Go Team!

It's been a week.

Last week on Wednesday we took Eileen for a 6 month follow up on her food allergies.  She is doing so much better. The boys were perfectly behaved in the waiting room. Everything was going swell and the doctor starts to do general vitals.  Eileen has a low grade fever.  Huh.  Eileen has a giant swollen lymph node on the left side.  Double huh.  Doctor recommends that after we do a quick retest of blood for food sensitivities that we head on over to Children's for a more extensive blood draw.

Eileen was brave, but not strong enough to ward off a vasovagal reaction --almost vomiting twice, cold sweat, shaking.

Okay team.  Let's go.  Eileen-you get to cheat on your diet.  We're all going to Dicks for burgers and shakes! We get to Children's and wait forever to get into the lab.  Linus is being super big brother and giving Robin rides around the waiting room and playing with Eileen, even bouncing her on his lap.  When it came time for the blood draw, I watch awe and sympathy go across his face as Eileen bravely gave them her arm.  Another vasovagal reaction.  By the end we were ready to just all go home and go to bed.

The next day (Thursday) we leave school early to get downtown for an ENT appointment for Robin to address his snoring. This time Eileen and Linus got to be perfectly behaved.  As luck would have it, the doctor had an opening in her schedule the following week on a day I just happened to have the morning off for school.   Surgery?  Sure why not.

By Friday, I am a little emotionally spent.  We know that Eileen has some sort of infection and it's not mono or mumps. The doctor tells us to wait a week and then head back to Children's.

Yesterday (Tuesday)  I woke all the kids up at 5 am, got them all dressed in comfy clothes, fed Linus and Eileen, and headed downtown for a 6:45 am check-in for Robin.  I give props to the surgery center for having complimentary coffee.  After an hour, Robin is finally called back.  I leave Eileen and Linus (and the ipads) in the waiting room.  Robin and I spend another 45 minutes waiting in pre-op.  The big kids were perfectly behaved in my absence according to everyone around them.  Robin's surgery went quick (it was just adenoids).

As I predicted, Robin had a hard time coming out of anesthesia. It took longer then expected.  Once awake, he was so so incredibly sad and sounded terrible.  Robin proceeded to cover me in coughs, spit, boogers, and melted popsicle.  He started to do a little better once they put some pain meds in his IV.  Robin wouldn't respond to any questions until I finally asked if he wanted Linus and Eileen, to which he answered, "Yes."  About the time we were wheeled into recovery, Linus had apparently started getting worried and alerted the receptionist. The nurses went and got the kids so they could join us.  The staff told me how well behaved they were in the waiting room.

Linus and Eileen immediately climbed onto the bed with us.  It was one of those times when you can just feel the love between these kids.  The nurses came in and asked if they could take our picture because it was all just a little too sweet.

Eventually, we were finally released.  I drove home, mildly stressed and pretty exhausted.  I dropped the kids at home, changed my clothes (since Robin had done a number on them) and headed to parent teacher conferences.  Why? Because I am awesome.

After two days of parent teacher conferences, I'm a little fried.  I'll cap off tomorrow with a trip to the dentist for me with all three kids in tow as soon school gets out.  From the dentist we will head to Children's for another blood draw for Eileen.  Good times. Good times.

It's been a week.  Motherhood can be pretty crazy.  And sometimes your kids rise to the occasion, with zero complaint, and are all kinds of awesome.  I'm so proud of them.  Go Team!  We'll rally in the morning.