I'm Still Here

I want to thank all of you who sent me emails and commented on my blog these past two weeks. It made me feel so good that so many care. Thank you!!!

For the past two weeks I have been in Charlotte taking care of my daughter and her three children. To recap, Nicole is pregnant with her 4th child and is having an extremely difficult pregnancy as she did with her 3rd and 4th pregnancy. She was admitted to the hospital on July 20th to received fluids because she was so dehydrated and released on July 21st. She continued to lose fluids by vomiting and was readmitted on July 24th. She was still in the hospital when I arrived on Wednesday, July 25th. She had a pic line inserted to received the fluids. She said she was so sick that when they asked her permission to put the pic line in she signed the forms without thinking. With former pregnancies they wanted her to have the pic line but she refused because she thought they were dangerous. Her doctor encouraged her to try solid foods to see if she could now keep them down since she received fluids. We were thrilled when she could! She was sent home on Thursday evening with the pic line and arrangements for home health care.

Initially she was only to receive the fluids at night. After a couple days I realized that was not enough because the vomiting returned. I encouraged her to call her doctor again and 24 hour fluids were prescribed.

Her fluids are in the back pack. This particular bag of fluids comes with all the air removed so it does not have to hang on a pole. Because it is so heavy we asked Caison, her 2 year old, if Mommy could borrow her shopping cart so Mommy could push her fluids around while the bag was full. Caison was soooo proud to be able to help Mommy. This is Campbell, the middle child in bed with Nicole. The bag is changed at night so Nicole only needs the shopping cart during the night, if needed. By morning it is light enough to carry.

Here is Caison, Carson and Campbell playing in the downstairs playroom. With two older brothers, Caison enjoys Thomas the Train and Hot Wheels as much as the boys.

My day started at 7:00 a.m. with the kids coming in to wake me. Once all three were up, we went downstairs for breakfast. Some days I looked forward to lunch, because right after lunch Caison takes a long afternoon nap. The two boys play well together, but put Caison in the middle and its a three ring circus.

After dinner came bath time. Once the kids were bathed they came into my room, which is the upstairs playroom, and we would watch a movie before bed. The movie was usually one from the Baby Einstein series. The playroom has a futon which folds out into a bed. Carson and Caison would go to bed without a fuss. Campbell, on the other hand, protested each night. He said "I don't like to sleep". Allowing him to lay in Mommy and Daddy's bed for a little while, he would fall right off to sleep.

Yesterday before I left, Nicole had another doctor's appointment. The baby's heartbeat was strong and Nicole was still eating well, but she started getting sick around 4:00 p.m. the past couple days. She was trying to take her vitamins, but they were making her sick. The doctor said she would order the vitamins in liquid form to be inserted into her IV. I hope this will work.

I left about 2:00 p.m. and the temperture was 104 degrees. I was so looking forward to cooler weather. NOT!!! It's as hot and humid here as it was in Charlotte.

I'll be around to visit later today. I have soooo much to do right now.