What Else Could We Squeeze In?

We had a busy and fun weekend in Columbus. Susan and Pat got married Friday (we left around 7:30AM to be sure to make it in time) and had a reception at their house that night. Everything was so pretty and such a nice day. Saturday was Johnson’s bowling birthday party. I stayed home with Abby and Luke so they could nap. Jason said Kate bowled for a little and then lost interest. Guess we don’t have a future bowler in the making. That night the Bishop came over because Matthew was ordained to the priesthood. Sunday we visited Grandma Shehane, went to church, had a little birthday thing for PawPaw, drove home, watched a movie, ate dinner…

The kids played as usual. Poor Kate had a really hard time understanding that she could not do her favorite thing in the world – jump on the trampoline. It was pretty sad. I’m actually glad it rained Saturday and we were stuck in the house, just so I didn’t have to worry about that for the whole day!

PawPaw, Pat, Susan, MeeMaw, Abby, Maggie, Johnson

Not a very good picture of me with my hair in my eyes and Abby was ready to go home and play but the best one we could get!

Happy Bride to Be and Happy Abby

 

Jenny, PawPaw, Pat, Susan, MeeMaw, Jason/Kate, Matthew, Abby, Maggie, Johnson, Abby

I’m feeling okay. Definitely hit the painful braxton hicks stage. It’s been going on for a little while but becoming a lot more frequent lately. I also got a horrible sinus infection, but am feeling better now that the antibiotics have officially kicked in. Luckily my pregnancy is still healthy and no issues. There’s been a little concern over my low blood pressure. They’re not overly worried since I always have low blood pressure. However, pregnancy seems to make it go down even more so they just want to be careful during the delivery since that was an issue with Abby.

Getting Close

I am pretty much 35 weeks pregnant now. People who claim you shouldn’t do a lot during your pregnancy apparently were only referring to their first pregnancies. I have moved furniture, organized, carried a 4 year old, regularly carried a 1.5 year old, cleaned, chased a child at gymboree, brought boxes up and down stairs, Christmas, birthdays… There’s just no avoiding doing a lot especially with having Kate and Abby. People are always stopping to help me when I’m out with both girls but they don’t realize this is just an everyday occurrence. I also find it hard to believe that doing a lot will bring a baby sooner. This baby would have been born already if that was true!

Though, I think it may be starting to catch up with me. Just the past few days I have felt pretty exhausted. So, even though I’m measuring large and am very active I am not expecting this baby early. I know most pregnant women don’t say this, but I am really really hoping for baby boy to hang out as long as possible. Obviously, I want to make it full term to avoid any health concerns for the baby. I would also love for Kate’s cast to come off before (if not, it will be right after) and I really want Abby to turn 2 first! Kate was 2 days early but Abby was 5 days late so I still feel I’ll make it past my due date. We’ll see!

Gratitude

When we were pulling into Scottish Rite we saw a helicopter landing on the roof of the hospital. I never imagined in my life I would be so grateful my daughter had a broken arm. I cannot imagine a greater trial for a parent than a sick or severely harmed child. We have been so blessed with healthy children. I signed Kate up for preschool this year and when I called the pediatrician to get her immunization records they couldn’t release them until I brought Kate in for a check up since it had been over a year since her last appointment. What 3 year old goes over a year without going to the Doctor?!? I hadn’t even realized this until they told me. Abby had an ear infection when she was a baby but that’s about it. I know they are only 4 and almost 2 but I must remember to always count my blessings for the health we have had so far.

A Broken Arm Deserves Some Spoiling

Kate was exhausted when we finally got home which is not surprising considering everything she had been through and it was after 10PM. She also was in pain and not used to the cast and had to keep her arm elevated on a pillow. Thankfully she was still able to fall asleep quickly and slept until 5AM when she woke up in pain. I gave her some medicine and she went right back to sleep and slept until 9:45! I had kept Abby in my room for most of the morning so we wouldn’t wake Kate (her door was cracked) but poor Abby eventually needed to move on.

Jason carried Kate downstairs, she ate breakfast, then I set her up on the couch with pillows and blankets. She watched movies and did not move until finally that afternoon she sat up to eat lunch. I was able to give her more medicine then and she felt much better, a little too good. I kept trying to make her sit and be still. The orthopedist said it’s really important the first 2 days that she doesn’t do too much or hit/bump/knock her arm. Kate finally told me, “I just want to move!”

I’m lucky she didn’t quite realize she could have ANYTHING she wanted that day! She was laying on the couch but didn’t have the best view of the tv, so I moved the couch with her on it of course :) More juice, sure. More movies, you bet. Fix your pillow, on it…

She was also spoiled by friends and family. My parents came over to check on her. My Dad brought her a donut with pink icing and sprinkles. My Mom brought stickers, a coloring page, and some funny hats (luckily she brought one for Abby too so she didn’t feel left out). It was nice having my parents around because I needed to do laundry and cleaning and give Abby some attention but I didn’t want to leave Kate for a minute since she really couldn’t do anything herself.

Friends called to check on her and see if there was anything they could do which I really appreciated! Thanks everyone for the texts and phone calls! She even face timed with my sister to show off her pretty cast. Melissa and Audrey brought her balloons and treats which was the highlight of her day and she literally perked up after and was smiling and counting her treats and telling everyone about her balloons :) Our neighbors also brought some flowers by for her which made her feel quite special. Then Rita, the lady who has cleaned my parents house forever and is so nice, brought her a Barbie doll.

She’s also very excited to go to Columbus next weekend so she can show everyone her cast!

I’ve slowly been bringing her back down to reality because she was starting to get a little too used to getting whatever she wanted and having everything her way ;)

She’s feeling a lot better but her arm still hurts, especially when the Motrin is wearing off. I’m amazed by how tough she is. She wants to do things herself already and it’s incredible how she has already adapted to wearing a cast. I haven’t minded all the cuddle time either! Hopefully, everyday will be better and eventually she won’t have any pain!

~She had her first bath last night and it was not an easy experience. I still don’t know what clothes she’s going to be able to wear either. I’m not sure if this will get easier or just be a pain for the next 6 weeks!

Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall

Our poor little girl broke her arm. Katherine was in her room and we heard a bang then a cry. Jason had just gotten home from the office about 5 minutes before, so he made it to her room first since I was downstairs. He told me she broke her arm and to get his shoes. The whole time I was wondering how he could know it was broken, then thought it was just from having friends with broken arms. He got her in the car and into the hospital in about 5 minutes. We are so lucky to live right by the hospital. I called my parents then asked my neighbor to come over (Abby was asleep) until my parents got there.

I’ve said this before, but I want to state again how much I love Emory Johns Creek Hospital. They called her back pretty quickly after I got there; we barely had to wait. The staff was so amazing with her, making her feel better and treating her with such kindness. They gave her a shot of morphine quickly, THANKFULLY, which really helped. I also am so grateful Jason was home because Kate was never alone during the whole ordeal because we were both there. You really needed two parents with her. They kicked me out whenever they did an x-ray because I was pregnant, but she had Jason. Other times one of us had to fill our paperwork or go get the car or park the car…

One funny part was when I got to Emory the nurse pulled me aside to fill out paperwork and said, “I think Daddy was a little nervous.” She asked him to put in Kate’s information and instead he filled it out with his name, birthdate, weight… :)

When the Dr pulled her sleeve up, first time I actually saw her arm, I understood why it was obvious to Jason. It was literally bent. Poor thing :( They confirmed there were two broken bones but luckily no growth plates were involved. (I didn’t even know about growth plates before this) They recommended we take her to Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital to set it since we would have to follow up with them anyway. They splinted her arm, put it in a sling, and gave us towels and ice for the car ride; we declined riding in an ambulance…

Scottish Rite is a great hospital, but it’s big and busy. I am beyond thankful we went to Emory first where they quickly got her medicated and x-rayed. I can’t imagine if we had to do all that at Scottish Rite and how long it would have taken.

Kate was amazing during all this, such a trooper. She’s always been a tough little girl and just so sweet. Everyone LOVED her and was so nice and great with her. She told one nurse she didn’t think it was broken since she never heard a crack! She made sure she kept her ice on and was very patient during the LONG day.

By far the worst part was (1) when they put the IV in. It wouldn’t go in her hand so they did it again in her arm. I had to physically restrain her and it was really painful for her so she was crying and screaming. I also hated how they much they had to mess with her and how much equipment they put on her, mainly because of how much she hated it. (2) How brave she was being. It’s almost sadder when they’re not crying and acting so strong and look at you with bloodshot eyes and say “I want to go home, can we please go home?” It was a horrible day and so sad and I couldn’t wait to get her home and wanted her to feel all better.

They thankfully sedated her to set the bones. She went out immediately; I double checked to make sure that was normal. The setting and casting only took 15 minutes. It was a clean break and they said it was easy to fix and there shouldn’t be any issues. When she first woke up, right when we came back in the room, she would babble then fall back asleep. They gave her a popsicle to help wake up and as I was feeding it to her she would say, “Mmmmm, yummy.” Then they took the IV out (hurt again) and she was drugged up watching a movie and told us she wanted to stay and watch movies all night!

We finally left the hospital at 9PM. This all started when she fell at 2:45PM. We had to find an open pharmacy with her medicine and get her some McDonalds, her choice, so we got home a little after 10.



Emory Johns Creek. Morphine had kicked in but it was still hurting her. They had to cut her shirt to get a good image of her arm.


Scottish Rite. Still waiting but about to be called back into the room. Eyes are starting to have the bloodshot look :(


At home with her purple cast that she picked out :)