Whirlwind

Man, a lot has happened this last week and a half!  Here's my best attempt to catch you up...

Thursday, August 18: I took Maggie and Lane to the county fair.  Part of me wanted to enter the saddle in the fair, but I would have been too stressed about someone stealing it or it getting damaged so I didn't end up entering it.  The kids had fun looking at the animals (there were some FAT steers!) though.  After the fair, I let Maggie and Lane ride the carousel.  Maggie was a little uncertain about it until Lane started giggling; then Maggie decided she liked it too.  She wanted to ride the buckskin.  

Friday, August 19-Sunday, August 21: Friday was our sixth anniversary :)  To celebrate we decided to head down to Jonathan's parent's house for the weekend.  The plan was to meet up with my sister and her family and my parents and then go camping and huckleberrying together.  My parents decided to come up on Friday night and my sister was going to come Saturday morning.  My parents made it all the way up there, stopped for fuel at the gas station before you drop down into God's Country, and then their car wouldn't stop.  They figured it was the fuel pump.  Jonathan's dad called his friend Paul, who's a mechanic and he said he would meet Jonathan and I and my parents at the gas station.  Jonathan didn't know what Paul looked like, but Paul knew what vehicles he was looking for.  As we were pulling in a mechanic had just finished helping my parents get their car running again, so we assumed he was Paul.  He told my parents that they needed to keep it running or else it would die again...so, they turned around and went right back home.  They made it almost all the way to my brother's house before they broke down again.  Our five minute visit at the gas station was nice, but it sure wasn't the campout any of us had planned :)  When we got back to Jonathan's parent's we got a phone call from Paul.  H was wondering where we were.  Oops!  I guess we assumed wrong about the other mechanic :)  We even called him Paul when we thanked him :)  We got a good laugh out of it, but I do feel bad that Paul went out of his way to meet us there, all for nothing!

My sister was supposed to leave first thing Saturday morning, but her husband ended up getting sick, and it took some convincing to get her to drive up with two of her three boys.  When she got there, we ate some lunch and then headed up to an undisclosed location to pick huckleberries :)  Jonathan's mom kept Lane at home with her so we could accomplish more (thanks again!).  I threatened Julieanne that we might have to blindfold her on the way there, but she promised she wouldn't remember how to get there.  The huckleberries were big and plentiful this year!  Maggie didn't get any of hers in the bucket...she was going hog wild eating them all.  She had purple cheeks when we left.  We had an approve-any-berries-with-mom-or-dad-before-you-eat-them policy when we first got there, but we couldn't keep up with her and I stopped worrying once I looked around and didn't see any other kind of berries in the patch we were in.       

You know the pickin's good when your hands are stained within a short time.

 Cousins.  I love the expression on Marshall's face in this picture :)

Sisters.

 My back was calling for a chiropractor afterward.

I love these two pictures of Maggie with her Daddy.  I have some serious paparazzi skills don't you think?  I was even hiding in the bushes and everything :) 

When we got back from picking huckleberries Lane got really grouchy and kept tugging at his left ear.  We were all worried he was getting an ear infection.  I'm not sure I'd ever seen him so grouchy.  Jonathan took him for a ride to get him to sleep, and he slept for a little bit.  We gave him some Ibuprofen and put a few drops of hydrogen peroxide in his ear and that helped a lot.  He's never had an ear infection, but he is getting 4-6 teeth, so it could have been related to teething.  We went out to eat with Julieanne before she hit the road.  It was a fun day.

Lane acted a lot better on Sunday and din't tug at his ear at all.  We went to church and then drove home.  Here are a few more pictures from the weekend:    

Maggie always wants Daddy to take her on a four wheeler ride.  Lane was practically crawling out of my arms trying to get to the four wheeler, so I guess he wanted a ride too.

Maggie loves spotting the hummingbirds at Grandma and Grandpa's.  We don't see to many in our neck of the woods.

Monday, August 22-Wednesday, August 24:  By Monday morning Lane was pretty congested and his breathing was somewhat shallow and labored.  I still assumed it was because of teething and I debated in my head whether or not I should take him to the doctor.  I decided too since he had been tugging at his ear over the weekend.  The earliest appointment was in the afternoon.  As the day progressed his breathing got worse.  I was still kind of expecting them to tell me that everything was just because of teething, but when they checked his vitals, his oxygen was only at 85%.  At this point he was really working at breathing.  They put him on oxygen immediately while we waited for the doctor to come in.  (While they were hooking up the hoses, one came off of the tank and started hissing really loudly.  Maggie was screaming and trying to climb up me and Lane was crying from them sticking the oxygen hose by his nose.  It was a frantic few minutes.  I think we had four different nurses in there trying to calm everyone down.  Maggie plugged her ears the rest of the time we were there.)  Once the doctor came in and saw Lane breathing she was very concerned and told me we would likely end up at the hospital.  At this point I was starting to mentally freak out a little.  She ordered a chest x-ray and some bloodwork to see if there was any type of blockage or any obvious infections.  His lungs ended up looking mostly clear so they ruled out pneumonia, but they didn't really have any idea what was causing it.  The doctor's office had a P.A. student doing his rotations there.  I don't think I realized how bad things were until the doctor grabbed him out of the hall so that he could see "a really good example of a baby in respiratory distress."  They tested Lane's oxygen again to make sure it was high enough for me to drive him to the hospital.  It was, so they told called the E.R. and told them I was coming.  I was kind of in shock at this point.  Maggie wanted me to carry her and I started crying on the way to the car while I told her she needed to be brave for me and do as she was told because Lane was really sick and we needed to hurry and get him to the hospital (one block away).  

When I pulled into the E.R. there had obviously been a boating accident, because the EMT's vehicles and a truck with a boat were parked and still running right outside the E.R. doors.  We waited in the E.R. for five to ten minutes until a nurse came and got us and sent us right up to the the second floor of the hospital.  She told us that normally they would have admitted us through the E.R., but it was full (there had also been a car accident).  As soon as we got to the room they got Lane on oxygen again, pulled some more blood, and tried several times to get an I.V. in.  That was the hardest thing for me to watch.  I was still kind of in mental shock and I was holding it together fairly well.  By this point Jonathan had made it to the hospital.  I looked over at him and his eyes were teary while they tried for probably the fifth time to get an I.V. in Lane.  It's been a long time since I've seen Jonathan that emotional and that got to me.  Maggie had about had enough and since Jonathan was there I took her for a little walk through the halls.  When I got back, there was Jonathan, four nurses, and the phlebotomist holding Lane down while they tried again with the I.V. That time they were able to get it in his head on the first try thank goodness.  

Lane did NOT want a canula in his nose, so we had to hold the oxygen by his nose for a blow-by treatment.  his oxygen was staying in the 90th percentile as long as the hose was by his nose, but if he started getting worked up or if he wiggled away from the hose, then his oxygen would drop back into the 80s and sometimes the high 70s.  We still hadn't received any answers regarding the cause, so it was a pretty scary time for us.  

Our bishop and the Elder's quorum president came to help give Lane a priesthood blessing.  It helped a ton.  Just before the blessing Lane's oxygen started dropping fairly fast.  When it got to 77 and was still dropping I was about to go get the nurse to ask if his blow-by needed to be turned up, but we proceeded with the blessing.  At one point his oxygen dropped to 74%, which was the lowest I had seen it.  At the end of the blessing, his monitor stopped beeping, and his oxygen was at a perfect 100% (which was the first time it had ever reached 100% since we got there).  The spirit was very strong, and I'm only sharing this as a testament of the power of faith and the priesthood.  He continued to progress from there.  We stayed overnight in the hospital and by Tuesday afternoon he was acting much more energetic and happy (He'd actually smile at the nurses who had poked him.)  They were still making it sound like we'd be there for another night, but Lane so desperately wanted to get down and play--something that wasn't really possible since he was still hooked up to an I.V., monitors, and oxygen.  They eventually disconnected the I.V. hose and told me not to hold the blow-by up to him any more so we could see how long he could go without the oxygen.  He did great.  He received a couple doses of steroids and a few more breathing treatments and we were able to come home Tuesday night around 8:30.  

Since then we've been doing breathing treatments, an antibiotic, and a steroid and he's doing much better.    They still never knew for sure what it was.  They said the blood work all pointed toward a virus of some type, but it wasn't RSV.  The respiratory therapist told us that his lungs and breathing sounded like he had asthma.  The doctor said not to jump to that conclusion off of one incidence, and that we'd have a better idea if it ever happens again.  We're hoping it was just some freak virus attack and that it doesn't happen again.  I'm just thankful we're all home and healthy.  I've definitely been holding my kids closer and counting my blessings.  We appreciate all the prayers that were offered in behalf of our little family!  

I took this picture on Tuesday when he started smiling again.  It gave me so much hope to see my happy little guy being himself again!

 Thankfully Jonathan's mom drove up and took care of Maggie while we were in the hospital.  A thousand thanks to you!  We haven't really done much the rest of this week except get caught back up on reality and sleep.  Hopefully this next week is less eventful!