Explosive. 8-26-12



Boop looking very tired and trying to amuse herself in the ER.

Friday evening at 8:30pm, I was debating. She was still fussy and pulling at her ear. I figured I’d take her to the walk-in clinic again on Saturday. Last weekend, when Mom was here, we took Boop, and they said her ears were fine. I was talking to my mom about a run down of the plan. About that time, I felt of Boop. She was pretty warm. I thought I’d try the ear thermometer. 98.6 degrees. Strange. She’s usually around 97. I tried again. 99.5. Wow! Again, 99.1. Hm. The ear thermometers tend to read low. The chart said 99.6 was a fever on this type of thermometer. The 99.5 was too close for comfort. Walk-ins at her pediatricians ended 1.5 hours ago, and Urgent Care closed a half hour ago.

I was thinking I had better go to the ER to be safe. As I was getting up, Boop vomited and vomited all over everything. I tried to get us in the shower to at least get the worst of it off. Boop was screaming, screaming, screaming! We checked into the ER a little after 9pm. 103 degrees when the nurse took her temp rectally! Yikes! We waited until 11:30pm to go back.

The resident was an ENT; so he was all over her ear. Right ear was fine, which I figured. He couldn’t see the left due to wax. So he spent a couple of hours trying to get a good visual. 

Finally, I had to ask for the attending, and the attending said it was a little red. He wanted to a chest x-ray for pneumonia, which I declined. I kept pressing for the urine culture. Yep, UTI. At 2am, the attending said he wanted to admit her to the peds unit, and at 4am, we were making our way upstairs. We got settled about 5am, and finally, we could get  some sleep! 

Taking Stock at Boop’s Week 32. 8-29-12

Here’s what’s happening at Boop’s week 32:

• The big news of the week is the ailment that landed Boop in the hospital. We still don’t know what it is. We’re waiting for peds to make their rounds to let us go. I may go ahead and order lunch, just to save time when we leave here.
• Poor Winnie! I know our rush out the door on Friday was scary. She has been staying with my helper. I saw Winnie for a couple of minutes on Sunday. She seemed to be doing well, but I’m betting she’s moping by now.
• Thank heavens for the people who have helped. G has been here almost every day. U and M did babysitting duty so I could take care of important things and get me out of here for a few minutes. My helper, B, has been on call to fill in the gaps.
• I can’t wait to get home, have a real shower, give Boop a real bath, use a better toothbrush, and sleep in a real bed. We had planned to go back to see family this weekend, but I don’t feel comfortable traveling, yet.

Glutton. 8-24-12

For punishment. I like to believe that I can do all of these things. It all looks so tasty to dig into that I can't help myself. I just picked up another class <gasp>. It's not nearly as intense as my other class, but it will be work, nonetheless. The topic is a good one for me; so not too painful. However, I have a feeling the students will struggle with it, which means they will be frequently at my door. Unfortunately, this is only a small part of my job.

So far, I've been pretty good about leaving work at work, but I don't think this can continue. This morning at 6am, while Boop was still asleep, I managed to get a little writing done. And I've been online a fair bit, trying to put out a few fires at work, with mixed success. Boop complained when I turned on the reading light this morning; so I resorted to the back light of the laptop, which is supposed to be a bad thing for your eyes. I'm also getting to that age where they eyes don't function as well as we would like. I wonder how long it will be until I need glasses.


Boop has been altogether a bit grouchy lately. I don't think it's anything I've done or my stress level. I wonder if she is having more ear problems. She has trouble nursing on her left side and pulls at it a lot. We were just at the pediatrician a week ago, and they said it was fine. I wonder if it is still okay.

It's a party. 8-23-12

We wound up going to a new local Mexican restaurant instead of swimming last week. I ran into a few people I knew while there. One of the folks was the friend from work who got Miss Boop the portable crib. She was there with her husband and little boy. I was thinking that I had met her husband before; I've seen him around work enough. But when he didn't recognize me, I realized I knew him better than he knew me. I waited a few minutes for her to come back, but I decided I would go on back to my table. She arrived a little later and invited Boop and I to her son's 1st birthday this weekend.

Her cheeks look like photos of my dad as a tot.

Instead of gifts, they requested school supplies for the local shelter. I know he's only 1, but it feels a little awkward getting shelter supplies in his name. I would like to do something special for the little fella for his first birthday, but I'm short on creativity (no sleep) and time. I still need to get out at some point to get those supplies. Maybe my helper will come on Saturday morning.  

The Scrambler. 8/21/12

There's nothing like the start of the new semester when you have to teach and don't have as much time as you would like to prepare. The syllabus is coming together much slower than I had hoped. It's also a bit tricky to figure out how to fill 3hrs of class at a shot. 

Unfortunately, we got the dregs of the class times because we had to wait until everything else was scheduled. So, I have to teach in the afternoon instead of the morning. It's later than I wanted, and somehow, I ended up with a really long day tomorrow. A meeting earlier than I normally come in, a Poverty Simulation that's really cool but just not great timing, and then class. 


I'm wondering how Boop will do with the long day. They can stay a max of 10 hrs at daycare, and she will be there more then 8 hrs. tomorrow, I think. It's the first class; so we usually end a little earlier than normal, thankfully. Also, I should have a little window of time that I can go to the daycare and nurse, which will help to break things up, I hope. There have been so many potential stressors for her with the start of school: the new babies and then I'm pulled in a million directions. I'm just trying to stay calm and keep to the routine as much as possible.

Taking Stock at Boop’s Week 31. 8-22-12

Here’s what’s happening at Boop’s week 31:

• Boop is still putting on weight at a pretty good clip. Her grandma is having a bit of trouble trying to lift her due to all of her back problems, even after the procedure. It’s been a bit more challenging to get her to sleep in her portable crib. She’s waking up easier, and it’s hard to get her settled back down. I can’t dance around with her as easy. She must be 20 lbs.
• She seems like she is having some ear problems. We’re keeping an eye on it. I think she was having trouble last week, but it wasn’t enough to make it obvious when the pediatrician checked. I guess we’ll just wait until it gets worse.  Fortunately, her constipation seems to be doing a little better. That will decrease her risk of an UTI. I guess she hasn’t had one for a while. Hopefully, she’s growing out of her reflux.
• I got something in the mail about scheduling an appointment for the orthopedist about her hips. I dread for Boop to have more radiation exposure. Unfortunately, it’s been hard to put her shoes on and keep them on, let alone to put them on the wrong feet. She is doing well with her right thumb, but she still keeps her left thumb tucked under a fair bit.

Left Behind. 8-20-12

It's the first day of classes. The cars on the roads are hardly moving. Not quite Chicago traffic, but bad nonetheless. The halls are full of the bustle of students. I'm frantically trying to plan for teaching in the coming semester. Fortunately, I have a few folks willing to entertain the troops to give me a little break and to make things a little less boring for the students.

Grandma brought more clothes...
I got the hat when I was pregnant.

My focus is off. I went to the daycare at lunch to nurse Boop as usual, and her room was like a hornets' nest. Four new babies all at once does not make for a happy room. The 3 newest were screaming, screaming, screaming. It made me a nervous wreck. I nursed Boop for about a half hour and took her back in. Still screaming. I stayed there a couple of minutes, and then I turned around and took Boop back out to nurse a bit longer. We went back after about 20 min. Still screaming. I had to get back to work. As I was walking away, I had second thoughts about leaving her. I debated about taking her back to work, but then, I thought that it was just over 3 hours. And I didn't have anything for her to eat. Maybe if things are bad tomorrow, I'll just take her with me instead of nursing...