Over the river and through the woods, to the Emergency Room we go!

***5:41pm Ooops, I just noticed that I posted this prematurely. Tons of typos and that I just fixed. Haha...don't mind my incoherency. I know how to speak perfect English, promise.****

Going to the ER once a month isn't normal, but it has become our normal. Niki surpasses the temperature threshold (101.5) at least once a month, but I got used to everything turning out okay. I guess I got cocky because her last ER visit turned out to be the real thing. In case you didn't know, Niki got admitted to the hospital recently.

And God gave me a serious reality check.

Monday, June 15th started out just like any other week. Niki had her monthly check up with Dr. Awesome and everything was going well. She still had a residual cough left over from Memorial Day Weekend, but Niki's lungs were clear so Dr. Awesome didn't think much of it. Neither did I since coughs can take several weeks to resolve. As always, Niki's INR and FVII levels were stable. My girl was full of energy and spunk during her visit. She walked around Hematology like she owned the place.

Her mood on Tuesday, June 16th seemed to follow suit. She had a good day in daycare and was in a really good mood when we came home from work. Everything seemed fine -- just another day in lion taming -- until 10pm. One minute she was calmly laying down with her Daddy and the next minute she was shivering uncontrollably and crying. I'll never forget the panic in her eyes.

Of course, I immediately thought  about Ethan and his seizures.

Niki didn't look like she was having a seizure, but Ethan taught me that babies don't seize like adults do. Everything happened so quickly. We gave her factor in case she had a head bleed and I called on-call Hematology right away. I could feel adrenaline rushing throughout my body as I administered her factor. John was holding her, trying to calm her down. Her skin was warm, but her hands and feet were purple.

It was scary as hell.

The shivering episode lasted about 10 minutes and her panic quickly subsided and turned into extreme lethargy. Niki sleeps with her eyes slightly open so I could see her eyes rolling back and it scared me. Unusually enough, her temperature was normal. The on-call Hematologist wanted to rule out a line infection so she gave us the go ahead to take Niki to the ER. Apparently, the sudden onset of of chills could indicate that a fever was about to spike.

As luck would have it, we got pulled over on our way to the hospital. 

John hurriedly explained to the officer that we were on our way to Kaiser SF's Emergency Room for Niki. The cop pointed his flashlight on Niki (who was sleeping and still extremely lethargic) and then he looked at me. The cop then told us that he would let us go "without a write up". Niki looked pretty sick, but the officer still gave John a brief reminder that "any kind of tint is illegal on a vehicle." Fucking cops.

We were about 1/2 way to the hospital when Niki suddenly woke up and vomited Linda Blair-style all over herself. What worried me the most was the fact that she was too weak to react to her retching. She spewed out a huge amount of vomit and went back to sleep. I didn't want to unbuckle her so I tried my best to clean her up as she still sat in her vomit. I managed to strip her naked and clean her up by the time we got to the hospital.

It's hard to believe she went from this...

To this in less than a day...

Niki's lethargy started to improve by the time we got to triage.

She mustered up enough energy to fight with the nurse as he put the pulse oximeter sensor on her toe. (She hates that thing.) The nurse checked her temperature and it was still normal.  Niki must have "vomit out all the sick" on our car ride. By the time the doctor came in the room she was acting perfectly fine.

After a few hours of hanging around in the ER, the doctor finally sent us home. No lab work up. No IVs. Not even a urine sample. The doctor reassured us that it was probably just a stomach bug because her temperature remained normal. He advised us to increase fluid intake and sent us on our way. John and I got home by 4am.

I went to work the next day.  There's no time to rest when you're a Mommy.

Niki was perfectly fine during the day, but she would vomit once every evening thereafter -four days on vomiting once a day. We kept her hydrated with Gatorade and reduced her milk intake to prevent stomach irritation. Her appetite was a bit decreased, but we believed the doctor when he told us that Niki had a "stomach bug". John and I honestly didn't think much of her yacking.

Flash forward to Saturday, June 19th at 10am -- Niki woke up shivering again. She also threw up, but didn't react much to the vomiting. She fell back asleep, but it was different this time. Her lips and feet were ice cold and her skin appeared mottled. We were all very worried.

 I took a picture of her skin so I could show the doctor.

 

Her temperature was ever so slightly elevated (99.2), but we still thought it was a stomach bug so that gave us some temporary reassurance. I called Pediatrics instead to see if I could get an urgent care appointment for Niki's "stomach bug". I had a telephone visit with a pediatrician almost immediately. (This was the same doctor --Dr. N-- that saw Ethan the day before he had his head bleed. I felt confident enough to speak with him over the phone.) Niki was very sleepy and although her lips weren't discolored, they were still very cold.

I was hesitant to go back to the ER because they didn't do anything the last time we went there. Actually, the ER doctor made us feel silly for coming in. I let the Dr. N know about our recent experience, but he told me to take Niki to the ER again for an evaluation. I called the on-call Hematologist so she could notify the ER that we were coming. Then John and I started packing up Niki's baby bag and medical supplies so we could head off to the ER. We also prepped the boys and informed them that we were going to take Niki to the ER. All the while Niki was still sleeping. Just as we were about to leave, we felt her skin and she was burning up.

Less than an hour after Niki temperature was 99.2, it spiked spiked to 105.4!

My best friend (K) just so happened to be on her way to pick up the boys. She and her fiance graciously offered to take the cubs to the AT&T Park carnival a few days prior.  It worked out perfectly because we didn't have anyone to watch the boys on such short notice. They came minutes after we rechecked Niki's temperature. (Thank God for K & J!) We set off for the ER as soon as the boys left and my SIL (A) came with us to help.

When fear hit me, it hits me hard. And I was fucking terrified.

Most of the time I'm able to maintain my cool, but that day was different. The triage nurse's poker face sucked and I could see the worry in her eyes. Niki was really lethargic by the time we got to the ER and to top it off, she was sweating profusely. Oddly enough though, her skin was still pink (it wasn't mottled any longer) and she had no signs of respiratory distress. I got choked up the minute I saw her vital signs though -- O2 saturation 92% and pulse was 230. I know your heart rate speeds up when you have a fever (to cool your body off), but her pulse still didn't sit well with me.

Something was seriously wrong with my baby girl and it happened very quickly.

I didn't know what to make of her symptoms, but I prayed that she would be okay. In case you didn't know, you can die from central line infection. The fact that her fever spiked worried me. All I could do was think about her cold lips and feet. I was holding Niki in the triage room and I felt myself start to tear. I blew a quivered breath up toward my eyes to stop the tears from falling.

That was not the time to lose my composure.

Niki looks so much like Ethan when her eyes are closed. She wasn't on a ventilator or even remotely close to knocking on death's door, but my imagination was running wild. She was way too sleepy -- too sick -- for me to NOT worry. Being a part of the "moms who lost a child sisterhood" has given me great knowledge on all the horrifying ways that kids can die. These dark thoughts attack me when I'm scared. This was the first time -- in a long time -- that I felt like I could possibly lose my baby.
I don't think I'm over reacting when I think of death in these situations. Tell me how you would feel if you were me....if it was your kid that died or your kid that was very sick. The horror of losing a child has become a reality for my family already.

I'll NEVER think we're untouchable after that experience.

They got Niki into the exam room quickly. The nurse gave us an ice pack to help bring Niki's temperature down. We even wet Niki's hair and put cool washcloths on her forehead to buy time until the doctor came in. Thank God he didn't make us wait long. The doctor took one look at Niki and ordered blood cultures, a urine culture, bolus IV fluids, and a Tylenol suppository. He listened to her lungs and told us that it sounded noisy. (Niki's lungs were clear on Monday!) The doctor ordered a chest x-ray to check it out, but he theorized that Niki had either pneumonia or a line infection. Worst case scenario, he said that she could have both.  Niki started to be more responsive as her temperature slowly cooled down. She was drinking again, but she was still completely wiped out.

After hours of waiting, the Pediatrician came in an told us that Niki was being admitted. Her WBC came back very high which indicated an infection of some sort. As luck would have it, a Pediatric Infections Diseases MD was working the floor that weekend so Hematology decided that it would be best for Niki to be admitted in San Francisco instead of being transferred to Oakland Kaiser. K kept in touch with me during Niki's ER stay. She sent me pictures and reassured me that the boys were having a blast. K & J even dropped the boys off to my mom's house once we found out that Niki was going to be admitted. It was so helpful to feel like I didn't have to worry about the boys. John and I often feel torn when we have to leave the boys behind to take care of Niki in the ER. I felt relieved knowing that the boys were enjoying themselves.

Niki's was admitted to the 7th Floor Pediatrics Unit. The Intensive Care Nursery coordinated a private room for us to spend our last moments with Ethan and it was on THAT floor. I hate the 7th floor. That unit holds no good memories for me.

7th Floor Pediatrics

 The room Ethan died in is located at the far back corner of the Pediatrics Unit. The room is used to store extra isolettes, beds, and cribs now. I'll never forget this number.

In a brutal twist of irony, Niki was assigned to the SAME ROOM Ethan was taken into by the Paramedics when he was transferred from the ER at Kaiser SSF. He was later transferred to the ICN, but they did all of his stabilizing (giving anti-seizure medications) in Pediatrics.  I heard Ethan cry for the last time in that very room. I remember that day, that room, and those halls well. John confirmed that we were indeed in "Ethan's room". And, we hoped that was a good sign.

KP's newest guest...

Ethan and Niki's Room...

The hall...

 Ethan had his spinal tap done in there...

I felt like I was on a bad trip down memory lane. The only upside to these unfortunate twists of fate was the fact that Niki distracted me from entering total depression. I really fucking hate the memories associated with that floor!

After a few hours, Niki was starting to act a little more normal. The scariness subsided after she got her first round of antibiotics and the Tylenol fully kicked in. Niki was still febrile (101+), but she got some of her spunk back. After hours of sleeping, she woke up with a sudden burst of energy. The nurses encouraged us to let her walk around for a bit.

My spunky girl...

Tiny hospital socks for a tiny patient...

Her gown was backwards for a good reason - her Broviac

Niki's condition really improved compared to how she was earlier that morning. My sister and her husband came by to visit and marveled at how well Niki was doing considering the circumstances. My sister is a Clinical Microbiologist so she schooled me on all sorts of possibilities concerning Niki's potential line infection and treatment.  Niki was social again too.  She even waved at the SFPD officer that was on 24-hour watch right outside of our room. John and I overheard the officer's briefing each other during shift changes and it turns out that one of the kids on the floor was a child abuse case. I guess the cops weren't as HIPAA conscious as the nurses were because they talked about the baby when our door was open. She was admitted for abuse when she was about 2 months old. I wasn't trying to listen, but it's hard not to, ya know? The poor thing. She was an adorable little baby too -- just about Niki's age. And, it broke my heart.

It's a shame when children are in the hospital, but it's an even bigger shame when that hospitalization could have been prevented.

Memorial Day Weekend...

Memorial Day Weekend 5/28-5/31 - Written Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Niki took another trip to the ER on Friday, May 28th. She had a slight fever in the morning (100.1), but she still appeared to be doing okay. She was playing, eating, and most importantly of all NOT above the temperature threshold (101.5) so as always, I went to work to save my FMLA. At around 6:30pm, John called to tell me that Niki's temperature was 101.9! She was still generally in a good mood (playing and eating), but the poor baby was burning up. I was out running errands so I dropped everything went home immediately.

Off to the ER we went!

We met a completely new group of ER staff when we arrived. No familiar faces at all. Then again, I don't believe we've ever been to the ER for a weekday swing shift either. The nurses were nice, but it also seemed like they were a little confused. I can't blame them though because Niki is kind of a guinea pig anyway. As always, I got asked if I was a nurse. Ugh. I swear, I'm going to have a shirt made that says "No, I am not a nurse." Or perhaps I'll take a moment from my gotta-rush-to-the-ER-panic to change out of my scrubs to avoid being asked every time. Then again, I've been asked if I was a nurse when I wasn't in scrubs so maybe it's the Filipino thing? I don't know. I'm going off on a tangent here but whatever...

After close to an hour of waiting, the ER doctor came in the room as I was talking to my friend who works in CT. She happened to pass by the exam room so we chatted for a few minutes. My friend quickly excused herself when the doctor showed up, but he still seemed a little curt with us. The doc didn't seem very genuine when he played with Niki during the exam, but he was thorough so I appreciated that.

Niki's nurse was very sweet and he tried really hard not to mess anything up. I gave him a break when the nurse came in the exam room with oral Tylenol because he already had it drawn up in a syringe. The doctor didn't even tell me that he was ordering Tylenol. If I knew I would have intervened and asked for a suppository instead. I started to tell the nurse about Niki's puke-tastic history with the ER and oral Tylenol when I noticed that the nurse started to look a little disappointed. So, since Niki wasn't particularly pukey, I told the nurse that we could try to administer it. I hoped that she wouldn't vomit. The nurse looked relieved and mentioned how difficult it was to get an order changed. ( I think the nurse got worried at first because the doctor was kind of a meanie.)

Niki got the Tylenol down alright, but she promptly puked it up a few minutes later. All over my back. All over my hair. All over the floor.  Karma is a bitch and it served me right for doubting my intuition. Never again will I allow oral Tylenol in the ER. Never again!

We cleaned Niki up, but I smelled absolutely rancid. Unfortunately, the hospital stopped providing scrubs to it's employees so I was stuck wearing my puke infused scrubs. The nurse felt really bad so he grabbed some sweats for me from "Lost Patient Clothing/Articles" so I could change. But, since I'm not a fan of potential scabies exposure, I graciously declined. Instead, I opted to use CaviWipes to scrape off the sour milk curds from my clothes and to clean up the floor. There was a hell of a lot of puke.

John held his nose and gagged the entire time -- totally NOT helpful.

Environmental Services eventually came in and mopped up everything that I couldn't reach. The lady scolded me for cleaning up floor, but I felt really bad because Niki made such a huge mess. She reassured me that she had cleaned up worse and reminded me that it was good that Niki threw up. She explained to me in her heavy accent that Niki "vomit out all the sick" so she would feel much better.

And the EVS lady was right.

The redness in her cheeks subsided (Niki's cheeks always get red when she's about to get sick) and she was feeling much better after she "vomit out all the sick". She tolerated to antibiotic (Ceftriaxone) infusion pretty well too. Soon enough, Niki was back to her regular self -- playing, trying to walk the halls of the ER, and eating. Eventually, her blood tests back normal and she was discharged from the ER by 10:30pm.



Before the Puke

After the Puke

Niki was feeling like a million bucks by the morning. Ceftriaxone is the best remedy ever, I swear! We hadn't anticipated that Niki would get sick, but John promised all of the kids (our cubs, my SILs, & his brother's kids) that we would take them to Great America on Saturday. A promise is a promise. Fortunately, Niki woke up on the right side of the bed. She didn't appear sick at all. John decided to take EIGHT youngins to Great America by himself.  I opted to spend some quality time with Niki before we had to go back to the ER at 6pm for her second antibiotic infusion. (There were no clinic appointments since it was the holiday weekend.) I figured that I could handle it on my own.

So, John left for Great America and I set off for Walnut Creek with my Mom & Niki for some retail therapy.

It was a gorgeous day. The sun was out, the breeze was deliciously warm, and Niki was happily enjoying her frozen yogurt in her stroller. She's so good whenever we go shopping that I'm convinced she enjoys retail therapy just as much as I do. We had one hour left before we had to be back in San Francisco for her infusion. We stopped off at Nordstrom's to take a quick peek at the Kids clothes.



Before She Puked...Again!

Just minutes after we stepped off the elevator, as I was holding her in perusing the kids shoe aisles, Niki vomited all over me. Again.

There was milk-yogurt yack all over Niki, my clothes, my hair, and my brand new flats. Worst of all, it was all over the carpet. The world stopped in its tracks as far as I was concerned. A record was screeching somewhere. And, boy was I mortified. My mom hurriedly tried to wipe the puke of me and Niki while I stood there in utter disbelief. The putrid smell of puke quickly wafted up to my nose and I started to feel the vomit seep into my shoes.

Evidently, Nordstom's famous Customer Service Excellence goes out the window when your kid pukes on the floor. The sales woman quickly handed me a dinky box of Kleenex and a small plastic bag before she quickly scurried away to call housekeeping. All of the other clerks just stared as my mom shifted her attention to scooping milk puke off the my shoes and the carpet. I didn't expect them to help me clean up, but I also didn't expect them to stare at us like we were trash either. It felt oh-so-classy to have these sales people sneer at us.

I undressed Niki right there in the shoe aisle (still standing in the very spot she yacked on) and cleaned the both of us off as best I could. I didn't want to track puke through the rest of the store. As I was hurriedly wiping my shoes, some prick teenager took a picture of us (yack and all) with her iPhone. I'm pretty sure that ended up on Twitter. She must have thought I didn't notice and that little bitch was lucky that I was too preoccupied to give her a piece of my mind. What was worse was the Mom stopped with her daughter so she could take the picture. Ugh. Really though? Teach your kid manners people! Nevertheless, there is no time to be upset when you've got bigger fish to fry.

And my "fish" was a hell of a lot of yack.

After what seemed like ages we finally made it into the bathroom/breastfeeding area. Niki was attracting quite a bit of attention as I wiped her body down in the Ladies Room. People were curiously starting at her Broviac, but no one dared to say anything. The ladies crowded around kept commenting on how "precious" she was, but that was all. I knew they wanted to ask what her Broviac was for, but no one did. I can understand why people would be hesitant to ask, but I honestly have more respect for people if they would just ask me whatever question is burning in their minds. Frankly, I think it's ruder to pretend that you don't see anything unusual. They were being nice, but they just couldn't hide the "oh my god what the hell is that" look in their eyes.

Again, I had bigger fish to fry.

I still had puke all over me so I dressed up Niki was quickly as I could and handed her off to my mom so I could change. Thank God my mom was there or I would have been fucked. While all of this was going on Niki was still playing and being completely oblivious to the fact that she just stunk up all of Nordstrom's Kids section.  I washed puke remnants out of my hair, put on my mom's sweater, scooped out the yack in my shoes, and jetted out of Nordstrom in lightning speed. The puke was all cleaned up (and smell free) by the time we got out there.

We spent the rest of the evening at Kaiser ER getting Niki's infusion. I ended up running late because of the puke incident so I had to go there puke-clothed and all. Luckily, John got back from Great America relatively quick so he brought me some clean clothes to change into. There was a completely new set of staff was working that night and they moved slower than molasses. Her doctor was great, but the nurse was lagging. We were just supposed to go there for the infusion, but ended up getting out of the ER close to 10:30! For a 15 minute infusion!!!



The Party Was NOT in the ER

Niki playing with a balloon I got her.

Niki's fever came back later that night, but because her blood cultures came back negative we were able to give her some Tylenol suppositories to help with her fever. We spent rest of Memorial Day Weekend (Sunday & Monday) indoors waiting for Niki to get better. And I ended up getting sick too! Niki's puke must have exposed me to whatever bug was affecting her. I was so exhausted from the back-to-back ER visits that my pregnant ass stayed in bed with her all day Sunday. I was feeling well enough to visit Ethan on Monday, but since Niki and I were both still felt icky, I called in sick on Tuesday.

And that my friends was our Memorial Day Weekend! We go to the ER so much that I'm starting a new label for these "mini-vacays".

At Least She Looks Good in Red...

Written May 13, 2010...

On May 12th at 2:50 am, I woke up because Niki was crying hysterically. Once my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw blood everywhere! We co-sleep and our bedsheets were covered in so much blood that I initially thought Niki got injured somehow.  My eyes adjusted a little more and I saw that Niki was thrashing about because she had blood all over her. She was frantically using her hands to wipe her face and then promptly vomited a large amount of  bright red blood on the sheets. Twice.

It looked like something out of a horror scene. :(

A nosebleed I can deal with, but vomiting blood could indicate a GI bleed. And we all know she's had plenty  of   those  before! John woke up in a flash and immediately sprung into action. He started mixing and administering her factor while I was on the phone waiting to be connected to the on-call Hematologist. Meanwhile, Niki was crying and still gushing blood everywhere.

It was hard to tell where the blood was coming from because there was SO much in her mouth too.

Dr. Awesome turned out to be the on-call Hematologist which made me feel instantly guilty for calling her so late/early. I know that she has a son around Niki's age and as a mother I felt bad for contributing to her early morning exhaustion.  Niki was still actively bleeding so John tried to apply pressure as best as he could. The Nosebudd is too large to pinch her tiny nose so applying constant pressure is tough and involves holding her down. (Which we both hate to do because it feels like we're violating her trust.) After a brief discussion, Dr. Awesome and I  were pretty sure that the bloody vomit was more than likely a large amount of swallowed postnasal drip. However, given the large quantity of blood and Niki's hysteric behavior, she felt that we should take Niki to the ER.

With Niki's prior history of GI bleeding, it was important that we made sure that there was absolutely no GI issue going on.

The NovoSeven was starting to kick in and Niki finally calmed down after John stopped applying pressure to her nose. Given what happened the last time she had a nosebleed, we figured that it would be best (and less traumatic) if we left her nose alone so any forming clots wouldn't be dislodged. As we waited for the bleeding to completely stop, we provided "hygiene control" by using baby wipes to clean up the drips before they went into her mouth. We changed her, packed some factor, grabbed her lucky ladybug blanket, and off to the ER we went. There's something about being surrounded by ladybugs that makes me feel like everything will be okay.

(I saw them everywhere after Ethan passed away and Niki is a Ladybug too.)

It was a completely different staff that was on that night. No Nurse Stat or Dr. Daddy, but I swear it felt like I stepped onto the set of Grey's Anatomy. I'm used to Niki's nurses being pretty (it's statistically easier to find hot nurses than doctors), but this time Niki's nurse and doctor were H-O-T. 

Niki had her very own Dr. McDreamy for a change. (And I half-heartedly wished that I looked less 3am-esque.)

Dr. McDreamy was a very efficient doctor which was an added plus. He was already in the exam room waiting for Niki and knew her history too. He won my heart when he started to do the exam. He worked his magic and calmed her down. Niki just let him do his exam (all the while staring at his beautiful face) and then he was off to do whatever it is doctors do while their patients wait for hours and hours.

He concluded that Niki wasn't having a GI bleed. (Thank goodness!)

Nurse Beautiful (that's my nickname for her in case you didn't figure that out by now) did the customary blood draw from Niki's Broviac. There was no Ceftriaxone (abx) infusion this time around because Niki didn't have a fever. A line infection wasn't a concern. By that time, Niki's bleeding had completely stopped so we turned down the lights so she could rest. John and I took turns nodding off so we could catch up on some sleep too. A few hours later her test results came in and Dr. McDreamy said we could go home.

It was 7:00 am, painfully bright outside, and I was supposed to start work at 8:15.

I was exhausted, but I need to preserve my FMLA. So, off to work I went instead of staying home (like I wanted to) so I could comfort my baby. As always, John stayed home with Niki so he could monitor her status and play "Mommy". Meanwhile, Nurse Richard called me at work and advised me that Niki should stay on factor every day for the next three days. (Then we could go back to every other day.) After a long 8 hour shift, I went home, cuddled with my crusty-nosed daughter, and crashed. I didn't even eat dinner.

Flash forward to 2am and Niki jarred us from deep sleep with her hysteric crying. 

Her nose was bleeding...again. Our bedsheets looked like something out of a murder scene...again. And John and I scrambled to give her factor...again. We didn't contact the on-call Hematologist this time. Even though Nurse Richard reassured me during our afternoon discussion that we should call for everything, I was hesitant and embarrassed to call for such a "trivial" thing. I know that it's their job to advise us in the wee hours of the morning, but still...I felt bad. I'm working on these internal issues of mine.

I often wonder if any other hemo-Moms feel guilty like I do.

Seeing that much blood is unnerving for me as her Mom, but Niki was tolerating the bleed well. I need to learn how to avoid getting emotionally charged in these situations. Niki wasn't vomiting this time so that helped me keep my emotions in check. Besides, she didn't cry as long as we left her nose alone (the down side was there was blood everywhere) and the bleeding started to slow after about 30 minutes.

Her nosebleed was completely resolved (and she was back to bloody-booger status) after about an hour.

The following morning Niki had a follow up appointment with her Pediatrician, Dr. Sweetheart. John called in sick the day before so it was my turn to take time off from work. I called in sick (using my FMLA) just for the morning. I have to be very conscious about how much time I have FMLA left before I put my job on the line.

It sucks, but what can I do?

Dr. Sweetheart is the best! Her exam was thorough and despite her little nose being plugged with clotted blood, she determined that Niki had a sinus infection. So, Dr. Sweetheart sent down a 10-day course of Amoxicillin down to the pharmacy.


Passing time by trying to yank off her MedicAlert...Naughty girl realized that I caught her.. Niki completed her course of antibiotics this past week. She still has her never-seems-to-go-away-cough (part of the joys of being immunocompromised and constantly catching things from daycare), but otherwise she's doing okay. She hasn't had any bleeds ever since. Thank goodness! If there is some humor that can be found in this whole situation, it would be a lovely anecdote that fave "Seven Mama" shared with me on Facebook...

"At least she looks good in red!"

She was right. Indeed, my daughter looks beautiful in red. :)




Stunned, on our way to the ER...I HATE this room...Sizing up the situation...After seeing Dr. McDreamyWaiting for test results... Exhausted, on our way home...