Max and Ruby

Today I was able to go with Eliana's class on a field trip to the civic center to watch Max and Ruby. We all had a blast. We got front row seats right in the middle. They didn't allow any photos to be taken during the show which was a bummer! Eli had a great time with her friends and afterwards they had a picnic in the grass and ran around for a while. It has been a really fun day!

Happenings in March

I feel I have completely neglected my blogging lately. I consider blogging the only form of journaling I do and it is a way to stay personally connected with friends and loved ones. I have to blame how crazy my life has been lately and that I created a facebook account. I was completely addicted to it at first and I am trying to slow down and reconnect myself with reality.

Now that I have successfully stunk up my kitchen I can retreat to the office and blog. Here are some of the latest happenings of the Damato family:

-Tristan never fails to crack us up laughing. At bed time he said he missed our little dog Lanie (a Yorkie that we had to find a new home for). Chris said that maybe when Bella gets old and dies we can get another dog. Tristan replies, "I'm going to pray that Bella has an accident and dies so we can get a new dog". That kid! We obviously had a laugh then a little talk. Funny because he loves Bella.

-The babies are finally starting to walk!! They are almost 15 months old and still aren't brave enough to move those little legs. Soren will walk by himself across the room with encouragement. I even spied him walking down the entryway on his own accord. Barrett is extremely stubborn. He loves to cruise around the house walking on his knees. Every time I try to hold his hands or arms to walk him he buckles his knees and refuses. I just wish this would happen sooner than later. It is much easier to hold their hands and take them places than it is to carry two 26 lb. babies.

-OK I started this draft a couple weeks ago and never finished it. SO here it is and I am on to a new post. ;-D

under the weather

I am SO sorry I have not posted consistently. Most my days have been like yesterday...sick with a bad sinus infection, babies pulling on my legs all day and being a referee while Eliana and Tristan fight all day. Soren has another rash and this time I have no idea what it is. SO we are off to the Dr this morning. The kids have been home because in good ol' Savannah GA schools are off Monday and Tuesday for St Patty's day. We are avoiding downtown today. Tristan is off to Chuck E Cheese with Maddox from his class and Eli is extremely jealous so she is coming with me to the mall and a Dr. apt for my sinus issues. I am looking forward to a few hours away from the house and the babies. I just hope I don't feel rushed to get home. I hate feeling that my time away is always in haste.

On a brighter note, I have many thoughts I want to post about so I am planning a big one soon. Loves to all my friends.

slip and slide

I read a friends blog and she had her 3 boys mopping the floors for her. I thought that was a fabulous idea and put my little ones to work. We made a game of it and Eliana had a blast! She asked if we could do it again tomorrow. Tristan got burned out halfway through. All in all we had a fun day today.

I am NOT a Doctor!

I will make this brief since my last two posts have been long. Today Soren broke out in a rash which immediately explained EVERYTHING! Soren had Roseola. Eliana had it when she was a baby so I know all about it. I am a little annoyed that the Doctors nor I thought of it. Basically Roseola is a virus that is not very contagious. It's incubation period is 9-11 days then a high fever lasts for 3-5 days.

Can the fever cause a seizure?

Yes. The high fever of roseola may trigger a seizure (a convulsion). Febrile seizures (convulsions due to fever) are common in children between 18 months to 3 years of age. They occur in 5% to 35% of children with roseola.

So there you have it! I was wrong. How VERY odd that after such a long incubation period the fever would show up the very same day he had his immunizations. I am disturbed that the Dr prescribed antibiotics for a sinus infection. He told me some craziness about a sinus infection normally turns into a bacterial infection. When am I going to stop being such a push over when it comes to Dr.'s telling me what to do. I regret letting him have all his shots at the same time. I should have spaced them out but I was pushed by the Dr. I just need to think things through before I agree to treatment of my children. Which is never easy when they are rushing you out for the next patient.

Well, that is my ranting about this past week. I truly hope things slow down and life can get somewhat normal around here.

Getting better

After 4 long nights of 104-105 fevers I think tonight might be better. Soren is slowly getting better. He had Doctor visits Tues, Wed, Thurs and Friday each time with a different Dr. The Doctor on Friday diagnosed him with a Sinus infection. He refused to believe that the DTaP shot caused any of this. He believes Soren developed a bad virus in conjunction with the shots which escalated his fever. I am not as convinced of this. My children have been continuously sick this whole year with viruses and infections. They have never had a consistent high fever that even Motrin or Tylenol wouldn't bring down.

I read the CDC's web site about the side effects of the DTaP vaccination.

Moderate Problems (Uncommon)
• Seizure (jerking or staring) (about 1 child out of
14,000)
• Non-stop crying, for 3 hours or more (up to about
1 child out of 1,000)
• High fever, over 105oF (about 1 child out of
16,000)

Eliana had a mild cough this past week so she probably brought a bug home from school. Since Soren's throat was red and he has some post nasal drip (PND) it was a good excuse to diagnose him with a sinus infection. His flu and strep tests came back negative. I am not a Doctor so my opinion doesn't count for much. Whether he has some kind of infection or he had an allergic reaction to the DTaP, I am glad he is on an antibiotic and starting to get better. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Barrett doesn't get sick. I think that is also why I am so skeptical about the sinus infection. Barrett is always more sickly that Soren and he is still well. Maybe God knows I couldn't handle both of them being that sick at once. Well, that is enough of my ranting. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

The most TERRIFYING moment in my life!

There is no feeling worse than thinking I will lose one of my children...

Soren had his immunizations Tuesday morning. He started running a fever, which is common. Wednesday afternoon his fever started to spike up to 104. I took him into his Peds doctor and everything was perfect except for his high fever. She said to keep him on Tylenol and Motrin. We came home, fixed dinner and started to get ready for bed. As soon as I laid him on the bed to change he started shaking violently, rolled his eyes to the back of his head and went completely limp. I immediately called 911 for an ambulance. I was terrified that he was dieing. I didn't know what was happening to him. His lips and face started to turn blue. I couldn't give CPR because his heart was beating extremely fast and it was hard to tell if the little guy was breathing or not. My neighbor came over just as he was coming out of it. Soon after the ambulance showed up. It took them 7 mins to get to my house ( I was told the national average is 8 mins, so not too bad). His vitals were fine and he seemed to be getting back to normal, except for his high fever. The ER was a traumatic experience for him. He kept jerking every time they tried to get the IV in. Then on the way to X-Ray the IV came out and he bled all over me. He had to draw urine and blood. All the test came back negative for any type of infection. His fever was due to the immunizations. The seizure was cause by the rapid increase in fever in a short amount of time. With a lot of help from great friends we got home around 2:30am. He was so exhausted from this experience that he crashed out until morning. I have to keep him on a 3 hour rotation of meds and we are going back for a follow up this morning.

Even though it was something that didn't cause any permanent damage to Soren, it still scared me to death! It aroused so many emotions and it also revealed how I react in an emergency. I think I did most everything right but it makes me question if I am knowledgeable enough to handle emergency situations that could determine my child's health or even life.

A HUGE thank you to my neighbor Patty for coming over to stay with the kids then drive all the way out to the hospital to pick me up. Also to Marilyn for taking over at home and staying so late. It is comforting to know I have such wonderful friends.

BTW, if you are wondering where Chris is...he is in AZ for flight training and today he goes to Dallas for simulator time. It figures that things like this would happen while he is gone.