Pediatrician catfight

February hasn't been shaping up to be the best month health wise for my family.  Everyone (excluding me) has come down with a horrible chest cold.  Last week Matthew was miserable... and just as you're praying for it not to appear, his ears "hurt" and wants me to "fix it, Mommy".  The juggling begins, who has time to take him to the Dr.  My Husband just started this new job, but I don't have 'sick' time... so he takes off early to take Matthew in.  We selected new insurance through my Mark's new employer, however we still have yet to receive the cards, or have confirmation.  So, the ER trip earlier this month... out of pocket.  Matthew's ear infection... out of pocket.  And, today Brayden was screaming for 2 hours and he'd been up the night prior so we knew... another Dr. appointment.  Mark talked to HR, and we have the group id, but not the right ID the ped. office needs, so again, it's... you guessed it 'out of pocket'.  They assured him the information would be available in the system Monday.  I set up a Dr. appt. for Brayden's 9 month check up way in advance because I need a night appointment and they fill up really fast.  They ask me if I want to reschedule due to the insurance issue.  I state, it will be fixed on Monday, so we should be good.  They ask me to call in the morning just so they can confirm it before I come.  I say will do, great.  Have the appointment, then go to check out (need to pay my 'out of pocket' fees).  Then she tells me, she's canceling my appointment for Monday.  (Didn't we just have this conversation??)  I told her, the insurance should be set, so we're good to NOT cancel the appointment.  She then starts to argue with me.  Saying it wasn't fair to take up that appointment time if I wasn't sure the insurance would come through on Monday.  I say, but the HR said it would be in, we're good.  She says, I'm canceling it.... SERIOUSLY?  WTF...WHAT DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?  I'm not a confrontational person... just leave the flippen appointment alone?  ARGH! The woman was crazy, the Dr. happened to walk by, my son is screaming, she assumed I was arguing about the 'out of pocket' fees, so she says out of the blue... I can reduce your payment by 20%, but that's all.  I'm like, really?  Squeaky wheel gets the oil, and I wasn't even complaining!  Need to work on that non-confrontational thing I guess, free stuff is nice! So I get pissy and say, you know what, ' I'm a nice person, I'm not trying to screw your office..., but if it means that much to you cancel the damn appointment and I'll figure something else out.'... then she's like, NO NO NO, I'm keeping your appointment. What a waste of 20 minutes... My luck, the insurance won't pull through and I'll be paying yet $350 'out of pocket' fees for a typical check-up.  

My not so favorite martian...

President's Day, Feb. 15, 2010 started out a bit normal.  It was my Son's 1/2 birthday celebration at school.  (Which, when I was a kid ~ if your birthday was lucky enough to be in summer, it wasn't necessary to celebrate a 1/2 b-day, but don't get me started!).  He wasn't feeling the greatest with a cold and looked a little pathetic. My Hubby thought he was playing up the sickness to get out of school, but I knew he wasn't feeling great.  We dropped off the b-day treats, went to breakfast and headed home.  My husband and daughter were at home playing Toy Story Kerplunk.  She took one of the plastic green aliens and put it in her mouth.  Mark and I were yelling for her to spit it out, but she decided to be funny and 'pop' it out of her mouth, but when she inhaled, in went the alien... it was stuck and panic struck everyone.  I was trying to hook it out with my finger, but it was too far in.  Mark was trying to hit her back/turn her upside down.  She was breathing, but was choking on saliva and trying to throw/cough it up.  She was spitting up blood and I was terrified!  I called 9-1-1 immediately.  To which they wanted me to stay on the line.  Matthew my 4 year old was screaming 'Mommy.... wipe my tushy', as loud as you can imagine.  The woman was giving me instructions, daughter still choking... I'm trying to put the dog away so the paramedics don't have to deal with him... WRIGLEY - GO TO YOUR ROOM.  PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME CHASE YOU DAMN DOG.  Matthew - quick wipe n' run.  I run outside in my bare feet waving my arms around like an idiot for the ambulance with tears steaming down my face, irritated I left my Husband and choking daughter inside the house.  The paramedics finally get there, and the WALK up to the house.  I'm like, you've got to be kidding me?  They see she's breathing, but know she's in distress and just grabbed my purse and blanket to wrap her in & her blankies (rexy's) and they strapped us to the stretcher.  My Husband stayed home with Matthew and Brayden.  I felt bad my Husband was left behind just praying everything worked out.  Matthew was un-phased however, and was asking to play Wii.  She had stopped spitting up for the most part, but was just lethargic, calm and scared in my arms the whole way to the hospital.  She was so brave, I was VERY proud of her.  She let them take the x-rays without a whimper laying on the hard board stretched out.  They took pics of her stomach and neck.  They found the alien in her neck, and said she'd need surgery to get it out, and the Ear/Nose/Throat Dr. was on their way.  She said it would go quickly... I just wanted my Husband.  I had called my Mom and she was coming over to relieve my Husband so he could join me.  The ENT Dr. showed up and explained the procedure & explained all the things that could go wrong and cause DEATH.  I just want this over, and to be cuddling with her in her bed, reading her a bedtime story.  I'm praying to god every 5 seconds.  In walks my husband.  We transfer her from the comfort of my arms, to a cold steel rolling crib.  I can't cry... need to be brave, can't show her I'm upset.  She starts to panic as she realizes they're taking her away.  She's screaming Mooooommmmmy... I want my Moooommmmy.  The double doors close behind her, and I lose it.  I completely and utterly lose it.  They escort us to the waiting room, which somehow seems like the middle of the hospital.  My husband runs off to get me advil because I can't see straight.  We're both telling each other it'll be alright.  This is a long 40 minutes... I'm a good person, this can't be karma?  I didn't do anything bad, why is this happening?  The Dr. comes out, and says... She's fine, did great.  The elephant was lifted off my shoulders and I could breathe again!  We even got the alien back in the jar, where it's going to stay!

They put her in a recovery room and said when she started to wake up they'd call us back.  This made me angry, I wanted her to see me when she first woke up, not some scary nurse.  It took her a few minutes and books to really wake up once we were able to see her.  She had a fat lip from the breathing tube and instruments, she had red dots under her eyes from the blood vessels/coughing so hard, she looked exhausted.  Within 10 minutes, she was herself again.  Coloring with her left hand (right had had the IV in it).  We had to wait 2 1/2 hours, then she needed to eat a Popsicle before they'd let us go home...she got 3 of them, then didn't want to go home! She never really complained of a sore throat, unless she had an eye on another Popsicle.

Thank You God, Dr.'s, Nurses at Good Shepherd hospital for giving me back my daughter safe and sound!

All this and we come home to Matthew who has a 103 fever.  Welcome to parenthood!

Meet the family...

I thought I should start by giving some background into my life.  We're a crazy, sometimes nerdy crew but mostly fun!

ME!!
I grew up in the suburb Carol Stream, IL & attended Glenbard North H.S. (Class of '93).  I wouldn't say I was popular, but wasn't a oober geek either ~ just hung out in the middle somewhere.  I don't have a loud or punchy personality I left that to my high school BFF Christine.  I was a gymnast growing up and all through HS.  I'm a rule follower.  I had boyfriends growing up that weren't very nice to me.  I didn't have the confidence to be my own person and relied on others to define me.  I floundered with community college, and had a short stint at Illinois State University - then landed a position with Hewitt Associates in Output Management (fancy word for envelope stuffer).  I worked my way up through the company for 9 years to Business Operations Manager.  Wow... boring Lifetime show so far, eh?  After a nasty break-up with a boyfriend I really cared for, I decided to do something crazy and move to the city.  I had spent a few months with a co-worker hanging out downtown and just decided on a whim that I was going to move there.  This was HUGE for me... I wasn't that kind of person.  My friends were getting married or in relationships so I was pretty much on my own.  I took my Dad downtown and found an apartment in the heart of Lincoln Park.  It was crazy expensive for my salary, but wanted to be 'safe' in the big city.  I was super nervous about the bums behind my garbage dumpster...really, they're not just in movies!  There they were just snuggle bunnied up next to the dumpsters.  But I did it!  I moved into my own apartment and loved it.  I was close to public transportation, the lake, the parks, the shopping, the people.  It was a completely different world ~ and I LOVED it.  I played softball & beach volleyball.  Went to Cubs games & posh or not so posh parties!  I stayed there for a few years until the bad break-up guy moved to the city and convinced me to marry him.  Mark & I got married August 6, 2004.  We had a beautiful wedding outdoors at Kemper Lakes Golf Course.  We bought a new construction house, got to pick everything out and watched it be built.  We got a puppy (Yellow Labrador Retriever - named Wrigley) Feb, 2005. We had Matthew our first son in August 2005, Haley our daughter arrived in May, 2007 & Brayden another boy arrived in May, 2009.  I was laid off from Hewitt Associates in Dec 2005, just after my maternity leave ended.  I took my severance and RAN.  I started a daycare out of my house and still have it running today!

Mark
My Husband!  He's 8 years older than me, but won't ever really admit it.    He's attractive, witty, smart, a sometimes a pain in the ass (what Husband isn't really).  We aren't conflictual people.  In fact we'll go OUT of our way to avoid conflict, something we're working on?  He's a philosophy graduate from MIZZOU.  MIZ - ZOU.  He just started a new job and gets home about 7 every night.  He's a good husband, and a wonderful father!  I got a good one. 

Matthew
He's adorable - blonde hair, blue eyes, average height & weight - big head (same as my Hubby! ha ha) He's ADDICTED to Wii.  He LOVES the new Super Mario Bros. right now.  He's great at Mario Karts & dreams about being Luigi.  His stuffed animals are affectionately named 'baby luigi'.  Before he goes to bed he asks me Wii ?'s.  If someone comes to the door, he'll tell them about the mushrooms, and front flipping mario.  We limit him to about 1 hr. a day, but it doesn't matter.  He's still talking his teacher's ears off of his latest wii adventures.  He's in preschool 3 days a week for 2-1/2 hrs a day.  He's really caring, great with the babies.  He's really great at sharing toys, he's the kind of kid who'd give you the shirt off his back if you ask him too... I might need to make him a little tougher?

Haley
Beautiful - blonde hair, BIG blue/green/aqua/see through light eyes.  Blonde hair, skinny little thing.  Again, big head!  She's always seemed older than she really is.  She potty trained at about 18 months.  She started talking a little after a year and just keeps talking!  She tries her best to keep up with the older kids and does a pretty good job.  She knows just the right buttons to push to make her big brother furious.  She's a strong-willed little girl, we just need to make sure the energy is channeled correctly!  She'll melt you with her missing S's and cute little girl voice.  All while she's stealing your wallet;)  She will drive some man absolutely INSANE one day with her "I want this",... "No I don't want it", "HEY - I said I want this'. UGH....  Good luck buddy.

Brayden (a.k.a Bubbie Moo)
Cutest little thing, so laid back ~ go with the flow.  Just chilling with my teething toys watching eveyone kind of baby.  Laughing, smiling.  Bad luck with sickness though, had many many fevers in his short life he's already had about 6 or 7 viruses.  As I type this he has a 102 fever?  Still not sleeping through the night.

Wrigley (a.k.a. doophus, nerd dog, and uuuuuuuggggghhhhhh) 
I so wanted this dog... we had this big empty house, I had my little baby bump.  Labradors are absolutely ADORABLE poof balls.  He looked like a mini polar bear.  We got him from this breeder down the street with these adorable well behaved dogs.  I signed him up for training where he used me as a chew toy.  He's a typical lunk head labrador.  He steals food from wherever he can get it.  He jumps on the counter and steals all my dish towels.  He sheds like crazy, we have dog hair in every square inch in our house.  He digs on our leather furniture, and if let out without a leash, he'll run into a neighbors garage or house while we scream for him.  He always has an ear infection, always.  He has some allergies so he's always itchy & needs special $60 dog food - which makes him just a teeny bit less itchy?