Monday, August 4, 2008

The 4 greatest words and other musings

I learned something tonight: The 4 greatest words on EARTH are "I LUB YOU, MOMMY!" They are made even more precious when they come unsolicited as they did tonight. If I never heard another phrase in my life other than my husband saying he loves me and my kids saying, "I love you, Mommy," I would be content. It means the world to me. It also makes my heart soar when I hear, "I love you Daddy" from our precious daughter to her daddy whom she adores and who returns the adoration. *sigh*

I have an AMAZING update on baby Addison. Just to recap, she was born at 27 weeks 5 days gestation just over a week ago on the 25th of July. By Tuesday, the 29th (also her mommy's birthday), she was OFF OF THE VENTILATOR (sp?) and on a CPAP machine, which is forced air. It's the same type of machine that people with sleep apnea wear so that they don't stop breathing in the night. As of this past weekend, she is OFF OF THE CPAP MACHINE and is simply on a nasal canula...the very last step before she is breathing entirely on her own. The way I understand it is that she IS breathing on her own, but the canula just gives her more saturated oxygen. It's the little tube-y thing that has 2 tiny tubes that go right inside your nostrils, I think. You nurse people help me out, but that's what I think it is from my limited knowledge. She is doing SO FABULOUSLY and it is only because of the grace of God Almighty that she is doing so well. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your prayers offered on behalf of this little miracle and her parents. Her mother is Holly that has commented so faithfully on my blog...I'm not sure if I ever made that connection for you all. She is a dear friend of mine and has been my partner in prayer for many years. I already miss her so badly and hope that once Miss Addison is better and she has recovered, we can continue our communications.

Now for a little story:
I witnessed what might have been the scariest thing I've ever watched happen in my entire life last night. As a mother, sometimes you just feel helpless and powerless. Last night was one of those times. My darling Cassie was playing so, so nice with her new baby brother. He was on the floor and she was giving him blankies and kisses and was talking so sweetly to him. I was talking to my friend, Jessica, on the phone, but was watching them interact and was just enjoying it while they still like each other, as I know that they will soon be fighting like cats and dogs...if they're anything like their mommy and her siblings. :) All of the sudden, to my horror, Cassie lost her balance and fell...full force...right on to Conrey's FACE! I started screaming (remember how I'm on the phone?) and Conrey was screaming. Cassie was upset by it all and I was just horrified!!! Thanks to God, Conrey is okay. His little eyebrows were a bit swollen still today, but after I got him to latch on to nurse about 1 minute after all of this happened, he calmed down and we established that he was not permanently hurt, though I'm sure he did have some pain. Thank GOODNESS the potty training hasn't been successful, as sister had a diaper on! HA!

When I went in to tell her night-night after getting him calmed and settled, she said, "Mommy, I'm sorry I broke Conrey!" She was upset, but I told her it was an accident and he was okay. It broke my heart to see her feel so badly when it was nothing up an accident. I'm just glad to know that she has a tender heart that will respond to things appropriately.

After all of that, I held him, rocked him, and sobbed. I really and truly think that he could have been seriously injured or killed by that. I was afraid to put him to sleep lest he have a concussion or something, but he slept well and I checked on him often throughout the night.

Well, that is my story for tonight. Maybe I should say "stories," but oh well.

I did a MEAL PLAN MONDAY today, but don't have the energy to go find the appropriate link to link to the host blog (I can't even think who it is at this point), so I will just post my meal plans for the next 2 weeks:
This week:
Tues: Tacos
Wed: Ritz and Parmesan Chicken
Thurs: Nothing--Mark is doing work at our friends' house, so we'll just scrounge
Fri: Fajitas
We usually eat light and/or eat out on the weekends

Next week:
Mon: Chicken Crescent Squares
Tues: Rotel Chicken w/ Rice
Wed: BBQ Chicken w/ Provolone
Thurs: Chicken Enchiladas
Fri: Grilled Ham & Cheese Sandwiches

Well, there you have it. I could be more detailed but I don't have the energy. Partially because I remember all too well what is waiting for me upstairs...rice...all over the floor. When moving stuff in the pantry to accomodate my $214 worth of groceries that I bought today (for 3 weeks of dinners plus frozen foods to have on hand, lunch stuff, and breakfast stuff), I hit the Oreos, which fell and hit the Swiffer Wet Jet that hangs in my pantry, which fell and hit a box of Minute Rice, which tipped upside down getting hung up on the can of PAM spray that was another victim of the Oreos, but managed to just tip over trapping the Rice box in an inverted position allowing it to pour...I MEAN POUR all over the pantry floor. At that point, I yelled, "I QUIT!" and came downstairs to avoid the disaster. That was 2 hours ago. Now, it's time to go clean it up. UGH!

Now, it's time to face the music and then get to bed. Thanks for reading this looooooooong post. I'm out.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

A couple interesting medical facts that I have come across...

One, breast feeding releases endorphins for baby so it helps after immunizations or when big sister falls on your head. :-) Good call, momma.

Also, you got the nasal canula right. The difference between a ventilator and a CPAP is as follows:

CPAP is forced air, like you said, but it's main purpose is to push enough to keep the tong from falling back and blocking the airway. The would be getting enough oxygen but they just sleep too heavy or something... I don't know what all causes one person to develop sleep apnea and not another. A person needing a CPAP could sleep upright in a chair or something but this allows them to lie down and breath.

A ventilator can be set at many different settings. There are settings which force breaths on the person at a set rate, those that force breaths on the person ONLY if they don't breath by themselves, or where it forces breaths in-between the spontaneous breaths that the person takes when they are not quite cutting it on their own.

Make since? There is a lot more to it that I don't know but .

I'm jealous of your "perfect little family" dinner plans. I know you're not saying that but I've always wanted to have a normal eating life like that. I could better control my kids diet if we were so structured. I think when my kids get old enough to make a dent in a meal themselves, I am going to make dinner every night and ... we'll see about Dustin.

Anonymous said...

Ditto to the above! Good call momma! Hope all is going better than "spilled rice." Lots of love!

Anonymous said...

Ditto to the above! Good call momma! Hope all is going better than "spilled rice." Lots of love!

Rebekah said...

I feel your spoken truths about the rice! Mine is usually the pieces of food that somehow throw themselves overboard when Chloe's eating. I ignore them until it can't be ignored any longer, usually when Chloe's picking them up a few hours later for an afternoon snack :)

Thanks for the update on Addison! I'm glad you're keeping in touch and able to update us!

Also, how is baby life going? Is he smiling yet, cooing, etc.? I'm trying to get a mental image in my head of what he looks like now and was wondering if he was capable of the things I'm imagining!