I jinxed myself. It's true.
I normally don't believe in "jinxing" per se, but in this case it sort of feels like I did. Not more than 12 hours after I posted my last blog entry about looking forward to enjoying a boring and uneventful 2013 my little Starman, who had been suffering since Saturday with what I strongly suspected was the flu, had a bad asthma attack he couldn't recover from. I gave him his inhalers twice and was contemplating hauling out the nebulizer when it dawned on me I better take him in to urgent care, stat! Urgent care took a quick look at him and sent him straight to the ER and after two hours of observation and treatment he was getting worse instead of better so, we were transferred upstairs to a room. We have been here since. We are going on 36 hours in the hospital and I am not optimistic about going home quite yet.
To add to the drama of the already dramatic evening, on the way from urgent care to the ER a problem with my car that had been threatening to become an issue finally did.
For months our car has had this weird short in the electrical system where, when you go over a bump, all the dome lights snap on for a second. Then after a minute they snap back off. It is highly annoying, not to mention a safety issue when driving at night with the light snapping on and off all the time. We just added it to the list of broken things we will fix eventually (the lift gate pistons have been out for months and one of the power windows doesn't work in the other car). Unfortunately on the way to the ER I went over a bump on the highway and the lights snapped on....and never snapped off. The whole 15 minutes on the way to the hospital I drove with one hand over the front dome light so I could see where I was going. I pulled into the ER and unloaded Starman. I locked the doors and waited, and waited, and waited. The dome lights stayed on. I quickly loaded him back into the car, climbed in and played with the light settings a bit and then climbed back out. No luck. Now I am panicked about getting Starman into the building so he could be treated, so I pried open the dome light in the front disconnected the lights by prying them out with a pen, but was unsuccessful with getting the back dome off. Then I noticed the outside lights were on too. Unable to do anything else, I unloaded the baby, locked the car and went to check in. I told the lady at the ER that if people reported a vehicle matching my car's description with all the lights blazing not to worry. I would deal with it when I left.
The plan is for someone to come get us from the hospital when we finally get discharged and I will deal with car when I get to it. It is most likely in need of a jump start and then we will drive it straight to the mechanic. In the meantime, we had to arrange for someone to be at our house when our new washing machine is delivered today (our old one broke on Christmas Eve). If things happen in three's I should be golden now. Unexpected expenses: 3, Me: 0.
So much for a boring start to 2013
Starman is doing better. He feels much better but his oxygen levels still are concerning. Now that he is coming around though, he is busy traumatizing the nice nurses with his inquisitive and stubborn personality. I strongly suspect our day nurse yesterday probably went home and hit the bottle after my little man encouraged her to ever greater heights of creativity throughout the day in attempt to keep him from ripping off his sensors and oxygen tubes. I was pretty impressed as some of them were quite ingenious, but to no avail. Then, every time he ripped off his sensors his oxygen levels would crash and he would send the nurses scurrying through the door. I am pretty sure he thought it was hysterical. He also spent a long time attempting to climb out of his crib and found he could reach the nurse call button which he then pressed repeatedly. Adding to that, his less than charming 'roid rage directed primarily at the respiratory nurses coming to give him his nebulizer treatment, and I am fairly certain that the nurses, as cute as they say they find him, will secretly be relieved when we are finally discharged. His saving grace is that he is fond of flashing his famous toothy smile at them in random moments of disarming charm. (I will definitely have to keep a close eye on that one when he gets old enough to notice girls).
So, I am looking forward to going home. And next time I write, I will not celebrate the mundane. I will accept that my life is a roller coaster. I seem to attract craziness and Murphy's law-type shenanigans like a magnet, so my NEW New Year's resolution is this; I promise to embrace my crazy life with grace and dignity. I accept that normal and boring do not exist for me and I will no longer covet them. I will strive to maintain patience in the midst of the craziest scenarios and remind myself to be grateful that somehow, no matter how crazy things get, they always seem to work out for the best in the end.
Sharing my two cents. A blog primarily about issues revolving around the work/family balance, but also prone to life anecdotes and adoption musings.
