Our trip to the Stollery

Everett tricked mommy into not one but two hospital visits this week. And by tricked I mean the first required minor treatment and the second required immediate attention. The real kicker is they both took place on the same day, Monday. On Sunday night Everett started to vomit. He couldn't hold down anything, would throw up water within 1 minute of taking it. Unfortunately on Monday morning he was still unable to keep down water. We headed to the hospital to fill out some work paper work. While there my charge nurse took a little at Everett and suggested we head down to emergency just to get him checked out and an order of the miracle drug Zofran. So begrudgingly I did it. I took my baby down to the germ infested waiting room and waited. Of course I gave my good friend Jen, an emergency room nurse, the heads up we were coming. Eventually we saw the triage nurse "What seems to be the emergency?" my response "I wouldn't call it an emergency" Ha! Wasn't I smug? As I told the resident, who I happened to know from the floor "I feel like I'm wasting resources by being here." Of course she did a full assessment on Everett, and provided him with a small dose of Zofran and Tylenol, which stopped the vomiting. So we were off on are merry way.

Everett of course fell asleep as soon as we got home and he enjoyed a wonderful 2 hour nap. When Everett woke up he enjoyed two ounces of milk. And then his hands, feet and lips turned blue. Not an I'm cold blue, a full blue. His temp was 38.0, he was responsive but something was not right. I grabbed Everett, went to my parents house, who reassuringly said "Take him back to the emergency room!!" Dylan and I did just that.

Unfortunately the triage nurse who was very busy didn't seem to believe us at all, and informed us it would be a 4 hour wait. 2 and a half hours later we were admitted.

The intern we saw made me smile with his confidence. He made a ton of uninformed claims like "Sometimes peripheral cyanosis can be a good thing." Really when?!?!?!? My kid is not a smurf!!! Or "Im concerned it might be a stomach issue such as Chrone's"...Really?!?!?!? Because Im pretty sure it's gastro since I was pooping and vomiting earlier this week. And of course "I'm sorry but your kid checks out. I think they're going to send you home."Really because his resting heart rate is 180, his BP is 108/68, his o2 sats are 92-95%. HE TURNED BLUE!!!! HE DOES NOT CHECK OUT!!!

After the intern left I was going over all these arguments in my head, waiting for the resident to come in, praying for a resident I know. Wasn't I shocked to see an Emergency room intensivist instead. Of course she took one look at Everett and said "There is something wrong with your son, you won't be leaving." She then continued to say to the intern "His heart rate is elevated, his pulses are thready, his peripheral pulses no longer match, his feet are dusky, his extremities are very cold, Did you even look at his feet?!? His cap refills are about 5 seconds. We have been bothering him for how long and he has no tears, and his mouth is dry. We need to get him fluid started right away." By this point Everett was no longer sitting independently able to drink himself. It was breaking my heart to hear everything the Dr. said because I knew what it ment. But at the same time it was such a relief to know. The Dr. was very reassuring. She said she was pretty sure that he had "turned blue" because he was so dehydrated that his cirrculation was being compromised, but to be sure she wanted to do a partial work up, including EKG and chest Xray.

Everett ended up having the workup including, 2 IV pokes, blood work, catheter, A tube up his nose for NPA's and well the works. But he was to tired to care. The only part that really upset him was the Xray which he needed to be sat up in this plastic contraption.

800cc of fluid, 2 boluses and 50 cc/hr maintanance, and 12 hours later my son was painfully able to sit independently for short periods again, and started to make soft babbleing noises. But the most wonderful site for me was to see one single tear role down his face.

Everett was discharged, he still weighed less then his 1 year check up, he was still weak, but he could drink again. And we were given prescription of Zofran. Our nurse Mary said it best "Im so glad he reacted so well the bolus's. I thought you were going to be here for awhile." I smiled because I knew what she ment. I knew what she wasn't saying, because I have said those words to. Dylan of course is still clueless to how sick our little man was. He just knew if I was worried then he was too!

On Tuesday Everett was probably awake for a total of 3 hours. I determined he wasn't able to tolerate cow's milk, when he started throwing up again and his tummy was all distended. So on Wednesday we defrosted left over breast milk and he drank that all day tolerating it well. Thank goodness I hadn't gotten around to throwing it out yet. He was still pretty sick, continued to have a temperature and was unable to walk independently.

By Wednesday he was up for 5 hours of the day. Tolerated breast milk, and at dinner ate 6 bites of rice cereal. He was up walking around and finally smiled and laughed again. This morning you can't even tell he was sick. His appetite is still tiny but he is working on it. He is up playing and getting into trouble as we speak.

Now for all you cloth diaper users out there, no I did not use cloth diapers at the hospital, in fact I had to go up to my unit to steal some disposables for him. It was a hard thing to do, but when your kid is dehydrated they want to keep track of everything that comes in and out, so we weigh diapers. And that is what disposables are ment for emergencies!!

Wed

Mommy Moments

I think as parents we have these ideals of how things should be, we plan and prepare, and in our heads have it all figured out. We look at other parents and think I will never do that, I will never allow that, what kind of parent "fill in the blank". The truth is we all do it. But then baby comes and everything you believe is flipped upside down, all those wonderful truths are no longer black and white, and we beat ourselves up over them. The truth is none of us are perfect. To prove my point here is a list of my not so good mommy moments...

~We let Everett sleep with us for naps and an hour in the morning.

~I couldn't of been happier to fully wean Everett from the breast at 12months

~Tonight I fed Everett chx noodle soup from a can because I was to lazy to make dinner...and to sick

~We let Everett chew on a dryer ball, he loves it!

~ At 3 months I let Everett roll off the couch, then I cried harder and longer then he did

~Sometimes if we are out and we miss his milk time I let him have 2% milk

~My house is a mess!!

~ I stopped clipping his nails because I always made him bleed, so daddy now files them

~ Everett didn't sleep through the night until after 6 months

~ Sometimes I go into his room when he's asleep just to give him cuddles

Although these may not make me mother of the year, I figure they do make me a real mother. I know that in the years to come this list will grow exponentially and there will be numerous mommy fails, but I know there will be just as many good mommy moments. At least I hope there are and that no notices all my bad moments.

A year ago...

Everett at 3 months

What to do about Blue Lips....

The thing about being a pediatric nurse...is you know just enough to make you paranoid. That's right I'm paranoid. We laugh when nurses on our unit get pregnant because you know just how neurotic they will be while pregnant. I pediatric hospital is not where you want to be when you're pregnant. You are painfully aware of everything that can go wrong. You are aware that those tiny percents they quote in pregnancy books are actually possible. You see the kids with diseases that are 1 in 1 million. And all you can do is hope and pray for a healthy child. In that way you are just like every other mother. The difference is you know what realities are ahead of you, if things don't go as planned. Now to be fair, we see worst case scenarios. There are a lot of children born at 28 weeks who grow up to be completely healthy individuals. Those just aren't the ones I get to see on a day to day bases. And if you ask the parents of most children on our unit, they love there child just the way they are, and would not do anything to change there child.

That being said I am still paranoid. Everett fell off the couch at three months when I leaned over to get a cloth to clean up spit up. I cried and cried and cried. He did not. I wanted to take him to emergency. I was determined I had accidently given my baby a head injury like shaken baby. The truth is NO baby will ever suffer shaken baby from rolling off the couch...it's just not physically possible. Ask any Dr. I knew this but yet I was determined I had just traumatically injured my child. See I'm paranoid. I am trying to get better...Everett recently fell down a couple of stairs, I did not cry, I just watched checked his pupils every couple hours for three days :)

So recently Everett was sick with Gastro. It sucked but that's life, toddlers will get sick. I probably bring home enough germs from the hospital that he will have complete immunity by age 3. Im surprised he's not sick more often. My son does not live in a bubble. During his illness and immediately after Everett started getting blue lips. Each time would last around 5 minutes. He is not in any distress, he is not panicking and he is not lethargic. There does not seem to be anything that coincides with each time he gets blue lips...it just happens. His cap refill is good although his fingers are cold to touch. His temperature is 37.2. He is always indoors and well dressed. He remains happy through out the episode. And I have no idea why it's happening. Yet surprisingly this I am not paranoid about. This I am not freaking out over. Maybe because my child appears to healthy to be sick. Maybe Im afraid of the other options. Maybe Im to afraid to be paranoid. Or maybe I just somehow know he's okay.

I brought him to our family Dr. I had to sneak him in :) But she agreed to see him, because blue lips aren't normal. After doing a full assessment and not finding any obvious cause, she asked me straight on "Knowing what you know, how do you feel about this?" and I was able to calmly and honestly say "I don't think it's anything to be concerned with, but I needed you to know, I needed someone else to have this information, just in case Im wrong." So we still don't have a diagnosis, we probably never will honestly. We are being referred out for a second opinion and Everett needs to get some blood work done. Pretty minor stuff.

But don't worry Im still paranoid that my child might drown in 2 inches of water, or accidently have a TV fall on him, or suffocate on a pillow in his bed...but blue lips I can handle.

Sick Days

A couple of days ago I got sick. I realize not everyone is a nurse and

people don't want to hear the gory details so I will just say Gastro

it's not pretty. Everett got up early to try to find me, when

he did he took one look at me and ran for Daddy's arms. I am not

kidding, that is how bad I looked. I was a disaster. Fortunately I have

a wonderful husband who loves to watch his son. While I laid in

bed all day, Dylan took Everett to work for a meeting, and

kept him out of the house all day. At night when Dylan had to work

my parents agreed to watch Everett. I felt bad asking, because I knew

they would agree, even though they had just gotten home yesterday.

At 8:45 my mom brought Everett home tried to sneak upstairs and put

him to sleep. I went to checkon them, curling into a ball on Everett's

rocker. From his changetable Everett who hadn't seen me all day turns

his head, smiles, and gives three big kisses. It just melted my heart.

Here I was feeling the worst I've felt in years and with one small

gesture that boy made me feel wonderful. Everett went straight to

bed. And my mom left. The last thing she said was "If he wakes up

tonight call me, I'll come get him." Not that I would ever do that but

that too melted my heart. I just hope one day yearsfrom now Everett

will be as greatful for Dylan and I, as I was for my parents on Tuesday

night.

Fortunately it was only a 36hour sickness, but then Everett got sick.

It sucks to watch your baby get sick but whats even worse is to not be

there. I had to work, and Dylan was off. So Dylan stayed with him.

Dylan is a very capable father. He took 3 months paternity leave, he

knows how to take care of his son. But I felt I should of been the one

with Everett. Maybe its because Im his mother, maybe its because Im

a nurse, maybe its because Dylan didn't know what Pedialyte was.

Either way it broke my heart not to be with Everett when he was sick.

Now that he is better-ish, I can actually see that it was better that

Dylan did stay with him. Everett and Dylan had been having some

bonding issues the last couple weeks, so it's nice that Dylan got to be

the one to hold and cuddle the sick little guy.

Daddy and Diapers

Now I know I'm lucky, my husband completely supports my decision to cloth diaper. He isn't lukewarm towards the idea, he doesn't hesitate between disposables and cloth, he does cloth. He is a Cloth Diaper daddy. If you ask him why he does it he will likely say "because of my wife" but that is not true he does it for our son. Everett has SUPER sensitive skin and cloth diapers work best for him.

Do not be fooled he knows his cloth diapers. He prefers velcro to snaps, but likes that Everett can't undo snaps. He likes to match Everett's cloth diapers to whatever sports team is playing. He could care less if it's organic cotton or cotton, he does not care if which insert is to suppose to go with which diaper he will decide on the best combination based on his needs and finally he will NOT ever do prefolds. He happily travels using cloth, he prefers cloth to biosoakers and gdiapers.

All that being said there are definitely some interesting daddy and diaper moments. Daddy used to wash the diapers when he was on paternity leave, but now that he is working full time and I am working part time it's mostly back in my hands. Last night though I asked Daddy to do the diapers well I was working. As soon as I got home I went to change out of my scrubs and took them to the laundry room where I discovered a washer full of suds. "Dylan how much detergent did you use" "A full cap, why?!?!?" Ugh we have a front loader...not good. It took six washes to finally be suds free. SIX WASHES!!! I had to wonder why not just use the tiny bubbles...it's fool proof? Why not just call and ask? Why? But I can't really complain I mean my husband does wash cloth diapers.

We have had a couple other funny moments...but honestly I will take all the funny moments because I am lucky my husband is a Cloth Diaper Daddy!

What a Great Day!!!

Everett woke up at 4:30 this morning!! 4:30.....Seriously 4:30, before him, that was bedtime for Dylan and I. 4:30 is not morning!! Unfortunately he just couldn't settle, he tossed and turned and cried out for a couple more hours but just couldn't get a restful sleep. I was determined we were going to have a bad day...besides the 4:30 wake up call, I had a dentist appointment and had to cancel a playdate.

The first good thing to happen was Hart Hanson retweeted something I said to him...it wasn't really anything amazing or super thoughtful, but he obviously thougt it was important enough to retweet. I know its super small but it made me smile! That's the thing about Twitter, it connects you to people you normally would never be able to connect with. I think Hart Hanson is amazing because a) He's Canadian, b)He writes/directs/produces/runs my favorite show Bones, c) He seems like a real good person...like the kind of person I would trust Everett with for an hour.

The next good thing...was not the dentist appointment. No Everett won a contest by Robeez. The contest was post a picture of you child in his most patriotic outfit, Everett wore a Baby Kanga (Canadian Company) and his red Olympic mittens. I believe he was the only Canadian baby to win this week. YEAH!!! Everett wins a free pair of shoes. Im super thrilled with this since I love shoes so much!!

And then...Everett was playing in the bonus room, while daddy and I sat talking. He undid his diaper...both daddy and I said "Put that diaper back on!!" Instead Everett turned walked down the hall and banged on the bathroom door. Daddy put him on the toilet...and he immediately peed!!! At 13 months old it's official I think my little guy is a genius!!! I was sooo proud, daddy is sure its a coincidence, but I'm pretty sure he's a potty training genius!

And then to top it all off at bedtime he went to bed without a fight. I think the toddler bed may be a success!

Then Daddy called to announce Cineplex was hiring for his dream job as a booker. A temporary position but still a foot in the door. Although moving to Toronto is the last thing I want to do, it is Daddy's dream, and they do have Sick Kids that I could go work at...if he gets the job.

All and all a very good day for the Hodgson family!!

Bumgenius leading the way...again!!

So today while I was on twitter Bumgenius announced there new advertisement in Pregnancy magazine. Since I don't read Pregnancy magazine I would not of been aware of this add campaigne had they not mentioned it via twitter.We will get back to the advertisement shortly.

See the thing is Bumgenius is a cloth diaper manufacturer, in the cloth diaper world I would say they are golden standard in cloth diapers. They're also a gateway drug to other cloth diapers :) The thing about Bumgenius diapers is how super easy they are to use. Often referred to as Daddy and Grandparent friendly. They really are no more difficult then a disposable. The truth is when we started cloth diapering my local retailer suggested I pick out 3 different styles to try, so I did...BG 3.0, BG AIO and BG Organic...all Bumgenius. They worked, they did exactly what I had hoped, besides catching what they're ment to, they convinced Daddy that we could cloth diaper!! Since then we have crossed over to different brands, but our fail safe nighttime diaper remains Bumgenius 3.0. I could tell you all about Bumgenius but really if you're interested in cloth diapers you already know about Bumgenius. And if you're not and want to know more visit there website bumgenius.com

So back to the ad, which will appear in 3 different magazines. They are the first and only mainstream cloth diaper company I have heard of advertising in a magazine. My hope is that they're advertisement will draw attention to cloth diapers in general. I don't care what kind, just to get the word out there!! Bumgenius is a cloth diaper leader in many aspects. It doesn't matter if you like there product I am sure every cloth diaper mommy out there is just thrilled to know that there is soon to be a real advertisement out there for cloth diapers!! So this March go check out Pregnancy Magazine, Mothering Magazine, and Pregnancy and Newborn Magazine to see a real life Cloth Diaper Advertisement!!

My Baby Reaches Another Milestone

So today Everett and I were up playing in his room while Daddy took a shower. The truth is Everett was in his crib running back and forth playing, and I was slightly neglecting him while checking my facebook. Things were a little to quiet, and I quickly discovered why. I looked up to find my little monkey had climbed up his crib, with both legs and over, balancing his body on the front and side rails. WHAT?!?!? He's 13 months old. How is this possible??? I knew immediately something had to be done. I can't say I was surprised by these turn of events, my little man has gotten more and more daring in the recent days.

After some thought I came up with two solutions. The first was to switch the crib into the toddler bed. The second option was to purchase a crib bubble/dome/tent or whatever you call it. After some thought and research I decided to try Everett in the toddler bed, I would give him 2 hours tonight in the toddler bed. If he was still trying to escape tomorrow I would look into buying a dome. As I was transforming the crib to toddler bed a lightbulb went off...Remember that episode of Gilmore Girls where Christopher calls Lauralei because GiGi keeps escaping from her crib, so Lauralei turned the crib around? Why didn't I do that????? Instead of reassembling the crib I decided to wait for daddy .

In the mean time I brought Everett into his bedroom and his eyes lit up when he saw his bed had been changed. He spent half an hour getting up and down from his bed, laughing and talking.

We decided although we both agree Everett is to young for a toddler bed, however we also agree we aren't willing to risk Everett climbing and falling out of his crib. We prepared for bed as normal and then the fun would begin. Dylan and I were both prepared for a terrible night. We knew we would be taking turns returning Everett to his big boy bed. Just like SuperNanny says, no talking just returning him to bed. We put him in his bed, tucked him in after story time, and said goodnight. And then....wait there is no and then...That was it. He went right to sleep. Apparently my baby is ready for his big boy bed...it's just Daddy and I who aren't.

What would you have done?

So today Daddy insisted we visit West Edmonton Mall...on a SATURDAY!!! This is not a regular occurance in our household. Honestly I avoid that place like the plague on weekends!! It is way to crowded and really, one of the few perks of shift work is avoiding crowded places on weekends. As I was waiting for the elevator a mom came out of little store yelling. "I CAN'T SHOP WITH HER!!!" indicating her three or four year old who was crying. Whoever was waiting outside calmly stated "Then leave her here, I'll watch her." Instead the mother grab the girls upper arm and yelled "For F**CKS SAKE" and marched her off! She yelled it loudly enough to silence everyone around us, and again the mall was packed! I was disgusted so I turned to tell her exactly what I thought. I mean someone has to stand up for this child. Unfortunately I had Everett in the stroller and was surrounded and couldn't get to her. There we at least 60 people who witnessed this and no one said anything , although I sure tried. Is this group think? Am I wrong? Should I have fallowed them? I feel that no child, especially young child deserves to be sworn at. I also know the risks of dislocating a shoulder in young children and although usually unintentional it does happen frequently. If a mother is going to behave like this in public what happens at home? I completely understand that shopping with a little one can be so frustrating, and I know that the mall was packed making it even more stressful, but does that make this behavior okay? And do I have a right to judge, speak up or interfere?

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

This is Daddy!

This is Daddy's Birthday cake....

This is Daddy doing his daddy things with me!

A Friday night off???

So in this household Daddy works Friday nights. Honestly it doesn't even faze me. I did the same thing for 8 years. It's part of the job, just like working Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Discussion over, but not really but that's a whole different story. This Friday was different. Daddy didn't work!!!! So Daddy and I went out. We never go out anymore. Not since Everett joined us. We're not complaining, because we are lucky my parents live 5 minutes away. They happily watch Everett, we just don't go out together anymore. Anyways we went and we saw Hart Hanson speak. Who's Hart Hanson???? Well he's the Big Guy in charge of BONES, my favorite TV show. Was he here in Edmonton to speak about BONES? No, not exactly he was the Keynote speaker at a writer's conference. The closest I will ever be to a writer is writing nurse's notes. But being a diehard BONES fan I had to go!!! We paid $60 so as my husband put it I could watch a couple of BONES clips. We both actually enjoyed ourselves. But here's the kicker, it was over by 7:15. 7:15!!!! Our night out and we were home by 8pm!!!! We then went and had Indiana Jones birthday cake at my parents. Back home for 9pm!!!

When Dylan and I first started dating we would stay up after work until 3 or 4 in the morning. I mean you get off work at 1am, 3 or 4 seems reasonable. We aren't party animals. We don't drink, but we used to have fun! I just don't get it 9pm on a Friday night!!! When did this become our life? The sad thing is I don't think either of us minded.

Next time I want to question why Dylan works every Friday night I hope I will remember this. He can work every Friday night if it means he has Tuesday off to go swimming with us. Or Thursday's off to help with grocery shopping, or join Everett at Gymboree. Cineplex can keep there Friday nights, because somehow Tuesday afternoons are of a lot more value in this household!!

Just a couple pictures of a typical Everett day for Wordless Wednesday

Cloth Diapers On Ellen

Dear Ellen,

I know you must think we are a crazy bunch of moms, bombarding you with requests to see cloth diapers on your show. That's the thing about cloth diaper moms (and dads) We're passionate!! Once a family tries cloth rarely do they go back to disposables. Every family has there own reason for choosing cloth be it the environment, to save money, a sensitivity to disposables, health concerns, there are just so many reasons to choose cloth. Maybe you aren't familiar with modern day cloth diapers. I wasn't until Everett was born. They really are as easy as disposables. I feel I am qualified to speak on this as an expert. I am a nurse at a pediatric hospital. I change diapers for a living :) I can have a baby changed in 20 seconds flat in both disposables or a pocket cloth, what does that tell you? Super Easy!!!

While recently sharing my experience with cloth at work, an older coworker stated "We cloth diaper our kids 20 years ago, we did it for the environment, we thought we were making a difference. Why are people still using disposables? Are they just not listening?" As a mom who new nothing about cloth before baby, I don't think it's that they aren't listening I think it's that new parents just don't know. They don't know that there are other options out there! Ellen, think of how many moms watch your show, if we could convince 5 moms to try cloth that would save 25, 000 diapers from landfills, with just 5 moms switching.

The truth is we are a family who choose to cloth not for the environment, not to save money, but because our Everett needs it. He is super sensitive, 3 days in disposables and he has a rash! Ugh no one wants a bum rash!! I never knew about how easy modern cloth was. I didn't switch until Everett was 6 months old. For 6 months we battles the rashes with no luck. Had I only known sooner I could have saved him 6 months of pain and irritation. Please help spread the Cloth Diaper Word.

To help spread the word I have included a couple pictures

Thank you

My little BIG boy

So much for maintaining my blog...whoops. So the big news around here is that our little small fry has started to walk! By no means is he running marathons or anything but as of last Monday night he had started to take his first steps. They were small timid steps and only 2 to start with but they did happen. He is now able to do 6 or 7 steps unasissted. His balance has improved remarkably in the last week. All of this thrills us of course, but even better then watching him walk is the look on his face. He knows that he has successfully accomplished this task, he looks so proud when he smiles at you. I know every parent defines infant to toddler differently, for me walking is it. He is now officially a toddler, thank goodness a toddler who has yet to learn how to say "NO".

Unfortunately with this new skill has come his first bleeding nose. The truth is it was more of a two drops of blood and done nosebleed, but still Im sure it hurt. Having a little adventurer for a child I anticipate there will be many more injuries to come.

Although easy to over look compared to walking, but still important, the little one has also learnt how to descend stairs in a backwards crawl. Again not that exciting but still an accomplishment for him and one we are just as proud of!

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's New Year's day already! Yikes how the year has flown. This year my new year's resolution is to eat healthier and to actually try to regularly update this blog. I think the first resolution is pretty self explanatory, the second however I will try to explain. My hopes is that one day years from now Everett will be able to look back on this blog and see a little of what our lives were like with him at the beginning. It will be like a little journal for him, but one the whole world can see:) That way everyone who doesn't get to see us everyday can feel like apart of our daily lives too!

So Everett's first Birthday has come and went. I am still finding it hard to believe he is actually a year old, a toddler! Although he is still not quite walking he will be any day. He just got his first shoes, right after I put them on for the first time he stood for a minute and tried to take a step! He loves being to eat independently and would prefer to feed himself most times, but is also happy to let his Grandpa help.

He really enjoyed Christmas a lot more this year but still found it very overwhelming. His favorite present is the car we bought for him. If we wont push him around in it, he gets out a pushes it himself! We have not really started playing with many Christmas or Birthday presents so Im sure he will have a new favorite soon!

Happy New Year to all and we hope 2010 is as wonderful as 2009 was!