This past week I have been in pure survival mode, and haven't really had a chance to slow down until today. I wake up and hit the ground running most days. In the past 2 weeks, I feel like I have grown so so much and not just because I had a birthday. It has been a real eye opening experience having a birthday overseas and having a sick child to realize who is truly there for you.
My sister Brooklyn called me on my birthday and the day after. Here in Okinawa, we are 15 hours ahead of the US. It made me feel really special that she remembered this little detail as it is a difficult one to remember. During these phone calls I was able to tell her all the ways Sean helped make my day special and then she reminded me of the birthday I had last year that she was able to be a part of. She told me of all the behind the scenes things Sean did in order to help make my day special and how much work he put into it. I have a rather embarrassing confession, before Sean I hated my birthday. I absolutely hated it and wanted to get to a point that it wasn't even celebrated. Since I have had him in my life, I've actually started to look forward to it and I have not had a bad birthday. The morning of this one, he handed me coordinates to a day spa and said I had a massage and facial scheduled for noon for 2 hours. It was heaven and exactly what I needed. Turning 27 was fun and it was filled with cake and good food. My awesome visiting teacher brought me some little cakes which were so yummy! The studio where I work, Footloose celebrated with me after ballet class with cake as well. My sister Brookie sent me a pizza stone and a fancy pizza cutter that I was way to excited about (I must be getting old, I distinctly remember in my early 20s saying I would never have an interest in cookware!) I was able to spend the day with people that bring me joy, which is a huge blessing in itself.
Just a few days after my birthday Ely started to act sick. She was mostly sneezing and occasionally her nose would be runny but that was about it. It wasn't until Thursday that she started wheezing. It wasn't really bad until later that evening. Eventually she started working really hard to breath. We called our home teacher to come and assist in a blessing. While we waited she threw up which made us very nervous. Following the blessing he told us that his daughter has asthma and breathing that labored required a visit to the ER. We got our things together as quickly as we could and started our drive there. In Omaha we were 5 minutes away from our hospital, here we are about 30 minutes. It is not one of my most favorite situations. On the way there she started to throw up. I think it was at this point when I really started to worry and realize something was definitely wrong with her. We arrived at the ER luckily before it started to get busy for that evening. We were assisted promptly. They started her on a breathing treatment and explained to us what Oxygen levels were, where she was at and where she needed to be in order for us to go home.
On a scale of 100, she was in the 80s, before we would be allowed to go home they wanted her at least above a 92. Going to the ER, I honestly thought it would be a breathing treatment, some medication and then they would send us home. It was really alarming to even contemplate that there was something wrong with her to the extent that she would need to be admitted. The doctor came in and had us lift up Ely's shirt. She showed us that Ely was using the muscles under her ribcage to breath, that typically with small children if they are breathing well, that their tummy expands out, but Elys muscles where contracting in under her ribs and her tummy wasn't expanding out at all. The doctor threw out the words pneumonia and bronchitis which surprised me. Just the day before all she had was a runny nose, how did this get so bad so fast? After Ely had her X-Ray it confirmed that she had pneumonia and with that we were admitted to the ICU. Those days in the hospital were very trying for all 3 of us. Ely was hooked up to a monitor and had breathing tubes in that she absolutely hated.
Every time they held her down to put them in she would scream "MAaaa! Mommy!" it broke my heart every time. Despite being sick she was still a happy, active little girl. This made it difficult to keep her confined to a bed. She didn't eat anything the first day there other than breast milk. She was attached to me practically the whole time. A nurse that can look at a situation and make it work for the patient and not necessarily for the ease of the healthcare provider is worth their weight in gold. Ely would not leave the breathing tubes in, they tried taping it multiple times in many different places. She would rip them off and her cheeks were becoming raw. She would also get so upset every time they would try to put them back in. One of the nurses suggested that they tape a larger tube to her chest that would just blow in her face. This worked for several hours, and Ely was much happier. They monitored her very closely during this time, we slept for a couple of hours that night, but were woken up when Ely's stats started to fall dangerously low. Her oxygen was falling into the 70's and the 60's. They told me that if she couldn't get them back above 90 that they would have to put the tubes back in. Luckily with some readjustment of how she was laying they were able to get her stats back up. It seemed like it would be this way for a long time, constantly watching her oxygen. It was amazing news to receive when she was finally breathing on her own and staying above 90. After she was able to do this for 24 hours we were able to go home. She still had pneumonia but was able to continue her recovery at home. There was something about this whole ordeal that reawaken this primal motherly instinct in me that I had when I was in the hospital with her after I gave birth to her. This sense of, this is my child and that I would do anything and everything I could to protect. It also made my love for her and my husband grow immensely. I remember looking over at Sean early one morning, as he was asleep in the recliner in the hospital room. He had been there supporting her, supporting me, he was exhausted yet still strong. It was strange how I could feel so lonely yet so supported and connected to my husband. That for the first time in my life I had to be there for my little girl and it felt like at times that the only person we had for comfort was one another. It's times like this when you learn who the angels are in your life. After going through this initially I was reminded that we were not alone. The same home teacher that assisted us in a blessing brought us dinner and brought his family to visit Ely. Our neighbor and friend had been letting our dog out to go to the bathroom while we were at the hospital,which was a huge worry lifted from our shoulders. When we came home my friend and her daughters were cleaning our home and later took our dog on a long walk. The Sunday we came home we had no food in our fridge and didn't have to break the Sabbath because our neighbor provided us with dinner. At a time when I felt so alone, Heavenly Father provided us with angels to remind me that he has our backs. I am so grateful for my little girl, for her health and happiness. I'm grateful for the angels in our life. It's trials like this that eventually show you the reason behind them. I needed to be reminded of what a gift it is to have this little girl in my life, and to not take it for granted. I needed to be reminded of what an awesome partner I have to hold my hand when life gets a little difficult. I love my little family and I'm so grateful to have them.
My sister Brooklyn called me on my birthday and the day after. Here in Okinawa, we are 15 hours ahead of the US. It made me feel really special that she remembered this little detail as it is a difficult one to remember. During these phone calls I was able to tell her all the ways Sean helped make my day special and then she reminded me of the birthday I had last year that she was able to be a part of. She told me of all the behind the scenes things Sean did in order to help make my day special and how much work he put into it. I have a rather embarrassing confession, before Sean I hated my birthday. I absolutely hated it and wanted to get to a point that it wasn't even celebrated. Since I have had him in my life, I've actually started to look forward to it and I have not had a bad birthday. The morning of this one, he handed me coordinates to a day spa and said I had a massage and facial scheduled for noon for 2 hours. It was heaven and exactly what I needed. Turning 27 was fun and it was filled with cake and good food. My awesome visiting teacher brought me some little cakes which were so yummy! The studio where I work, Footloose celebrated with me after ballet class with cake as well. My sister Brookie sent me a pizza stone and a fancy pizza cutter that I was way to excited about (I must be getting old, I distinctly remember in my early 20s saying I would never have an interest in cookware!) I was able to spend the day with people that bring me joy, which is a huge blessing in itself. 
