Well That Scared The Bejeezus Out Of Me
November 22, 2009 
So we’re rolling along, having a perfectly normal bordering on mundane Sunday… when Zeeb starts staying that his “forehead” hurts. Lo and behold… he has another fever. Somewhere between 101 and 103.5, depending on which side of his head I swipe with the temporal thermometer. I figure, no big deal, it’s just a headache and a fever. He’s already had the swine, two weeks ago now. So this must just be a weird thing or maybe the start of a bad cold. Or something.
Dinner comes around and Zeeb isn’t feeling very perky. We give him a small serving, which he eats pretty quickly. Then he says his tummy hurts. Oh fun. Hubby runs him to the bathroom and… nothin’. So we plop him back on the couch with a video.
In all this time I haven’t given him any medicine because I was trying to hold off until bedtime. I hate when I give them advil at like 4:30 and then the next time they can have it is like 10:30 and then I have to decide whether to wake the kid up or chance it and let them sleep through. So my theory was to wait until almost bedtime and then dose him up and hope it would get him through the night.
What a dumb stupid theory.
Seven o’clock rolls around and Zeeb is looking really pathetic. He’s also complaining about his eyes hurting. I figure it’s time to put him to bed. I give him some Motrin and send him upstairs with hubby to get his teeth brushed and pj’s on.
When I come into Zeeb’s room, he’s sitting on his floor next to his bed, too tired to even stand while hubby helps him get his pj’s on.
“Poor Zeeb, you’re just not feeling good” I say.
He tells me again that his eyes hurt so I decide to turn off the light and tell him a story instead of reading to him.
“Okay, so there’s this… little duck. Who lives near a big blue pond. And he has three friends – a baby swan, a frog and a… cricket. …” On and on I go, making up a rather lame little story loosely based on some book I read to Zeeb a few weeks ago. Zeeb is uncharacteristically quiet during the telling of the story. (normally? He feels the need to ask questions or share his opinion every. three. seconds.) So when I’m done I say, “do you want to go to sleep now?” And he just sort of shakes his head. No verbal answer. Which seemed kind of weird.
So I turned on the light. And Zeeb just looked wrong. And still wouldn’t talk to me. And then he was like moving his legs back and forth rapidly and rubbing his hands across his face a lot. At this point, I’m really worried. I call for Hubby and I go to get a wet washcloth. (my go-to response for fevers and other medical type concerns) I’ve pulled the covers off Zeeb and I’m rubbing his face with the cloth and saying “talk to me Zeeb. Say ‘hi mommy’.” Over and over. And Zeeb is not responding.
We’re both very freaked now. Hubby grabs the phone and calls 9-1-1, because we’re not sure if we should just take Zeeb to the ER or if an ambulance would be better.
Hubby gives the 9-1-1 person the basic details and then I can hear him answering their questions. “Yes, he seems to be breathing okay.” “No, he won’t answer.” “He’s looking at my wife, but not talking.” “He just keeps rubbing at his face.”
9-1-1 person tells us the ambulance is on their way.
I swear they drove here from Canada or something. It felt like a very long time before they arrived. While we waited I just kept talking to Zeeb and asking him to answer me. Sometimes he’d look at me like he was about to say something, but still wouldn’t talk. I couldn’t decide if he really could understand what I was saying or if he was on his own planet. I imagined him in the ambulance, then laying mute in a hospital bed. I was really, really scared.
Meanwhile, I called for K, because I figured if we both had to go with Zeeb to the hospital she would need to be in charge of R. Well then both R and K kind of freak out a bit. R’s crying, K’s looking like the world is about to end.
“Pray for your brother” I tell R. She has a very tangible faith these days and takes the responsibility of prayer very seriously. (She reminds me every morning to pray for one of her teacher’s aides who is pregnant. Every morning. It’s not a complicated pregnancy, but R told her we were praying, so R wants to be true to her word.)
Finally the ambulance arrives. First into the room is a woman EMT. “How are we doing?” she asks in a cheerful voice. Hubby and I repeat what we’ve already told the 9-1-1 person. As we’re talking the other two EMT’s, both men, come into the room. They ask what medication we gave him. I tell them about the Motrin and also that I gave him some airborne jr. (It was expired, but I figured it didn’t matter because it’s just vitamins and such and the worst that would happen is it wouldn’t be as effective. But at this point I’m worrying that expired airborne jr. has some terrible side effect I should have known about.) Thankfully the EMT’s look altogether unworried.
They take his temperature (102) and ask him to do a couple of things (hold his hand, and I don’t remember what else) and Zeeb does everything. Also they note that he’s tracking all of them with his eyes. But still no talking.
“He’s just a sick worn out boy. You need to get the fever down. He needs a tepid bath. Do you want us to take him to the hospital? All they’re going to do is give him a bath.”
I was surprised. I fully expected them to hover over him and whisk him off to the hospital. Give him a bath? That I can do at home, and without exposing him to more germs. Since it was very clear the EMT’s thought he was in no danger, we decided to let them go. First the EMT’s made sure I was giving him the bath (I’m sitting there waiting for them to leave when I realized they wanted to see me give him the bath. Oh. duh. No problem…) As I’m getting Zeeb ready for the bath, he pukes. I figure that’s probably a good thing. And then when I put Zeeb in the less-than-warm bath (what the heck is the definition of “tepid” anyway?) he starts crying.
Man have I never been so glad to hear one of my kids crying.
“It hu-rts” he says, still crying.
Glory hallelujah.
He cries and tells me his stomach hurts and he doesn’t like the cold water. I add some warmer water. But not too much. I get him a couple of bath toys. He starts playing. And stops crying. And I can’t stop watching him. Every minute or so I ask him a question, just to make sure he’s really okay. My heart starts looking for it’s regular beat again.
After a while he says he’s ready to get out of the bath and his fever seems to be gone so I get him out and into some fresh pj’s. And then I put him to bed on the couch in our bedroom. I’m not letting him out of my sight tonight.
Four kids. Over fourteen years as a mom. And tonight? Was the scariest night any of my kids has ever given me. Ever. The EMT guys acted like it was a totally normal reaction to a 102 fever, but Zeeb’s fever was higher than that two weeks ago and he didn’t go all mute and twitchy on me. Whatever that was, I hope he never does it again.
There were some good moments in the midst of all the craziness. K took charge of keeping R calm and distracted while the EMT’s were here. She held her and let her hang out in her room and play with her DS. (Big big deal considering that most days R is not allowed to step foot in K’s room!) And when I came downstairs after getting R to bed, I found a little yellow sticky note on the kitchen counter:
Pray request
Dear god
hope you
help Zeeb
Love, R~
Countdown To Thanksgiving Thursday: The Final Countdown
It’s just one week away! Are you ready? Me neither. I did a bunch of shopping this week, even got the turkey yesterday, but I’m sure I’ll have to run to the store at least once more before the cooking begins in earnest.
My MIL and FIL arrive on Tuesday. Clearly I will be spending my weekend cleaning. Also making lasagna. What, you don’t have lasagna at your thanksgiving feast? Poor things. Lasagna goes awesome with turkey. I should know, it’s been a thanksgiving staple in our family since long before I was born. Okay, on the Italian side of the family. Which includes my mom. But not my mother in law. She’s English, first generation Mayflower, remember? Thusly she thinks the lasagna is tres odd. Between that and the cheesecake last year I seriously thought she might flee the table screaming about her crazy daughter-in-law ruining a perfectly good American holiday. Hopefully by this year she’ll at least be a little more mentally prepared. I place no bets on her eating either item at the feast however. She announced last year that they’d be good as leftovers – the day after thanksgiving. (This was after first suggesting I not even put out the lasagna at all – just save it for another meal altogether. There are few things I will put my foot down about, especially with the MIL, but lasagna is most definitely one of them. At my house there WILL be lasagna at the Thanksgiving feast!)
Will you have any unusual (non traditional first-feast) foods at your Thanksgiving dinner? Do tell, it will make me feel better.
So we’ve covered Thanksgiving music, books, kids videos, and a documentary. What’s left? TV of course! Aside from the kid’s specials there’s not a lot in the way of traditional Thanksgiving television. The biggie is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. I never miss this. It doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving if the day doesn’t start out with the parade. I’m excited this year we have HD cable connected to our big screen so we’ll be having a parade experience like never before. Almost as good as being there. (One of these years I swear we’re going to go to NY for the parade… maybe next year?)
Aside from that, I had to do some surfing on my DVR for other Thanksgiving options. I found a new Hallmark channel movie, “An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving” that looks good. It’s based on a short story by Louisa May Alcott. It airs on Thanskgiving night.
I also found Home For The Holidays, a movie from the 90’s starring Holly Hunter. I remember laughing a lot at this movie, so I’m thinking it’s worth a re-watch.
One show I was very disappointed not to find on the DVR menu was the classic Thanksgiving episode of WKRP in Cincinatti. You know, the one where the radio station devises a creative way to give away turkeys? Truly there is no funnier Thanksgiving episode in television history. And I have great news! You can watch it on Hulu! Just add that to my list of reasons to be thankful!
That’s all I have for good Thanksgiving TV… did I miss one of your favorites?
I’ll end this here with a funny Zeeb Thanksgiving-related story: Zeeb is learning about Squanto at school this week. So as I was reading the new Squanto book we recently bought to him the other day he was eager to share his newly aquired knowledge with me.
“Do you know what the second English ship that came had on it?”
(The first ship being the one that kidnapped Squanto. The second arrived while he was gone.)
“Small Pockets!”
Yes, sadly, Squanto’s entire village was wiped out by a horrible epidemic of Small Pockets. If only they’d had bigger pockets upon that ship…
My Big Achievement
January 14, 2009 
Today, for the first time in at least two months, my bloglines is completely caught up. Not a single unread post on my list. Please, feel free to applaud. One could make a judgement about the way I’m using my time these days, especially if one knew that I have yet to write a single thank-you note from Christmas. But I prefer to bask in the glory of my accomplishment instead.
I haven’t neglected my children altogether in my pursuit of this great achievement. In fact, this morning I actually sat down with Zeeb and played Legos! Yes, be amazed. But, ahem, don’t be too amazed. Because as I sat there attempting to put together a lego boat I noticed that the sun was coming in the window right on Zeeb and it was a great photo opportunity. So I had to get my camera. And then once I started taking pictures I realized Zeeb’s unmade bed in the background looked bad so I had to make it. (I’m the main character in “If You Give A Mom A Camera.”) But I think I should still get points for sitting on the floor and playing with my child – you know, the way good moms do all the time. And I did get some good shots…
What does it say about me that I now purposely take pictures of my child that cut off his head just so I can post them on my blog? Hmm, probably about the same thing that having all my bloglines read says about me…
There’s Pumpkins In Them Thar Hills
The weather is beautiful here this weekend. Like upper 70’s and sunny beautiful. Ah yes, that’s why we moved to Virginia! So yesterday afternoon we decided it was the perfect time to go in search of the most sincere pumpkin patch in all of Northern Virginia. This required a drive. Because you see, in the DC burbs you can choose between a pretend pumpkin patch in a parking lot, or a big amazing pumpkin patch festival extravaganza at a farm not too far away for about $11 per person. We didn’t really need large crowds and big bouncy houses and $66 for an afternoon at a pumpkin farm was definitely not in the budget. Thankfully, we discovered a pumpkin farm way out yonder (2 counties away) where there was no admission price and we could pick a pumpkin right off the vine. Just what we were looking for! And the drive out in the country? Priceless. Also just what the doctor ordered after a very stressful week.
Can’t you just feel the stress melting away?
Wildflowers! In October! Love. It. Here. !!
Did I mention the corn maze? With very tall, very dry corn stalks and beautiful dried cobbs. We frantically searched for rain boots for everyone assuming the fields would be muddy, because they always are in Washington. Silly, silly Northwesterners. It was totally dry here!
Zeeb sits down next to his pumpkin. I think he was the first one to pick a pumpkin – the girls were very picky about their pumpkins. R~ must have picked up and put down ten pumpkins before she settled on one and then she was still eyeing other pumpkins on her way out!
Also notice this is my first ever attempt at photo-shopping a picture. Photoshop? Is not my friend.
Never A Dull Moment
September 2, 2008
Filed under Zeeb, middle school, parenting, pictures
Tags: first day of school
Today was the first day of school here in the Broccoli Guy household. A day long anticipated, or dreaded, depending on which child you asked. K~ has spent most of her summer worrying about starting school. “I’ll get lost. A bully will beat me up. I won’t be able to open my locker.” and on and on… including some worries far out of the realm of reality. I reassured her over and over, “everything will be okay.” But I confess, some of that stress and worry rubbed off on me. I didn’t sleep very much last night. I worried about K~, I worried about the other kids, I worried about the bus stop schedule. This year I am escorting kids to/from the bus stop seven times a day. SEVEN.
K~’s bus comes first, at 6:40 am. The stop is about 3 blocks from our house (at the end of our road) which is totally walkable, but on the first day I decided to drive her so we wouldn’t worry about being late. We drove to the stop and parked. There were two other students already at the stop. K~ made a comment about them seeming older than her. I reassured her that they couldn’t be much older because her school only goes to 8th grade. A few minutes later, the bus arrived. K~ boarded and I drove home. One kid down, three to go.
And then the phone rang.
“Mom?”
“K? What’s wrong?”
“Mom, I’m on the high school bus!”
“What?!”
“You put me on the high school bus. What do I do?”
Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, of all the things that K~ (and I) thought of to worry about, the one thing we never imagined happened. My 8th grade daughter was on a bus with older kids going to the wrong school. I was in a panic, though I tried to hide it from K~.
I called the school. “I brought my daughter to the bus stop listed on the schedule at the time listed and now she is on the high school bus.”
“Oh yes, this happens sometimes because the high school and middle school buses are on the same schedule,” She calmly replied. “I’ll notify her first period teacher. She won’t be marked tardy.”
Gee, thanks. Because that was obviously my biggest concern – a TARDY. Can someone please tell me WHY ON EARTH they did not note on the bus schedule that the high school bus comes to the same exact place at the same exact time?!!!! Ya think that might’ve been helpful information for a family new to the district to have?!
I called K~ back. She told me she talked to the bus driver and he was going to keep going to the high school and have someone meet them there to bring K~ to her school. I reassured her that she wouldn’t be too terribly late to school and then I stayed on the phone with her while she continued her ride to the high school. At that point I had to bring A~ to the bus stop so I handed the phone off to Hubby. He stayed on the phone with her until she got to her school. Thank God for cell phones.
After that, it was one trip to the bus stop after another. A~ at 7:30. R~ at 8:40. Then a few quiet hours with Zeeb before he headed off to afternoon kindergarten at 12:15.
I got two hours of solitude before the whole thing started in reverse. Walked the dog to pick up K~, turned around and got A~, got the car and picked up R and Zeeb. Our school day was offically over at 4:30.
It was a very busy, tiring day. But there were good parts too.
Hubby got a promotion! This is a big deal. A huge deal really. He was overdue for this promotion but worried that he wouldn’t get it because he changed teams within the company when we made the big move. And the raise that came with it – while not huge, will relieve some of our stress as we wait (and wait, and wait, and wait) for our house to sell. But honestly, the biggest thing to me is that his bosses recognized the good work he does. It’s always nice to be appreciated, right?
And more good news: K~ survived her first day of 8th grade! Actually, she did more than survive. She met a girl who is in three of her classes, including her last class of the day. And then they realized that they both ride the same bus. And get off at the same stop. And live on the same road! Isn’t that so cool? K~ called it an “odd coincidence” – I call it an “answered prayer.” K~ chatted about her day the whole walk home, and most of it was positive (or at least said in a happy sounding voice). Later her worries came back – apparently she wasn’t able to get her locker open today and she’s convinced she never will, and of course there were a few classes that she wasn’t crazy about. But all in all, I think she had a pretty good first day which is something of a miracle considering how it started out.
A~, R~ and Zeeb also had good first days… they all came home able to name at least one kid they met that day. And thankfully the teachers were merciful and didn’t assign homerwork for tonight. I can’t tell them how much I appreciated that!
The best part of today is that it’s done – and that dreaded First Day is over with. It can only get better from here… right?
R gets on the bus, eager to start 2nd grade
Zeeb waiting for his bus. He was so excited and totally unafraid. Such a big boy!
