Coburn Kids

So I’ve seen my fair share of ER’s. I’m no expert on the system, but when ER visits start to fill more then the fingers on my hand I can say that I’ve probably seen more than most. Thought I’d do this handy guide for anyone reading this blog on what to expect in an ER from a parent perspective (or not to expect) having been in multiple hospitals in multiple states.

First, if you think your child might possibly, even remotely have an issue that will require them to be admitted into a hospital… do not go to an Urgent/Kids Care. Urgent cares are wonderful things for after hours when your kid’s pediatrician isn’t available: for that exruciating earache your child has at 2 AM in the morning, for the broken arm, for the flu, for swallowing a penny. If your child has anything more than this, say a symptom such as persistent vomiting, extremely high fever, lethargic, breathing problems, disoriented/confusion, head injury or some injury with a LOT of blood go straight to a hospital’s ER. If you go to an Urgent/Kids Care for any of the listed problems they are going to be sending you off to the ER. And all that waiting, registering, waiting some more in an Urgent/Kids Care doesn’t get you bumped ahead of the line if you are sent to the hospital ER just because you went there first. You just start the whole process over again.

Better even still, call the ambulance if your child has a serious symptom.

I’ve now seen and heard of parents who are trying to assess their child’s health who have driven them to the hospital when an ambulance should have been called. Ambulances have several advantages if you are on the fence, first off your child will be seen sooner then simply walking into an ER (not by a doctor necessarily, but certainly triaged). They can receive some form of immediate care while in the ambulance. They are much more expensive, do not get me wrong, and please do not use the ambulance if you feel your child’s symptoms/injuries are not an immediate danger to them.

If you can manage, get to a children’s hospital. There’s this mistaken assumption that a regular hospital’s ER will have every doctor on staff and all the equipment that your child, or even you, could need. This is not the case. While any ER can certainly perform life-saving intervention on your child, and is better then none, there are a lot of hospital’s that don’t have the right size equipment for your child. Like for Adessa they had no child-size nasal cannula. While an adult one works it’s extremely uncomfortable. Or for Caden we had to call 4 hospital ER’s to see if they had the right-size feeding tube before finding one. Even if the hospital has a pediatric wing on it this is not a guarantee that the ER of the same hospital has it.

Once you get into the ER you can either be triaged or be sent to start registering. Works differently in different hospitals. Breathing problems and chest/heart are always top priority FYI. Mention these problems and triage is immediate. Just because you are seen first though does not mean you get out of there any faster then any other patient waiting (an important note). 4 hours is our average time spent in the ER. From showing up to leaving. 4 hours. There has never been an ER visit with only 2 hours, it’s always 4 hours +. Even if you were the only one in that waiting room. Getting an initial assessment of your child is not what takes the longest amount of time, it’s discharge. Once you’ve been mended or the problems go away the real waiting begins. Getting prescriptions from the hospital’s pharmacy, waiting for discharge instructions, waiting for test results, these take up the bulk of the ER visit. You will literally, at some point in the ER visit, sit there and wonder if you are all done. Should I be leaving? Should I be talking to someone about leaving? Maybe they forgot about us over here. Why am I still waiting here? Are we done? Most of the ER visits we experience as parents don’t lead to a hospital admission so the “are we done” question will nag you.

The best thing about the ER is that you will always have to go at some inconvenient time and come home at some inconvenient time. Since you are looking at a 4+ hour stay this will inevitably conflict with something. Whether that’s work, sleep, vacation, holidays or so forth. So you can plan on being tired, stressed and worn out for the next few days.

So… wow.  I’ve been sick.  My husband has been sick.  My kids have been sick.  We’ve been like the walking plague for a month now.  Passing it around and back again to each other.  I’m on the mend though and feeling so much better.  Let me give updates!

Genevieve – loving her chess class.  I swear this is the only thing ever she actually comes home from and just talks and talks about it.

Adessa – got glasses!  Yes, that’s right.  Every single member of my lil’ family now wears glasses.  She’s so cute in them.

Caden – hasn’t gained weight.  He’s the tiniest thing.  We’re just a slight bit concerned because his feeding tube has been out for a month now (he pulled it out and quite frankly we decided to push the liquids rather then going to the ER… again… for another $200 visit). But he’s drinking!  Now he just won’t eat.  Hmph. Can’t win.  So our doctor has put him on Pediasure, high calorie and high fat to help him gain weight.  He actually loves the stuff and it comes in yummy flavors like strawberry, vanilla, berry cream, chocolate and more so he’s happy with it.  Also in news is that Caden is FINALLY getting speech services.  Yes that’s right, it took nearly 6 months. We still don’t have a single word.  He’s learned more signs but that’s really all we have right now.  6 or 7 signs he’ll do sporadically.

Daniel – crazy busy.  With work, with life, with everything.  Just got over pneumonia and he’s amazing.  ;)

I know, I know I haven’t updated in a month!  Terrible really.  I’ve been busy with work is all.  I have pics that I’ll try to get up in the next few days.

Quick updates though:

Caden is learning ASL like mad now!  He’s really getting into it so we’re trying to use sign every chance we get.  Which is hard, because we have the videos and we watch them but it’s just pieces here and there.  Would love to take a class and I’ve looked online but nothing is close to where I live.  Not to mention the logistics of getting babysitters and finding a time that my husband and I could both attend that would make it impossible.

We’ve got both the girls in summer day camps that they adore. They are making new friends, experiencing new things.  The thought of my 7 year old just hanging at the pool alone twice a week though, without myself as a parent hoovering over her, still brings a small piece of panic to my heart… but I’m learning to overcome that.  To really trust her new found independence.

We’ve been having a blast all summer. Swimming, bike rides, carnivals, friends, family, walks, running in the rain, naps, parks, exploring, movies, fireflies, BBQ’s, picnics, puppet shows, playing in the sand, games and just fun galore. It’s been a wonderful few months.  And to all of our UT friends, it’s in the 70′s here!  It hit the 80′s for a couple of days but it’s been so nice.

We have Caden’s birthday next week!  My little guy is going to be 2.  Which is just… so overwhelming to me for some reason.  But more on that when it’s his actual birthday.

I know, I know… where are the updates?  Where are the pics?  I’ve just been crazy busy every day.  This is going to be a fabulous fun week though.  My parents are coming in to town tomorrow night, my brother Jason is coming into town the day after, it’s Adessa’s Birthday, it’s my brother’s birthday, it’s Father’s Day and we have a jam-packed week of going to the aquarium, Six Flags, birthday parties and more!  I’ll have lots of pics to post with all the excitement.

This Memorial Day weekend was busy, busy, busy. Saturday night we had some new friends over with their 16 month old.  What a little monkey he was! None of my kids have ever been climbers and just seeing the coordination this little guy had was amazing. I went out to see the new Star Trek movie (recommended) with them while Daniel watched all the kids.  Which wasn’t much effort considering they were all asleep by the time we left.

Sunday night we went to my brother-in-law’s sister’s wedding.  The reception didn’t start until 7:30 PM so I was a bit worried about how the kids would do. They were exceptional! The girls loved sitting down to a fancy dinner and they were very anxious to get on the dance floor.  They had such a blast and we didn’t even get out of there until nearly 11:00 PM.  My girls were ready to go the entire night, they begged to stay longer!

Then Monday night we had Daniel’s family over for a BBQ. Which was great just being able to hang out and talk. The girls love playing with their cousins and they all get along so well.  It was noisy, but good happy noise.  Daniel made his ribs and there was plenty of food for all.

We’ll start off with my poor lil’ 4 year old, Adessa.  On Thursday it was her turn at the Dr.’s office and she got her kindergarten shots. She was so brave!  She didn’t cry or let out a peep once. I’m so proud of her.  The next day and so on has been a different story.  Adessa had a bad reaction to one of the shots and you can see her red, tender and extremely swollen arm below. It’s hot and the skin across it is tight and shiny from the swelling it hurts her to move it as well:

Now in terms of the great news… OUR HOUSE IS UNDER CONTRACT!  It’s so unbelievable that we were able to sell it in just 1 month. Daniel and I have talked about how we knew that we were supposed to come out here to IL, that it was the right thing to do.  And we knew that our home in UT would sell or that everything would work out but you always have those doubts and fears. We close around June 19th on it and what a huge relief and blessing it is! We had neighbors whose homes were on the market for 1 year+, in fact we still know one or two that haven’t sold.

Daniel and I are very happy right now!

Every single day it’s been raining.  We’ve had 2 days of sunshine and the rest has been cold and dreary.  I do have to say how green everything is though, after living in UT and TX the green is a nice change but the weather is depressing.

Trying to get Caden some new therapists is proving the nightmare I heard it was. I was told back in UT by some ladies that to get services started again it would take 2-3 months in Chicago.  I talked to his wonderful therapists at the time and we hoped this wouldn’t be the case since Caden clearly qualifies and has been in Early Intervention since birth. Apparently not.

On Tuesday I was told Caden was having his evaluation for EI services, turns out the woman was only coming out to go over paperwork.  It took all of 20 minutes because I all ready had filled out all the paperwork beforehand.  Now it seems it’s going to take 1-2 weeks for them to even call me to set up his developmental screening.  And who knows when that can take place because apparently they are swamped and there are no openings right now, there was even talk of a waiting list, so his screening could be 2-4+ weeks away.  Once the screening is done by the Occupational Therapist, the Speech Pathologist, and the Developmental Specialist, from that point they state that services can take up to 45 days to start.  So we are indeed looking at a 3 month wait to start any type of therapy with Caden because of the bureaucracy. Despite the fact that he just had a developmental screening late Jan. and we have a Family Service Plan all ready.  Ugh.

Caden is so far behind in speech, it is absolutely painful to lose 3 precious months waiting for paperwork to be done. I think I’m going to explore private speech for him and see what our new insurance can cover.

So my goal for this year was to simplify my life.  Funny.  Things are more complicated and busy then ever right now with the move and just settling in.  In some strange way I need this stress in my life though, I function well under stress.  Better then without it as a matter of fact.  It keeps me focused, motivated, ready to take on anything and everything.  Where when I have no stress, things are just creeping along, I lose all ambition and just want to lay around.  So I’m actually thankful to have all these happenings in my life.

I promised pics so you can see some below!

Gena is loving school.  Truly and honestly loving school.  Everything is “terrific”. She loves the bus, loves her teacher, loves her class and is just adjusting so well!  I was so worried about her being the new girl. You can see a pic of her off up there on her first day of school. Adessa cries every day that Gena leaves for school because she wants to go to.

Above is Adessa’s new sitting spot, she’s taken over my laundry baskets. Oh!  Best part, kindergarten in Adessa’s school district is for the entire day. That makes me really happy, more so that I can schedule Dr. appointments for Caden and that Adessa can play with her friends and learn all day.  Right now she is just desperate for a playmate and Mommy can only play with her so much during the day.  Plus, she wants to get on that big yellow school bus so much.  I can see that gleam in her eye whenever Gena gets on or gets off it.

The kids have been having a great time exploring their new digs and the new neighborhood.  Below is a picture of Gena and Adessa doing a “cooking show” with their Easy Bake oven.

Then there’s the neighborhood kids, of which there are a ton.  Lots of boys and little girls. They all congregated outside in front of our house tonight.

And here’s Daddy and Caden watching them.

So much to tell, not able to do pictures yet either but suffice it to say we are all here in one piece.  Driving 1200 miles in 2 days with 3 kids… NOT RECOMMENDED. They actually did pretty good, only 2 or 3 melt downs, but hey, I was about ready to melt down as well after being stuck in a car for 10+ hours a day.

First off let me do a round of thanks to our wonderful ward members in UT who helped us move (especially JJ who is a genius apparently at fitting things into a moving truck), to my brother Ryan for moving and helping us chuck 1/2 our house into a dumpster.  To my sister-in-law, who was the fire I needed (seriously, if I could have that motivation every day I could perform miracles!) to stay on task and work me to the point of collapse. To my lilttle brother for driving with us, giving my husband a break, helping me to laugh and to load and unload the truck (only 1 more time Jason!)  To my parents for taking the time off work to help us move, drive with us, unpack, watch the kids, keep my sanity and a million other little things that made it all possible. To the new neighbors here in IL who have been so welcoming!  To our new ward members who helped us move in and whom I’ve met at church. To my in-laws who unpacked, kept the kids out of the way of heavy moving/falling objects. To my new neighbor Vito who has all ready helped us slide around one disaster by fixing the sump pump that flooded our basement. And a special thanks to Dix, Nebraska for showing us where all small town horror movies get their inspiration from.

We’re still a bit bummed to have had to leave UT and all the wonderful neighbors, ward members and my family, but we are settling in and really enjoying IL.  Not the weather though, which has been rainy, gloomy and biting cold. We got Gena registered for school, which was a task in itself.  You  have to prove your entire family lineage, show every identifying information that you possess that the spawn next to you is indeed your offspring, produce all tax records for the last a decade, give a DNA and blood sample, have your child thoroughly examined by every doctor/specialist/therapist/nurse in a 10 mile radius and then finally a utility bill. Wait…  a utility bill?  How can I produce that I just moved in 2 days ago?  Oh, call the utility company to see if they can print something off for you.  Call all of them, and am told that nope, we can’t print something off until you receive your first bill. As an alternative the school asks you to produce an IL driver’s license with your new address.  Great.  Drive down to get one.  Wait… I have to have a utility bill to get a license?  IT’S A VICIOUS CIRCLE!! The gas, power and water company hold all the power.  You can’t register your child for school without a utility bill, you can’t get a driver’s license without a utility bill, you can’t get a bank account without a driver’s license.  It’s a conspiracy.

We got it all settled though and today she took the bus to school.  We live a 1/2 mile from the school, apparently in her district everyone is bussed.  Gena was thrilled though to get to ride on the bus.  She is loving all the different things at her school like music class, Gym (they had P.E. at her old elementary but here, since they only have 1 recess a day, they have Gym every day as well). She attends a K-2 school right now.  Next year she’ll go to the 3-5 grade school which is right next to it.  Interesting they do that but perhaps better then doing portables and year-round schooling to fit all the children. We’re getting Adessa registered for Kindergarten as well and she’s excited for that.

Caden is being clingy.  You can’t put him down.  Whenever he sees me reach for my jacket he starts to cry, the poor boy thinks I’m going to abandon him or something. He was starting to get a bit of seperation anxiety when we left UT but this whole move has just bumped it up a notch.

I’ll try to get some pics up tomorrow!

So my kids told me I should tell more about our trip to Chicago on the blog.  The thing is, I took pictures of absolutely nothing relevant! So here are my pictures from my trip to Chicago.

First up is “The Blue Monstrosity”.  We named the car.  It was a requirement when I saw it.  I apologize if you love your Teal Blue PT Cruiser but honestly… being able to pick out your car from 3 parking lots away in a downpour is not my cup of tea. Great for a rental car though admittedly.

Next up is a picture of Daniel in the airport.  HAHA!  He doesn’t even know I took it.  He was talking to my mom at the time on the phone as well, in case you were ummm… wondering. This picture serves as proof to my children that airports are indeed boring places and not glamorous at all.  Look at those people in the background, having the time of their lives.

Next up, I thought it would be cool to show my kids a picture of us above the clouds in an airplane.  The 7 year old was not impressed.

“Look at this picture Gena!  See how cool that is, we were above the clouds.”

“Mommy… you just turned the camera upside down.”

“Wha… NO I DIDN’T!  That’s an actual picture of your Daddy and I in a plane above the clouds!!!”

“Mommy, if you turn that picture upside down it looks the exact same as from the ground. Why is that neat?”

*grumble, mumble*  I give up trying to impress my kids.