Two Days = Two Trips to the Hospital

Monday afternoon I got a call from Olivia's school which is never good. Olivia had fallen down and they thought that she might need stitches. I got to Olivia's school to find her playing in the office with the center directors. She was her typical happy self but one quick look at her upper eyelid and I agreed, she'd probably need the stitches. We went straight to the ER and got there a little before 4pm. It wasn't too crowded so I was optimistic that it would be a quick trip and we'd be home soon. The triage nurse recommended that we see a PA instead of a doctor because we would have a shorter wait time. I asked if PA's could do stitches and the nurse assured me that not only did they do stitches they probably were more experienced in doing stitches than one of the ER residents would be. We settled in for a wait and Olivia started to get a little more fussy. She wanted to be playing but an ER waiting room isn't a good place for a toddler to play and coming from work I wasn't very prepared with my usual supply of toys and books. Finally we saw the PA who took one look at Olivia's eye and said yes, she'll definitely need stitches and one of the ER residents really should take a look and stitch it up since it's on her eyelid. That meant we went to the bottom of the waiting list to see an ER doc. Finally we saw an ER resident and after consultation with the senior resident and the head doctor in the ER they decided that not only did Olivia need some stitches but they really should give her some anesthesia so that they could properly clean out the cut and make sure to stitch it up carefully to minimize the scaring. Unfortunately during our long wait to see the initial PA I had given Olivia some ritz crackers. In order for the doctors to give Olivia the anesthesia it was important that she hadn't had anything to eat for at least 4 hours. That meant we'd have to wait at least another 2 hours in the ER. They moved us into a private room and we settled in for a wait. It almost broke my heart to hear Olivia asking for food "pease" and I couldn't give her anything. Finally they moved us into another room so that they could administer the anesthesia and stitch her up. On the fourth try they were finally able to get the IV in so that they could give her the anesthesia and they stitched up her cut. Five stitches and some paperwork later we were finally on our way home at 11:50 pm!

Olivia went right to bed only for me to wake her up at 8am this morning for another trip to the doctor. On the agenda for today, a skin biopsy and a urine sample. Today's visit was relatively quick (in and out in under 3 hours)! Unfortunately her eye looks worse today than it did last night. It's more swollen but in typical Olivia fashion she seems to be handling it well.

Here are the before and after pictures. Before as we were waiting in the ER room and the after picture was taken this afternoon during lunch.

Cell Phone Pics (part V)

These are the very last of the random cell phone pictures. Ironically I haven't taken a single picture with my new cell phone since I got it. These are from when we were looking for some backyard toys for Olivia. She loved the little playhouse but they were a little expensive so we went with the tent instead (and it's much easier to store in the rainy Washington weather). I don't think that Olivia notices the difference. In fact we think that she enjoys the tent even more. Olivia likes to go into the tent and run/push forward so that the tent rolls across the backyard like a hamster in a wheel. I think it's absolutely hilarious when she does this and I diligently tried to capture the phenomenon on video until Mike got home and thought it wasn't so funny. In fact I got a pretty serious lecture from him about how it was really dangerous and I shouldn't encourage that sort of behavior. It's funny how he seems to be getting more protective of her as she gets older. I'm already worried about those teenage years!

A Typical Weekend

Due to Mike's training schedule and my work schedule we haven't spent the last several weekends together so it was really nice to have a weekend to ourselves. Our weekend began with a doctor's appointment for Olivia on Friday afternoon. Olivia was starting to get an ear infection but it seems that we caught it pretty early and she's already feeling much better. Saturday was a pretty low key day, Olivia took two long naps (partially the result of her antibiotics). We made a quick trip to the mall to pick up some items for the new baby as well as a birthday present for a friend and Olivia got to pick out a new puzzle. We spent some time outside in the back yard on Saturday evening. Olivia really enjoyed helping Mike water the plants. Olivia woke up feeling much better on Sunday morning and our day began with church and then a trip to the grocery store. The entire family enjoyed a nice afternoon nap and then we headed over to a friend's 3rd birthday party. In the evening Mike had to pack again for another week in the field and Olivia and I spent some quality time together playing with her new puzzle. Olivia did decide that it was bath time and proceeded to climb into the tub fully clothed and turn on the water. It looks like we'll be needing another baby-gate, who knew she could do that! All and all it was a nice, relaxing weekend. I hope everyone had such an enjoyable weekend. I am definitely dreading having to go back to work tomorrow!

Cell Phone Pictures (part IV)

After a very long day of traveling yesterday we're very happy to be home! Here's the weekly post of cell phone pictures for you to enjoy! Olivia and her Daddy who she loves dearly. These pictures were taken the first time Olivia saw Mike after a month long stay in the field. I don't know a single military spouse who doesn't worry about how their child will bond with their daddy, especially since Daddy was gone the entire time I was pregnant and until Olivia was about 6 months old. He leaves often to go to the field and I constantly worry about how things will go during the next deployment now that she's older and understands more about what's going on. I truly believe that God somehow watches over these families and I remind myself daily that I shouldn't stress out about the things I can't control.

My husband, whom I love dearly. I've been so lucky to have him around during this pregnancy. He's constantly getting me glasses of water (which I drink half of and leave all over the house) and reminding me to try and relax, to put my feet up, to take a break. He's helping with the cooking, the cleaning, and the laundry. It's been hard to see him do some of these things. I know that they're just chores to him but I've always looked at them as the little ways to express my love and appreciation for all that he does for us. My husband had a terrific surprise for me last night when Olivia and I got home from Austin. He'd put together all the baby furniture, he'd decorated the room, he'd even washed some of the baby clothes and put them away, he had even separated the clothes by age range. It was such a wonderful surprise!