICU admittance and I went to recovery. 5 hours later I was finally able to see them. Bennett, Ethan and Laura were ok, but Connor from the very beginning was having more problems. To shorten the next part of the story, fast forward 3 more hours to 10:30 pm, when the Neonatologist comes up and tells Jim and me that Connor will not make it through the night.

Jim went down to spend some time with him (I was still very drugged and was in and out of consciousness). He came back upstairs a little after midnight to see if I wanted to come downstairs. The NICU called and said that he needed to come downstairs NOW. So I gathered myself and moved onto a gurney and went to the NICU to hold my firstborn son and cry. He was SO tiny!! So fragile!! We cried so much! While Jim held him, he quietly left us to be in the loving arms of Jesus. Saying goodbye was the hardest and most emotional thing I have ever done.

Coming home today, Tuesday, to our playroom full of baby things, many in fours, was extremely difficult. It will take some time before I can face going in there without crying.

Our other three, like typical preemies, change from day to day. The two boys have heart murmurs, but are responding to meds. Laura was doing the best, but is now on a special ventilator called an oscillator. It pumps 300 breaths per minute into her tiny lungs. But all are holding their own. I have three journals to track their day to day improvements, which will be encouraging along the way.

The joy and hope of my three living children tempered with the sadness and grief of losing our son is a very difficult place to be. We are in the process of trying to decide whether to have a funeral and burial or cremate. I never thought to be in this position. Only God is sustaining me now, I can assure you. Jim is crying and grieving as much if not more than I am. We can only cling to each other and be there for each other as we work our way through this difficult time.

We still appreciate your prayers for both Mommy and Daddy and our three precious children. They will be in the NICU for at least 10 weeks, and we will be traveling 45-50 minutes each way to get to them. I will also be pumping to provide breast milk for the babies, so life is already revolving around them.

As I’m sure you can tell from the whole tone of this email, this is a very difficult time for both of us. Thank you all for your support, prayers and understanding. I will not be on email that often, and the phone will be answered as possible. Visitors are welcome, but we ask that you call first.

Much love,

Tina

Parenting Pain

Laura was nominated as one of the three best spellers in her class, so today she took part in the spelling bee at her school. We have practiced and I felt she was ready. She was #3 in a row of 12 kids–all fourth graders. Whoever won today goes to the district-wide bee in January. Last year Laura came in 2nd and went to the district bee, where she misspelled somewhere in the middle. It was very exciting. Today…notsomuch. She stood up for her first word “length” and spelled it incorrectly (lenght). I felt so badly for her! When we got to see her afterwards she just fell apart and was crying. I was scrambling for the words to comfort her (not my strong suit, I assure you). I had hoped she at least wouldn’t be the first to go out–she was 2nd–but it was in the first round.

One of the hardest things as a parent is to see your child in pain, be it physical, emotional, mental…whatever. Our first instinct is to “fix it”. Kissing booboos as babies and toddlers works great. As they get older that not only isn’t possible, it’s not even something we should be doing. Life ISN’T fair (anyone who tells you differently is selling something) (Movie name anyone?). And if the lessons and disappointments have to come at a spelling bee in fourth grade, then, well, let them come. At least at this point, I can hug and console that there will be another year. When she’s 23 and has her heart broken it might not be the case.

Punishment to Fit the Crime

Earlier in the day Bennett had an accident. He took the underwear off. At some point this evening while I was practicing my worship set, he and Laura thought it would be funny to put said underwear on Ethan’s pillow.

Bennett and Laura are spending the night without their pillows.

Laura Funny

A while ago we looked up the meanings of the kids’ names. At dinner tonight:

Laura to Catie: “No fair! My name means a BUSH and yours means a PRINCESS!”

Poor little bush!

Girlfriends

When I was little, I had a best friend named Dawn. She lived three doors down and we played together a lot. Eventually we went our separate directions and got new friends, but as little girls we were very close.

Laura finally has that. A girl in her class, Hannah, is her BFF and they write notes to each other and hang out at recess and just are giggly little girls together. I love it! I think it’s very sweet. What prompted this post is the phone ringing and a girly voice asking for Laura; it was Hannah wanting to talk to her BFF even though they spent all day together at school.

Awwww! My baby/toddler/little precious girl is getting older!!

Laura Funny

Yesterday on the way to church Laura was looking through the Bible dictionary in the back of her Bible–I guess it explains some of the bigger or harder words. After getting to church, I took Ethan downstairs and came back up to the Sanctuary. She was still reading it and asks,

“Mommy, do boys get something nasty done to their bodies?”

“Laura, are you in the c’s?” I look over her shoulder. Yup, the c’s.

“Yes, Laura, they do.”

“I’m glad I’m not a boy!”

For those of you scratching your heads, she found the word circumcision.

Memory Lane

One of the nice things about keeping a blog is the written record of things you have posted. I was wondering what happened last year and looked back. This is what I found: Catie making a decision to follow Jesus. How sweet is that?

I was just saying to my mother yesterday that seeing Catie do things shows me just how much the “preemie-ness” has affected Laura. Catie magically does thing. She just “gets” them–zippering, writing, cutting, putting on shoes and socks. Laura has to be taught everything, step by step. Being a preemie doesn’t stop just because the child is older. Both Laura and Ethan struggle with fine motor skills. Ethan doesn’t have the fine motor strength to do a lot of things including put on socks and shoes. Laura can do that after a lot of training. I would think that was “normal” were it not for my other, full-term, child who is able to do fine-motor skills without training–without thinking.

We’re a week into Laura’s palatal expander. Cleaning it out is G-R-O-S-S, but turning the key each morning is probably the worst part for Laura. It makes her teeth ache. Two more weeks of turning and then four weeks of waiting and then getting braces on her four front top teeth. They’re hoping that all this intervention now will negate the need for full braces later on. I’m hoping it as well! Neither Jim nor I ever needed anything in our mouths, so this braces thing is very new and different for us. I had to call the orthodontist the first night because Laura wasn’t able to eat and it was freaking us out. She has since figured it out, but the first few days were three meals a day of yogurt.

Can I just say Thank Goodness for yogurt? It’s the one thing that I can count on that every single child loves and will eat every day. It’s good carbs and protein. One of the drawers in the bottom of our fridge is the yogurt drawer. I buy anywhere from 4-6 packs of it every week, including drinkable and Go-Gurt ::shudder::.

Well, this seems to have turned into a great big ole post about the kids! No Wifey Wednesday or Works for Me Wednesday, sorry!