What a week

Playing with the toys at the hospital.

On Wednesday we had a bit of a traumatic start to the day. Just before she was due to wake up, at 6:50am, Asher started having a seizure, just 6 days since her last one. She sleeps in the bed next to me after her 5am feed and I either felt something or heard her breathing (I can't remember) but quickly realized she was having a seizure. It started as just vacant but thankfully she was breathing rhythmically. Most of the time with a vacant seizure she does not breath well at all, so this was a relief.
After about 2 minutes I thought it may have stopped and so picked her up and held her in my arms. On looking into her face I realized she was still in the seizure. Her eyes had been pulling to the side earlier and now were forward, but the seizure was still going.
It then became a bit of a Tonic seizure with her head arching back. And it just kept going.
At 5 minutes we would normally give her a dose of Midazalam.

She was so pleased I had the iPod with so she could
listen to 10,000 Reasons. Her favourite.

So I called Rachel to help get that for me (as Asher was in my arms). I got that in at around 7 minutes and the seizure just kept on going. From giving the medication she started having a lot of movement on her face. It was like watching a Tonic Clonic on her face - but her arms and legs were still. So a very strange seizure indeed. I was incredibly grateful for her rhythmical breathing - but called the ambulance as I just didn't feel sure of what was going on. The seizure eventually stopped at 20 minutes! Her longest one yet. And rather frightening for me as you can imagine.
Asher had been a bit "grizzly" on Tuesday, having a few crying session for no reason at all. So I wondered if some infection was brewing. When this has been the case the fever often only shows after the second seizure in a whole cluster of them. So I felt safer just taking the hospital's advice and heading in. An added bonus with this was that we could keep giving her some oxygen. Although she had kept breathing and was still nice and pink, her oxygen level kept dropping to 85. Not too low - but it should be sitting between 95 and 100.

The cupboard under the sink was still
sopping wet on Thursday afternoon.

Just before the doctor came in to check Asher's ears and throat, she started with one of her mad crying sessions again. It was good to find out that ears and throat were fine. We would also get a urine sample to test and that was fine too. After the doc had left I was trying to get her to calm and feed and I spotted a big molar half way out. I had told the doctor that I had wondered about teeth the day before - but had not been able to look. So at least we knew what the trigger was. She has had it before that teething triggers seizures.
They were happy for us to stay for a couple more hours, just to make sure things had settled and then we could head home. Brendon managed to get off work before lunch and so picked us up just after 1. I was very grateful for this because Asher was very agitated at the hospital and kept wanting to leave.
As every hour passed through the day, I was thankful that there were no more seizures.

The passage cupboard got flooded
too - and a whole stack of linen
got wet (there was a hole in the
bag they were in). A good full 9kg
load of extra washing.

I did however have a bit more stress to deal with when I got home. Brendon had told me that Rachel had forgotten to clear the laundry sink before putting the washing on this morning and so it had overflowed. I had not realized the extent of it though. The laundry, bathroom, passage and even kitchen had gotten a good amount of water in. There were towels and sheets piled up - sopping wet. So I got two more loads of washing done and was bringing in dry washing and hanging more up, late into the evening.
On Thursday morning I called our insurance. I had put our de-humidifier on, in the passage, as soon as I got home on Wednesday, and we let it run on high through the night. It had not helped with the carpet though and it was still very wet. The insurance company helped me get a claim started and organized for a company to come out to assess the damage and help dry things out. They brought these two huge fans (which are very loud) on Thursday afternoon and we got those going. He did also note that the glue on the vinyl (in laundry, bathroom and kitchen) had been damaged and so that would need to be replaced. You could already see big bumps in the vinyl (and there are even more now on Sunday night as I write this).



On Thursday afternoon Brendon got home early enough for me to leave the younger 2 with him and so I had a nice bread, taking the older 3 to Brownies.

And then God blessed me with the most amazing sunset to enjoy on our drive home. It was truly magnificent and I felt the loving care of my heavenly Father as He reminded me of His wonderful care over every aspect of His creation. These last two weeks have been incredibly hard - but I know that He has a good plan in this all.

On Friday, Ruth, Asher and I headed into town for her first session at the Champion Centre. It was lovely to get to see the facilities and get to meet some of the ladies who will be helping with Asher. Unfortunately the speech therapist was not able to make it today (the lady Asher needs the most), but we still had a good time getting to know the other two teachers.
Unfortunately she had another "melt down" during the morning and I had forgotten to bring her teething powder with. She was just inconsolable for a good 10 minutes. I had been chatting to the physiotherapist during that time and eventually we decided to try outside - again. And this time we went far enough out that she saw the play area and that distracted her enough from her sore mouth.

I didn't have the camera with me outside. I will try get a photo next time. Asher just loved going up and down the stairs and also quickly learnt how to get across the swing bridge on her own. She also then enjoyed throwing and kicking some of the balls that were around. So still good opportunity for the physio to get so see her balance and a few other things. Next time we will get her shoes off and hopefully Asher will be more compliant and let her see more detail on how she is walking ect. Asher is doing rather well with her gross motor skills, so the physio won't be a major part of her care. Perhaps just fun time to play with someone other than Mum. ;-)
After Champion Centre we went past my dentist so that they could check my mouth. The pain in the extraction site had been a bit better, but since Wednesday, when I started to not need to be on pain meds all the time, I had been struggling more and more with a sore ear on that side. I also had terrible sensitivity on the two teeth beside the "gap". She said my jaw on that side was warmer than on the other - so she prescribed a 3 day course of antibiotics. We picked them up on my way home and I got started straight away.
Ruth has been diligently making green and blue bracelets to take with to her St John Green and Blue cadet camp this weekend - to give to the other girls in her bunk room. She did really well and got 8 made.

I realized I needed to get a children photo before the older girls left for camp - but the light was bad (and I am again having trouble with my "new" camera's flash). So not the best photo - perhaps we will re-do it next week.

The photo with the flash did get a great shot of Asher though. I can't believe how grown up she is looking. I think it's the long looking hair.
On Saturday I heard about a garage sale with loads of DVDs. So I headed off with Hezekiah for our "parent child outing" and we stopped in there first.
There are a few "favourite" movies that the children watch that we have taped off the TV. The only problem is all the advertisements that they have to fast forward through (and end up seeing some of). So I spent a bit of time looking through hundreds of DVDs so that I could get "hard copies" for them - without adverts.
Once I had paid, the guy told me that Hezekiah could take the dragon on our way out. He said he had been so good and he liked the dragon so much. I had made sure he knew not to break it - but he spent quite a bit of time walking by it and talking to it. So when I told him the man had said he could have it - he was thrilled. What a happy little boy.
So dragon was included in our parent child photo before we went into the park. Hezekiah asked me to make sure all the doors of the car were locked so that no one could steal his dragon.

He had a fun time at the "new" park and was very excited about showing his dragon to Dad and Hannah when we got home. He walked in with it in his arms and the biggest smile on his face.
On Sunday Asher had a bit more time on the tramp. Brendon had taken her on it a little while ago. After chatting to the physio on Friday about all the things that I keep her from, I decided it was time to start looking into what she can perhaps handle. She wants to learn to jump - so enjoyed the little bit of bouncing she could do on the tramp. She bounced much more wildly on the couch inside - so I realized it was safe enough for her. Hezekiah and Hannah just struggled to not bounce her all over the place. At least she can get to enjoy this a bit though.
In the afternoon I fetched Rachel and Ruth. Thankfully I could pick them up from friends, only 35 minutes away from us - having gotten a lift from the camp site. They had a great time but were both tired and so decided to not go to church but rather head to bed early (getting to bed over an hour before the others).
And although it sounds like a nice quiet end to the weekend, it was rather hard for me. It was our 18th Wedding Anniversary today and other than buying some ice creams for the family on my way home from fetching the girls, nothing else "special" happened. I have still been feeling rather ill and have been trying to take it easy (thus I did the driving for the girls on Friday and today - so that Brendon could do the harder job of watching Asher). I don't think this dose of antibiotics has cleared things properly though, as although the tooth sensitivity has finally improved, my ear is still very painful. So it's been quite a week.
(Note: I went to the doc on Monday morning. My ear is fine - so it must be referred pain from my jaw. So I started a 2nd course of antibiotics on Monday evening and hopefully they will help clear it properly. I do look forward to feeling better.)