Baker's Partial Dozen

Baker's Partial Dozen

Friday, December 21, 2012

Baker Christmas and other things

We are finally getting back to normal after last week's scary episode. We all actually slept through the night last night... and boy, did we need it! We have been one cranky household this week! I've been sick with a cold and Jayna hasn't been sleeping as well as she was. I think she's still a bit traumatized from last Friday.

Scott has been having issues with his TERRIBLE management at work. For instance, he got in trouble for the 3rd time today concerning a client that is not even his... that he's never met before! What I'd like to know, is how on earth can a company survive with the incredibly poor organizational skills they practice?! Poor Scott loses sleep every time his supervisor freaks out on him, and 90% of the time it's their own fault, but they'll never take responsibility. Why should they when they can blame everything on the PSR's (even when it involves a client that isn't even their's)?! I'm so done with this company and I'm not even the one that works for them! We're praying Scott can get a new job soon so he can quit this circus.

On a brighter note, Jayna is developing faster than I ever imagined. Just this week, she's started noticing everything around her and has so much energy that she doesn't even want to eat half the time because she's looking around at everything. She finally loves sitting in her vibrating chair that has little toys hanging above it. She was entertained for 2 hrs yesterday in it! I couldn't even get her to sit in it last week and she'd have nothing to do with the toys. She's also moving all around the place... on her back. She refuses tummy time, but she scoots herself all around the room on her back. She's giggling and cooing like crazy and we're loving every minute of it :).

After our rough, cranky week, I was wary of having our Christmas today because we weren't much in the Christmas spirit. However, after staying up until 2 am finishing a Christmas project, I got much more in the mood and celebrating our little family Christmas today was/is just what the doctor ordered. We are in such a better mood today and are now looking forward to spending time with those we love!

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Worst Nightmare

I don't even know where to begin on this post. I am so emotional and overcome with gratitude and sadness that I can't quit crying.

Last night, we put Jayna to bed at about 11:00 and then stayed up a while longer. When we went up to bed, we noticed our room didn't smell so fresh (we live in an old house that used to have smokers, so this can be a regular occurrence). Therefore, Scott went into the bathroom and grabbed the air freshener and sprayed our room. I don't know if the air freshener went bad or what, but we both immediately started coughing and opened our window to air it out. After it was aired out we went to bed and Scott immediately fell asleep. I, on the other hand just couldn't sleep... I kept thinking about the shooting in Connecticut and couldn't imagine what those poor families must be going through.

Around 2 am, I noticed Jayna was making weird sounds. She does this often because of her laryngomalacia, but these sounds were different. I kept trying to talk myself out of going and checking on her because I constantly feel the need to check on her and she's always fine and then I feel like an over-paranoid mother. Going against my own logical thoughts was the smartest thing I could have done. I went into her bedroom and saw what no parent ever wants to see. She was arched completely backwards trying to get air, while mucus was overtaking her nose and mouth and flowing out. I immediately grabbed her and started trying to get the mucus out, but the more I worked at it, the worse it seemed to get. I screamed at Scott to wake up at the point she was turning blue and ran to find her little suction bulb, which we've not needed to use until now, so I had to hunt. When Scott grabbed her and brought her downstairs, she let out the most discomforting burp I've ever heard! You could hear the mucus all down her throat and into her stomach! She then started puking up mucus and ended up puking it up 3 different times. I kept suctioning and suctioning, but to no avail. We grabbed her car seat and diaper bag and ran out the door. I did what I never thought I'd do... I held Jayna the whole way there. I was not about to let go of her and put her in her car seat. The whole way there, she just laid in my arms completely limp, barely able to breathe as I kept suctioning her nose and mouth. I was screaming at the traffic lights the whole way (which worked most of the time because there was very little traffic out). I looked at her, completely pale and ghost-like, with red puffy eyes and lost it. I couldn't bare the thought of losing my child. I then realized how many parents were experiencing even worse pain than Scott and I were this very night and my heart went out to them even more.

We got to the ER and I ran Jayna in, practically breaking down the doors. They got Jayna right back and started looking at her. By this time, she stopped producing as much mucus and was breathing somewhat steadily, but they kept her until about 5 am to make sure she was okay. The Dr. told me that she was experiencing a chemical reaction to the room spray. Even though we only sprayed it in our room and immediately aired it out, it was still too much for her. He said that she may have added allergies to scents, so if we ever spray anything, it needs to be lightly and hypo-allergenic if at all possible.

I can't imagine what would have happened had I fallen asleep, or not gone in and checked on her. She's only been in our lives a few short months, but I cannot imagine life without her. I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father was watching out for us and kept me awake and urged me to go check on her. We've been through absolute Hell the last four months as far as our health is concerned and have been to the ER more than I can possibly imagine, but we are all alive and for the most part well and for that, I am grateful.

I've been holding little Jayna practically non-stop since 2 am and am completely paranoid about falling asleep. I love her so much! I've had friends who have lost children and can now only begin to imagine how hard that had to have been. I really don't think I'd be able to get out of bed or function if that happened. My heart truly goes out to those who have lost children, and at this time I really feel for those who lost children in the shootings. I will pray for them harder than I've prayed in a long, long time.

Breathing...

Jayna went to see the pulmonary specialist on the 5th to find out why she's wheezing and gasping for breath all the time. Turns out she has a condition called laryngomalacia. It can be somewhat common in premies, but doesn't make it any less scary. Basically, the cartilage in her epiglottis isn't developed, so when she goes to breathe in, the epiglottis collapses partially over the airway, rather than lifting to allow the air to pass. The condition is expected to worsen until she's about 6 months old, but she should grow out of it by the time she's 2 years old... a long time for a worry-wart mother!

Being a voice teacher, I was absolutely ecstatic to view her larynx in the laryngoscope. I got to see her adorable little vocal folds and I actually knew what the Dr. was talking about when he was explaining what was going on. I felt so smart ;)!

We will just keep praying that she will make it through this first 6 months!