Day in the Life of Jen P

Let me start by saying that no two days are alike in my world. No matter what schedule I aim for, I am always thrown at least 4 curve balls on any given day. My last 24 hours have been particularly crazy for a lazy summer beginning.

Let’s go back to Friday, just to spice it up a little, even though it’s technically more than 24 hours that I’m covering. One of my twins, Walker (sweet photo above:-) has had this welt on his tummy for a few days. It got really suspicious on Friday, so off to the pediatrician’s office we went. We came back with the diagnosis of a possible staph infection so we started our first round of antibiotics. The first thing I thought of was that this kid is never going to make it to the pool. Such a trivial thought, but that was my rationale at this point. Later on in the day, I meet with a business partner on CSP and while she is in my living room, my overly-friendly 19-lb Maine Coon cat, Wilbur, starts rubbing all over her. While I’m trying to be somewhat professional, I notice a dangling something scary hanging from Wilbur’s butt. So I laugh, grab him and throw him in the laundry room and I’m thinking my friend does not notice a thing! Remember this tidbit of information, because it will come into play on Sunday.

So Saturday rolls around and daddy takes the other three children to the pool while I stay back with Walker. He throws a full-on tantrum for a good 15 minutes while he watches the family truckster drive away, goggles and swim noodles in tow. Walker and I had a great morning after he got over the shock and that was the last I thought of his infection on this day. On Sunday morning, I had every intention of taking our family to church, which is always a joy when I drop my screaming twins off at nursery. My other option is to suffer through the service with them running through the pews or whining. So either way, we’re not in a good place with our church ritual. But we usually get an “A” for effort. But we were spared on this Sunday because Walker woke up with his welt at least 3x bigger than on Friday, so off to the pediatrician weekend clinic we went. The first antibiotics weren’t working, so we were given a second one to try. We were informed that our next line of defense would be surgery to lance the abscess that was under his welt. Not really the route I’m excited about so I’m praying that the second antibiotics will be the ticket.

Enter, lazy, fat Maine Coone cat, Wilbur who is obsessed with eating balloon string. I touched on him earlier with the scary thing hanging out of his behind. Well after I put him in the laundry room, my husband pulled an 18″ piece of balloon string from out of Wilbur’s booty. We were appalled, but didn’t think much of it. Well when I got back from the pediatrician’s office, Wilbur had gone #2, the diarrhea kind, all over the house. He did this four more times throughout the day. Three baths later and just when I found him trying to go on my pillow (literally), I thought to myself, maybe this cat needs a little more than water and baths. So off to the after-hours vet clinic I went at 10:43pm on Sunday night. You may be thinking to yourself, why didn’t her husband take the cat, since my vet’s office is in the hood, especially at 11pm at night! Well I asked my hubby if he would like to take the cat. His response, you don’t want me to take the cat because I just might accidentally leave the door open when I get there! So, $438 later (why didn’t I sign up for pet insurance?!) and at almost 1am, I arrive home, exhausted but relieved that the cat didn’t need surgery, just a little fluids. Husband was not so happy when he saw the bill. That’s what he gets for not taking the cat in the first place!

So here we are on Monday. I’m tired, but I manage to go to the gym when my college sitter arrives. After, the girls and I try to sneak away to the pool, trying hard to distract Walker as we walk out with our obvious pool bags. Walker threw another 15-minute tantrum, which made us feel badly, but not too badly to skip the pool. When we get home, my house is a wreck (that would be because college sitters don’t do a lick of cleaning – but that’s ok, my kids adore her!). When I go to change Walker’s diaper, I notice another boil on his leg and off to the pediatrician’s office I go, again. I’m thinking I should have a satellite office at this place. I know everyone by first name – it’s kind of nice to be that recognized! So now, Walker probably needs the surgery. I’m told this at 4:50pm. I dial my husband’s cell phone and it rolls right into voice mail. Damn, he’s on the golf course! Who golfs in 100 degree heat?! I send him a text that we’re off to the hospital – me and my four kids. Lucky for me, I have really good girlfriends who were happy to step in and help. Actually, we got luckier. We didn’t have to go the hospital just yet. That will be first thing Tuesday morning (while you’re reading this).

Update on Walker as of 10pm:
Wow, I really didn’t think we were going to end up at the hospital or I would never have left you hanging! But we did. Walker needed to be put under and have his abscess surgically opened. We were admitted to Levine Children’s Hospital this morning and were so impressed with the staff and the facilities/amenities. Since our surgery wasn’t until the afternoon, we needed distractions and badly since Walker didn’t have anything to eat since the night before. The Child Life Specialists were fantastic and they swooped in with Baby Einstein dvd’s and lots of trucks for us to play with. I was also impressed with the A/V set-up in the rooms. It felt like a Wii! Very cool graphics and easy to navigate from regular TV, to video, to video game and even to the Internet. Very nice. Oh, and each room has Wifi – huge bonus for this blogger!

The surgery went fine, very quick and apparently pretty common these days. But the recovery from anesthesia was a nightmare. I’ve been through coming out of anesthesia with my girls previously, so I knew what to expect. But little Walker was a fighter. He apparently suffered from “post-anesthesia delirium” or something like that. Delirious he was! For two hours after his surgery, he was kicking, fighting, biting and screaming his head off. I’ve never seen anything like it. We finally decided to take him out of the room and outside. Thankfully we were escorted by a nurse or someone may have thought we were kidnapping a child by the way he was screaming and writhing! After about 10 more minutes outside, he spotted a motorcycle and was instantly calmed. Thank the Lord for his testosterone! But he still wasn’t himself as we just put him to bed a few minutes ago. I wasn’t prepared mentally for his anger towards his siblings. I knew he was in a bad mood, but his identical twin brother did not understand this new rage in his brother. Hopefully, a good night’s sleep will bring back the old Walker!

One last curve ball – when we got home, I noticed the girls being very sneaky. When I inquired further, I saw that they had three new stuffed animals. Lucky for me, I have photographic memory and could tell you when and where each of their toys was purchased. I immediately knew that these were brand new and I remembered that our sitter took them to Joseph Beth. Ansley is so funny when she lies – she just cannot look me in the eyes. So when pressed, they both crumbled. They lifted the animals and stuffed them in their purses. So off to Joseph Beth we’ll go first thing in the morning. They will have to face the manager on duty. I told them they might get arrested – hopefully this will be the first and last time they steal something! The nerve of them while we’re in the hospital.