Last weekend was an eventful one, to say the least. It started off on Thursday with Savannah’s 2 week checkup. We managed to get to the appointment on time (score!), which is saying something when you have a 2 year old and a newborn. It does take a lot longer to get 2 kids ready than just 1! The appointment went well overall. Savannah weighed 8 lbs 13 oz (80th percentile) and was 21 3/4 inches long (98th percentile). She’s definitely a bigger baby than B was at this age. I love all of her little fat rolls, especially her “rubberband wrists” :) After the appointment, we hurried home to eat lunch and pack before hitting the road to Trussville. We’d had a TERRIBLE night of sleep Wednesday night with Savannah, so I wasn’t even sure I’d remembered to pack everything we needed. But, we managed to get the important stuff at least!
Thursday night was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner for Nate and Becky’s wedding. Travis was a groomsman in the wedding, and Brooklyn was the flower girl. Yes, we were probably crazy for agreeing to them BOTH being in the wedding considering the wedding was only a couple of weeks after my due date. But, we hated to say no! The rehearsal on Thursday was at 7 PM, and the dinner afterward was at 8 PM. We lucked out, and Savannah slept through the whole rehearsal, so that was nice. Brooklyn, on the other hand, was enough to negate our luck with Savannah. Let’s just say she was NOT on her best behavior. I’m sure part of it was that she was just tired from it being so late and her waking up early that morning, but whew! She did cooperate when it was time to practice walking down the aisle at least. She even held the ring bearer’s hand, which was so sweet :)
It’s not a great picture, but she is holding his hand and carrying the basket in her other hand :)
Once she got to the front, she was supposed to either stand by Travis or sit with me ;)
The rehearsal dinner was at Jim n Nick’s in Gardendale. I nursed Savannah in the car when we got to the restaurant, and Travis took Brooklyn inside. He said he had to take her out several times before we even got finished because Brooklyn would just randomly burst into tears for no reason. Savannah did okay at the restaurant; she stayed in her carseat for a little while, but then wanted to be held the rest of the time. Between Brooklyn acting up and Savannah fussing, Travis and I barely even spoke to anyone else that was there. Then, on the way back to Paw and Rae Rae’s, Savannah started screaming her head off, so we had to pull over to see if nursing her again would help. At one point, Travis was the only one in the car who WASN’T crying…haha. After that, he suggested that we just hold off on going out to eat for at least the next 5 years ;)
Thank you, Rae Rae, for holding Savannah all night on Thursday so Travis and I could get a better night’s sleep. That was so appreciated! :)
The wedding was the next evening at 7 PM. Travis had to be there at 2:30 PM, but Brooklyn didn’t need to be there until 4:45 PM, so Paw and Rae Rae dropped me and the girls off since we only took one car down to Birmingham. The wedding day went much more smoothly than the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, so we were thankful for that. Brooklyn wore the same flower girl dress that she wore in Jenn’s wedding (Cici let it back out in the shoulders so that it would fit better.) I bought her some new socks, shoes, and a hairbow to match, but at least the dress got 2 uses. For only paying $10 for it at a consignment sale, I think we did pretty good!
Didn’t Travis look handsome?? Brooklyn never would smile for a picture, but that’s alright I guess :) Little Miss Attitude!
When it was time for the ceremony, I sat on the inside aisle on the second row. Tyler, Alisha, and Emily were holding Savannah, and Cici stayed with Brooklyn in line outside before she walked down the aisle (since Travis would be coming in ahead of Brooklyn, and I didn’t want her to be standing back there and not have someone with her that she knew…). Savannah started fussing during the seating of the grandmothers, so Tyler ended up taking her out (and I think Cici held her outside during the ceremony). Luckily, she didn’t get too loud, so hopefully it wasn’t a big deal. When it was time for Brooklyn to come down the aisle, she did it like a pro! (“Duh, Mom, I’d done this once before!”). She held her basket in one hand and the ring bearer’s hand with her other hand and walked all the way down to the front! When they got to the front, the ring bearer was supposed to lead Brooklyn over to where Travis was standing, but he ended up just leaving her there in the middle. Brooklyn turned around and was so confused until I waved to her and she saw me. Then, she just dropped her basket and left it right there and came to sit with me…haha. Luckily, Mr. Tim was close enough that he could grab the basket and move it out of the way! To keep her quiet during the ceremony, I kept giving her packs of Smarties. I think she ate 3 whole packs :) I was just glad she stayed quiet since we were sitting on the inside aisle! The reception went pretty well overall, and we were able to get back to Trussville a little earlier than the night before, so that helped. Friday definitely went better than Thursday did!
We left on Saturday after lunch to head back home, and we lucked out on the car ride. Both kiddos slept pretty much the whole way home! It was SO nice to have some peace and quiet. We even got to listen to the radio instead of “Trot, Old Joe” or “Hello Everybody”…haha. We had time to get everything pretty much unpacked Saturday night, and we were looking forward to a nice relaxing Sunday (the last day Travis had before going back to work!)…
Sunday happened to be Savannah’s first time to go to church with us. I dressed her in the same little dress that Brooklyn wore for her first time to church. It definitely fit Savannah a little better than it did Brooklyn! Here’s the comparison…
Brooklyn (L) and Savannah (R)
Savannah did well at church! She slept most of the time in her car seat, nursed once, and went back to sleep fairly easily. It couldn’t have gone much better!
After church, we headed to Cici’s like we normally do for Sunday lunch. When we get to her house, usually the first thing one of us does is change Brooklyn’s diaper. So, I took her into Cici’s room and had her lie down on the floor. (I’m still not supposed to be picking her up post c-section, so we’ve been doing diaper changes on the floor.). Brooklyn saw a quarter on Cici’s nightstand and asked for it, and I handed it to her, thinking that it might keep her still for a minute while I changed her diaper. She has held coins before without any issues. Well, I was busy changing her diaper and not looking up at Brooklyn’s head, and the next thing I knew, she started choking and gagging. I’m not sure if she put it in her mouth, or if she was holding it up and it fell in her mouth, but I immediately knew it had to be the quarter.
The next few seconds are a blur in my mind. I remember her saying “Get it out”, and she seemed really scared. I scooped her up (the thought never even crossed my mind that I shouldn’t have lifted her) and ran with her to the kitchen where everyone else was. I yelled for someone to call 911. She never stopped breathing, but she was drooling profusely and she threw up a couple of times. It didn’t take long for a couple of volunteer firefighters to arrive, and the paramedics weren’t far behind them. They checked Brooklyn out and told us that she needed to go to the hospital. They said she was “stable”, and we could either let her go by ambulance or ride in our car. I would have been too nervous for her to be in the backseat of our car without one of us right beside her (because Savannah’s seat is right next to hers), so we decided that Brooklyn and I would go in the ambulance, and Travis and Savannah would follow in our car (and Tyler actually went with them too).
I was so impressed with how well Brooklyn did through the whole experience. She was a trooper during the ride to the hospital and in the ER. I’m sure she was scared, but I don’t think she cried a single time the whole afternoon. She let the paramedic check her vital signs without a fuss, and she let him put the suction in her mouth since she was drooling so much. She even ended up holding it her mouth all by herself! All of the nurses in the ER were so impressed by that :)
She also didn’t cry when the nurse started her IV, which I was surprised about. He used some numbing spray first, but I still figured she wouldn’t like it very much. And she didn’t mess with the IV after it was in. It really was crazy how well she did! I couldn’t believe it. After they did her initial assessment in the ER, they took us over to X-ray where they did a chest x-ray on her to see where the quarter was. They took 3 different pictures, and she was very still the whole time. The x-rays showed that the quarter was stuck up high in her esophagus (which we were already assuming because of how much she was drooling). After the x-ray, we went back to her room in the ER and waited for the team from surgery to arrive. (Since it was Sunday, everyone was “on call” and had to come in from home.). We waited a couple of hours I guess, and finally they took us over to surgery. Ironically, this is the same area that I work in. I wasn’t planning to be back there until mid-July at least, but I guess Brooklyn had other ideas ;) Dr. Laney came and talked to us and explained how she would have to be put to sleep and he would go in with a scope that had tweezers on the end of it and grab the quarter. I think it definitely helped that I was already familiar with Dr. Laney and I knew the rest of the OR and PACU nurses too.
Everyone took great care of Brooklyn! The anesthesiologist gave her some Versed before they took her back to surgery, so she didn’t even know what was going on when they took her from my arms. The surgery itself was pretty quick; the longest part was waiting for her to wake up afterwards! I think it took at least an hour…but she needed a good nap after such a stressful afternoon. Dr. Laney came out to talk to us after he was finished, and he gave us the quarter back in a specimen cup…lol. I guess we’ll keep it in case Brooklyn is interested in it in a few years ;)
I should also mention that we had a great support team up at the hospital with us that afternoon. We were nervous about Savannah being up there around so many sick kids at such a young age, so the ER nurses opened up the family consultation room for our crew to hang out in and keep Savannah away from the germs. That was so nice of them! Tyler waited in that room with Savannah while Travis and I were with Brooklyn. A little while later, Cici, Alisha, Douglas, and Britni came too. And Rae Rae even drove all the way up from Trussville (probably in record time!). We really appreciated everyone being there!
When Brooklyn finally woke up in the recovery room, the first thing she said was “Quarter’s gone!” We asked her if she wanted a popsicle, and she ate a purple one and asked for another after that!
I had to leave to go nurse Savannah (who was with Rae Rae at the time), but Travis said while I was gone that the monitor beeped, and Brooklyn said “Blood pressure!”…and she was right. The nurses apparently thought that was great. Once Brooklyn was discharged, Travis was able to carry her out, and then we headed home not too long after that. Dr. Laney said the quarter didn’t seem to cause much irritation, but that she might have a little bit of a sore throat anyway. So, Brooklyn ate some chocolate ice cream for dinner (it was 6 PM by the time we got home!), but she never seemed to have a problem eating anything else that night or the next day.
We are very fortunate that her “scare” didn’t end up being more serious than it was. I definitely learned my lesson too; just because she had never put something like a coin in her mouth before didn’t mean she never would. I assumed that she knew better, but I shouldn’t have. I’m definitely not a perfect parent. I think we will definitely be a lot more cautious in the future (and Savannah will probably never touch a quarter until she’s 5 or 6 years old…haha). I know one thing…Travis and I both hugged Brooklyn a little tighter than normal when we tucked her into bed. It was a good reminder of how much we love her and are thankful to be her mommy and daddy.
