Potty Training

Yesterday I started potty training Ethan. Hopefully we can get through this before he gets a spout of diarrhea again. He doesn't tell me he pees until afterwards so I'm having a hard time getting him to tell me. I constantly take him to the toilet but he never goes when he's on it. What do I do? I need some advice from some moms who have done this and can tell me what I'm doing wrong. I know he can control when he goes but he won't. He gets on the toilet and just begs for candy because he knows if he goes he will get rewarded. After he poops in his diaper, yes luckily he was wearing a diaper at that time because I was sick of peepee underwears, he comes to me right away and lays down and says poopy. So HE KNOWS!!! Please any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've read a book about it and how to put them on before every main thing during the day but it isn't helping...maybe I'm just being too inpatient..

Me...in the hospital?

Yes, I was in the hospital Thursday from 3pm until yesterday at 10:40am.

Thursday morning I woke up and did some editing work on Breanna Haddican's Miss Teen pictures. (Which are gorgeous by the way. If you have my mom on your facebook you can see them there.) My mom was having a client over at 1pm to have a consultation and so I had decided to help get things cleaned up while she was in the shower. I swept, cleaned the kitchen, picked up the toys, straightened up the pillows on all the couches, put misplaced papers away, etc. While I was cleaning I felt nauseous and I thought it was because I hadn't eaten anything yet that day. So I ate some toast with raspberry jam. I still didn't feel ok. I decided I should go lay down and since it was Ethan's nap time I figured I could probably get him to lay down with me. Ali was already down for her morning nap. He would not lay still but I did NOT have the energy to go chasing after him and my RIGHT side was killing me. My stomach and back were aching me so bad on the right side and I wanted to throw up. I kept running to the bathroom. I felt like I couldn't move or the pain would increase. I was even crawling on the floor from the toilet to the bed. I couldn't get anything up at first than I threw up. It was not fun. I talked to my dad over the phone and explained my symptoms. He said maybe my appendix or kidney stones, but said kidney stones aren't as common in people my age. I was scared if it was my appendix but also knew I did NOT want the pain anymore. I laid in bed for a while and decided I better take a shower in case I decided it was time to go to the ER. I took a shower and made it to my room where I immediately ran to the bathroom throwing up. It was then that I decided I better go. My mom had a doctor's appointment to get adjusted because her jaw was bugging her and my sister had to take her so I had Karissa help me get the kids in the yukon and had her drop me off at the ER. I didn't want to be alone, but also knew I couldn't deal with the pain or the throwing up on my own. They got me back right away. They did a urine test (and because I was on my monthly it showed blood) so they made me get a urine catheter to make it a clean sample. That was not fun. A PA named Chad saw me and explained that he thought it was kidney stones or appendix too. He said they would do a CT scan to help rule things out.

It took an hour to get the CT results back and they said I had a partial bowel obstruction. My thought immediately went to a family friend we have that had a complete bowel obstruction and had heard of the awful pain she went through. They said in order for it to be fine again I would need an NG tube down my nose into my stomach to relieve the pressure. The tube would suck everything out of my stomach and let the bowels be loosened. If it didn't work and if it were to get more serious I would have to have surgery. The sound of the tube just made me want to crawl into a ball, but I knew it was that or probably get worse so they put the tube in..is it fair to say it hurt worse than labor? Because it so did!! I was screaming and yelled and said "NO". Not fun!!! It takes a lot of me to say it hurt worse than labor since I had Ethan natural and he weighed 9lbs. I am telling you that hurt...but this was excruciating pain in my nose!! No one should have to feel pain like that!! At least not when they are awake!! I felt bad because I knew the nursing student who was helping the RN put the tube in and she did not want to do that to me. I knew it was her job though and was not mad at them...just mad at my body for doing this to me. I felt like a truck had hit me in the stomach...

The tube was in so it was time for me to get moved out of the ER because they had a lot more emergent patients that needed the area I was in. My mom had gotten to the hospital after I got the CT scan and my dad arrived just before they put the NG tube in so they got to witness me so mad and hurting. My mom was relieved my dad was there because he just talked me through it all. He kept telling me to take deep breaths and then when it was time to swallow the tube down coached me through that. I'm sure the nurses would've been louder about it if he hadn't been there but he'd done it to so many people all I could hear was his comforting voice. I felt like a baby!! After the tube was in I just cried. I was so happy Roger wasn't there to witness it all. He would not have been happy to see me like that. We told him to stay in Spokane because he had a test and a paper due the next day so we didn't want him to be here until we knew what was going to happen for sure.

That night Dr. Carter came in and saw me. She thought I didn't really need the tube but as long as I had it in I wasn't taking it out in fear that they'd have to put it back down again. My dad and my Poppy gave me an incredible blessing and I was feeling relieved, but still in pain. They kept me on some good drugs for the pain and gave me Zofran (which was my best friend during Ethan's pregnancy) for the nausea. The next morning Dr. Carter came in at 6:55am and I had already had my blood drawn by then, but no x-ray so they sent me down for an x-ray. Let me just say Moses Lake is so small....I knew the x-ray tech too....yay I get to see tons of people with this tube stickin' out of my nose like an elephant!! The nurse told me that the doctor would be back in at lunch to tell me the plans....lunch came and went...no doctor...no results...around 4pm the nurse said if she hadn't heard from the doctor she would call her and ask what the plan was...so she couldn't get a hold of her at 5pm so she got a hold of another on call doctor. He said he would be taking over and told her to take the tube out and if I could keep food down the next morning I could probably go home since the x-ray didn't show anything so they assumed everything is fine.

Friday night I had liquids and kept them down and then Saturday morning I ate some eggs and kept them down. I really didn't want to stay there any longer if it just meant I would just keep getting pain meds and nausea medicine because I could do that at home. Roger had made it there Friday afternoon and wasn't expecting to see me like that. He thought it was different. It was gross to see the food I had eaten coming out of my nose in liquid form and into a bucket.

They think I just had a virus and it caused my bowel to get obstructed when I got the CT scan because I've never had any surgeries in there anywhere. I still have crazy pain and am constantly nauseous so I don't know what is going to happen but for now I have medicine to help. Most importantly I got migraine medicine. It has helped quite a bit. The first night I was in the hospital I could NOT sleep. I was up all night staring at the wall hoping it would be morning for results...which never happened anyways. My migraine was pounding for three days.

I am happy to be home, but sad that my husband can't stay here in Moses Lake with me because he has to get back to school. I'm lucky that his job was understanding and let him off this weekend to come be with me.

I thought I better get this up because people keep asking me what happened so I thought it'd be easier to get written down to read. Thanks for all of the love.

ER visit

So yesterday my babies were both having lots of watery diarrhea. We have gotten them to keep down bread, crackers, applesauce, cheese, and yogurt so we're hoping the throwing up has completely subsided. I am still being picky as to what I feed them though in fear they will get sick again since Ali did throw up Sunday night and hadn't since Thursday. After talking with my dad a lot and then talking with Roger, we decided they needed to be seen again to make sure it wasn't something serious. I mean three weeks of diarrhea is NOT normal.

I stayed in Moses Lake since I'd rather have them be sick in my mom's house, because she has hardwood floors downstairs and they are easier to clean than the cheap carpet in my apartment, my only option was to take them to the ER for insurance purposes. I had talked to the doctor's office in Cheney and they had reassured me that his stool sample results came back negative/normal. But this go around (the past week) it looks completely different and the consistancy was different as well. (Sorry if this is TMI but I want people who have wondered what's happening to know.)

My mom and I made our way to the hospital this morning. The nurse that checked us in tried to get me to stop them from drinking right away when I said the symptoms. I said "no my doctor told me to keep them hydrated" and she said"well the diarrhea will of course be more watery with the fluids". How come it wasn't watery to begin with then lady because he's been drinking fluids from the beginning!!! Then we went back and saw a nurse practitioner. She looked at them said she thought it was the rotavirus, went out of the room for five minutes, came back and said "It's a virus. You need to keep doing what you are doing because they are staying plenty hydrated. I can give you another stool cup if you WANT." What is the WANT part about? I had just told her my boy has had diarrhea for three weeks!!! My gosh I would think they'd want to do another stool test. I told her I wanted another stool test just so I could be at peace and make sure that was all it was and nothing more serious. She was a little shocked...but I wasn't going to take another virus answer if it's going to keep on going and going for another three weeks. He's losing weight and not to mention so is his sister who has no weight to lose. The nurse came back in with instructions and acted like I didn't know what I was doing and told me everything I should be doing again...which is WHAT I HAD BEEN DOING for THREE WEEKS!!! I guess the most frustrating part is just sitting by and waiting for things to go away because it feels like they aren't.

I am happy to say that neither one has thrown up since Sunday. And they both have only had one diarrhea diaper today. I am supposed to go to the Beauty and the Beast play with them tonight and I'm thinking they'll be just fine. I have a stool sample ready for Ethan again. I'm just waiting for Ali. Viruses are no fun.... but there is no way they are contagious anymore since they've had it for a week. Yay for that good news!!

And it continues on...

Ethan is still sick...Diarrhea was hard when it was up to five times a day but now he's added in throwing up. I took a stool sample in Wednesday, but have yet to hear the results. Since we are in Moses for Easter my dad has seen him and says he thinks he might have Rotavirus, but we'll have to see. He said that most of the time with Rotavirus they feel crummier than Ethan is acting so he's just saying we'll have to see what the results say. He had me call the on call doctor at the Rockwood Clinic where Ethan has been seen to tell them what's been going on and to see if they'd find out the stool sample results but she told me it took DAYS. My dad said only usually 48 hours so I think she just didn't want to call because it sounded like she was busy cleaning her house or something when I was on the phone with her. She told me to just keep doing what we're doing. BLAH BLAH BLAH.... I think what I hate the most about babies being sick (or even viruses in general) is that you can't do anything but wait it out when all you want to do is give them something to make them feel better. I think we might get some phenergen suppositories and see if it helps him to just keep things down. With the diarrhea and throwing up he's gotten super skinny and looks so pale.

We are supposed to be at church with everyone right now, but last night he threw up after not throwing up for like 18 hours and then this morning when he woke up he just kept throwing up. Roger hasn't seen him throw up because he didn't get here until late last night, but he's been a SUPER dad and helped him to the toilet to throw up. E's begging for crackers because he's so hungry. I was super excited for the kids to get dressed up in their Easter outfits, but I guess we'll just have to take pictures another day. I am just thankful that I have my babies to hold onto. They are both incredibly strong and fight back so I'm sure we'll be through this sooner than later. (I'll keep my fingers crossed anyways.)

HAPPY EASTER to EVERYONE! I hope your day is filled with plenty of blessings and always remember Christ during this holiday. I know I do. It's incredible to me to think of what he went through for us. How wonderful is that? All of our lives are eternally blessed for being here on Earth.

My shoe stealer...and my sick one

I went in their room and found them together like this. I didn't even know Ali could climb in there, but I was wrong because she can. She can climb just about anything or at least tries. She's definitely brave! As you can tell Ali is not comfortable at all!!

Ethan has had the crud (diarrhea) for the last 10 days and I took him in Thursday to the doctor because I had tried the BRAT diet because dairy isn't good on the tummy and it wasn't getting better so I was told by many people to take him to get checked out. Well the doctor told me they don't get really concerned unless it had been going on for a couple weeks. It concerns me though because my kid doesn't poop that often. I mean usually once a day but not multiple times (2-5) and not diarrhea that much so I was concerned and his bum was getting really irritated and he's always been lucky to not get diaper rash because he has the olive toned skin. So she told me to wait a few more days and if it doesn't get better to then do the stool kit they gave me to test everything and make sure he is okay. If he has it again I'm going to do the kit. Poor boy...while we were waiting for them to put the kit together by the lab, the lady was talking to him and he lifted up his shirt and pointed at his tummy and said "ouchy"! It hurts my heart to see him like that.

Ali is definitely a shoe stealer! She carries around everyone's shoes all the time. While we were in the mall the other day this little boy was getting his shoes on and Ali went right over and took his shoe. I had to go and give it back and tell her to stop stealing shoes. She's so cute!