A weekend of ups and downs

Sometimes life is like a roller coaster...

Friday during the day Jilli was kind of tired. We normally go to library time on Friday mornings but as I was trying to get her ready she just kept falling asleep. I asked her if she wanted to go to the library and she told me she wanted to stay home and cuddle so that is just what we did. We had a kinda low key day. Brent called that he was on his way home from work and our plan was to leave as soon as he got home, but then the lovely joy of pregnancy and trying not to vomit showed up and I ended up spending the next two hours on the bathroom floor. We then left the house and headed to Kenosha. The plan with to meet my parents and brother for dinner and then the Brent and Seth were going to a movie and the rest of us were going to see Lion King at a local middle school... however because of my "fun" we were running quite behind and the boys just barely made it to the movie on time and we did not get to go see Lion King. Sometimes that is just the way life is, you gotta roll with the punches! I would not have been very much fun sitting there for a play anyhow because I started having contractions every few minutes on our way into Kenosha and they lasted most of the night, while they can be painful I don't dilate with them so they just are what they are. We spent the night at my parents.
Saturday morning we got up and Jilli convinced Bumpa to give her a bath. She has been wearing her hair up in a bun most days but she wanted it down after her bath so I was trying to get all the knots out of it and I could not figure out why her hair was such a disaster. My hair knots super easily and so does her's but this was bad, until I looked at it closer and realized that when she had sweat during the night the residue from the stickers that hold her oxygen on had ended up in her hair so it was little tiny balls of sticker goo in her hair. I ended up having to pick it out... I felt like a momma monkey grooming their young!
Brent went to go drop off his mom's lap top because he fixed the screen but then we realized in the mix of me getting sick while trying to get out the door that some things had been left at home. Mom and I had 10:30 appointments to get our toes done so we went to that and then Brent and Seth met us in the parking lot with Jillian so they could run out to our house and get the missing stuff. Mom and I then took Jilli up to Babies R Us to look for a couple of things (boo, they discontinued making my favorite bottle ice packs...). We then headed over to Kohls. I'm looking for an Easter dress for myself. I don't like to spend a ton on maternity clothes, you don't wear them for all that long, most are rather pricey, and this is our last pregnancy so it just does not make sense to buy a ton (plus I'm a stay at home mom and am still in sweat pants and a t-shirt at 2pm today...) but I wanted to find something cute for Easter... I got a good laugh out of the dress I tried on at Kohls... it was navy and white polkadots with a ribbon... non pregnant it probably would have been cute... pregnant... well the bow sat in such a way with my belly that I looked like a birthday gift! At least it was funny!
We then headed to meet the boys at Office Max to look at laptops because the hinges on mine have broken and the screen is about to fall off, this is something that Brent could fix, if the price for new hinges was not close to the price of a new lap top! After we were done at Office Max we decided we would check out what Best Buy had. We walked in the door and the place was full of balloons. I am very allergic to latex. I have had a latex allergy since I was in elementary school, it started out where I only had problems when I touch it but as I have gotten older my allergy has gotten worse and now I can not be in a closed room with lots of things that are made of latex (ie I cant go to eat at Red Robin anymore because my lungs can't handle it). For me, my allergy to latex is dangerous and serious and it dictates where I can and can not go (Saturday night the boy scout troop Brent and my brother are a part of had their annual spaghetti dinner, they have latex balloons there every year, so I don't go, its not safe). I went out to the car and took my inhaler to try to stop my lungs from crashing. We then headed to my parents were I did a neb treatment because it was getting worse. By this point I had little voice and kept yawning, which for me is a big sign that my body is in trouble. Being pregnant, an allergic reaction is nothing to mess around with and as much as I don't love going to the ER, I knew it was the best thing to do. I have had bad asthma all of my life, so does most of my family. ER visits for asthma don't freak me out, its part of life in my world, I do my best to not need to go to the hospital for my lungs but there will be times in my life that it is unavoidable. We got to the ER and I could not walk in, I needed a wheel chair... I could not talk to check in, I did not have enough air. The nurse took me back and questioned me on why I would touch latex if I was allergic to it... I did not touch it, I just walked into a building with it, a building that from the outside you could not tell was full of balloons. Everyone that came into my hospital room that night questioned me about why I would knowingly do something I was allergic to which got really frustrating fast as I try my best to avoid it, its not like I walked into Party City. My pulse ox was around 95-99 which for me is not grand... I understand pulse ox (I have a kid on oxygen) however mine NEVER goes low. I have turned colors before and it still be 100, my mom has had her lung collapsed and it still be 100, for mom and I pulse ox is not a good tool to tell if we are breathing correctly. I also NEVER wheeze... neither does my dad. However dropped pulse ox and wheezing are NOT the only signs of respiratory problems or an allergic reaction. I had diminished breath sounds (my deep breath was equal to a normal breath), I could only say a word or two and had to work at that and when I did talk I would start coughing, I had a nasty barking cough, I did not have enough air to walk into the ER, my lips were white and I was struggling to stay focused on anything. My blood pressure was 156/100! That is not good, especially for someone who is pregnant (and not flipping out, I know how this goes when a reaction like this happens and it does not make me anxious, I just want to do what I need to do to feel better so its not like my blood pressure was elevated because I was upset, no this was not what I wanted to be doing but I know how important it is to keep calm). The nurse was not liking what she was seeing and went to get the physicians assistant. This is where it all went down hill... the PA said she had never heard of latex being an airborn allergen and thus treated me like I was crazy. She said that because I was not wheezing that my lungs were fine (nurse said I had diminished breath sounds, which knowing my body I know I did). She did not give me Epi, refused to give me a neb, blew off my high blood pressure, and did not check the baby. Over a half hour after she left the room the nurse brought in two Benadryl... I was still really struggling to breath... 40min later I asked for prednisone (its a class C in pregnancy but the Benadryl was not cutting it and they would not do anything else). For me prednisone is does not do as much in the midst of the reaction but helps with the aftermath which is why I did not insist on it right away but at that point I would take what I could get. Another half hour goes by and the nurse comes in and listens to me and says my breath sounds are still diminished and took my blood pressure again and it was still high. The nurse went to get the PA as she was worried... the PA walked in and said that because I was still not wheezing they were not going to do any more for me. We asked for a neb, she said no. The PA said that I could sit there for 2 more hours for observation but they would not do any more for me. At this point I knew I desperately needed a neb and was not going to get one there so I agreed to be discharged so I could leave and do a neb. I also knew at that point that the best place for me was not in that ER not getting treatment, that if I continued to get worse I would be better off either at home where I could take the neb I needed or at a different hospital. They gave me a script for neb meds and prednisone (PA told me she would write a script for the neb meds but did not think taking them was a good idea because it would raise my pulse rate which was only at 105 when I got there after taking a neb and the nurse told me not to take the prednisone because it is a class C drug) I went back to my parents and took a neb and self treated. The rest of the night was deciding if I needed to go back to the ER or not. I was not quite making it 3 hours between neb treatments and ended up awake most of the night just trying to breathe. It sucked.
Sunday morning I did not have the energy or the lung strength to go to church so everyone else went and I stayed home. Once they got back we had some lunch and then we headed to our house. We had already booked a night at Timber Ridge for Sunday night (we caught a really good deal a few weeks ago) so we were debating if we were going to go or not. Timber Ridge is less then 10 minutes from our house and it was already paid for (and not refundable nor could you move the date) so we decided that a bed is a bed and I could rest where ever. We headed over to Timber Ridge and checked in. I like that their the pool area is comfortable, not hot and that it does not smell like chemicals. I have been to other indoor water parks and struggled to breath but I have been to Timber Ridge multiple times and have not had any issues. The three of us laid in the lazy river for a little bit but then I needed to rest and Jilli wanted to play in the kids area so Brent took her over there. We only spent about a half hour in the water park and then headed back to the room (Jilli and I were both having stamina issues). Jilli and I then curled up on the couch and watched TV and Brent went and got us dinner. We spent the rest of the night just hanging out in the hotel room. I was still doing nebs every 4 hours. Jilli really struggled with falling asleep (time change, not her bed, ect) and it took us until 11:45 to get her to sleep (it was not a quiet protest either, a little girl lost her iPad all of Monday for her choices Sunday night). In the morning we got up and went to the restaurant for breakfast. We then headed to the pool however this time we only did one lap in the lazy river before I was done and Jilli did not last too long in the kids area before she was done so we were out of the water park in less then a half hour. We headed back to the room and packed up our stuff and came home. Not the most fun or exciting night away but Jilli had fun and that is all that matters.
Yesterday she had therapy and I was grateful that Brent had the day off because he got to do therapy with her while I sat. I am normally a really hands on parent so its hard for me to just sit and watch. Last night we had Jaime and Jason over. Jaime and I take turns on who makes dinner and who makes dessert and while I had found some fun things on pinterest to make for dinner, I was just not feeling up to it so we ordered pizza, I am so thankful for friends who love me enough to understand and just go with the flow. I was still doing nebs about every 4 hours yesterday. Yesterday I also called my OB to let them know what happened. They told me to take the predinsone and nebs because breathing is important and they were not happy that the ER did not look into my high blood pressure more. I am seeing my family dr on Thursday and the OB wants him to check my blood pressure out as I have never had high blood pressure in my life. 
Today is a low key day here! Still doing nebs but able to space them out a little bit more. We have spent the day doing sitting activities and watching TV. I have been struggling with eating since Friday night so I am trying to get some calories in but I just feel so full all the time, which is strange for me on prednisone because normally on that I am starving.
I am slowly feeling better. I think I would be bouncing back faster if they had been more aggressive with treatment in the hospital but there is nothing I can do about that now. I am glad Jilli was still able to enjoy the water park even though I had to sit on the sidelines. Life is about rolling with the punches and finding the good in things. I'll be talking with my dr on Thursday about there needing to be a plan in my chart for what needs to happen when I go to the ER with an allergic reaction so hopefully I don't have to repeat that awful experience again. Brent was off yesterday so he was able to help me out and do therapy which was nice. He was also able to be a part of her goal setting for therapy which is normally something I do so it was good for him to take part in that. While we have several things planned for the rest of the week, I am hoping for it to be a lot calmer!

Friday morning cuddles

 

Chilling on Sunday

After we were in the water park for the first time. She wore this same swimming suit when we went to Timber Ridge the first time in May 2013!

This was the easiest place to have her sleep... or fight sleep

Monday morning after swimming

While Brent packed up our stuff to head home she laid on the couch, even a half hour in the pool just takes a lot out of her some days. She was kind of a hot mess for PT because she did not have a lot of energy.