The Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very-Bad 4 Days

The day my mom left town, a Monday, Jackson got a diagnosis of croup at the pediatrician's office. Wednesday I took him back because he wasn't getting better with the steroids. Doctor, whom I love dearly, took a chest x-ray and determined he had pneumonia and an ear infection, so we added antibiotics. That Wednesday night things got worse.
When we went back to the doctor for the 3rd time that week, I was told to take him straight to Children's and that Dr. Grant would meet me in the ER. It was 9:25am on Thursday morning. Matt was to walk into class at 9:30 to teach. I jumped in the van with Jackson, handed him the GPS so I could hear him doing something and sped off to Children's. And honestly, I only knew that Children's was near the Capitol but that's it. Called Matt. Gave him the update. Prayed.

Jackson spent 6 long hours in the ER, until he was stable enough to be transferred to the PICU. The picture above is what Jackson looked like from about 5:00pm until about 5:00am the next morning. I remember being so happy that he wanted to hold a car! And I covered him up with his very special blankie. That night the doctor told us he did not have croup, nor pneumonia, it was RSV and a pretty bad case.

And this machine is what we watched for the next 4 days. Mainly watching the blue number - how much oxygen was his body absorbing. His number at the pediatrician's office was 85. :( But at the time of this photo he was on "comfort flow" of oxygen at level 7, so he was at a perfect 100!

Matt brought Collin and Katie up to see Jackson that night and I was allowed to take him out of the crib briefly before they got there. But because he was hooked up to so many machines, I could only sit right next to his bed and Collin and Katie couldn't get too close. In fact, they were scrubbed down and dressed in a paper gown and a face mask. I wore the same little outfit until Saturday when they sent him to a regular hospital room. And they were scared. They wanted to see Jackson, but I don't guess you can prepare your kiddos for seeing brother all hooked up and sick looking.

Grammy showed up early Friday morning. Matt was on Jackson duty. I went home to shower and pick up Katie from kindergarten. We went to eat lunch at Cici's Pizza and I remember thinking how weird it was that everyone's life was still going on so normally while my little baby was so sick at the hospital. :(

Friday brought the good news that we could get him out of bed and take off the face masks! So from 5:00am Friday morning on...Jackson was held. By me. By Matt. By Grammy. He loved playing on her iphone, because it has WAY more games than mine! And it was a great distraction from Jackson's 1 video that we had put on loop on the PICU TV...."Buckbase" AKA Backyardigans.

Sunday. Jackson got unplugged from all machines at about 10:00am. Three days earlier than expected! I don't believe in coincidences. I do believe in prayer. And at a time when I could literally only utter the words, "God, please" and that's it, I know it was the prayers of many family and friends that held us up.

Since Jackson had been in a bed for 4 days, he couldn't walk well at all! It was quite humorous. I wish I had videoed it.

This is what he wanted to do as soon as he got home - play "ball ball gee shoot". Jackson stayed on house arrest for 8 days and we did breathing treatments at home. He got an "all-clear" from the pediatrician, which was fabulous news. But we also got a warning...Jackson will most likely get RSV again next winter. :( But then the next one, we should be good! Thank you blog friends and family for praying for our boy.

Happy 38th to me!!

Here I am at 37 (above) and one year later.....
my self-portrait on the actual 38th birthday has NOT been airbrushed! But I believe the 37 year old one has had some touchups done to it...thank you Chiara Davidson! I LOVE my birthday! I really, really do! I think my day is such a great day...Feb 1. I think my year is such a great year...1974. I love to think about my young parents having their first baby at 11:44pm, my mom sleeping through the delivery (because they put her out) and my dad in the waiting room (this is the story I remember being told long ago). It's a great day to be alive! Also...I also love that when I finished first grade it was 1981...1 for first, 2nd grade in 82, 3rd in 83...you get it! Always loved that little factoid. But enough about me...

For my birthday and Collin's birthday, my mom always comes up for a visit. Yay Momma! Apparently we had so much fun that I only took 2 photos the entire visit!

Jackson...very sad that "Rammy" is getting on the plane. He still says "Rammy...plane...high...big high" when he plays with his toy airplane or sees one in the air. He's so cute!

Later on this day...Jackson would get a "croup" diagnosis at the doctor. The beginning of the bad and scary week.

Thunder Benchwarmers!

Our oldest 2 kiddos won the "benchwarmer experience" through their elementary school's night at the Thunder game.

While the kid's were on the bench, Nick Collison came over to the side where the parent's stood and started signing autographs. That's when I noticed a security guard escorting Collin towards Collison. I thought to myself...Collin has been chosen to meet Collison I guess and I waved to the security guard to say I'm the Mom!! I'll take the picture!! He kept shaking his head at me. I was confused...in the meantime....Collin got a Collison autograph on his school shirt.

Do you see the 2 police officers and 1 security guard near Collin and Collison? All that ruckus because Collin was getting up off the bench to come tell me that Katie was bothering him!!! He hadn't even noticed that while trying to get to me, that Collison had signed his shirt! Matt and I are still laughing about this story!!

And if you didn't know what row R looks like at the Thunder game....here it is!! The. Very. Last. Row. In. The. Coliseum. Scary. High.

And waaaaaaay down there is where they played basketball.

We had lots and lots of fun at the Thunder game. And the weird thing is...our kids don't know that this is NOT normal. Most kids do not get to go to NBA games nor do do the get to sit on the bench nor do they get their shirt accidentally signed. Matt saw the Dallas Mavericks play a couple of times as a teenager and we both saw the Houston Rockets play when we lived in Houston as a young married couple. So we are trying to keep them grounded!

The Undefeated Eagles

Katie played basketball for the first time with The Dad as coach. The girls mights have been influenced a smidge in naming their team The Eagles since that is what Katie and Dad both wanted.
It was fun and funny to watch these girls play basketball (and also to watch Matt coach). Katie and Matt were both VERY in to the game! I loved every minute of it! They were undefeated (except the Y teams don't keep score, you know - everybody wins)!

We celebrated our season at Braums with medals, burgers and a surprise from the basketball coach from OC. She donated jr. Eagles basketballs to all the girls on the team! They were all super excited!! So proud of our girl and our Dad!

Ice Skating for the first time

Katie and Collin were so excited to FINALLY go ice skating for the first time. I reminded them that I did not go ice skating until I was in college so this was a BIG deal! (do you remember this Laura? Galleria? Fun times!) We waited so long to go ice skating this winter that it was on the warmish side but the kiddos did get to ice skate for FREE for getting straight A's!! They were really excited to show their report cards to the workers. And of course the mom and the dad are super proud of them!
Collin finally let go of the side and skated a bit. He LOVED every minute of ice skating! And yes, I am aware that we need to buy the boy an OC sweatshirt!!

Sweet Katie attracted the attention of one of the workers and he would hold Katie's hand and ice skate with her on the curve and then she would do the straights by herself. She had SO much fun!!

It's going in my Oklahoma Book of Fun! Four stars ****! A must do!

Zoo days in January

We have loved the warmer temperatures this winter! It feels so good to be out and about in January -just when I'm normally having a bit of cabin fever. Jackson loved going to the children's zoo and petting the farm animals. Grammy - there are 2 donkeys there and he said, "Rammy. Haw-haw barn." about 50 times!! And then he would want us to repeat it. Rammy. Haw-haw barn.
Jumpin J has to do every thing the big brother and sister do!

Katie had fun at the zoo with a friend.

Again, J has to do whatever the big kids are doing. I think it's so cute. He'll say, "Ja-sn's turn." And that will mean that no one else can be involved just him. He does have some trouble saying his name.

Hoping for more winter zoo days!

Senate Bill 1438

January 19 - Bill introduction deadline 4:00. By the grace of God....check.

Honestly, I can't tell you how this happened.

Was it my convincing emails, phone calls and "speeches" about how insurance should pay for this life-saving formula? Probably not.

Was it because a friend of mine hunted down 2 senators at her husband's work dinner and spoke to them about this bill? Probably. (By the way, she is so brave!)

Was it because a friend of mine spoke to the senator whose kids she babysits? Probably.

Was it because the epipen bill mom (who just recently became a registered lobbyist) spoke to a U.S. Representative about this bill and he applied the pressure? Probably.

Was it because the Senate staffer, the actual bill writer, (and a fellow Jazzerciser) spoke strongly about this bill to the Senator I've been working with? Probably.

Was it because I told my Bible class on Sunday that I was now aiming for Legislation Year 2013 and that it wasn't going to happen in 2012 and all those wonderful people prayed about this? Absolutely.

Oh me of little faith. Why am I shocked when I see God answer my prayers? I'm sad to say that I was SHOCKED when I got the phone call today that Senate Bill 1438 - Jackson's Bill - has been filed. Deadline met.

I am thankful. Very thankful that I have grown as a person and citizen during the last 5 months. Thankful that I have gained some very wise and insightful friends during this time. I am thankful that I recognized the gentle pushes from God to pursue this legislation. I am thankful that I have given my Moses/Esther speeches to a handful of people, so that I could eventually give the speech to myself. I am thankful for the people that love and care about my Jackson. I am thankful for the discounts I've received for the $$$ formula.

Wow. I'm going to bed tonight feeling very blessed, overwhelmed, excited and tired. :) Wow.