T-Day...warning...long post!

Sorry this took so long to put up.  I wrote it in stages.

So today (6/25) was testing day for Lilly.  Last night when I was speaking to the doctors it became apparent that she might not have the testing because of the cold/ear infection she has.  She has been on antibiotics since Tuesday so I was hopeful that it had cleared up enough for today.  They said I should plan as if we were going forward and they would check her in the morning.

Last night was difficult because she could not eat or drink anything but water or apple juice and then nothing after 6am.  I generally don't nurse her too much at night anymore.  She usually sleeps until 6ish so I nurse her then.  Of course last night she was screaming for about an hour to nurse starting at 4:00am.  She finally fell back asleep and I got to sleep for about an hour.

The one nice thing about driving to the hospital at 6am is that while driving through the reservation I saw a great blue heron.  I have always been fascinated by them and so seeing him (or her) gave me a sense of calm.

At the hospital Lilly was the belle of the waiting room.  She was talking to everyone, reading her books to me and dressing and undressing her baby too many times to count.  She went right in and even plopped on the bed on her belly to watch the nurse write down my answers to the questions.  She put the hospital-issued socks on her hands and made puppets and waved hi to everyone who walked by.  Of course as she saw the beverage cart roll by she started asking for applesauce and juice and pancakes and...you get the picture.

The anesthilogist was really great and determined that she was okay to be sedated.  At this point I was relieved because I did not want to have to do this all over again next week.  When the nurse was asking me if she went on the potty because they needed a urine sample Lilly said that she wanted to go on the potty.  Sure enough she went right on the little urine catcher they put on the toilet for her.  I was afraid she would not have enough urine because she had not had a drink since 8pm the previous night.

When it came time, I carried Lilly to the MRI room.  That was where it turned terrible as I had to hold her hands down while they put the mask over her face and she was sedated.  Then I had to go out and wait.  The MRI was completed in less than the allotted 45 minutes.  I then followed behind her as she was wheeled to the EEG room.  That took longer than I had expected but everything went well.  The nurse came to get me and she said that Lilly was asking for Mommy.  When I walked into the room she tried to get up but fell right back down.  She started laughing at herself and she was so loopy.  She could not even hold her head up for several minutes.  We walked back to recovery and after a few minutes Lilly was able to eat some crackers and drink apple juice.  She was desperately trying to befriend the baby in the crib next to us.  He was not as interested, poor bunny.

It takes about 24 hours for the sedation stuff to be out of her system so we had about a day of clumsiness and crankiness.  All in all she did really well, though.  She did not vomit or anything.  She did start to run a lowgrade (99.5) fever so we started the Motrin routine.  We have an appointment to see the neurologist in mid-July to get the results.  Meanwhile, if something big came up they would call us ASAP.  I am assuming that for now, no news is good news.  


So if you made it to the end, thank you for reading.  I wanted to give everyone as much information as I could but it was also good for me, mentally, to get this out of my head and onto "paper."

cool jewelry giveaway

My old elementary & high school friend, Jen makes her own awesome jewelry that she sells through her etsy site.  I am not lucky enough to own a piece yet, but seriously, they are pieces of art.  She is hosting a giveaway right now...check it out here!

I promise...

....to have new posts up soon!  I am done for the school year on Thursday!!!

....and I got the job!

Thanks to everyone for the prayers/positive vibes/encouraging thoughts/etc.  They worked I got the job in Hoboken.  I am really, really excited about this!  If you are my facebook friend you already know about it. Basically I will be a support for teachers in the preschool classrooms.  The great thing is that I will be working through the Board of Education so I get to transfer my pension and I get all the BOE perks (namely, health insurance).  It will be a new position for me, but not a 360 from what I have been doing this past year.  I love Hoboken and the people who live and work there.  The commute sucks.  A lot.  But it is less miles to Hoboken than to new Brunswick.  For those not familiar with NJ, I will be driving with the traffic going to NYC.  Hoboken is the last exit before the Lincoln and Holland tunnels to NYC.  So you can imagine at 8am it is a bit of a mess.  But I did it for 5 years and I was way less organized then.  Funny how kids force you to get organized, huh!

It is 11pm on Sunday night and I want to get a little reading in before I turn off the lights so this is good night.  I started this series last week and am on the latest book.  Of course when I am done I will need to wait until the author publishes a new one.  I hope everyone has a great week!  Oh, and if you are not a follower but read my blog please consider following it!  Thanks  :)

catching-up

I have not written in what feels like ages because life has been a little hectic.  I have gone on 2 interviews: 1 for Early Intervention which I was offered on the spot and 1 for a position in Hoboken for the BOE.  More on that 2nd one later this week, I hope.  The Early Intervention position is hourly but functions more like a contract.  I can work around my schedule and have as many/few clients as I can handle.  This is something I have really wanted to do so I am thrilled by this opportunity.  I am hoping that I will be able to build a relationship with this company and then if/when we decide to expand our family it will allow me to stay home with #2 a little longer than I would otherwise be able.

In the midst of graduation, being let go, interviewing, etc. I was also dealing with Lilly getting sick.  Again.  It started off in her usual way...with a febrile seizure.  We brought her to the doctor and was told she had laryngitis/croup and to expect the barky cough to start that night.  Sure enough it started about midnight.  Well by day 2 of the cough and shortness of breath I was getting very concerned.  I had really been trying to be calm because I know so many people end up in the ER unnecessarily.  I called the doctor before I put her to bed Thursday (we had been to see him on Tuesday) and based on her symptoms he told us to go straight to the ER.  Now, I was thinking as we walked in that it was kind of sad and disconcerting that I was beginning to know many of the faces in the pediatric ER.  Lilly was seen ultra quickly and was given an oral dose of a strong steroid to calm her breathing.  It worked within the hour and we were on our way home.

By Saturday Lilly seemed to be on the mend.  Her temperature was back down in the 97s without ibuprofen and her cough was barely noticeable.  She had a slight runny nose, as expected.  Sunday morning I woke up to her having a febrile seizure in the bed next to me.  Vin and I got dressed and brought her to ER once again.  There seemed to be no infection and nothing else going on.  Back home we went but since it was Sunday of Memorial Day weekend I was glad we went.  Plus the ER doc told me that I should always bring her if I feel I need to, especially after a seizure.

I have an appointment for the diagnostic testing Lilly needs for the day after my last day of work.  i am not thrilled that she will be sedated for approximately 1.5 hours, but at least we will rule out any other causes of the seizures.

Meanwhile I have been trying to work out with the wii when I can.  I REALLY want to get back to the gym as well, but finding the time seems impossible.  And food, well, I have not lost and I am trying not to beat myself up for stress eating when Lilly was sick.  At least I know that when I am stress eating now it is still not nearly as bad as before.  Like I might have a doughnut.  Okay, 2 doughnuts.  But I am not eating doughnuts, cookies and 2nd helpings of dinner and maybe some ice cream after.

As an aside, Lilly has been obsessed with "ham" or Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss for the uninitiated.  I think Vinnie and I know that book by heart.  Her next fave is There is a Monster at the End of this Book.  She CRACKS up!!   To know Lilly really is to love her.  She just lights up my world.  Which reminds me...only 12 more work days until I am home with my bunny for the summer!!!