Kara
Our poor little Kara had a rather sad farewell to California last weekend.
Friday night we were at my parents house for dinner and to say good bye and during picture taking time, she began to get fussy and cry for me (I was the one taking the picture). I suddenly heard my sister Trisha say "She's turning really blue!" and realized she was talking about Kara. I looked over and saw her lips all blue and her face following suit. She basically looked like a baby who was about to cry really loud, but couldn't quite finish the cry. I could tell she wasn't choking because she wasn't gagging at all. I picked her up and began trying to calm her down and get her to cry it out and then realized the rest of her body was turning very blue. My Dad was standing nearby me, so I handed Kara to him and begged him to please try and help her. I also realized at that moment "I need to re-learn CPR!" Its interesting in the moments of helplessness how quickly we realize that God is in control of all things. All I could do was pray over and over in my head "Lord, please help her to breath, Lord please help Kara, Lord please give me wisdom to know what to do!!"
It was all only about a minute long, but that minute felt more like 30. I took her back in my arms when I realized she was for sure not chocking and stepped away from the noise and began rubbing her back and talking in a soothing voice to her "Calm down, Kara, Mommy is here." In the meantime my sister had called 911 and so just as she let out one big (wonderful sounding) cry, the paramedics arrived to check her out. They said she looked fine to them and they were happy to hear there wasn't any eyes rolling back into her head or sign of a seizure, but they were not happy with the body turning blue. So she got her first ride in the ambulance with Mommy and we headed off to Kaiser... one last time. :-)
In the ER, everyone was very kind and super helpful. It was a crowded night and a local police officer had passed away, so there were cops swarming the place, men crying, people waiting outside his room, etc... I was glad Kara still got quick attention, even in the midst of all the confusion.
Have I said yet that I'm going to miss Kaiser? I am.
Her diagnosis was breath holding spells, possibly brought on by anemia. The Pediatrician ordered some chest x-rays and they said her lungs looked fine. They did get a small glimpse of her tummy and noticed she was extremely constipated. She started asking me some questions about how much milk Kara drinks, how much food she's eating and what types of food. It was in that moment that I think I, for the first time ever, felt like a horrible mother. I realized that in the craziness of life, I've been catering to whatever worked, whatever was simple and whatever made Kara happy. Forgetting that she's only 12 months old! When I told the Dr. that she drinks more than 6 bottles a day, her face said it all. In the past couple of months, Kara has been refusing to eat most solid food and will continually be fussy and cry until we give her a bottle. I think I decided that it must be due to teething or something, but whatever the case, I didn't realize how much milk she was drinking and how little food she was eating.
At the hospital she began violently throwing up. I have never seen a 12 month old throw up like that. I began thinking she had the flu or something and the Dr. assured us it was due to her intense constipation. She told us to go home and begin feeding her iron rich foods and only giving her 16 oz. of milk a day (including at night). I had no idea how well this was going to go over, especially with our big move, the next day!
Saturday was a little rough; she kept wanting bottles and not wanting to eat, but I decided to just cut it cold turkey (that method works well on E&R) by Saturday night, she was eating good, solid food, but still throwing up. We bought some apple juice and gave it to her (diluted) and that did the trick. That and some good old fashioned prunes :)
She stopped throwing up by Sunday night and began eating really well and has been doing great with her new, limited bottle schedule. She's drinking out of a cup like a champ and last night was the first night she slept all the way through, without waking up for a bottle!! She went to bed around 8:30 and didn't get up until 10am.
I feel so bad for not noticing this before, but so happy that it ended up being a rather quick fix. Made our last day in CA slightly more stressful, but God gave a lot of rest and peace.
Anyway, there's our Kara update. To those of you who knew about this and prayed - thank you!
Friday night we were at my parents house for dinner and to say good bye and during picture taking time, she began to get fussy and cry for me (I was the one taking the picture). I suddenly heard my sister Trisha say "She's turning really blue!" and realized she was talking about Kara. I looked over and saw her lips all blue and her face following suit. She basically looked like a baby who was about to cry really loud, but couldn't quite finish the cry. I could tell she wasn't choking because she wasn't gagging at all. I picked her up and began trying to calm her down and get her to cry it out and then realized the rest of her body was turning very blue. My Dad was standing nearby me, so I handed Kara to him and begged him to please try and help her. I also realized at that moment "I need to re-learn CPR!" Its interesting in the moments of helplessness how quickly we realize that God is in control of all things. All I could do was pray over and over in my head "Lord, please help her to breath, Lord please help Kara, Lord please give me wisdom to know what to do!!"
It was all only about a minute long, but that minute felt more like 30. I took her back in my arms when I realized she was for sure not chocking and stepped away from the noise and began rubbing her back and talking in a soothing voice to her "Calm down, Kara, Mommy is here." In the meantime my sister had called 911 and so just as she let out one big (wonderful sounding) cry, the paramedics arrived to check her out. They said she looked fine to them and they were happy to hear there wasn't any eyes rolling back into her head or sign of a seizure, but they were not happy with the body turning blue. So she got her first ride in the ambulance with Mommy and we headed off to Kaiser... one last time. :-)
In the ER, everyone was very kind and super helpful. It was a crowded night and a local police officer had passed away, so there were cops swarming the place, men crying, people waiting outside his room, etc... I was glad Kara still got quick attention, even in the midst of all the confusion.
Have I said yet that I'm going to miss Kaiser? I am.
Her diagnosis was breath holding spells, possibly brought on by anemia. The Pediatrician ordered some chest x-rays and they said her lungs looked fine. They did get a small glimpse of her tummy and noticed she was extremely constipated. She started asking me some questions about how much milk Kara drinks, how much food she's eating and what types of food. It was in that moment that I think I, for the first time ever, felt like a horrible mother. I realized that in the craziness of life, I've been catering to whatever worked, whatever was simple and whatever made Kara happy. Forgetting that she's only 12 months old! When I told the Dr. that she drinks more than 6 bottles a day, her face said it all. In the past couple of months, Kara has been refusing to eat most solid food and will continually be fussy and cry until we give her a bottle. I think I decided that it must be due to teething or something, but whatever the case, I didn't realize how much milk she was drinking and how little food she was eating.
At the hospital she began violently throwing up. I have never seen a 12 month old throw up like that. I began thinking she had the flu or something and the Dr. assured us it was due to her intense constipation. She told us to go home and begin feeding her iron rich foods and only giving her 16 oz. of milk a day (including at night). I had no idea how well this was going to go over, especially with our big move, the next day!
Saturday was a little rough; she kept wanting bottles and not wanting to eat, but I decided to just cut it cold turkey (that method works well on E&R) by Saturday night, she was eating good, solid food, but still throwing up. We bought some apple juice and gave it to her (diluted) and that did the trick. That and some good old fashioned prunes :)
She stopped throwing up by Sunday night and began eating really well and has been doing great with her new, limited bottle schedule. She's drinking out of a cup like a champ and last night was the first night she slept all the way through, without waking up for a bottle!! She went to bed around 8:30 and didn't get up until 10am.
I feel so bad for not noticing this before, but so happy that it ended up being a rather quick fix. Made our last day in CA slightly more stressful, but God gave a lot of rest and peace.
Anyway, there's our Kara update. To those of you who knew about this and prayed - thank you!
Comments
The cop was the husband of a friend - 37 years old, dropped dead of a heart attack :-( So sad. 15 year old step son came home and found him.
Yeah, they said the cop wasn't on duty when he died, but several of his buddies came in to the hospital when they heard. It was very sad...