Welcome to Carrots! I'm so glad you're back. You can sign up for my email newsletter here to stay in touch, or look me up on Instagram!
Wondering why it’s been so quiet around here this week? This should sum it up for you:
Poor baby girl was on week two of a runny nose that turned into a fever and general crumminess. The I-will-scream-if-you-stop-holding-me kind of crumminess. So you can imagine how much of ANYTHING householdy-bloggy, etc, I managed to accomplish and you can imagine the state of my 30 weeks pregnant back after holding a 22 lb little girl almost non-stop for several days. But I was right where I needed to be, with this little gal.
But that’s not all! Oh, no! That’s not all! In addition to 4-year-old Benjamin, Daniel, and I all having a mild case of whatever this cold bug is, my mom has been in the hospital for most of the week and it’s honestly been very scary. I’ve been updating FB and Instagram with her status and I so appreciate all of the prayers and encouragement you’ve been sending my way! It means so much.
She’s been fighting what seemed to be a flu-like illness for a couple of weeks which escalated into something more at the beginning of the week and her Dr. had her transferred to the hospital for tests. After some heavy-duty antibiotics and a bunch of inconclusive tests, she was symptom free and went home, only to have the pain return worse than ever and was taken to the ER via ambulance Thursday morning. When I arrived at the hospital she was in excruciating pain and could barely move. She is again recovering well due to the antibiotics through an IV, but her Dr. and the infectious disease specialist they have on the case are insistent that she is not released until they pinpoint the source of the infection. And they are baffled! They’ve done everything from a CT scan (she had breast cancer almost 4 years ago, so they ruled that out first) to a spinal tap to an echocardiogram to x-rays looking for a tooth abscess….nothin’. So they continue to run tests. Please pray that they can quickly solve the mystery and help her to get better longterm.
And while we’re on the subject of prayer, I would so appreciate it if you would pray for some very dear friends of ours with four precious kids and 3 babies in heaven who have been waiting almost two years to adopt their sweet baby or babies from a country in Africa (I can’t give the exact location). It’s been almost a year since they were told they would receive a phone call “any day now” to come pick up their little one(s). The adoption agency is sending representatives to meet with the US ambassador and government officials to discover why all the adoptions from this country are stalled March 17-19th. Our friends are asking that folks pray a Novena to St. Joseph (his feast day is March 19th) for his intercession beginning this Sunday:
O St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt
before the Throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires.
O St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession and obtain
for me from your Divine Son all spiritual blessings through Jesus
Christ, Our Lord; so that having engaged here below your Heavenly
power I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of
Fathers. O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus
asleep in your arms. I dare not approach while He reposes near your
heart. Press him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me, and ask Him
to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, Patron of
departing souls, pray for us. Amen.
Pregnancy Update: I’m feeling very third trimestery. Waddling has commenced, acid reflux has arrived. Baby Gwen is kicking and rolling beautifully and I have an appointment at my midwife’s office next week so we’ll hope for a perfect, regular heartbeat and none of the arrhythmia we heard last month. And the lighting’s bad, but it’s been way too long since I posted a belly picture:
Almost 30 weeks!
The Quotable Benjamin:
(While watching a ballet competition documentary with me while Lucy napped in my lap):
Me: “Wow, she’s amazing!”
Benjamin: “Well…she doesn’t impress ME much. She doesn’t even have a tutu!”
When I was telling Benjamin sweet things like, “I love you more than bears love honey.” He started coming up with some similar phrases. The best one was, “You love me more than you love going to sleep at night!” How apropos of parenthood, amirite?!
“There was this guy named Lance Armstrong and his job was to climb mountains on his BIKE! But then…well, he started to take DRUGS so…”
“Hi, Dr. How are you? I don’t need anything like…ya know…SHOTS.”
Links: Lots of good stuff this week, but I don’t have time to add them all in for you right now, I have to get back to my sick little one and go see my mama. Maybe later this weekend. So here’s just one I found interesting:
Americans Support Breastfeeding as Long as It’s “Free“: NY Times
Book Love: Don’t forget to enter the giveaway of Tyler Blanski’s latest book: When Donkeys Talk: A Quest to Rediscover the Mystery and Wonder of Christianity! Giveaway closes at midnight EST on Sunday and I’ll announce the winners next week. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment saying you want a copy (couldn’t be easier, right?) and you can get additional entries by sharing on FB or twitter and telling me that you did in a separate comment.
Instagrams Worth Sharing:
This perfectly sums up my week. The Rosary and coffee with cream for my soul and sanity. Homemade backyard chicken broth for my cold. Giant pregnant belly.
What a joy he’s been this week! While I was snuggling little sister, he entertained himself beautifully by making animals our of his crane construction set. This one is a giraffe, couldn’t you tell?
Sweet girl is much better this morning. No fever and bright eyes are back. Still feeling under the weather but I think we’ve turned the corner. Yesterday, the Dr. gave me a prescription for antibiotics since he suspected a secondary infection even though her ears, throat, and lungs checked out. I’m glad I decided to wait one more day to fill it because I think she is on the mend and won’t need them!
Question 1: At what point do you give your babies Tylenol? I’m of the persuasion that until they are really uncomfortable and the fever is high enough to keep them from resting, you don’t mess with the fever since it’s their body’s way of fighting the bug. Once my kids’ temp reaches 101.5 and up, I give them a half dose before nap or bedtime to take the edge off and try tepid baths during the day. I’m just always nervous about giving young children meds. What’s your method with a fever?
Question 2: What’s your favorite social media app? I continue to fall in love with instagram and feel completely uncomfortable with twitter. I was so thankful for my sweet instagram friends this week and their prayers and encouragment!
Good news: My dear friend IRL, Kaitlin @ More Like Mary gave birth to a beautiful baby boy this week! Because we’ve all been sick, we haven’t gotten to meet the little guy but I’m dying to snuggle him!
Hope you have a healthy, beautiful weekend!
Love,
Haley
P.S. You can also follow me on Twitter (@haleycarrots), Pinterest (haleyofcarrots), FB, and Instagram (carrotsformichaelmas). I love connecting with my wonderful readers!
P.P.S. If you send me an email this week and I haven’t responded, please forgive me! I am so behind and will respond whenever I have the chance to catch up. Thank you so much for all your contributions to my upcoming series on NFP! I promise to get back to you as soon as I can!
Haley! I hope you all get better fast! And your poor moms situation is so scary, I’m sure it’s made for a long week. Praying they find the problem and it can be healed!
Also, totally can’t do twitter either. It’s weird but I think I have a twitter block. But Instagram is great. Yesterday we had a convo about hypnobirthing from a pic!
Thanks for your prayers, sweet Christy. I’m glad I’m not the only one who has a twitter block. I’m trying to make it feel familiar but I just get overwhelmed and keep avoiding it.
As a school nurse, I send children children home if their temp is 100 or higher. Between 99 and 100 is a judgement call. Children are not allowed to return to school until their temp is below 100 without the aid of fever-reducing medication. In the hospital, with adult patients, we treated for fevers of 101 or higher. And we used Tylenol. (Tylenol is the pain relieve hospitals use most because it does not cause stomach irritation or kidney issues. Many patients are not able to eat anything and/or have kidney problems.) However, if the “patient” can eat and does not otherwise have a conflict with ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin), I would treat with that because it does not have the cumulative effect on the liver that Tylenol does.
Great info, Kelley. Thanks!
Poor baby! I don’t treat fevers unless it is interfering with sleep or if it were to get crazy high and risk a seizure or something. Most doctors I’ve been to have advised that and I agree. Good for you for avoiding the antibiotics! Sometimes the cure can be way worse and cause more long term issues than just powering through the illness.
So sorry about your mom. May the doctors be granted the wisdom to help her and may she be healed.
Beautiful baby belly
Thanks
Yes, I’m so glad we delayed starting antibiotics. I agonized over it because she was so miserable on Friday. But if we’d started I would have assumed that she was better Saturday because of antibiotics instead of the truth: her body just really started to mend. Relieved!
How pitiful Lucy looks! We had a cold bug here last weekend and my babes were just as miserable. Scary about your mom! I’ll add her to my prayers as well as your friends trying to adopt. As for the Tylenol thing – I will treat a fever with Motrin once it reaches about 102. Before that – I try to bring it down with tepid baths and cool cloths on the forehead. I try to keep them as comfy as possible, but still let the fever do it’s job. I’m still not a good tweeter & lack a smartphone to do Instagram with. I got off of Facebook because I didn’t like all the changes they were making. I am social networking impaired. LOL. I love me some Pinterest though…I’ve gotten so many amazing recipes and ideas for the kids off of there.
Thanks for your prayers! Sweet lamb is back to normal now, thank goodness. I like pinterest, too. I sometimes get a little overwhelmed, though. Definitely great for recipes and for keeping track of neat liturgical year stuff to do with the kids!
My grand daughter spikes fevers FAST…..her pediatrician told me when a fever in a young child (under 5) climbs quickly I must treat her fever as young kids can have febrile seizures. When Emmy’s temp gets to 102 her Dr wants to see her right away to try and find the cause. We alternate with Tylenol and Advil as Tylenol doesn’t last that long.
This is good as well–alternating between the two.
High fevers definitely make me nervous. 102 is probably the limit for me, as well, and I take them straight to the Dr. Lucy’s fever showed up after a nap at 103.2 and I was officially nervous and we headed right over!
Haley,I am so sorry to read you and your family have been unwell!I hope you all feel much better soon.I am praying for your mum,the Lord will protect her and give wisdom to her doctors.I apologoze for not having been able to follow your posts and news,but I promise to mend.Big hug!!
Thanks, Miriam! We’re all getting better. Just praying for answers about my mom’s illness. Our concern now is that her symptoms are all better from the round of heavy duty antibiotics but that they will return if the Drs can’t discover what the issue was. Thanks so much for your prayers!!
Prayers and sympathy for what sounds like a very stressful time!
Also: great lines from Ben this week. Too much!