It was quite the weekend.....

Buckle up folks, we will be experiencing some turbulence this trip....

The past 5 days have been a total blur... I'll do my best to sum up the Reinhardt fun....

Last Thursday evening (after being placed in time-out), Brooke started chocking.  Like the kind that makes the hair on a mother's neck stand on end.  As I turned the corner in the living room, she pointed to her throat and said "I swallowed the money".  Yep, out of the 3 kids, this was a first.  I knew she was breathing, but she still sounded like she was gagging on it.  Simultaneously, I put on my shoes, grabbed my purse, called the on-call peds doctor, and grabbed Nate to help out in the car.  We are lucky that the nearest hospital is less than 10 minutes away.  By the time I pulled into the emergency room, the pediatrician called back and said to not worry about it, it is common, and it will "pass" in a few days.  My super-stealthlike mothering instincts told me otherwise.

The next few hours were spent in x-ray (yes it looks too high to be "passing" any time soon).  The ER doc gave her juice and bread hoping it would move it south.  No luck.  Because she seemed stable we were sent home and ordered to head to the children's hospital downtown the next day.

Friday morning, a repeat x-ray at the children's hospital confirmed that penny was still in her lower esophagus (it wasn't budging).  We were told the peds GI specialist would be happy to remove it, but it did involve waiting ALL day hooked up to an IV with no food or drink.  That's right, from 9 AM to 7 PM, I had to pacify a 4 year-old hooked up to an IV - I think she would have started eating the sheets if we had been there any longer.....

 Happiness is ditching the regular old wagons at the hospital for the souped up Ariel boat-on wheels....

 In recovery with a popsicle - happy as a clam!

So Fridany evening, more than 24 hours after the incident, they put her to sleep and pulled the penny out through an endoscope.  Here is a pic they took just prior to pulling it out:

Eeewwww - I know.  But isn't modern medicine fabulous?

The moral of the story is JUST GO GET AN X-RAY.  Lots of people just wait for their child to "pass" it, but sometimes apparently they do get stuck.

Brooke was a trooper, but another hero of the day was my Nate who stayed by our side the whole time and played the part of a wonderful concerned big brother - during both long trips to the hospital.  He was so great.  He absolutely stepped up to the plate this whole weekend....

So that was the exciting part of the weekend - the rest went as follows:

• Got home exhusted Friday night from Brooke's ordeal, fell into bed only to have Lauren wake me in the middle of the night because she had gotten sick in her bed.  Nothing like cleaning sheets and mattresses at 2:00am.
• Saturday was a day of recovery.  Some of my friends took me out for a much needed break on Saturday night.  A night out always lifts my spirits!
• Sunday after church one of my good friends invited us and another family over for dinner (to celebrate my upcoming b-day).  Wouldn't you know it, just prior to candles and cake, I headed outside for a "walk" so that I too could join the flu band wagon all over her front yard.  (thank heavens she lives in a secluded wooded area!)  I felt terrible we had to leave early.
• By the time Sunday ended, Rodney, Nate and myself were all VERY sick.....

Valentine's Day was spent in bed with each of us trying to nurse the other the best we could.  Poor Nate was bummed he missed his last v-day at school (since he is moving up to middle school next year).

Did I mention that it was also my 40th????  Yep - I'm feeling every.bit.of.my.age.