So, Christmas happened and then the day after we flew out to Oregon for a family wedding!
How do families regularly travel around the holidays?? All the packing and planning + crowded airport jostling is madness. I just kept telling myself ,"This is a singular occurrence. It won't be like this every year". Exhale.
We took an evening non-stop flight and while long, was uneventful. (Also, so glad I packed our Dramamine for kids- we used it up!)
The day after we arrived was the rehearsal dinner, and the day after that was the wedding of Tim's youngest sister.
All the nieces were flower girls.:)
It was also Audrey's 7th birthday! I had made her a photo book and brought it with us so she had a little something to open. She was surprised at the reception with a cake just for her and we all sang "Happy Birthday".
On New Year's Eve we had planned to leave in the morning and drive down to Northern California to visit my sister and her family. Well, the night before we were to leave Audrey started vomiting, which continued into the night eventually with complaints of stomach pains. We thought it was most likely a stomach bug and while poor timing since she didn't look well, we went ahead with the drive in the morning as her vomiting had ceased.
The seven hour drive was pretty winding (albeit scenic) at the end and we were all so relieved to finally arrive at our rental house. My sister had graciously left a thermometer and children's Motrin in our rental and when I checked Audrey's temperature she had a high fever. She went right to her bed and fell asleep, so I took the other three girls to my sister's house for dinner while Tim stayed with her.
Just around 7pm Tim called my sister's phone to get in touch with me (I hadn't heard my phone ring- scenarios like this always make me panic!). He told me Audrey was awake and complaining of acute pain in her right lower quadrant. I immediately looked at my sister (also a nurse) and said, "Oh my gosh, it's her appendix. We have to take her to the hospital." Tim had had his appendix out during our first year of marriage and I am SO thankful he knew immediately what Audrey's pain meant! My sister and brother-in-law are so wonderful in an emergency and jumped right in deciding what hospital would be best and asking how they could help. We halted the cousin play and herded the girls into our rental minivan. My sister graciously offered to lead us back to our rental (which was 17 minutes away), and then led the way to the hospital, which was thankfully close by.
The ER was a different experience. You entered into a hallway and then had to push a buzzer outside a door to talk to the staff. Poor Audrey was in so much pain and kept saying she just wanted to lie down. It was a small hospital and we could tell they just didn't get many pediatric cases. The person taking our information had a computer glitch and made me repeat all the information I had already given her before they took Audrey back to a bed; I tried to be as polite as possible but was willing the woman to get us moving along!
Once we were taken back things started to progress. Flu swab. Chest x-ray. Labs. IV fluids running. Abdominal ultrasound. And so much poking and prodding and Audrey crying out with each, "Here?" on the right side of her abdomen. A surgeon came, brought Audrey some heated blankets, and told my sister and I it was probably her appendix and that more time is just more time, so he was going to assemble the surgical team as soon as he could. My head started to spin a bit when I learned that if Audrey's appendix had burst, she'd need to stay in the hospital until Friday (this was Tuesday). Our flights back to Virginia were scheduled for Friday night.
If ever I felt like I had no control over a chain of events, this was it.
We had arrived at the ER at about 7:40PM and sometime after eleven we were taken to large room where the anesthesiologist introduced himself. Audrey had drifted off to sleep sometime before. I was standing by her side when a nurse came and offered to show us where the waiting room was. It wasn't until she was relating to me the timeline we could expect that I realized this was it- we wouldn't be going back into that room and the surgery was starting imminently. I felt panic start to rise, as I hadn't even kissed her goodbye, and I worried she would wake up to strangers before they put her under, but I knew there was nothing I could do and I decided I was going to be at peace about it. I had been praying all day; God was handling everything.
There we were- my sister and I (she's pregnant with her 5th and was a saint to stay with me!) sitting in a waiting room of a community hospital in a place I've never been, talking while Food Network played in the background, while the new year rang in, while my seven-year-old was being operated on. It was a surreal experience! I kept feeling this nudge like I *should* worry, and I knew if I stopped and really thought about it I would cry, so I just kept letting go and trusting it was in God's hands.
Sometime after midnight the surgeon came and told me Audrey's appendix had perforated but the surgery went well. I stayed in the waiting room until after 3AM, when a nurse came to bring me to see Audrey. The next couple of days were a bit of a blur- Tim took most of the hospital "duty", and my sister and BIL did a lot with the girls, visited Audrey, and graciously hosted us for several meals. During this time all our family was so great- offers to come down from Oregon, and lots of support and prayers.
On Friday morning Audrey was discharged, much to her delight (the difference between her in the hospital and her playing outside that afternoon was like night and day!), and she was cleared to fly, so we went ahead with our plans to catch our flight that night. The only slightly daunting thing was that our flights were going out of Sacramento, which was five hours away. The night before I had told Tim I wanted to punch our past selves for making that decision! At the time of our ticket purchase, Sacramento offered a good non-stop flight time and we thought it would be great to visit with nearby friends that day. Little did we know we'd end up with a small window to make that drive.
After having lunch and some play time at my sister's house we made the five hour trek of mostly winding mountain, middle-of-nowhere roads to Sacramento. The *lone* bright spot about it was that it gave each of the girls a chance to sleep, so they weren't zombies once we arrived at the airport. Once we had an emergency stop on the side of the road for a (false alarm) bathroom break, which was well timed as someone else got carsick. It was so middle-of-nowhere that I was looking out for snakes in the brush / sensed this would end up being our own "Foresic Files" episode (I've watched too many). It felt like we were crawling back to VA.
We made in to Sacramento with about fifteen minutes to meet up at In-N-Out for milkshakes with Tim's good friend from college. It was disappointing we didn't have more time but the best laid plans...
Anyway, we had an uneventful flight back home and Audrey recovered well from her surgery. We're hoping the rest of 2020 is low-key!
We took an evening non-stop flight and while long, was uneventful. (Also, so glad I packed our Dramamine for kids- we used it up!)
The day after we arrived was the rehearsal dinner, and the day after that was the wedding of Tim's youngest sister.
All the nieces were flower girls.:)
 |
| These two were so cute together |
It was also Audrey's 7th birthday! I had made her a photo book and brought it with us so she had a little something to open. She was surprised at the reception with a cake just for her and we all sang "Happy Birthday".
 |
| The cousins had so much fun together |
On New Year's Eve we had planned to leave in the morning and drive down to Northern California to visit my sister and her family. Well, the night before we were to leave Audrey started vomiting, which continued into the night eventually with complaints of stomach pains. We thought it was most likely a stomach bug and while poor timing since she didn't look well, we went ahead with the drive in the morning as her vomiting had ceased.
 |
| A token In-N-Out visit |
The seven hour drive was pretty winding (albeit scenic) at the end and we were all so relieved to finally arrive at our rental house. My sister had graciously left a thermometer and children's Motrin in our rental and when I checked Audrey's temperature she had a high fever. She went right to her bed and fell asleep, so I took the other three girls to my sister's house for dinner while Tim stayed with her.
Just around 7pm Tim called my sister's phone to get in touch with me (I hadn't heard my phone ring- scenarios like this always make me panic!). He told me Audrey was awake and complaining of acute pain in her right lower quadrant. I immediately looked at my sister (also a nurse) and said, "Oh my gosh, it's her appendix. We have to take her to the hospital." Tim had had his appendix out during our first year of marriage and I am SO thankful he knew immediately what Audrey's pain meant! My sister and brother-in-law are so wonderful in an emergency and jumped right in deciding what hospital would be best and asking how they could help. We halted the cousin play and herded the girls into our rental minivan. My sister graciously offered to lead us back to our rental (which was 17 minutes away), and then led the way to the hospital, which was thankfully close by.
The ER was a different experience. You entered into a hallway and then had to push a buzzer outside a door to talk to the staff. Poor Audrey was in so much pain and kept saying she just wanted to lie down. It was a small hospital and we could tell they just didn't get many pediatric cases. The person taking our information had a computer glitch and made me repeat all the information I had already given her before they took Audrey back to a bed; I tried to be as polite as possible but was willing the woman to get us moving along!
Once we were taken back things started to progress. Flu swab. Chest x-ray. Labs. IV fluids running. Abdominal ultrasound. And so much poking and prodding and Audrey crying out with each, "Here?" on the right side of her abdomen. A surgeon came, brought Audrey some heated blankets, and told my sister and I it was probably her appendix and that more time is just more time, so he was going to assemble the surgical team as soon as he could. My head started to spin a bit when I learned that if Audrey's appendix had burst, she'd need to stay in the hospital until Friday (this was Tuesday). Our flights back to Virginia were scheduled for Friday night.
If ever I felt like I had no control over a chain of events, this was it.
We had arrived at the ER at about 7:40PM and sometime after eleven we were taken to large room where the anesthesiologist introduced himself. Audrey had drifted off to sleep sometime before. I was standing by her side when a nurse came and offered to show us where the waiting room was. It wasn't until she was relating to me the timeline we could expect that I realized this was it- we wouldn't be going back into that room and the surgery was starting imminently. I felt panic start to rise, as I hadn't even kissed her goodbye, and I worried she would wake up to strangers before they put her under, but I knew there was nothing I could do and I decided I was going to be at peace about it. I had been praying all day; God was handling everything.
There we were- my sister and I (she's pregnant with her 5th and was a saint to stay with me!) sitting in a waiting room of a community hospital in a place I've never been, talking while Food Network played in the background, while the new year rang in, while my seven-year-old was being operated on. It was a surreal experience! I kept feeling this nudge like I *should* worry, and I knew if I stopped and really thought about it I would cry, so I just kept letting go and trusting it was in God's hands.
Sometime after midnight the surgeon came and told me Audrey's appendix had perforated but the surgery went well. I stayed in the waiting room until after 3AM, when a nurse came to bring me to see Audrey. The next couple of days were a bit of a blur- Tim took most of the hospital "duty", and my sister and BIL did a lot with the girls, visited Audrey, and graciously hosted us for several meals. During this time all our family was so great- offers to come down from Oregon, and lots of support and prayers.
 |
| Our little bungalow rental |
On Friday morning Audrey was discharged, much to her delight (the difference between her in the hospital and her playing outside that afternoon was like night and day!), and she was cleared to fly, so we went ahead with our plans to catch our flight that night. The only slightly daunting thing was that our flights were going out of Sacramento, which was five hours away. The night before I had told Tim I wanted to punch our past selves for making that decision! At the time of our ticket purchase, Sacramento offered a good non-stop flight time and we thought it would be great to visit with nearby friends that day. Little did we know we'd end up with a small window to make that drive.
After having lunch and some play time at my sister's house we made the five hour trek of mostly winding mountain, middle-of-nowhere roads to Sacramento. The *lone* bright spot about it was that it gave each of the girls a chance to sleep, so they weren't zombies once we arrived at the airport. Once we had an emergency stop on the side of the road for a (false alarm) bathroom break, which was well timed as someone else got carsick. It was so middle-of-nowhere that I was looking out for snakes in the brush / sensed this would end up being our own "Foresic Files" episode (I've watched too many). It felt like we were crawling back to VA.
We made in to Sacramento with about fifteen minutes to meet up at In-N-Out for milkshakes with Tim's good friend from college. It was disappointing we didn't have more time but the best laid plans...
 |
| Avenue of the Giants |
Anyway, we had an uneventful flight back home and Audrey recovered well from her surgery. We're hoping the rest of 2020 is low-key!
