Tuesday, December 25, 2007

mERrry christmas

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So my poem was a little off.
Here is the revision of what actually happened on Christmas eve.

When a shout from the room there arose such a clatter,
Dad sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Out of the bed, Dad arose with bed hair,
To find poor Elijah gasping for air.

His snot had turned to croup,
It would be a long night.
We rushed him out the front door,
to the cold air outside.

I packed a bag for Elijah and his Dad,
As they drove to to the ER.
His Mommy was sad.

This was about 12:30am. The amazing thing is that this was our first trip to the ER with either one of our kids (sorry Alison).
It was pretty scary though because he was really struggling to breathe. By the time they checked in at the ER, Elijah seemed okay. The triage person asked said skeptically, "He has been breathing fine since he got here." Implying that we made it up or something ... because everyone's favorite place in the middle of the night (on Christmas!!) is the ER!

With clear chest x-rays (to make sure it wasn't pneumonia) and a shot of steroids (in case it was croup) he was discharged after 3 hours. After they gave him the shot he started crying, which led to the croup bark so then the nurse and doctor said, "Oh there's the croup bark." Give a kid a shot and you never know what'll come out. At the hospital Elijah was affectionately known as "the kid with the Dad who is falling asleep." Where was his Mom gene? I was at home wide awake waiting for the results.

The good news is that Lydia did not wake up coughing for the first time in 5 days, but her cough is still pretty bad. I am pretty sure she has bronchitis so we are taking her in first thing in the morning to our pediatrician.

Santa brought the kids their stockings and some winter crocs. But Mom and Dad delivered the best presents (Santa is not all that in our house). Lydia loved her shopping cart.

Elijah was in awe of his new Star Wars collection ($36 on Ebay!). Shiloh spent 2 hours last night going through all the pieces (cause they were all just thrown in a box) figuring out what went with what. He has mad presentation skills as you can see.


We had a tight Christmas budget this year. Shiloh and I were only allowed $10 for each other. The exception is that you can use gift cards or store credits if you have any and that doesn't count. I splurged (or so I thought) and bought Shiloh a $20 popcorn maker (using a gift card that he had given me for my bday - I know it is a little twisted). And then last night I had to go to Long's to get stocking stuffers when I realized I only had 1 thing. But Shiloh was the real sneak. Supposedly he has a "secret stash" of money (is this healthy people? how many wives does he have?) so he got me a red ipod shuffle! I loved it. My first ipod.

And he got me an itunes gift card, a couple books, fancy shampoo and conditioner, fancy hot chocolate and a few other little things.
Then we went to my parents' house and they spoiled us to no end. Good night. Pin It Now!

6 comments:

Rosalyn said...

You are a blast!

Anonymous said...

oh man-I'm so sorry but so happy to hear that it all turned out well. Sweet gifts all around. Hope all is well and we miss you guys!

. said...

I am glad that Elijah is okay, but unfortunately the ER can cure a kid at times. On our first visit to the ER with Chris at 9mo, they said we were over reacting and just being "first time parents". Funny since we ended up staying there, getting a breathing treatment, and having the doctor tell us he had bronchial asthma and had to get breathing treatments for the next 4 weeks. I have learned with the ER to ALWAYS trust my instincts. I hope your babies get well soon.

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear Elijah is doing better. My friend's son has been getting that too. Their doctor said to take him outside to breathe the night air (weird I know). Maybe that is what made the symptoms disappear once t the ER. At least it will make for a sweet Christmas memory in the years to come.

Becky said...

Love the poems. Sorry about the croup, that was us last week, ER and all. Hope they got better quick cuz those sleepless nights are the pits.

Bill and Jenn said...

Wendy- Read your blog right after Christmas and felt terrible for you... I have a whole new appreciation for ER visits with croup, now, though. (is it contagious through blogs?? :) ) We are on vacation and Tori (6 mos) decided to break us in to the whole ER routine, dear one that she is. And ironic enough, she'd wait until we were in HOT and HUMID Florida where there is no "cool night air" to come down with croup. Lovely. Here's to sleeping upright on the couch at Grandma's house so your child can breath at night. Ah, Motherhood.
Happy New Year!!

p.s.- she's feeling MUCH better after a good dose of steriods. PTL