Birthday Blues

I was hoping to be able to write a super fun post this weekend about all of the good times we had on Aria's 3rd birthday, but things didn't go as planned. :(  Unfortunately, Aria came down with a cough on Saturday, putting the kibosh on any birthday plans with friends and family over the weekend. She developed a fever on Sunday, and by Monday had advanced to the point that we took her in to her pediatrician to get her checked out. I felt so bad for having to cancel all of her birthday plans, but she was such a trooper, and had a great attitude about it. So- instead of going to Boondocks, we went to the doctor instead. At the doctor's they tested for flu and did a chest Xray; both came back negative. Her numbers looked good and she was pretty happy at the office, so they sent us home and continued to have us give her ibuprofen/tylenol for her fever and albuterol treatments for her cough/breathing. Monday night was awful- she hardly slept at all, and by Tuesday she was acting so unlike herself- crying and whimpering constantly and it looked like she'd developed pink eye as well. I tried the triage line at the office but never heard back, so I finally just took her back in. Like always, they did an in office albuterol treatment with the nebulizer, but this time her numbers went DOWN after the treatment. Af first, when the girl came in to check Ari's pulse/ox, I thought she just didn't put the meter on right. Then the other tech came in and said that they were going to do another albuterol, but combined with oxygen. I thought, "That's fine. No big deal." When the doctor came into the room a minute or so into that treatment, he said,

"An ambulance is on it's way. You are going to Primarys." 

I feel very blessed that I didn't just freak out (the meltdown happened later...), and was able to stay calm for Aria. She was crying already because she didn't like wearing the oxygen mask, so I told her that we got to have a ride in an ambulance, and got to to a hospital. She immediately calmed down and was excited for the ride. FYI, the reason they called the ambulance was because they didn't want her off of oxygen for the 45 minute drive to the hospital. With the ambulance, they could keep her hooked up to the O2 the entire time. So the paramedics came, loaded us up, and we were off. The timing worked out so that Ryan was able to leave from work and arrive at the hospital right when we did, which I was so grateful for. He is my rock, and it's hard to hold it together without him. (Let's be honest, even with him I can barely hold it together half of the time...) They just gave her more breathing treatments when we got there and had us wait a bit. The virus test they ran came back positive for RSV.  Both Ryan and I thought that they "might" just treat her and send us home, or maybe if it was bad we would be admitted and have to stay overnight. Neither of us had any idea that we would be here through Friday..... and still have no real end in sight.

So anyhow, they finally got her room ready and we had a rough night trying to keep her oxygen levels stable, and trying to get her to sleep. She'd hardly slept in close to 48 hours at that point, and was basically hysterical. They also decided after listening more to her lungs that she had viral pneumonia as well. The next morning was rough, so they finally gave her a huge dose of albuterol and put her on an IV since she refused to eat or drink anything. That made more of a difference than anything. She was playing, and laughing, and asking the staff what their favorite colors were. She even ate some chicken nuggets and ice cream for dinner. Yay! The plan was that they would just start weaning her off the oxygen and take her off the IV the next day, and hopefully we could go home on Thursday evening. HA. While she slept pretty good on Wednesday night, Thursday she took a few steps back. She had been complaining of abdominal pain before, which they attributed to all the coughing and it was alleviated with tylenol and ibuprofen, but the pain yesterday was different, and she was NOT happy. They decided she has a gastric bug on top of the other stuff. Poor kid. All day yesterday she just laid in bed and was awake long enough to get her meds, or go to the bathroom. When she was awake, she just complained of stomach pain or her cough.  :( They finally put her back on the IV after she still wouldn't eat anything. Yesterday morning is when I lost it. After having her improve so much on Wednesday, only to take a nose dive the next morning was hard to handle.  I finally left her  to go home for a shower and to try to regroup, but ever since then it's been touch and go as far as my emotional stability. 

Last night was not so great, and today started out rough but she's improved as the day has gone on. They did a film of her stomach to veryify there wasn't any kind of blockage contributing to the abdominal pain, which came out fine. We got to take her out to a patio and sit outside for a bit, which was good for her. When we were on our way to radiology, we passed the hallway by the cafeteria and Aria said that something smelled good and that her tummy was hungry. Thank heavens!! We got back from our walk and she ate a couple of crackers and part of a strawberry, which seems like nothing, but it was huge to us. This morning, Ryan and I were seriously considering bribing her with a kitty to get her to eat. She still needs to drink more, her need for oxygen still fluctuates, and she's still super tired, but she's definitely been more aware and with it today We aren't sure when we'll be home or back to work. Ryan and I are lucky to have such understanding and supportive people that we work for/with. We've both been able to be here for Aria. Next week could be sketchy, though. 

Thanks to everyone for the prayers, supportive texts, and gifts. It really does make a difference to know that other people are pulling for you. It is so difficult to have your kid be so sick and miserable, and to have to stand by and watch, helpless. 

Here are some pictures of some birthday stuff we were able to do before Ari got sick, and some pics of the hospital. We are planning on re-doing her birthday once she gets better, so we'll do a happy birthday post then. :)

 Grandma Sue brought over her presents the Friday before, and spoiled her. She loves dolls!

 She also loves unwrapping presents. 

 The only thing she told us she wanted for her birthday was a kitty (or a baseball hoop, but that wasn't gonna happen), so to try to make it special we took her to Build a Bear for the first time. 

Her favorite part was being able to wash her kitty. 

Kitty got washed a few times....

She looked so cute walking in the mall with her box!

My long haired princess. Gosh I love her!

 This was her special birthday outfit. She got some fun moustaches from her friend for her birthday. We will miss you, friend!

 Even though Ari was sick and we couldn't go do anything, we still let her open her presents.

 Our main gift was an activity easel where she can paint or draw with chalk or markers.

 She was really excited about the paint part. 

Albuterol tx at the doctors office. She was really quite happy while we were there- and she got some coupons for a free taco and ice cream for being so good on her birthday. 

 In the ER at PCMC waiting for our room. I know the cannula is out of her nose..... they were seeing how she did without O2 at this point. 

 She wanted to take pictures making funny faces. The camera was toward her so she could see herself. 

 We got a special delivery while she was asleep on Wednesday. She woke up to take it when the lady came in, then immediately fell back asleep and held it for the rest of her nap. 

 They gave her a bag with a bunch of medical supplies so she could play doctor. Ryan was showing her how a hair net worked.... you know, cuz he has so much hair....

 They have a lot of things to help keep her busy, including a little kitchen and tea set. 

 Her favorite thing to do so far is paint. They even have glitter and little hearts and stars that she can glue on her paper. This was Wed afternoon when she was doing her best. 

 Last night we were so desperate to get her to eat something- anything- that we actually let her just eat the frosting on her cupcake. I documented it, because I don't plan on allowing frosting for dinner ever again. :)

 Uncle Nick send her a teddy bear that is as big as she is! Ryan was playing with her with it and this was probably the only smile we got yesterday. 

My sweet girl, sleeping off this crap. Work body, work!! Get rid of this crap!!!

I'll update things as they progress. I pray that we won't be here that much longer. Hopefully all of you in blogger land are having a better week than we are. :)

Aye Aye Aye Aye, Why Do We Live Where it's Snowy??

Hola! And Ole! We just got back from our Mexican Riviera cruise, and while we're glad to be home, we're already missing the beach! Sun, an ocean breeze, and having your feet in the sand is SO good for the soul.

Our first night on the cruise, we took Ari to a Camp Carnival parents and kids dance, where she showed everyone her moves. They had a competition where parents and kids danced against each other, and then they had a boy/girl winner, and a mom/dad winner. Guess who won??

Who knew that to win a dance competition, all you had to do was shake your butt and rub your baby belly?

We had a couple of sea days to get down to sunny Mexico. Ari decided that Camp Carnival wasn't for her (I don't know what her deal is, but she HATES that place!), so we got lots of quality family time together. We splurged this time and got a room with a balcony, which was a life saver for when Ari had naptime. It gave a nice opportunity for Ryan and I to spend some alone time outside. 

Ok, so she did go to Camp Carnival for a little bit- long enough to get her face painted. I am not sure how this came out of the Pirate theme, but she liked it. 

Sun, ocean, alone time... ahhhhhh. 

Like Ryan and I, Ari liked the fancy dinners on the cruise, but for a completely different reason. We like to eat our faces off. Ari and cousin C liked to dance together when they did "showtime." Aria also loved the towel animals. On our days at sea, we hit the pool a couple of times, and Ari got to get her dance on with Grandma. I never realized what a dancer Ari is! 

 All dressed up for fancy night. 

 I am not sure what Ari is doing with her tongue here, but she and C sure had fun dancing around!

Smiling with her frog. We also had a rhino, a monkey, a bear, an elephant, a dinosaur, and another one that we can't remember. 

Monkey!

Dawn had a lady stop her a day or so after this on the boat and comment on what a great dancer she was. Hopefully Aria will get her Grandma's dancing ability, because heaven knows she's not getting it from me!

Our first stop was in Puerto Vallarta, where we spent 2 days. The first day we just hung out at the beach, which was AWESOME. The water was warm, the sand was soft, and the sun was shining! The girls both loved playing in the waves and we remembered sand toys, so they had a good time making (and destroying) sand castles.

 I love her smile in these. She really loves the water.

 It's not a day at the beach until somebody gets buried in sand!

The second day we went on a pirate ship, which was okay. They had a ton of super loud music blasting the whole time, and they did a pirate show that was in both Spanish and English, so it got hard to follow. The boat was also a replica of the original Santa Maria, so it was on the smaller side and that thing was rockin' like crazy. Lots of people got sea sick, including Dawn, which was no bueno. For part of the show, they brought a couple of kids up, and to turn the tables on the parents (they WERE pirates after all), they had the kids feed their mom's gross baby food while both of them were blindfolded. It was pretty funny, and if you ask Aria what her favorite part of the cruise was, she will say, "when the kids fed their mommies." The pirate boat dropped us off at a beach for a couple of hours where we got to kayak, feed some fish, play with some crabs, and make more sand castles. It was a beautiful, secluded beach surrounded by rocky cliffs lined with trees. Very picturesque- too bad we didn't get a great picture of it!

 Our assigned pirate for the day was Pepe. 

 Pepe even got Ari all "tattooed" out like a pirate. 

 Another pirate let Aria borrow their hat. They had all kinds of cool pirate things to take pictures of the kids with around the boat.

 They even let her drive the ship!

 One of the crew found some hermit crabs and brought them to show Ari. I love that she isn't afraid of things and had no issues holding them, even when they came out of their shells and started walking around her hand. 

 Ryan was going to go on the kayak ride with her, but she changed her mind at the last minute and wanted me to go with her.

 Robin and I didn't feel comfortable paddling with both girls in the boat, so another crew member was nice enough to paddle us around. He took us around the corner and gave us some bread to feed the fish. They were beautiful! We also could see lots of jellyfish just under the water once it got a little deeper- I was glad I wasn't swimming in that area!

 We got back on the boat, had lunch, and Ari passed out for most of the ride back. I got to have two snuggle naps with her this trip. I don't get those anymore, so it was kind of nice. :)

Our finals stop was in Cabo San Lucas. It wasn't as green as Puerto Vallarta, but it was surrounded by BEAUTIFUL sandy beaches. It also had the cool rock formations that Cabo is known for. We went whale watching at this port. It is a tender stop, and we only had a little bit of time left after our excursion was over, so we didn't want to push our luck timing-wise by going to the beach, which we were pretty bummed about. That just means we'll have to make another trip down to Cabo sometime so we can get our fill of sun and beaches!

I love my beautiful girl! This was on the boat while headed out to find us some whales!

 There were pelicans all over at the marina. I don't think I've seen one before. 

 Beautiful!

 There were a bunch of sea lions on a rock in the distance. We also saw some that had hitched a ride on the back of a boat while on our way out of the marina.

 Our home away from home.... the Carnival Miracle.

Soo- it's hard to get a picture of a whale!! This is the best we got. None of them ever fully jumped out of the water, but it was cool to see them blow, then you'd see their big bodies come out of the water just a bit, then you'd see the tail splash. It was so cool! I may have clapped and squealed just a little when I saw my first whale. :)

Our final day at sea was pretty rough. It was stormy, and the boat was moving quite a bit. Most of us felt sea sick to varying degrees. It always stinks when you end a trip on a sour note like that, but overall we had a great time. Like I said, we didn't get our fill of the sun and beach, however I can't complain that we came back to Utah with temps in the 50s and all the snow melted from our front yard. We really tried to enjoy ourselves knowing that we won't be able to take a trip like this for a couple of years with the little one coming. I also tried to really appreciate the extra time that we had with just Ari before the baby comes. I was very proud of how well she did with all of the travel and fancy dinners.  

Coming up, we have Aria's 3rd birthday in a week! I can't believe she is 3. She is my little buddy and I can't imagine my life without her. I am so lucky to have my little family, and for the opportunity we had to go on this trip and create some fun memories. :)