Pippi came home yesterday.
So it begins….
Early morning cuddling with siblings.
Pip’s official first bath at home.
This was a Nonnie special.
One day in the not too far future, this girl will enjoy the Clifford Touch.
Good thing Icka has been the recipient of B’s touch quite often, because she helped Nonnie a ton, and included a “hand moosage” with the “pink lotion”.
Then it was off to do what this girl has learned to do best….eat.
Scout is hilarious!
Every time he does something that impresses himself, he says, “BOOM!”
Like, “Whoa! I finished that in less than twenty seconds! BOOM!”
Or, “Hey Navy, I brushed my teeth better than you. BOOM!”
It is BOOM this and BOOM that.
Some might find it cocky or obnoxious.
I find that “I have the most awesome kid around! BOOM!”
After 3 weeks and 2 days, AKA 23 Days, Pippi has finally crossed the threshold of our home.
Nobody knew that this was the day she was able to come home, so we had a lot of surprising up our sleeves.
First of all, Nonnie.
The kids insisted on carrying in the car seat with Pippi in it.
As my mom washed her hands, they all got down beside the car seat to take a few more looks.
I don’t know if they knew it was all real!
Scout’s was in pure love.
Navy was utterly mesmerized.
And Dash thought she was some sort of novelty, and walks around saying “Pippi…Pippi.”
Nonnie was so glad to have her at home.
She just held and held her.
And Navy just kept coming around and petting her.
Notice the mouse that Dash found and gave to Pippi at the bottom.
Then Grandma came by and took her turn with the little doll.
The final visitor of the day was Ka.
She just laid and watched.
And then had to see how little her legs are.
Which made the Pips a little upset!
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YAY!
YAY!
YAY!
She is finally in her own home!
While at church, we got the best…best…best news!
It was time to pick up the Pips!
So right after church, we headed over the CHOC to pick up our girl.
Micah and the kids waited in the car while I went up and discharged her.
First thing’s first!
I gussied her all up in her take-home outfit.
And put her first official Nonnie-made bow in her hair!
After a lot of paperwork, we loaded her up in her car seat that is massive for her.
It took a bunch of rolled receiving blankets to fit her in properly.
Then she was loaded into the wagon.
And the discharge nurse started strolling her down.
But then one of our regular nurses Lisa, insisted on coming down with us, and strolled her instead.
These nurses are awesome, and get so attached to our babies.
I love that they love them so much!
Once we got outside, I called Micah to come around to pick us up.
As soon as he got there, the kids came running out.
As sweet as picking up our girl is, my overly excited kids is equally as sweet!
For the first time, they all got to be up close and personal with their sister!
I have tears in my eyes right now as I type this because it was the cutest and sweetest moment.
Pippi even managed to slightly open her eyes to greet them all.
We were all FINALLY together!
Our perfect little family of six.
Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday My Naughty
Happy Birthday to You!
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I spent my night in the hospital with Dash, until I had to pump and feed the Pips. then I walked 100 feet and took care of her, and headed back to Dash. Throughout the night, the nurses would come in to prick him for a blood sample to get his blood sugar levels. So every hour or so, I would wake up to, “OOW! Hurt. Hurt. BooBoo.” I would try to hide on the couch so he didn’t see me because I didn’t want him to wake up for the day. And I know once he saw me, we were going to be up!
So I held him off until three in the morning, but that time he spotted me. So I rushed to his bedside (in an effort to make him think I was going to do that all along), and held his little hand as he was poked and prodded.
Then I grabbed my camera and snapped this pic and sang him Happy Birthday.
And we were up for the day!
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I spent the morning going to Pippi and then Dash.
At 11, I had to go to Scout’s soccer game, so Tristen and her buddy John came to take over. Of course there were more donuts, and books and toys.
And that is when he finally got to get rid of the IV that mesmerized and bugged him throughout his hospital stay.
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After Soccer, Micah went to spend time with him until I could shower. While he was there, all of the nurses threw Dash a birthday party! He got a bunch of presents (fire engine to ride on, Thomas the Train book, etc.) and he got a cake. I was SOOO bummed I missed it. Micah said he loved it, but the nurses might have loved it more! They adored him and hand-picked each present. They knew he loved Thomas, and he spent a good part of his afternoon yesterday bumping into everything on one of their little toy cars. I was so impressed that they did it for him.
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After his party, Micah called me to let me know that he had been discharged!
Hallelujah!
(The word was that Pippi was getting discharged today also, and I thought they were both going to come home together. But her test results made the doctors keep her for at least another day.)
When I went to pick Dash and Micah up, I grabbed a box of chocolates for the nurses to thank them.
Here Dash is, presenting it to the discharge nurse.
Look at that sweet and innocent face of a newly-turned two year old.
Happy Birthday.
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And let’s just call your hospital bill your birthday present.
WHOA!
You are lucky!
We spent a TON on your birthday….congratulations!
And as far as a birthday party goes….let’s call it a day with what the nurses threw you.
Talk about a simple birthday for me to honor.
Maybe same place, same time next year?
Even though Dash and Pippi are both in the hospital, the show must go on.
After a very busy afternoon, I ran home to get the two oldest ready for the Trunk or Treat. If you recall, I was in the midst of finding something for the kid’s Halloween costumes when I heard about the Dash debacle. So part of their costumes had to be altered, and I like perfection. So I tried to talk Scout and Navy into being “the other two “Denison kids”. Basically that consisted of wearing a child’s hospital gown, with some sort of reason to be in the hospital.
Navy fell for it, but Scout was insistent on doing our original costumes with a twist.
Meet “another Denison” and one handsome paratrooper.
This girl got into some sort of accident and was pretty beat up. But when candy is on the menu, nothing is going to stop her from a night out.
And this paratrooper (who was supposed to have four line balloons above his head in the form of a parachute) had to settle for a shower curtain parachute that actually opened up behind him when he ran fast enough!
I had been over to my morning feed with Pippi, and on my way home stopped off to find something for the kid’s Halloween costumes. On my way home I called Micah to see what he was up to, and he responded, “Just sorting through pills to see which ones Dash took.” Are you freaking kidding me! Apparently, he snuck out of his crib and got into a drawer above his head and got the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc… pill case of my moms. He opened them all up, dumped them out, and went to town on what I am sure he thought was candy. Long story short, nobody thought he would have actually taken them because they taste totally nasty, but he did. After sorting it all out, he took 7 pills in total. Not one of which was a baby aspirin or any of the vitamins she has in her daily routine. Instead, he picked out every little pink/blue/yellow pill — all of which were medications.
I called Carruthy, and he said that most were non toxic, and were fine for him to have ingested. But that one represses blood sugar levels, and that he needed to be monitored. Are you kidding! And we were off to the ER.
I had warnings from Carruthy and Poison Control that he may get very, very sleepy, and that is BAD….and to watch for it. And if he was already showing signs of sleepiness, I should probably call the ambulance.
Here is my boy in the ER waiting room….
Drowsy as can be!
In reality, this boy had to be told three times by the admitting nurse that he couldn’t jump off the chairs, or climb up the fish tank.
(I was filling out paperwork and getting out my insurance card for the front desk, not neglecting him.)
Once in, he finally calmed down enough to weigh in and get into our room.
They hooked him up to everything.
(All of which I was familiar with because Pippi was hooked up to the same stuff five floors up.)
I was dying, because within five minutes, he had bitten off his finger pulse monitor, and ripped the sticky leeds off of his tummy.
Then he got his IV, which the lame nurse had to poke around his arm three times until I asked her to get someone else.
Poor Dash, but he held really still which was awesome.
Micah made it to the hospital, and they both got to wear these fancy outfits to get an X-Ray of Dash’s tummy.
Then came the charcoal (which would stop any medicines from being active).
The nurses told us that it gets really messy, and kids don’t like the taste, and it is a real struggle…..but that he HAD to drink it!
They wanted to know if we wanted to take his shirt off because it stained, and I figured dark blue/black…what’s the difference.
And then it was time to drink.
And my sneaky suspicion came true…
The “chocolate milk” was a MAJOR HIT!
He got all the way to the bottom, and made those slurping sounds with the straw because he was trying to suck up every last drop.
Then he looked up at the nurses and said, “more”!?!?
He loved the stuff.
(I am not totally positive that he has taste buds — first the nasty pills and then liquid BBQ brickettes.)
And then he got five fat syringes filled with Dextrose (AKA sugar water) put straight into his veins.
Let the games begin.
When we got up the the PICU, we were greeted with familiar faces, and I introduced Micah to all of the nurses I knew.
It was a little humiliating, but they were as nice as can be.
They got Dash into a crib, and at first he was a little perplexed.
And then he started jumping like a maniac.
They finally completely caged him in like an animal to keep him from injuring himself as he climbed and jumped and did acrobatics in the crib.
Remember that he is on the ultimate legal sugar rush.
And then, the nurses and doctor (who were all ridiculously charmed by him) basically told us that the cure was to have him eat a ton of sugar.
So forget fruit and veggies….donuts and pudding and Popsicles were the items du jour.
Nonnie came to feed him two scoops of vanilla ice cream.
And Bella brought him his favorite — powdered white donuts.
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I am a little worried that he won’t be hugely deterred from coming to the hospital again, if sugar is the answer to his ailment. The ONLY thing I have in my favor is that lame IV nurse, who stuck his arm with a needle so many times it was sad. I am crossing my fingers that she scared him into never wanting to head back to hospital again. I have always heard that it is important to find the silver lining. In this case, it was difficult. But now upon further thought, I have found the silver lining:
1. The worst IV pricker of all time might have been a blessing in disguise.
2. The PICU is really close to the NICU, so I can attend to both hospital babies at the same time.
3. My child has a serious lack of taste buds, so he probably won’t be a picky eater like another boy I have.
4. This boy’s charm might take him really far in life.
Scout has a way of talking me into donuts for breakfast. Especially in this crazy time we are in the middle of. So the days I take him to school, if we are a bit early and I think we need a bit of special time together, I take Scout on a date to the donut shop. He loves…LOVES it. His order is simple, one maple bar. And then we are off to school.
He eats his bar while I tell him a hero story.
It is one of the few moments of calm I have in my days at the moment.
Look at these little bird legs my girl has.
And this is not metaphorically speaking.
I’m not talking finch or sparrow legs.
She is more in the fat seagull range.
Meet Rhonda – Pippi’s biggest fan and her primary nurse.
There is never a time when I show up where Rhonda isn’t at Pippi’s bedside doing something for her.
She is the best nurse a mother could ask for while her newborn is elsewhere!
Ridiculously overprotective and majorly OCD..
Just what type of person I want for my baby in my stead.
AND….she takes just as good of care of me.
I always have a very tidy area with fresh ice water, an abundance of supplies, and she never lets my baby look anything but pristine with new and clean clothes at all times!
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Today, as I was feeding and cuddling Pippi, Rhonda remade her bed with fresh and warm new linens.
I was loving the stripes, so when I put her back, I snapped a few pictures.
And got my favorite picture of my Pips to date!
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