Yes, all expenses were paid because we have good insurance...well, all but $100 bucks is paid, anyway. Praise the Lord!!

Dear little CLW, who has been sick for several weeks now, started going down hill pretty fast Wednesday night, so I took her in to Children's ER early Thursday morning. (This was Yang's birthday, btw...more on that later.) She was admitted at 5pm, made it to her teeny-tiny little room at 7:30 and that is where she stayed, plugged in to two monitors, an IV, and oxygen until this afternoon. Talk about a long couple of days!

It seems she contracted an RSV-like virus. None of my kids ever had that as a baby, but the Children's ER nurse told me that this is the worst year for RSV & viruses like it in her career, and she wasn't a young lady. She said they actually ran out of IV poles Wednesday! She said that had never happened before!

It was pretty scary at first. Her oxygen level was very low when we arrived at the ER, so they put her on the "fast track" I felt bad about all the other people that had waited longer than we had, and whose kids even seemed sicker than CLW, who was running around, waving to people and being cute and ornery, just not as cute and ornery as usual. (I'm usually the only one who can tell when my kids are really sick. Even Cat questioned me when I said we needed to take her in.) So anyway, that place was truly packed. But I'm glad we took her in.

Her response to the oxygen was like day after night. She lit up as soon as they put her on it. I could see it in her eyes. Poor little baby had been oxygen deprived for no telling how long.

So, needless to say, Mommy stayed with her the entire time. Cat came in around lunch time to bring me some real coffee from Starbucks and give me a break to get cleaned up, eat, and stretch my legs. He stayed a few hours each day (he doesn't do hospitals well) plus it was very cramped.

We were in a double room, and had a room -mate about the entire time. It stunk though, because CLW had a little crib, and we were stashed back in the far corner w/ the crib, a chair-bed, and some folding chairs for visitors, while the other 2/3 of the room, which belonged to an older child in a normal bed. had a sofa bed, a chair bed and a few normal chairs for visitors. They even had a bathroom, which we couldn't use. We had to walk to the other wing to even use the bathroom! Quite annoying, especially when Ying and Yang came to visit!

Then, people kept giving us conflicting information. The respiratory therapist would say one thing, the nurse another, and yet another from the doctors. Just small enough variations that we were thoroughly confused about what the criteria were for her to be released. Finally, I just told Cat not to ask anybody who wasn't a doctor, because they're the ones that write the discharge papers.

Then we got our hopes up that she might go home last night. They dialed back her IV drip, and she was still wetting, then they dialed back her oxygen, and she was doing great until she fell asleep. Then her oxygen level would drop again and we'd have to put her back on the O2. So, yeah, a long, frustrating, scary couple of days indeed.

So, we are home now. Homecoming was fun. I took CLW out of her carseat, and Thing1 was at the kitchen window doing dishes. So she opened the window and called out to CLW. CLW was looking all around for her, and when she finally made eye contact, she threw up her hands and said "Eeyuvoo," which is "I love you," in CLW-speak. She was so happy to be home. So was her mommy! The first thing I did, after drinking coffee and playing w/ CLW and her Christmas toys, was to hop in the shower! Boy, did that feel good!

So, now to plan on how to make up for totally missing little Yang's birthday! I told him that we'd have a little party for him on Sunday w/ cake and party hats and everything. Just don't know how I'm gonna pull that off! It'll happen one way or another, God willing.

Oh, please pray for Jolena. She is 6-years old, the same age as Ying. She was CLW's roomie for a few hours. She has Cerebral Palsey. She had just had surgery to cut a wedge of bone out of her leg because her muscles and tendons aren't growing as much as her bones and they had to adjust by removing bone. The recovery is going to be very painful. She was constantly crying. It was heartbreaking. I think I prayed for that little one as much or more than I prayed for my own. She has many more future surgeries to deal with too until she stops growing. Just heartbreaking.

So, yeah, I'm counting my blessings today. Yes, the virus is wicked, and she'll still be fighting it off for a while, but when she recovers, she'll be perfect. She can talk to me, and talk back to me. She can play and fight with her siblings. She can run to me and away from me. Her future is full of bright possibilities and choices. Jolena's is mapped out for her entirely. And the most exciting possibilities she has to look forward to is whether or not she'll learn to talk.

Everyone else is okey-dokey. The Olders are the same, happy and heathy, and the Littles are ornery as ever!

I'm preparing for our first women's Sunday School class tomorrow. Pray that I can get up and get ready in time! I am so bad at running late. Can't do that when you're teaching a class!

Keep CLW in your prayers. They say it could be a while 'til she's over this.