Nathan left Saturday afternoon to go to Laramie, WY for a job interview. He flew on Sunday and had a great interview on Monday. He also has a 50% chance of being offer the job since only 2 people were interviewing on campus. It is an lecture position where he will be overseeing a new calculus program. He is very excited about the possibility and was impressed with the campus. He has had one other campus interview at Plattville, WI but haven't heard back from them yet.
When he left for Plattville, the kids and I had a great time. We saw The Lorax movie in the theatre (lucky I saw someone I knew and they helped me with Hailey and Robert so I could focus on Hannah and Rachel. Without them the theatre would have been a bad experience.) Then we had our Dr. Seuss dinner at IHop. We had a family came for dinner on Sunday night and we had Pizza Hut on Tuesday night. I greatly enjoyed the time with the kids and being completely in charge.
So when Nathan left for Laramie, I felt pretty confident. We went to the mall and played for a good hour after we dropped him off for the bus. I have freezer meals so dinners are super easy. Saturday night, Rachel didn't fall asleep well and just kept screaming which is very unlike her. So was even getting to the point that I could put her down in her crib awake and she would put herself to sleep. Rachel kept waking up that night and it was pretty difficult.
Sunday went well. Hannah loves Sis. Taylor who sit in front of us and is also her nursery leader. So Hannah went and sat without as soon as Hannah saw her. Rachel was asleep during the first hour and after the sacrament, another friend asked to take Robert to sit them them. Hailey said with me but she is my easiest kid. I felt blessed to have help and a little break. The rest of the day was uneventful until night time. Hannah and Rachel were up from 1:30am-4:30am. It is tough to be a good mother at that point and I had a tough time handling it. Eventually I got them both back to sleep. They both woke up with a cough.
I have sewing lessons on Monday and Hannah was very clingy. She fell asleep in my arms at 3:00pm and then I woke her up at 4:20pm. I had dinner all ready and before we sat down to eat I went to change Hannah's diaper. She was very itchy (she has had a rash since late January. Hailey had it first and now I have it too. We have gone to the doctors twice about it) so I was rubbing lotion on. Then Hannah got very still and her head tilted back and I noticed her eyes were twitching. Soon her upper body was shaky slightly. She was in a petite mal seizure.(5:15pm) She she was safe on the changing table, I got the camera to take a video the help the neurologist see how her seizures are. It was a very short video since I ran out of space. The seizure only lasted about a minute, then it takes about another minute for her to start breathing normally. I put her to bed since she generally sleeps afterwards. She gets her nighttime medicine with dinner at 5:30-6:00pm so as we were eating dinner. I went in to give her Keppra. She was awake so I brought her to the table. She wanted to be held so I eat with her on my lap. A few minutes later, Hannah started another seizure. It was still mild so I called Hailey and Robert's attention to it so they can remember what a seizure is and will tell me if they ever see Hannah like that. Then Hannah got very stiff and more violent shaking (now a grand mal). Those are the hardest to emotional handle and more exhausting on her part. After that was finished (1-2 minutes) I had Hailey get me the phone so Hannah could get a blessing from our home teacher. I put her on the couch so I could watch her while I filled out her seizure record. I was still filling it out when Michael came and we were talking about what happened. Then he kinda stopped talking and said "Is she in one now?" I wanted to deny that she could possible be in another one. She's never had three that close before. But when I checked on her, she was in another petitite mal seizure. My heart wanted to break at this point but I was so thankful that she would get a priesthood blessing to help. During the seizure another friend came to help assist in the blessing. The blessing said that the doctors would have the answer, which was a little strange because I wasn't intending to take her to the doctors. In the past they just wanted to increase her medicine and that's not the route I wanted to take.
Everyone went to bed well and Hannah was up from 1:00am-2:30am. She was burning up, so I was thankful that I was aware of it and could give medicine to reduce the fever. It's still hard to be patient with a sick kid when I don't have a lot of sleep. Hannah and Rachel woke up Tuesday morning with a cough and a slight wheeze. So, I called the doctor to see if we should come in. Luckily they had an opening. I tried to go about my routine since being stuck at home is very difficult for me. So we went to dance for Robert. Hannah seemed to be a bit better and fell asleep on the couch shortly before 2:00pm. Unfortunately, we had the doctor's at 2:30pm and I had to wake her up for that.
Well, Rachel, who was very happy, has a double ear infection and Hannah had to have a chest x-ray to find out that she has started to develop pneumonia. Most likely during her seizures yesterday, fluid got in her right lung. Also her rash was starting to look a little different and we are now treating her for scabies. I'm glad I waited until today to go because they wouldn't have found the pneumonia last night. Also I know it's an answer to the blessing that we are getting treatment for scabies since the other two times we went in, he ruled that one out. Scabies is like lice for the body and doesn't go away on it's own.
Hailey had dance class, which we were already late for, and we probably would have skipped it if it hadn't been from Hannah chiropractic appointment at 4:30pm. I even got my visiting teacher to watch the kids so I felt like I had to go through with it. At dance class Hannah just fell asleep on the floor, with her jacket under her and her blanket on top. It was good to have a little break and thought everything was fine now since she was napping. Then right as the class was getting out, Hannah flipped to her stomach and went into a grand mal seizure. I flipped her back to her side and tried to comfort her. It was only 1-2 minutes and I had one of the other moms helps me get to the car by carrying Rachel. As I dropped off the three kids, Hannah went into a petite mal seizure in the car. I was getting really nervous at this point and was crying a lot in the car. Then as I parked, Hannah went into another grand mal seizure and it was so difficult. She raised her stiff arms in the air and looked totally frighten. Then I just lost it as I'm carrying her into the office. I just didn't know what else to do. I was able to calm down some before Dr. Clegg came in. I knew that she wouldn't be able to work on her but I just was lost. I needed to be away from the other kids and I needed an adult to see how bad things were. She explained more about what the doctor told me and I realized that Hannah hasn't even had anything to drink except that morning. She assured me that she wasn't dehydrated yet and that everything was going to be fine. She wasn't in an emergency status yet and that I was capable of treating her. As the time without seizures increased I was able to calm down and then went to Walmart and waited about 40 minutes for the medicine. I was finally able to think clearly and work on getting my children better.
It was McDonald's night for the school, so we went through the drive through for food. Hailey was very disappointed that she couldn't go in and see Mrs. Thomas (though she see her everyday.) I gave the girls their medicine and gave Hannah and Hailey a good bath. Hannah got the medicine for scabies on and already I have seen a decrease in her itching. Hannah just woke up a little at 10:00pm but went back to sleep well. I had to pick up Nate at 11:30 from the bus. Rachel woke up at 1:00am then again at 2:30am, then I realized that she still need the humidifier and after that was plugged in she slept until 8:30am.
The other step to getting rid of scabies is to clean everything, so I started laundry last night, changing it every time I woke up. In the morning I cleaned the bathroom. I took Robert to preschool and when I went to pick him up, Jamie realized how tired I was and kept him and even picked up Hailey from school. Hannah and Rachel are taking long naps and I even got a nap. Dinner is being brought to us tonight and I have another friend watching the kids from 3:30-5.
I am so thankful for how much I've been blessed. I have great people around me who care and are willing to help. I am thankful for the gospel in my life and for the power of priesthood blessings. I feel like I can handle things more.
