Last week was spring break for the boys, and B1 was able to take the week off work as well. So, we loaded up the van, and drove to California! At least once a week, at least one boy will ask to go to California. I'm not sure if it's the fact that it's warm, or that they get to see Grandma and Grandpa, or that they get to swim in Grandma and Grandpa's pool, but they are always up for the trip.
We drove down Friday afternoon and got there after midnight. A had a rough last few hours--he fell asleep in his car seat, but every hour or so would wake up and cry for about 5 minutes before going back to sleep. When we arrived and unloaded him, he became completely irrational. I think he feared we were leaving him in a strange house, because he would start screaming the second we put him down until we picked him up again. He ended up sleeping with B1 and I that night--it was the only way he could be comforted enough to fall back asleep. Other than that, our trip was rather uneventful--there was very minimal fighting with the kids, and we made pretty good time (I pumped while B1 drove so that we could feed E via bottles, minimizing our stops).
Saturday and Sunday we watched General Conference (well, the adults tried to watch while the kids ran around like crazy people). I will admit that I completely slept through the afternoon session on Saturday--I was just too tired from our long drive the night before. On Saturday, B1 also helped my dad install a drip irrigation system to my dad's new garden. While it's cool that he's finally able to plant a garden, it was still sad seeing my dog's old home without him there. And somehow A knew a dog was supposed to be in the backyard, because the first thing he said when he looked out there was "Doggy?" Maybe Scooter still visits and A's innocent eyes were able to see him. Anyway, starting from Saturday morning, the boys kept begging to go swimming, even though my dad's pool was only about 65* and it was only in the high 70s outside. Much too cold for my old self to get in the pool. In fact, we didn't even pack swimsuits because I knew the pool would be too cold.
On Monday the older 2 boys went to play at Aunt K's house with their cousin O. It wasn't long before they had jumped in the pool, clothes and all. They had so much fun playing with their cousin this week, and we are all so excited that they are moving to Utah this summer!
On Tuesday, B1 woke me up around 4:00 a.m. with some bad news--E was running a fever. He had been up with her for several hours, with her fever fluctuating between low-grade and fairly high. By 4:00 a.m. though, she was also starting to breathe fairly quickly--roughly one breath every second--and very shallow. We were worried, and so we called the nurse hotline through our insurance company. The nurse recommended we take her in to the ER, so we got dressed and drove her to the ER. Her fever was 101.2*, and given her age the doctor recommended a series of tests that included several blood tests, a urine test, a flu/RSV test using a nasal swab, and a test done from her stool sample (she so kindly pooped on the bed for them). After the ER doctor consulted with our pediatrician, she also recommended a spinal tap to run cultures on her spinal fluid--these cultures would help rule out meningitis. As you all know, I don't do well with needles. The last time I saw a needle inserted in my skin (I was giving blood at the time), I nearly passed out. I turned all white and several technicians came over, worried about me. So, when the nurses were putting in IV lines and taking blood samples, I had to sit down and B1 stood next to E. Poor girl. The spinal tap got to both of us though--I couldn't watch, and I just sat and wiped tears as I worried about my poor girl and how miserable she must be feeling right now, between being sick and having everyone poking her. They also gave her some Tylenol, and shortly afterward her fever broke.
All the tests (blood, urine, flu, RSV) came back negative, but it would take 48 hours to allow the culture tests from the spinal fluid to work. The doctor wanted to admit E during this time so they could keep an eye on her, and to administer antibiotics in case it was meningitis. Unfortunately, this hospital (which was only about 10 minutes from my parents' home) didn't have a pediatric unit, so she was transferred to a hospital in Tarzana, about 35 minutes away (without traffic). My brother was amazing and came by to help B1 give E a blessing before they left. At this point, it's after 10:00 a.m. B1 went with E in the ambulance to Tarzana while I went home, took the fastest shower of my life, and loaded up the necessities: clothes for E, PJs so I could stay overnight in the hospital, toothbrush, etc. I drove down to the hospital, pull in, and see a turnstile so I can pay to park in the hospital parking lot. Yep, no free parking. I felt like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz -- "I'm not in Utah anymore!" No only are we going to be paying a fortune to have my daughter in the hospital for the next 2+ days, but we are also going to pay to park as well.
E was held in the PICU ward, though we were told later that she was only there because the pediatric unit was full, and not because she needed PICU care. That was reassuring. We were also told that she would be held at least 48 hours--if her fever returned, or her pulse rate went abnormal, or her blood oxygen level dropped too low, or the cultures came back with negative results, she would be there longer. We all prayed (along with many others--thank you!!) that she would be fine so we could get back to our vacation. B1 and I took turns being with her--I stayed with her most of Tuesday and Tuesday night, and B1 stayed with her most of the day on Wednesday (I came back during the night). But, she did great--her fever never returned, and all her levels and tests were normal. We were thrilled when the doctor said she would be discharged Thursday morning.
When we got home from the hospital, we took the family out for lunch (Cafe Rio, yum!) and my mom showed us a park with some adorable ducks. There were even baby ducklings swimming around, and a few turtles! We ate while we watched the ducks swim and eat. One of the things I miss about working in the CP office is driving past the duck ponds every day and watching for the new little ducklings each spring. Baby ducklings are some of the cutest animals ever.
On Friday, we went to Griffith Park. B1 came with us as we went to their train museum--they had tons of old train cars that you could walk through, plus a museum and a train ride. My mom also had a celebrity spotting -- Walton Goggins. She kept trying to catch him in a photo bomb. I'm not sure if she ever got a decent picture of him to prove that she saw him. We were there for an hour and a half and didn't even see half of the train stuff, but we couldn't stay--B1 was meeting my dad at the pony rides to go golfing. While he did that, B2, D, and A rode on the ponies. B2's first time was on a bigger horse that went fast, and I think the bouncing hurt his back a little--he didn't want to ride again for a while. D had to sit out the first ride as a punishment for some bad behavior earlier that day. A went on a slow pony that walked the whole time. He loved it on the first lap, but during the second lap the pony just stopped for a while, and A got scared that he had been left. He wouldn't go on a pony again for the rest of the day. B2 went on one more ride on the medium speed ponies (smaller, and they trot a little on the first lap and walk the second lap), and D ended up doing two more rides on the medium ponies.
Our initial plan had been to come home on Saturday, but with E spending two days in the hospital, we stayed one last day to BBQ with my parents and see my brother and sister-in-law before we left. Saturday was a relaxing day at home. We then woke up Sunday morning at 2:30 a.m. CA time, loaded the kids up, and drove home. Despite some car troubles, we made it home before 4:00 p.m. Utah time. It was great waking up early like that -- the kids didn't even wake up until we were in Vegas, so it greatly minimized the number of times we were asked "Are we there yet?" and "How much longer?" We would have been home even sooner if D and B2 hadn't needed to pee every 20 minutes between Cedar City and Nephi. :)
This final picture isn't from spring break, but I had to share--I painted E's toenails for the first time after we got back. B1 had a hard time with it--he feels like it's a short jump from painted nails to make-up and then boys, and he feels like she's growing up too fast. She's only 2 months old and he's already worried about her teen years. :)
We drove down Friday afternoon and got there after midnight. A had a rough last few hours--he fell asleep in his car seat, but every hour or so would wake up and cry for about 5 minutes before going back to sleep. When we arrived and unloaded him, he became completely irrational. I think he feared we were leaving him in a strange house, because he would start screaming the second we put him down until we picked him up again. He ended up sleeping with B1 and I that night--it was the only way he could be comforted enough to fall back asleep. Other than that, our trip was rather uneventful--there was very minimal fighting with the kids, and we made pretty good time (I pumped while B1 drove so that we could feed E via bottles, minimizing our stops).
Saturday and Sunday we watched General Conference (well, the adults tried to watch while the kids ran around like crazy people). I will admit that I completely slept through the afternoon session on Saturday--I was just too tired from our long drive the night before. On Saturday, B1 also helped my dad install a drip irrigation system to my dad's new garden. While it's cool that he's finally able to plant a garden, it was still sad seeing my dog's old home without him there. And somehow A knew a dog was supposed to be in the backyard, because the first thing he said when he looked out there was "Doggy?" Maybe Scooter still visits and A's innocent eyes were able to see him. Anyway, starting from Saturday morning, the boys kept begging to go swimming, even though my dad's pool was only about 65* and it was only in the high 70s outside. Much too cold for my old self to get in the pool. In fact, we didn't even pack swimsuits because I knew the pool would be too cold.
On Monday the older 2 boys went to play at Aunt K's house with their cousin O. It wasn't long before they had jumped in the pool, clothes and all. They had so much fun playing with their cousin this week, and we are all so excited that they are moving to Utah this summer!
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| Battle wound from the spinal tap |
All the tests (blood, urine, flu, RSV) came back negative, but it would take 48 hours to allow the culture tests from the spinal fluid to work. The doctor wanted to admit E during this time so they could keep an eye on her, and to administer antibiotics in case it was meningitis. Unfortunately, this hospital (which was only about 10 minutes from my parents' home) didn't have a pediatric unit, so she was transferred to a hospital in Tarzana, about 35 minutes away (without traffic). My brother was amazing and came by to help B1 give E a blessing before they left. At this point, it's after 10:00 a.m. B1 went with E in the ambulance to Tarzana while I went home, took the fastest shower of my life, and loaded up the necessities: clothes for E, PJs so I could stay overnight in the hospital, toothbrush, etc. I drove down to the hospital, pull in, and see a turnstile so I can pay to park in the hospital parking lot. Yep, no free parking. I felt like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz -- "I'm not in Utah anymore!" No only are we going to be paying a fortune to have my daughter in the hospital for the next 2+ days, but we are also going to pay to park as well.
E was held in the PICU ward, though we were told later that she was only there because the pediatric unit was full, and not because she needed PICU care. That was reassuring. We were also told that she would be held at least 48 hours--if her fever returned, or her pulse rate went abnormal, or her blood oxygen level dropped too low, or the cultures came back with negative results, she would be there longer. We all prayed (along with many others--thank you!!) that she would be fine so we could get back to our vacation. B1 and I took turns being with her--I stayed with her most of Tuesday and Tuesday night, and B1 stayed with her most of the day on Wednesday (I came back during the night). But, she did great--her fever never returned, and all her levels and tests were normal. We were thrilled when the doctor said she would be discharged Thursday morning.
On Friday, we went to Griffith Park. B1 came with us as we went to their train museum--they had tons of old train cars that you could walk through, plus a museum and a train ride. My mom also had a celebrity spotting -- Walton Goggins. She kept trying to catch him in a photo bomb. I'm not sure if she ever got a decent picture of him to prove that she saw him. We were there for an hour and a half and didn't even see half of the train stuff, but we couldn't stay--B1 was meeting my dad at the pony rides to go golfing. While he did that, B2, D, and A rode on the ponies. B2's first time was on a bigger horse that went fast, and I think the bouncing hurt his back a little--he didn't want to ride again for a while. D had to sit out the first ride as a punishment for some bad behavior earlier that day. A went on a slow pony that walked the whole time. He loved it on the first lap, but during the second lap the pony just stopped for a while, and A got scared that he had been left. He wouldn't go on a pony again for the rest of the day. B2 went on one more ride on the medium speed ponies (smaller, and they trot a little on the first lap and walk the second lap), and D ended up doing two more rides on the medium ponies.
Our initial plan had been to come home on Saturday, but with E spending two days in the hospital, we stayed one last day to BBQ with my parents and see my brother and sister-in-law before we left. Saturday was a relaxing day at home. We then woke up Sunday morning at 2:30 a.m. CA time, loaded the kids up, and drove home. Despite some car troubles, we made it home before 4:00 p.m. Utah time. It was great waking up early like that -- the kids didn't even wake up until we were in Vegas, so it greatly minimized the number of times we were asked "Are we there yet?" and "How much longer?" We would have been home even sooner if D and B2 hadn't needed to pee every 20 minutes between Cedar City and Nephi. :)
This final picture isn't from spring break, but I had to share--I painted E's toenails for the first time after we got back. B1 had a hard time with it--he feels like it's a short jump from painted nails to make-up and then boys, and he feels like she's growing up too fast. She's only 2 months old and he's already worried about her teen years. :)
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