May 10, 2008

Good times by all

Celebrating mother's day a tad early with my mom took us out to coolidge park for lots of running, carousel riding and yummy ice cream!
I'm heading off tomorrow for a day trip to Atlanta with friends, baby included, to hit IKEA, Trader Joes and Anthropology. Happy mommys day to me!!!

Once we had our third I realized that in family picts its a success if everyones there not if everyone is looking!!

(can you see Julia's death grip?)

| By JennR | 10:47 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

May 08, 2008

Febrile Seizures

So 2am Tuesday morning found us waiting on an ambulance after experiencing a febrile seizure with Julia. As the week has gone on and I have shared this experience with friends most have said they have either never heard of them or wouldn't know what to do during one. I wanted to give a very real account of what the experience was like for us; one to help me get past this horrifying experience and two on the chance that someone might read it or discuss it with someone and know what to expect if they have to unfortunately experience one with their child.
My nieces have each had febrile seizures (it runs in the family) the most recent of which was this past Dec, so my sisters description was with me while I was holding Julia and I think that provided me with some sense of sanity. The little knowledge that I had kept me from going crazy.
Let me preface this account by saying febrile seizures are completely harmless most of the time and my goal is not to strike fear into the hearts of other mothers. I myself am currently trying not to live in fear. 1 in 25 children experience them ranging from ages 6 months to 5yrs. The older you are when you have your first one the less likely you are to have another one, so the likelihood of it happening again to Julia is extremely low. This fact has not kept me from going into her room every night just about every two hours to feel her head though. I'm hoping and praying for the paranoia to fade.
So Sunday afternoon Julia was developing a pretty good cough. Every cold she gets usually is in her chest and coughing for her is nothing new. Monday her breathing sounded labored to me and the cough was worse (we found out later she had croup). About 1:30 that night we woke up to coughing and Lizzie calling to us since Julia had just thrown up. I went in there and she was burning up. We have seen temps of 103 and 104 in our kids so her radiating heat was not shocking and I estimated her temp at nearly 103. I was using the touch method. She washed off in the tub and we gave her motrin and put her back down. I was concerned about how hot she was and was going to go back in after the 3am feeding to feel her. But at 2am we woke to more coughing and she had thrown up again. Still burning up and wanting to rinse off again so I decided she should have a tepid bath to lower the temp which she hated of course. I got her to lay back in the little amount of water that was in the tub to rinse her hair. She was looking at me and seemed like a blank stare and I started to say her name and she was staring at the ceiling and jerking ever so slightly. I pulled her up by her shoulders and said her name over and over. I got her out of the tub and onto my lap and Andy came to the door of the bathroom and I told him to call an ambulance. I held her there on the floor of the bathroom alternating between calling her name and crying out to Jesus. The experience for me was indescribable. She was shaking and her eyes seemed to be moving all around and her lips were turning blue and other parts of her face were blue. I held her head to the side and continued to wipe the saliva from the side of her mouth and inside I was on the verge of losing it. I did have thoughts of my sister though and I remember she told me when she held Isabelle during one of her seizures she thought- so this is what its like to hold your child while they're dying and there's nothing you can do. Even though I had that thought there was another part of my brain which remembered, ok Isabelle's lips turned blue too and she pulled out of it. So it was all these quick thoughts at once. I was pretty sure it was a febrile seizure but still terrified. I think it probably lasted about 30sec-1min and then she went completely limp and peed all over me. This too didn't really surprise me and again it was like I had a check list in my mind from my sister's experience knowing that now we were in the stage where she would be unresponsive. Seizures zap them of all energy and it seemed like she essentially passed out. I handed her off to Andy to get dressed for the hospital and he put a diaper on her and held her on the couch. Her skin was very pale and her lips had no color but she was breathing and I thought well we're breathing so that's a good sign. We considered just driving to tc thompson ourselves as we got a bit anxious waiting but decided not to. We were unable to wake a friend to come over to be with the girls and didn't want to push the issue so I went alone to the hospital (that was not a guilt trip!!! LOL). Although I did get the third degree from several friends for not trying harder and I so appreciate our community of friends. I told Andy when I left that if they did invasive testing for whatever reason I was going to call him and we were going to start waking everyone we knew! We were both ok with this arrangement. By the time the paramedics got there she would get eye contact again and cried when I put her on the stretcher and one paramedic commented that a crying baby was a happy baby to him.
The hospital itself was fairly uneventful, they didn't even do blood work. Although the paramedic did an iv in the moving ambulance which made me very nervous and I said, "you're doing that HERE!?!?" but that was probably the worst for her. She was diagnosed with croup and febrile seizure. Apparently they are very common and not alarming unless a child seizes for over 10 minutes, YES 10 MINUTES!!! I would have freaked then. But the reality is that the seizure is the body's way of protecting itself which seems so strange to me because visually it looks like anything but harmless!!
We were home by 5am that morning and Julia had fallen asleep in the ER finally after a popsicle and playing with my cell phone taking pictures of the room. The Dr was surprised I was handling it so well but he didn't know that every time he left the room I cried and I just laid in her bed with her and cried. I do think though that once again hearing my sister's account helped immensely.
For at least that first day I cried when I walked by the bathroom and could play it back in my mind and I had a hard time sleeping. She has had a fever each night and while I know the likelihood of a repeat is slim to none I can't help but be so anxious. I keep seeing these blue lips and vacant eyes. Not trying to be melodramatic just saying its taking time to get over that minute of my life.
Things feel like they are slowly returning to normal, I mean mostly inside my head. Because the next day for her it was like nothing happened. She still has a cold but is also still fighting with her sister and acting her crazy Julia self.
It's so strange. I told Andy that the more time that passes and the more I talk to our dr or read about it the sillier I feel since its so "normal". But it didn't feel that way when it happened and I feel like we are still dealing with it.
It's not even recommended to call an ambulance when it happens. Calling your Dr office to let them know it happened is enough, unless it last for several minutes then you are supposed to seek medical care. My sister said she doesn't care what they say she calls the ambulance everytime, I think I would be the same way. I was also talking to a friend of mine who is a nurse yesterday who agreed that seizures were one thing that still made her nervous as a nurse but that she remembered the ER nurses used to be annoyed when parents brought their kids in for febrile seizures because it wasn't necessary. I thought, those nurses need to hold their own kids while their lips turn blue before they pass judgement on other parents.

| By JennR | 12:28 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

April 29, 2008

Make your own taggie!

Caroline loves to play with the tags on her plush toys so I wanted to get her a taggie but once I saw the construction I thought I'd just make it. I took pictures while making it to share with a friend and thought I would just go ahead and post it. Little disclaimer- I am not a pattern writer. :)
I was shocked to find out what these actually cost. I bought some fleece at walmart and it wasn't even on sale (it was $7.40 a yd). I also bought some ribbon there that was $.60 a yd. (I'll give specific measurements below)
I ended up with enough materials to make 2 and I spent only $4!
Super cheap baby gift and it only took roughly an hour to assemble.

I had them cut 1/3 yd of fleece and once I trimmed off the selvage edge this yielded 4 rectangles measuring roughly 12 x 14. I didn't really care about them being a particular size as long as each piece lined up. I also bought 1/2 yd of several colors of ribbon which I ended up cutting into 4.5 inch strips. My ribbon ranged from 1/2 inch wide to an inch.
Then I spaced the ribbons out on all sides to figure out my spacing and placement of color. NOTE: When you figure out spacing, have the right side of the fleece facing up.
Leave at least 1/2 inch at the corners because you'll be sewing with 1/2 inch seam when you stitch the two pieces together and you don't want a ribbon to be caught up in a corner.
The original taggies are 12 x 12 and have 5 tags on each side, mine has 7. This too doesn't really matter and is up to the maker. I also spaced them out without measuring, so I suggest you just eye ball it.

Pin your loops with the edges lined up with the edge of your piece of fleece, loops towards the center. Make sure that you are pinning to the right side of the fleece. When you assemble you will sew the fleece right sides together with the loops sandwiched in the middle. Before sewing the two sides together I went ahead and stitched the ribbons to the one piece of fleece. I wanted to make sure that I could see them while I was sewing and stitch them on straight, plus you have to take the pins out. :) This can be a basting stitch or regular stitch, its purpose is to hold them in place once you put the other piece on top. I stitched it right along the edge.
Take your pins out.
Place your second piece of fleece on top with right sides together and ribbons in the middle and pin.

Sew 1/2 inch seam all the way around the outside leaving a 2 inch gap so you can pull the taggie right side out.
Turn right side out and give each ribbon a gentle pull so you can be sure the no extra fleece is tucked underneath. Fold under your opening 1/2 inch and pin.

Sew a 1/4 inch seam all the way around the edge. And there you have it, you just made a $2 baby gift or toy for your own baby!

I was looking on the taggie site and found these which are super cute and would sew up so quickly. How cute would they be on top of a baby gift? I think I might make a few the next time I have some free time. LOL Oh who are we kidding, I'll just sacrifice mopping the kitchen floor and make some.

Hope my instructions made sense and were useful for someone!
Enjoy!

Coming soon- instructions for a nursing cover and baby hooded towel made with a wash cloth and towel.

| By JennR | 10:45 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

April 14, 2008

she makes me giggle

Julia continues to make me laugh regularly. I just shared this with my sister through email but wanted to post it so I had a record of it later.

I was just giving Julia her daily dose of antibiotic which is becoming more of a battle each day and I said, "Take a sip of your medicine, por favor. That means 'please' in spanish." Grinning to myself that I got a little language lesson in there.
She turned around and said, "Atheite, that means 'I don't want to' in spanish."
LOL

I asked her to repeat it a bit later since she completely made up a word, "Julia how do you say 'I don't want to' in spanish?"

"Atheite!"

Should have known!!!

| By JennR | 07:29 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

April 11, 2008

the zoo

I finally took the girls this week to cash in on the gift certificate I got for the Chattanooga zoo.
It was a fun afternoon, and I am glad I got the membership (especially since it was half off). I was hoping with the renovations that they would be adding more animals but I think its just a new entrance.
The girls loved it. Julia was a bit scared. I didn't really explain what a zoo was and on the way there we were talking about what animals we might see and she got scared and thought they would be roaming free. LOL The macaws were loud and caught her off guard and I felt like a tour guide with my voice infliction trying to make it very exciting for them. When we got to the reptile house she didn't want to go in at first and I wondered again if in her little mind the snakes were just going to be all over the floor. I wasn't all that excited about the reptile house either!
They loved the spider monkeys, if you wait by the glass they come right up and look at you.

I loved the big cats and we learned a lot about cougars and jaguars and bobcats. When we were looking at the cougar there was a zoo official (and I use the term loosely) showing another family a sort of behind the scenes tour. She took them right up to the chain link fence (we were on a walk way further back) and was dangling dead mice in front of the fence. So this huge cougar comes over and she holds the mouse up above her head and he stands on his hind legs making himself bigger than her and takes the mouse. Then the guy who was with his family was putting his hands up against the fence trying to pet the cougar or get it to lick his hand. IDIOT! At this point I was watching sort of hoping this guy would get swatted at or something (I even had my camera ready for the news story)LOL. It irritated me to no end. He was calling to it and putting his hands throw the fence! And his little son was right there too. You know, where were people like that when brains were being handed out.
I wouldn't say I am an animal activist but zoos can sometimes get on my nerves. I understand about protecting endangered animals and educating the public but I wonder if their cages are big enough and if they care that its a plastic rock and fake vines. It seems sort of sad to me.
Anyway, I hadn't intended for this to turn so negative.
All in all we had a great time and with the zoo being literally 3 or so miles from my house if that, it will be a great place to pop in on every once in a while.
Plus I am very excited about getting 50% off in Atlanta and Knoxville!

At the end the girls sat on some benches and had lollipops. I was telling Julia not to sit in the bird poop and a couple of minutes later she pointed to some and said, "Mom, there's a granola bar in that bird poop!" LOL I thought it was hilarious.

On that note a few other funny things that have come out of her mouth this week:
I was tying capes on the girls and Lizzie ran away saying
"SUPER LIZZIE"
when I tied Julia's on she ran away saying
"SUPER CABBAGE!"
yeah I have no explanation.

Later that day they were playing outside and I heard Julia yell,
"NO, it's not time to shear the sheep!"
It sounded so funny out of context but I later realized they were playing on a farm. Inspired by Rooster Can't Cock-a-Doodle-Doo.

| By JennR | 11:18 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

half birthday

Happy half birthday Caroline!! And let me just say- YAY we are half way through the first year!! The first year in my opinion is always a doozie and while I am enjoying this baby stage of our sweet girl, I also look forward to a little more independence (on both our parts).

You are such a joy and very smiley and giggly. You are easily entertained by your sisters and are now at the point where you cry when I leave your sight only to break out in laughter and excitement when I come back.
I can't wait to see what the next 6 months brings as we try more foods, you learn to pull up and crawl and we might possibly all sleep through the night!

| By JennR | 10:28 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)