Our girls have been sick all week and it's been pretty miserable for everyone. The worst, though, was Thursday night. I wanted to share that experience and some of my thoughts with it.
The kids had been sick all day Tuesday, but seemed to be doing a lot better Wednesday. We even went to a family birthday party and they were just fine. Thursday morning, Parker was doing worse, showing signs of a cold. After her nap, she was sounding raspy and like she was having a hard time breathing.
Back story: Parker's two year old cousin has been struggling with asthma for the past year. He's had to be taken in to the emergency room once, the hospital overnight once, has been on oxygen and all sorts of other medication to ensure he can breath, and hasn't had dairy in case a dairy allergy was affecting his lungs. Every time he is sick, his mother has to deal with the stress and worry in case the sickness triggers an asthma attack.
Naturally, after all that with Thomas, I was worried about Parker's breathing. I called my sister-in-law and she brought the finger thing that she uses to test Thomas' oxygen level. She also looked and listened to Parker's breathing. To her, it did look like Parker's breathing was tight, but that it didn't sound like allergy and it wasn't bad. When we tested her oxygen levels, they were perfect.
We put Parker down to bed early. Around nine ish (I think) and we checked her on the monitor that we have. Then we turned the monitor off (expecting the kids to just sleep until morning). Around 9:45, we were going to start getting ready for bed and I felt I needed to check the monitor. I turned it on and Parker was awake, crying and obviously struggling to breath.
I went and got her and we were trying to calm her down, but we couldn't and the more worked up she got, the worse her breathing got. It was so scary. I finally got her to nurse and she calmed down. While I was doing that, Ben had called his parents, who came over. They brought some oils and gave Parker a blessing.
I rocked Parker to sleep while Ben borrowed some onions and a humidifier and got it all set up in Parker's room. Then we put her down and I slept with the monitor on right next to me. Thankfully she slept the rest of the night, though she wasn't doing that much better. Another night helped and Saturday morning she was breathing better, though by this time, Ashtyn had her cough and was doing worse again. This morning, they were both doing better (though not recovered) and of course, Ben and I are feeling sick now.
Even with the long week and the long days of caring for our sick babies, I have kept a spirit of gratitude in my heart. When Parker was having trouble breathing, I caught a glimpse of the scary world of being able to do nothing for your children. I had only moments of the stress, the fear, the anxiety and I felt it all from our home. I didn't have to take her to a hospital or worry afterwards about lingering problems or the problem coming back. It brought to my mind extreme gratitude that our girls having always been healthy. My pregnancies never had complications, their births went smoothly, that they've never needed to be hospitalized or faced a serious illness. It also gave me great respect, empathy, and love for pioneer women who faced these sorts of illnesses with their kids in the wilderness without access to doctors.
I am so thankful for the blessings in my life.
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Friday, September 1, 2017
Books I've Read - August 2017
Thicker than Blood by C.J. Darlington
This was a book that I got for free on Kindle. It is a Christian novel about two sisters whose parents died when they were teenagers and they separated. It's a book about making the right choice even when it's hard, forgiveness, and how no one is too far gone from God. I enjoyed it and thought it was well-written.
Clean My Space by Melissa Maker
This is a book I've wanted to buy for a long time. I watch Melissa Maker's YouTube channel and wanted to support what she was doing. She also runs a cleaning company, so the book detailed her systems for cleaning in the quickest and most efficient way. I feel like I know pretty well how to clean already, but I did get some useful tips and reminders. I was also excited to get her homemade cleaner recipes.
The Bracelet by Jennie Hansen
I went through our books and made a giant pile of all the books we own that I haven't read yet. My goal is to read them before we get into our house, but it's a pretty big pile, so we'll see. This book was one that my sister-in-law bought at one time at DI and then got rid of (she got rid of a lot of books since they're downsizing and she let me "shop" through them first).
I enjoyed it. It's basically a Work and the Glory version of Downton Abbey for fourteen year old girls. I really liked the characters and the plot kept me reading. I also liked the messages of hope and forgiveness. There were quite a few times when the author info dumped on the reader and it also was not the most realistic of plots, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I liked it enough to keep it in our library for when our daughters are in their early teens.
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
This is a book I've had since I was a really young (it even has my name written on it in wobbly letters). I have no memory of reading it (I may have, or had it read to me), so I put it in the pile of books I hadn't read yet. It was, of course, a really quick and fun read. I love books like this. I loved the simple, slow moving life it depicted and I loved how it spelled out very simply profound truths about life and people. I already knew the plot from the movies, but of course, the book is always better. I also love happy ending books.
The Mortal Instruments (1-3) by Cassandra Clare
I had heard about these books on YouTube ("BookTube") and they came highly recommended. I saw the first three at DI in nearly new condition and had bought them. Thus they ended up in my pile of books that I own but haven't read.
They were fine. I didn't love them, but I think I would have if I'd read them when I was in high school. They felt very Twilight-esque to me. It was set in our world/time, but there were vampires, werewolves, faeries, warlocks, demons, and shadowhunters (humans who had angel blood, tasked with fighting the demons). I liked the romance in it. For the most part, I liked the characters and the character growth. It had a happy ending, which I always like.
Things that bothered me about them: there were parts of the plot (particularly in the third book) that were just annoying; the main bad guy was messed up and when they talked about some of the things he did, it bothered me; as far as I could tell, nobody slept together, but there were some times they were close and it definitely was a theme throughout the book; a child dies, which always bothers me (I almost stopped reading then); and finally, the fact that the premise of the book was about demons versus angels and the way they talked of Heaven bothered me. I haven't ever liked media based on religious things like that.
I am unsure whether I will keep these books or not. There are actually two more books in the series (I'm pretty sure), even though this plot line is basically wrapped up. I might read the next two books (when I'm done with my giant pile, of course) and then decide.
Letters by Marjorie Pay Hinkley
This is a collection of letters that Marjorie Hinkley wrote to different relations throughout her life, compiled by her children she died. It was of course beautiful. I loved seeing how patient she was with the hardships she faced and with how much the church asked of her husband. I also loved seeing the everyday life she described with young kids at an earlier time than I'm living with young kids and found some of her insights very true and relateable.
In my life, it has not only given me a travel bug, but also remotivated me to begin writing letters to my loved ones who don't live close by.
If Life Were Easy, It Wouldn't Be Hard by Sheri Dew
I love Sheri Dew and even though this is an older book, it was fun for me to read it. I found a lot of inspiration and motivation to be better as I read through it. Here are two of my favorite thoughts:
This was a book that I got for free on Kindle. It is a Christian novel about two sisters whose parents died when they were teenagers and they separated. It's a book about making the right choice even when it's hard, forgiveness, and how no one is too far gone from God. I enjoyed it and thought it was well-written.
Clean My Space by Melissa Maker
This is a book I've wanted to buy for a long time. I watch Melissa Maker's YouTube channel and wanted to support what she was doing. She also runs a cleaning company, so the book detailed her systems for cleaning in the quickest and most efficient way. I feel like I know pretty well how to clean already, but I did get some useful tips and reminders. I was also excited to get her homemade cleaner recipes.
I went through our books and made a giant pile of all the books we own that I haven't read yet. My goal is to read them before we get into our house, but it's a pretty big pile, so we'll see. This book was one that my sister-in-law bought at one time at DI and then got rid of (she got rid of a lot of books since they're downsizing and she let me "shop" through them first).
I enjoyed it. It's basically a Work and the Glory version of Downton Abbey for fourteen year old girls. I really liked the characters and the plot kept me reading. I also liked the messages of hope and forgiveness. There were quite a few times when the author info dumped on the reader and it also was not the most realistic of plots, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I liked it enough to keep it in our library for when our daughters are in their early teens.
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
This is a book I've had since I was a really young (it even has my name written on it in wobbly letters). I have no memory of reading it (I may have, or had it read to me), so I put it in the pile of books I hadn't read yet. It was, of course, a really quick and fun read. I love books like this. I loved the simple, slow moving life it depicted and I loved how it spelled out very simply profound truths about life and people. I already knew the plot from the movies, but of course, the book is always better. I also love happy ending books.
The Mortal Instruments (1-3) by Cassandra Clare
I had heard about these books on YouTube ("BookTube") and they came highly recommended. I saw the first three at DI in nearly new condition and had bought them. Thus they ended up in my pile of books that I own but haven't read.
They were fine. I didn't love them, but I think I would have if I'd read them when I was in high school. They felt very Twilight-esque to me. It was set in our world/time, but there were vampires, werewolves, faeries, warlocks, demons, and shadowhunters (humans who had angel blood, tasked with fighting the demons). I liked the romance in it. For the most part, I liked the characters and the character growth. It had a happy ending, which I always like.
Things that bothered me about them: there were parts of the plot (particularly in the third book) that were just annoying; the main bad guy was messed up and when they talked about some of the things he did, it bothered me; as far as I could tell, nobody slept together, but there were some times they were close and it definitely was a theme throughout the book; a child dies, which always bothers me (I almost stopped reading then); and finally, the fact that the premise of the book was about demons versus angels and the way they talked of Heaven bothered me. I haven't ever liked media based on religious things like that.
I am unsure whether I will keep these books or not. There are actually two more books in the series (I'm pretty sure), even though this plot line is basically wrapped up. I might read the next two books (when I'm done with my giant pile, of course) and then decide.
Letters by Marjorie Pay Hinkley
This is a collection of letters that Marjorie Hinkley wrote to different relations throughout her life, compiled by her children she died. It was of course beautiful. I loved seeing how patient she was with the hardships she faced and with how much the church asked of her husband. I also loved seeing the everyday life she described with young kids at an earlier time than I'm living with young kids and found some of her insights very true and relateable.
In my life, it has not only given me a travel bug, but also remotivated me to begin writing letters to my loved ones who don't live close by.
If Life Were Easy, It Wouldn't Be Hard by Sheri Dew
I love Sheri Dew and even though this is an older book, it was fun for me to read it. I found a lot of inspiration and motivation to be better as I read through it. Here are two of my favorite thoughts:
Charity is not an emotion or action. It is not something we feel or do. Charity is who the Savior is ... Thus, when we plead for the gift of charity, we aren't asking for lovely feelings toward someone who bugs us or someone who has injured or wounded us. We are actually pleading for very natures to be changed, for our character and disposition to become more and more like the Savior's."
"What could possibly be more important or enduring than bringing a life into the world and then shepherding that life so that he or she can fulfill a God-given, divine potential?"
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