Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Trying Things a New Way
Andrew and I have been struggling to come up with a good way to get our youth more involved in planning and more excited about activities. Last night while I was browsing online, I decided to start a youth page of its own. Most of our youth are on Fb so I decided to start there. I am excited to try a new way of outreach.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Our First Emergency Room Trip
What a day we had today. I am not sure where to start besides that we decided to stay home sick from church.
The girls had been fighting the common cold all week (what every child gets during the winter, a runny nose/cough). Andrew had been fighting the same illness since Thursday. Then Andrew woke up today much worse than he had been feeling the last few days. I can't say that I have been sick, but I have been having a strange head/ear/sinus-ache, it is nothing like what everyone else is complaining about. They are all coughing and blowing noses... I am just complaining.
Anyway, we stayed home from church. Neither Andrew or I were feeling like moving, but kids are kids; once you get them all drugged-up they are ready to play anyway. After breakfast was over the kids were playing around the house while Andrew and I laid down for some rest. Off and on getting up to take care of this problem or that.
At about 12:30, I came out of the bedroom to find Paige on the couch. There she was sitting with her snack that she had chosen on her own, a tub of peanut butter and a spoon, watching Robin Hood. This was the first time that she had ever made her own snack, so I took the jar to go show Andrew in the bedroom.
On the way out of the bedroom and into the kitchen to put it away. I noticed something horrifying on the kitchen table.... An empty bottle of kids Tylenol. Now that would have been too bad, if I hadn't just bought the bottle and only used 3 doses from it.
Immediately, I am standing with the bottle yelling for Andrew to help. There is no sign of the medicine anywhere. Someone had to have eaten it. I am confused, I am shocked... I have no clue how this has happened.
What do I do... Who do I call... and WHO ATE THE MEDICINE? Of course, the first thing we do is ask the child who can talk. Paige says she didn't do it. But doesn't offer anything else. I pick up the bottle again and start searching for any answers on it. Only answer... call poison control, even if there are no symptoms. Now it is time to search for the phone book and call poison control.
It seems like forever that I am waiting for someone to answer. Then a million questions. And then the scariest words I could have thought of... Go to the Emergency Room.
I have never had to take the kids there before.
It was a lot of waiting but not in the waiting room. We were in the exam room for about 5 hours. They couldn't pump the stomach because it might have been more than an hour before that they had taken the medicine. We had to wait until it had been 4 hours since they had ingested it. Then draw both girls blood.
Finally at 4pm the lab tech came in and drew their blood. Oh, I hate needles. I really hate them near my children and even more when it takes longer than a shot. I thought the worst part was that they couldn't rule out Paige, even though she said that she hadn't done it. So I knew as they were drawing the blood, that one of the girls was in pain for no reason. What a horrible thought. I couldn't stop myself from crying (with my back to the kids of course).
At 4:30, they said that it was Elizabeth who had eaten the medicine, but that we still had to wait for more results before they could send us home.
At 5pm they came and said that we could go.
I have ran through the morning in my head so many times. If I would have not laid back down in my room.... If only I had said that the kids and I should go to church on our own.... If only I had moved the medicine up this morning.... I took it all on myself.
But that is what happens, sometimes you just have to do that. It is my job to keep them safe and raise them to be good and responsible people. And to day I could have failed them. Luckily, God had me wake up when I did. He had me check on the kids. Had me see the bottle. But he also had Elizabeth digest the medicine at a quick rate and without damaging her liver...at least that is the prayer of my heart right now.
The girls had been fighting the common cold all week (what every child gets during the winter, a runny nose/cough). Andrew had been fighting the same illness since Thursday. Then Andrew woke up today much worse than he had been feeling the last few days. I can't say that I have been sick, but I have been having a strange head/ear/sinus-ache, it is nothing like what everyone else is complaining about. They are all coughing and blowing noses... I am just complaining.
Anyway, we stayed home from church. Neither Andrew or I were feeling like moving, but kids are kids; once you get them all drugged-up they are ready to play anyway. After breakfast was over the kids were playing around the house while Andrew and I laid down for some rest. Off and on getting up to take care of this problem or that.
At about 12:30, I came out of the bedroom to find Paige on the couch. There she was sitting with her snack that she had chosen on her own, a tub of peanut butter and a spoon, watching Robin Hood. This was the first time that she had ever made her own snack, so I took the jar to go show Andrew in the bedroom.
On the way out of the bedroom and into the kitchen to put it away. I noticed something horrifying on the kitchen table.... An empty bottle of kids Tylenol. Now that would have been too bad, if I hadn't just bought the bottle and only used 3 doses from it.
Immediately, I am standing with the bottle yelling for Andrew to help. There is no sign of the medicine anywhere. Someone had to have eaten it. I am confused, I am shocked... I have no clue how this has happened.
What do I do... Who do I call... and WHO ATE THE MEDICINE? Of course, the first thing we do is ask the child who can talk. Paige says she didn't do it. But doesn't offer anything else. I pick up the bottle again and start searching for any answers on it. Only answer... call poison control, even if there are no symptoms. Now it is time to search for the phone book and call poison control.
It seems like forever that I am waiting for someone to answer. Then a million questions. And then the scariest words I could have thought of... Go to the Emergency Room.
I have never had to take the kids there before.
It was a lot of waiting but not in the waiting room. We were in the exam room for about 5 hours. They couldn't pump the stomach because it might have been more than an hour before that they had taken the medicine. We had to wait until it had been 4 hours since they had ingested it. Then draw both girls blood.
Finally at 4pm the lab tech came in and drew their blood. Oh, I hate needles. I really hate them near my children and even more when it takes longer than a shot. I thought the worst part was that they couldn't rule out Paige, even though she said that she hadn't done it. So I knew as they were drawing the blood, that one of the girls was in pain for no reason. What a horrible thought. I couldn't stop myself from crying (with my back to the kids of course).
At 4:30, they said that it was Elizabeth who had eaten the medicine, but that we still had to wait for more results before they could send us home.
At 5pm they came and said that we could go.
I have ran through the morning in my head so many times. If I would have not laid back down in my room.... If only I had said that the kids and I should go to church on our own.... If only I had moved the medicine up this morning.... I took it all on myself.
But that is what happens, sometimes you just have to do that. It is my job to keep them safe and raise them to be good and responsible people. And to day I could have failed them. Luckily, God had me wake up when I did. He had me check on the kids. Had me see the bottle. But he also had Elizabeth digest the medicine at a quick rate and without damaging her liver...at least that is the prayer of my heart right now.
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