Hate insurance stuff..

It's too expensive for me to go on Andy's health insurance so the kids and him are on his and I have my own...well it's technically not a real insurance plan since they won't cover me due to my high blood pressure and diabetes. Anyway, I have an indemnity plan. It only covers 6 doctor visits a year and 1 well-exam. It covers so many days in the hospital. Ironically, all my maternity care was covered...they say it's because it's billed globally, whatever that means. Anyway, due to this lovely leg injury and other stuff the NP made me keep going back in for regarding my diabetes I'm now out of doc visits for the year. I fell on my knee and sprained it at the end of March, I developed a hematoma in April and had to go back in to the ER. I got a letter in the mail saying they needed more information from me or I'd be responsible for paying the whole bill. I called the insurance company...they only cover the initial visit regarding an injury...so the hematoma bill is all my responsibility. I called the hospital and they gave me a 35% discount since I'd have to self-pay the whole thing and now we get to pay about $800. Oh what fun it is to be a grown up!

Just down in the dumps...

Emily came home sick today from school...I had to miss Deidra's talent show that I had Melina and Tracie all excited to go to. I was bummed that I wasn't going to be able to watch Deidra sing her duet. She sang Magic today with a friend. Anyway, we got home and were getting out of the van and Tracie freaked out as I was pulling Melina out and started screaming and trying to cling onto me so hard that she almost knocked me over. I couldn't figure out what was going on and as I turned around I saw that 2 big dogs were behind us. They weren't doing anything, but standing in our yard. I got kinda upset as I'm still not over my knee sprain and I didn't need to get knocked over. I finally got her in the house, but I was just really frustrated. I don't know how many times I've asked her not to yell and run when she sees a dog as it only makes it worse. Anyway, we got in the house and I got Emmy in the shower. She was doing fine. I think she got sick because she refused to eat her dinner last night and when she doesn't eat like that, she makes herself sick sometimes. However, she barfed all over in her backpack at school and so I went and brought her home. She was mad at me that after I got her all washed up and new clothes on that I had her go lay in her bed. She begged me for a couple of hours to come downstairs. She was mad that I wouldn't give her a snack. I gave her some soda to drink (about 2 oz) and told her we had to see how that settled in her tummy. That stayed down and so after we got Tracie to school, she asked for a cheeseburger. I got her a small one and a banana and she ate and started bouncing off the walls. She's been a bit crazy this afternoon. Once, the other kids got home from school, more chaos happened. Tracie can't think for herself of what to play with and she literally goes around and takes stuff that the others are playing with and they all start screaming and then she cries and cries because she has to give it back. Josiah pinched Melina with her pacifier clip because he can't leave his hands out of stuff either and her poor little neck was all red. I wound up having to put them all in their rooms and even tried to get Melina to lay down and Emily had to start yelling down the stairs that she wanted Reggie (Grandma's dog) to come play with them and it got Melina screaming when she was trying to nap. I'm down in the dumps...I need to pull myself out of it. Part of it is that I'm really tired of dealing with this knee injury....I had to chase Josiah out of Deidra's room and into his own room and I wound up twisting it again. It's these little setbacks that are getting to me. I honestly thought I'd be over this by now. I just need to pray and give it to God and let Him carry me through. I can do this! I have to say if I'm going to be completely honest that I'm not looking forward to the first couple of weeks of summer vacation to get them on the routine of summer. However, I will keep carrying on and God will help me!

Melina's 2-year well check

Took Melina in for her 2-year-well check...She did great! One vaccination that she wasn't too happy about and a finger poke to check her lead level that she fussed a bit over, but let her do it while eating her sucker. She weighs 28 lbs (66th percentile) and she's 34 1/4" tall (59th percentile). She was quick to tell me once we got out the door "ow." Love that baby girl so much! We got home and she wanted me to rock her.

The knee...

is getting better each and every day. I get impatient sometimes. I just want to be able to walk normal without fear of falling. My balance is still off and walking around outside is still the hardest for me. However, I am learning patience. Lord, I pray that I am feeling better by Thursday so that I can go to the zoo with Josiah's class and be able to walk around the zoo without a lot of difficulty. Amen.

God is the one in control...I get that now God!

God has been working with me today...I am not the one in control He is!

Tried to go to the Y today to get my workout in. THey didn't have room in the kids club today for all 4 of the kids. So, I just put Melina in there and I told the littles to play in the Kids Zone with Deidra. I wasn't on the treadmill 5 minutes and here come the kids into the cardio room. Deidra is complaining that they won't listen to her and Josiah keeps running away from her. He had been begging to play basketball and I thought he would have been having fun with that. I should have known better. I told them that they better listen to her or there were going to be problems and to go play for 15 minutes and I would be fast today. 5 minutes later, I see Deidra walk by to get a raquetball room and I knew what she was thinking. Smart girl! If she got them in the room, they couldn't get out and run from her. 5 minutes after that, here they all come into the cardio room again. Josiah had chucked the ball at Deidra's face. I was done. I gathered Melina from the kids club and we left. Get out to my car and the check engine light came on.

Ran home to make Deidra a doctor appt as I am sure she has swimmers ear. The kids were not super cooperative in the waiting room, but we made it. Finally got checked in and got back to the doctors waiting area. The kids played for a minute and then we got put in a room. Thankfully, the doctor was in right away and confirmed her swimmers ear and we got some meds called in and we were off.

Off to the dealership that is being revamped right now to see what's going on. Josiah immediately tries to start getting into their cookies. My Mom walks in and tells him no and that they need to sit down. He goes and tries to pull on the trailer hitches that they have on display and my Mom gets after him again. She finally tells them that if they don't listen to me, Deidra will go get her and she will deal with them. They sat relatively well, but needed a lot of redirection. I had to text the speech therapist and let her know that I was going to be late. Found out that it's some emissions code and it's safe to drive, some valve somewhere needs to be tightened or replaced but they couldn't get it in before we leave for AZ. Ran to Walmart and to Walgreens quickly for Deidra's meds and then home for speech.

Had to do VBS in stages. Oh well...at least we got it done...not a lot of pics though. I'm having a lot of fun doing this with them.

Melina has strep now...

Melina started being fussy at night a few nights ago, but she wasn't acting that way during the day, so we just thought that maybe she was having night terrors as she didn't have any other symptoms. Last night, she was up every few minutes crying and she had a bit of a runny nose. I'm thinking that she's teething as she has a runny nose, a diaper rash, and she's had some diarrhea on and off. Throughout the day, she's been fussy as well. I was trying to get some stuff done before I started dinner and she wouldn't let me do anything without crying and reaching for me. She had another poopy diaper and her diaper rash was really red and so I got her changed and more Desitin on. Was going to put dinner in the oven really quick and she just started screaming. Gave her some tylenol, some teething stuff, held her for a little bit and she cried and cried for almost a half an hour before she really started screaming. I figured I better bring her in. I called and they asked how quick I could get there. Andy was almost home so they gave me an appt 20 minutes later. Good thing we don't live far. She said that her ears looked fine, her glands in the neck were a little swollen. She said she was going to swab her throat, but she didn't think it looked really red or anything, but since sister had strep she wanted to be on the safe side. She looked at the diaper rash and agreed that it looked pretty bad and red and thought maybe that's why she was so fussy. She said she was going to call in a script that would have to be compounded and gave me two pharmacies that do that...ours was already closed so she let me know where the other one was and then she said that her strep test came back positive. I had her call that one in to our regular pharmacy and I headed to get the diaper rash script. Got there and found out that their lab has to make it, that's not something they can just do in a few minutes and that it would take 24-48 hours. I left praying that they can get it done sooner rather than later. I don't like to see my baby girl hurting. Lord, please give us a healthy streak. It seems like we are sick with something all of the time.

Lord, please heal our household and renew our health!

I knew when the kids slept in this morning that it wasn't a good sign. Emmy got up this morning saying that her throat and stomach hurt. She feels warm, but not super warm. I'm just going to monitor them. She ate her breakfast just fine. Tracie didn't want to eat much either and now Josiah is saying his tummy hurts too. He's my child that never acts sick when he is, so I don't know if he's just wanting to copy his sisters or if it really does. Deidra still has a sore throat. I told them that we're just going to lay low today. He's not liking that very much. I went to bed with a headache and woke up with one too. Trying to keep the kids away from Melina...I really don't want her to get sick again. Lord, I just want health restored to our house. We've been battling one thing after another since October. Please help my babies to feel better!

Guess it's Tracie's turn...

She was in the middle of occupational therapy and she came in the kitchen to ask if she could be done. I went out to find out what was going on and the therapist said she wouldn't participate and she kept saying she was just tired. I noticed that she was looking a little pale and I felt her head and she felt warm. I said that was fine and apologized as she wasn't like this earlier and I really don't want to pass on our germs to anyone else. The therapist left and I took Tracie's temperature. It's only 99.4 and she's just saying that her tummy hurts. I have a feeling there is more to come though as this is exactly how Deidra started out. I had her lay down on the couch while we watched Alice in Wonderland and I rocked her for a bit.

Lord, please help my babies to feel better and please help these sickies and germs just leave us be. We need a healthy streak in this house! Please heal my babies and help them to feel better. Thank you, dear Abba!

Deidra's got strep...

We went to Merry Toppin's last night and we came home and Deidra said her stomach hurt. I didn't think much of it as she gets stomach aches a lot when it's time for bed...sometimes she throws up too...she's done this ever sicne she was little. The doctor said to give her Maalox. She hasn't had the problem in awhile, but it started happening again about a week ago. I just assumed it was that as she didn't have any other symptoms. This morning, she came into our room saying that she ached all over, had a stomach ache and a sore throat and she was dizzy. I took her temp and it was 101.2. She was supposed to have volleyball pictures and a game today, but I immediately thought with a fever like that and her symptoms that she probably had strep. I got some ibuprofen down her. I called to get her into the doctor and they fit her in this morning. The ibuprofen had her feeling a little better and she wanted to try to go to her game. I told her that we needed to see what was going on with her, but if she's contagious then she was staying home. Sure enough, it's strep. Went and got her some amoxicillin and brought her home. A little while later she was throwing up too. The fever is up to 103.8 and so we got some more ibuprofen down her, had her sip a little sprite and put her in the bathtub. She called me upstairs crying that she was so dizzy she couldn't get up by herself. Got her into her room and had to help her get her undies on and some jammies. I feel SO bad for her. Just praying that nobody else gets it!

Labwork for me...

My results just came in the mail. Not good and he scolded me on paper saying that it didn't even look like I was taking my medication. Some of it I have been, some of it I haven't as he was the one that told me if I wasn't taking birth control it would cause cause birth defects. We're not actively trying, but we're open to God's will and so I've been working with some natural supplements to try to improve my lab results. Anyway, my blood sugars came back very poor. I am not going to argue with that. With everything going on, I haven't been monitoring them as closely as I should be, I haven't been taking my insulin on a daily basis as I should have. Half the time I go in the kitchen intending to take my medication, the kids will all start asking for things left and right and after a couple of requests (demands), having to monitor behaviors and so forth, I've forgotten to take my medication and eat myself. I do eventually take my pills, but I forget to check my sugars and if I don't know what they are, I don't usually take my insulin. A few weeks ago, we reinstated our family membership up at the YMCA. I told Andy that I NEED to get myself back on track. I'm tired of being scared to go to the doctor because I don't want to get yelled at. I need to get my health back on track.

My thyroid levels are still extremely poor. He said it didn't look like I've even been taking my medication. I have been. My TSH is at a 26.6. They want to see it between 0.5-5.1. After I had Melina, I tested at a 73, and then later I was in the high 20s. They readjusted my meds and I'm still at a 26.6. This is with taking meds almost daily. I still feel tired all of the time, so I knew it wouldn't come back right. This is one reason why I called to get the labwork done. I'm just upset that he doesn't think I'm taking my meds as I am.

My blood sugars came back poor. My A1C should have been a 7 (what diabetics aim for...otherwise the norm is about 5-6 for the average person). I'm at a 9.7. My average blood sugar is a 232. I should be around 120.

My cholesterol came back high. My cholesterol came back at 263 (they want you around 200). My Triglycerides came back at 166 and they want you around 150. My HDL came back at 50 and they want you at 39. My calculated LDL was 180 and they want you around 100 and my risk ratio LDL/HDL was 3.60 and they want you around 3.22. This is the area where he wants me on meds and I won't take them because we're not using birth control. I am taking fish oil and trying to watch what I am eating...increasing fiber, eating more fruits and veggies to try to combat this.

The doctor wanted me to come in and talk about all of this with him. All I could think about was the last time I went in and how he scolded me and I walked out of there wanting to cry. Last time, I told him that I thought I needed to be on a long-acting insulin..he told me that I already was. When I got home, Andy was looking at the insulin pen that he gave me and said that it was different. Sure enough when we compared what he gave me at that visit as to what I had been taking...I was right...the one I had been taking had no long-acting in it at all. I called back to let them know, but my blood sugars have still been yucky. I still question whether if I went back on the insulin that I took while I was pregnant if they'd normalize. I wish my OB could be my primary care, but that office doesn't do that like I've had in the past. Anyway, I wrote him a letter regarding my lab work, my plan of action, what meds I've been taking, what supplements I've been taking, the reasons for not taking my cholesterol meds, and asking for my dosage on my thyroid medication to be upped and called in to the pharmacy and that I redo all of my labwork in 6 weeks. If theres no improvement, I'll go in to see him. We'll see what he has to say.

God is answering our prayers for Melina

She went from this...



to our happy girl...


and I just got the call from the nurse...her tests came back normal. I'm so glad that she is feeling better and that her tests came out well. PTL!

Lina is having such a rough time!

She is really having a rough night. After another unconsolable period of her just screaming, I got up to call Baylor and ask them what we should do for her. They told me that they couldn't give out medical information over the phone (they did her tests, you'd think they could offer advice) and to call the pediatrician's office as they would have someone on call or a nurse line that we could call. I called and got the nurse number. She called me back and of course didn't tell me anything that I didn't already know. She said to give motrin and tylenol and sit her in the tub...all the things I was doing. She said that if she wasn't better in 24 hours to call the pediatrician as she shouldn't be as fussy as what I was saying that she was just because of having the catheter. I don't agree with that, but I just said ok. Glad I was charged $15 for that.

Prayers for Melina

I think Melina has some irritation and burning from the catheter. She screams for a few minutes every so often and she just wants to be Momma's cuddle bug. It's hard to see her like this and not be able to help her. We're giving her some tylenol for the pain, but she is just a screaming. Poor sweetheart!

Melina's Renal Ultrasound and VCUG

We got to the hospital at 7:45 to check in. They had wanted her to drink something prior to that to get her kidneys working. She didn't want much to do with drinking anything in the morning, but I managed to get her to drink a couple of ounces of juice. She was babbling at check in. We went back to radiology and the lady there wanted me to fill out a sheet of paperwork. No sooner did I take it than Melina started to scream. I got her calmed down and tried to pick up the clipboard and she started screaming again. I sat her down to see if she wanted to walk and she started to throw a fit because I wasn't holding her. I hate being handed paperwork to fill out when you're trying to console kids or keep them close to you so that they behave. I hate it. Anyway, I finally got her consoled and I was holding her in one hand and hand the clip board in the other. She immediately pushed the clipboard away and started to cry. Finally I noticed that I really only had to answer one question and sign and date the form as nothing else really applied to her, so I did it as fast as I could and gave it back to the receptionist. Finally, we went and walked in the hallway and she was fine as long as I was holding her. She was trembling and I was just trying to reassure her.

They called us back for the renal ultrasound and she did ok until the guy tried to touch her and then she started screaming. She wanted me to hold her and I couldn't. I kept trying to talk to her and smoothing her hair and she was just getting madder and madder that I couldn't pick her up. One of the nurses in the hallway heard her and came in and distracted her with her cell phone and she was relatively quiet for the rest of her ultrasound. Then, I had to put her in a gown and one of the techs tried to tie it in the back and the screaming started again. She just wanted her Momma. Then, they were ready for us across the hall.

We went over there and she immediately saw the lady that took x-rays of her before and started to scream. I got her calmed down and they called for the nursing supervisor to place her catheter. Everything was fine until it came time for me to put her on the table. The screaming started. They got the catheter in and the nurse told me that she'd tape the catheter and I could hold her. She was absolutely having a fit. The radiology tech kept telling me to lay her on the table while they got the doctor and I'd try to lay her down and she'd maneuver her way back into my arms. The nurse finally asked "how long is it going to take to get the doctor in here, the Mom can hold her baby..that catheter isn't going to go anywhere unless she pulls it out or she gets her legs just right in the wiring." The tech said that the doctor had been called and the doctor said to get her on the table. I tried once again to lay her down and she wasn't having anything to do with it. Finally, I said that I was going to hold her until the doctor came in the room...there's no sense to me in making her lay down when they weren't ready anyway. The doctor finally came in a few minutes later and they filled her bladder and she screamed and screamed. I was up by her face holding her hands and the tech was holding her feet and she was trying to push herself up the table to me. Another tech that was a student had to help to hold her in place. They kept asking me if I had anything to entertain her, I didn't have the hands to even try if I did and that's not what she wanted anyway, she just wanted her Momma and know that she was safe in my arms. The doctor kept looking and saying she was about to pee and the little stinker wouldn't go. You could see the little spasms, but she wouldn't release her bladder, she was so tense and so mad. Finally, she calmed down and I talked to her in little whispers and she finally let it go. THey had to turn her from side to side a couple of times and that had her screaming again. Once they were done, they told me they'd get me a towel to clean her up and then I could hold her. I said that I really didn't care that she was all wet, I just scooped her up and the screaming immediately stopped. I carried her over to the sink, washed her off, and asked them if I could bring her home in the gown. They said no, so I had to get her into her clothes. That was a little bit of a chore as she wanted nothing else to do with that table. I just put her outfit over her head and put her arms through and carried her out to the car. My poor sweet girl!

Labwork

Since the kids had Vacation Bible School this week, I jumped at the chance to finally go get my labwork done without having to tote all the kids with me. I had to go in for labwork and Melina needed a urine re-check. I know the doctor isn't going to be happy with how my blood sugars have been, but I am working on them. I'm going to ask him to do a recheck in 6 weeks so that I can show him that. With all the stress of Melina having pneumonia and so forth, I've put myself on the backburner. God revealed to me one day that I can't be any help to anyone else if I don't take care of myself too. So, babysteps forward. I will get there! I did it before, I can do it again.

I asked for a hat and a urine cup to bring home for Melina. I got her an apple juice box since she's finally figured out how to do the straw and sat her on the potty. I thought if I could get her distracted enough with the juice box and eating a cookie, that I'd have enough time to get her to go. That's how we got her last urine specimen. Anyway, I sat her down on the floor to grab something and no sooner did I turn my back I heard the splatter. She had peed on the floor. We tried again, but she was really wanting down. THey had just checked her urine at Children's on the 14th, so I called the doctor back to see if we could just use that one to schedule her renal ultrasound with the VCUG. They said that was fine. Thank goodness!

Melina and the bladder infection

I got a call from the nurse saying that Melina's urine culture came back positive. They wanted to start her on a 2nd antibiotic. If she developed any new symptoms they wanted to see her, if she wasn't doing better in 48 hours they want to see her, and she needs to finish all of her antibiotics and then come back in for another urine sample and they're also going to schedule her for a renal ultrasound and VCUG to make sure that her kidneys are working as they should. I told Andy that I knew that they thought that I wasn't giving it enough time when I brought her back in on Friday morning when she was unconsolable and I knew the ER thought I was even worse when I had her in there Friday afternoon, but that Mommy intuition told me that she was hurting with that pain scream that she has. Now, at least I know that I was right. They worried me a bit with all of this though. I just want her to feel better and be back to my happy little sweetheart. Now to break her of the habit that she's had since Friday of tapping me in the face. In the ER, she was screaming in pain and the nurse says "you need to give her a bottle or figure out something to make her quiet down" and she left the room and Melina swatted me one in the face. I told her that we don't do that and held her arm down for a minute, but I can't help but feel like she was saying "I'm hurting here, nobody's helping me." She's done it a few more times in the middle of her pain screams as I hold her and try to console her. Anyway, hope the medicine makes her feel better soon. The pharmacy didn't have it in stock and wanted me to wait until tomorrow afternoon, but with her being so uncomfortable and not knowing exactly how long she's had this, I wasn't comfortable with waiting anymore. So, they called to find out who had some and transferred the perscription. I ran and got her some yogurt too as the last thing she needs to wind up with is a yeast infection on top of feeling yucky. Abba, please help my baby girl to feel better.

What a day!

Got up and got Emma off to the bus for school. Josiah got up and started his games and Tracie woke up and started whining about something I told her that she couldn't do. Tried to feed Melina a little something...she was diagnosed with pneumonia last night. Poor little girl has been so fussy this week. I chalked it up to teething earlier, but when she spiked a 103 degree fever Tuesday night, I took her in on Wednesday morning. We checked her urine, ears, throat...everything was fine. He told me to let him know if she got any worse and if she was still running a fever by Friday we'd need to do bloodwork. Yesterday she spiked a 104 degree fever, was really fussy and her cry was different. Called to let them know and he sent us to outpatient for a chest x-ray and bloodwork. Came home and he called us to let us know that the radiologist said she has pneumonia. She slept through the night and got up happy, went to feed her and give her some milk and she started screaming. Everything I tried to do didn't console her. Pain meds, singing to her, letting her down to play, holding her, rocking her, nothing. After 45 minutes, I called my girlfriend who is a nurse and asked her if that was normal for pneumonia even though she hasn't been like this all week and she heard her screaming and said "no, that sounds to me like she's in pain. I'd bring her back in." I called the pediatrician's office at 7:30 with a screaming Melina in my arms. The girl that answers the phones told me, bring her in when we open and I'll get her worked in. She knew I had been having some troubles over the last couple of days. Brought her in still screaming, the doctor thought maybe she had developed an ear infection with how she was acting. She's never screamed like that at all when she's had an ear infection, but he checked her over and said that everything was clear. He got her a shot of stronger antibiotics and told me that he'd done everything that he could for her from his end, if she continued to scream like that by this afternoon, he wanted me to bring her in to the ER. I brought her home and she had a little nap, woke up and played a little bit. I gave her a couple bites of a doughnut that I was eating and the screaming started again. She went on several minutes and nothing I was doing was helping and finally I just decided that I was going to bring her in. They acted like I was stupid for bringing her in...maybe she's just hungry (like I don't know to feed my baby). I told them that I just offered her her milk and she didn't want it. The nurse says well let's try some juice, we have to do something to quiet her down. Really? That's why I brought her in. She gives me a juice container. There's no sink in my room...I couldn't pour her milk out to give her the juice...how did she think I was going to give my baby the juice. Yet, I'm the dumb one...my baby certainly must be hungry to be screaming the way that she's screaming. Anyway, she fell asleep in my arms and the NP asks what's been going on that brings us in and I review everything and she asks when she's gotten the shots in her legs and I say that's from the antibiotic the dr. gave her this morning. She asks what it was and I say I can't remember, but it starts with an R. Name a couple and I'll pick it out for you. She says "he gave your baby something and didn't tell you what it was, but you know it starts with an R?" I told her that he had said it to the nurse and I knew it started with an R. She acted like she didn't trust me and needed to call my ped. Turns out it was Rocephin. My nurse friend says "you must have had a really stupid NP, Jess, because the only antibiotic that he would have given that started with an R for pneumonia is Rocephin." Whatever. After all that, they just redid her chest x-rays from yesterday. Offered her some crackers which she ate 1 1/2 crackers and dumped the rest on the floor and so I threw them away. The NP said "yeah, she calmed down after you gave her something to drink and gave her some crackers." Well, she fell asleep, but she didn't eat much...but yeah, I forgot you're still on the kick that my baby is fine and I didn't know that she was just hungry. Anyway, we came home not knowing anything else. My nurse friend ssaid "they must not have children, because a mom knows that scream means that it's pain related." Then again, this is also the NP that asked me during Tracie's lego incident if I knew how to use the hat that goes in the toilet. Do I have stupid written on my forehead? Oh well...

In the middle of all that, Josiah has been acting up left and right. I had to call my brother over to help me with the other kids so I could focus on Melina. Tracie has been throwing huge screaming fits lately (she's always very whiny, but this is even over the top for her and she's made herself hoarse since yesterday because of all the screaming and crying that she's been doing). She cut her hair while using the scissors today, so I had to clean that up. I'll even out her hair this weekend when I have some more time. Jimmie brought Josiah to school. I took Melina to the ER. Jimmie was supposed to be watching Deidra and Tracie for me. I walked in the door at 2:40 from the hospital and the first thing out of Tracie's mouth is "nobody got me any lunch." Really? So, I had to go get her something to eat. I look at the table and there's two Banquet meals on the table that are empty and I ask "you guys got yourself something to eat and didn't get Tracie anything?" My brother says "she never told me she was hungry or wanted somethign to eat. Umm, she's 4 1/2. She shouldn't have to ask for meals. UGH!! And my house is a complete disaster. I had to run and get Josiah from school as Jimmie left right beforehand saying "I'll take a meal next week for helping out." Nevermind, my house is a complete disaster and you didn't even feed one of my kids. The kids were pleading to go outside. No sooner do they get out there and I start trying to clean up, it's "It's too hot, I need to go potty, I'm hungry." Why bother to ask, no plead, to go outside if you're going to think of every excuse to get back inside? Yes, it's hot. It's almost summer. So, I make them come inside and all I hear is whining because they want to go outside again. Tracie throwing a huge fit because her leg is itchy. I really think she's overtired because nobody made her go up and take a nap, so it's 4 pm and I sent her up to her room. I can't let her sleep long though or she won't sleep tonight. I need to make dinner, but I need some groceries to do so and I'm not dragging all the kids back out in the heat. So, pizza it is tonight from the delivery boy. I'm meeting a girlfriend tonight for dessert. This Momma needs a break! Now to try to get this house back into shape..I'm so stressed out!! I've been on overdrive all week. I just want Melina to feel better. :-(

Tracie and ADHD

I took Tracie into the doctor today to find out the results of her ADHD testing. She does have ADHD. He asked me if I wanted to start her on meds or what I wanted to do. I told him that our OT was the one that suggested we get her tested so that she was more successful in school when she starts in the fall. Right now, she's just going to take meds on the days that she has therapy and then when she doesn't have it, she'll just go without. In the fall, when she starts school, we'll determine if she needs to take them daily or not.

Tracie and the lego incident

We sent the kids up to take naps or have quiet time in their rooms for a bit before Deidra's volleyball game. Tracie was up in her room for a few minutes and she was playing with her blocks. She started to cry and came out saying that she was choking. She was crying and still making noise, but she was gagging on something and so I ran her into the bathroom. Nothing came up and she started yelling "I swallowed my lego." I brought her upstairs to ask her which size it was and she told me. Called the ped office to see whether it would pass on it's own or if it was something I should worry about as Andy and I had differing opinions. He kept saying that it would pass on it's own, I was just worried that it oculd do some damage as it has sharp corners. The ped office told me to bring her into the ER. So, I did. The triage person was really nice and told me that they'd get an x-ray and see if it could pass on it's own or if they needed to refer us to a surgeon. He played with Tracie while he took her vitals and she kept laughing at him. He sent us to the ER clinic and I was almost finished with texting Andy to let us know that we were just put in a room when the nurse walked in. I finished texting the last word that I had been typing when she walked in and went to send it and she was just looking at me. She says "I'm just waiting for you to put your cell phone up" in a rather snotty tone. I never use that thing and the one time I do, I get chewed out. I was just trying to let Andy know what was going on. it's not like she had been standing there for 5 minutes trying to talk to me and I was ignoring her. She didn't even greet us or anything. Anyway, I felt like saying that she could have asked nicely but chose to keep my mouth shut. THey got her an x-ray right htere in her bed and told us it would be about 5-10 minutes and the nurse practitioner would have it. She wound up having to go potty and so I took her out of the room to go to the bathroom and the NP saw me and told me to come here and take a look at the x-ray. She didn't see the lego and said that it would ahve shown up. I told her that I was fairly certain that she had swallowed it as I knew that she had been gagging on something and it didn't come out in the toilet. They told me that if radiology saw anything they'd give me a call. In the meantime, they wanted me to monitor her poop for 3 days and put her on a liquid diet. That didn't make sense to me if they kept telling me that she didn't swallow anything. Anyway, we left and right before we were getting ready to go to the volleyball game, the ER called. The NP told me that radiology saw 2 pieces of chewed up legos in her tummy and that I'd need to keep her on liquids and monitor her poop for 3 days and if it didn't come out by then, I'd have to follow up with her pediatrician to see where it was at and the next course of action.

Struggling today...

Am struggling today. My 5-year-old is out of control this morning...spitting, kicking, pinching, headbutting, hurting his sisters left and right, whatever he can do to push their buttons, when I would send him to time out he would refuse to go and so I'd sit with him on my lap and he'd headbutt me, twist around and spit in my face, squeeze his eyes shut so he wouldn't look at me and laugh hysterically. Took my older daughters wrist that was already sprained and grabbed it and bent it backwards and she's been crying that it hurts even more. I called the psychiatrist's office and told them that his appt isn't until Wedensday and I don't know what to do with him. The receptionist wanted me to bring him in to the children's hospital (45 min away) ER and have him seen by the psych on call. Got all the way down there and a huge storm hit with hail and rain, the baby was super fussy as she's just getting over a double ear infection, and I wasn't getting out and getting everyone sopping wet. And my 5-year old had been calm the whole way there and I didn't know what they'd say if I said he'd been out of control. I feel paralized with not knowing what to do. Now we're home and I sent him to his room, he won't stay in there and when I direct him back there he just laughs and comes out again.