She's going to be alright....and keep us on our toes!

I was so glad I made the trip to our old pediatrician for this situation. Since moving, I just haven't loved any of the doctors at our new office and really wanted the familiarity of our old, favorite doctor. He is also a parent of 5 kids, and I just trust him.  When he first walked in, he said, "When a mother of 5 comes in with questions, I take it seriously." :)
I explained what was going on with Rebecca, and he told me it's called "breath-holding spells". It's completely involuntary, but when scared, hurt, or angry, she stops breathing. Eventually the carbon dioxide level in her body gets to a point where her brain kicks back in and she starts breathing again. There is no way to prevent it, but it does no harm (except to her terrified mother!).  I was so reassured to hear that even if I wasn't around to blow on her face, etc, she would come out of it on her own before any damage was done.  Her trigger right now seems to be a big startle/intense pain, but in the future it could become anger (temper tantrums). The doctor said to continue to let her play as usual and discipline her as needed, but not to be surprised if she stops breathing from a fall or anger.
I'm so, so thankful that this is a problem that is documented and not harmful.  It will be scary always wondering if she's going to stop breathing, but I'm glad to know I can expect her to start breathing again!  I'm not sure I'll ever get used to seeing her turn blue though....

Never a dull moment

Rebecca is keeping us on our toes once again. Back on December 10th, while we were at church, Rebecca fell over and bumped her head on the floor. Often when kids bump their heads they make a face like they are crying but no sound comes out, right? And you say "Breathe, breathe!" and then they take a big breath and start screaming....Well, Rebecca made a face like she was going to scream but never took a breath, turned blue, went limp, and her eyes rolled back. It was terrifying. My friend that is a doctor was right there, so I ran Rebecca to her and said "What's happening to her?!". Shaking her around like that must have made her come out of it, because she suddenly started breathing again. My friend said it looked like she had had a vasovagal response, which is something my mom and I both have had several times. It happened to me when I was in labor with most of our kids. I didn't turn blue though, because I felt it coming and they gave me oxygen. I didn't mention this to her doctor, hoping it was a strange one-time thing. She hasn't had another well visit either, so I figured I'd mention it at her 1 year. Last night, Rebecca was walking with her walker and fell backwards and hit her head. I saw her fall but didn't hear a scream. When I went over, she was making the face like she was screaming and quickly turning blue. In the blink of an eye, she was purple, limp, with her eyes rolled back. Emily saw her as well. So, so scary. I began blowing on her face and rushed her outside, hoping the cold air would help. Dave was outside so I was also hoping he could help if I couldn't get her to come to. By the time we got outside, she was breathing again. I was shaking so badly, just thinking of what might have happened to her if I wasn't right there to blow on her and get her breathing again. Surely, by the time you're purple there isn't a lot of time to waste. Since this has happened twice in under 2 months, I figured we need to get this further checked and diagnosed, so I know how to either prevent it, or deal with it when it happens. It's scary to think of the situation where I'm not right there, or she's in the church nursery, or in someone else's care. We go to the pediatrician tomorrow and hopefully a neurologist soon after. Emily and I both had nightmares last night about limp, purple Rebecca...not an image easily forgotten. :( Poor sweet Rebecca!

Stomach bugs and stairs, our week in review

Poor Rebecca has had ANOTHER stomach bug this week!  She started throwing up on Tuesday and for 5 days she continued to either throw up or have diarrhea (or both). So far she is 24 hours without incident, so hopefully she's getting over it. She still won't eat though, so we're trying to keep her hydrated with just an ounce of formula at a time. You'd never guess from these pictures though, right? What a sweet girl she is.

She also started climbing the stairs yesterday!!!!  Just like every other skill she has learned, she just suddenly started doing it, without any practice. I ran upstairs for something, and when I came back down she was halfway up the stairs!  Crazy! 

9.5 months

9 1/2 months, and all she wants to do is stand.  All the time.  It's so funny how she learns new skills overnight. One day she couldn't sit up, then without any in-between time she could sit. One day she couldn't crawl, then she could. Within a day of crawling, she started pulling up.  She's a funny girl!  She definitely is developing differently than our others did! The nursery workers were marveling today at how she suddenly wanted to cruise everywhere, after they had just started seeing her crawling!  Slow down, little girl!






Lexi was so excited to have matchy outfits with Rebecca :)  Of course, this led to lots of tears because Elaine didn't have an outfit to match :(

Emily's first science fair

I cannot begin to express how PROUD I am of this girl! Emily has come such a LONG way in being able to do a project independently. When she was in 2nd grade, her school projects were so painful.  We sat over her and prodded and prodded as she inevitably waited until the very last minute to throw something together. I wondered how we would ever survive the rest of her schooling together.
And here she is, 2 years later, a different child!  She did this science fair project 100% on her own. She came up with the idea, did all of the research, experimenting, and displaying her findings on her board.  Seriously, I had no hand in this. I didn't remind her of any due dates, NOTHING. She amazes me.  Way to go, Emily!!!!

Rebecca video at 8 mos

We're a very musical family :)

Children's Choir performance

Lexi and Elaine were so excited to be in the children's choir this year!  This was a performance their choir did in church one Sunday.  They of course weren't able to be in the Christmas Eve pageant because of the sickness, but we're hoping they're well for the spring musical!

Rebecca at 9 months

This girl is unstoppable!  She is really trying to keep up with her siblings and seems to not realize she's a baby :)  She is pulling up on everything and seems close to cruising. She likes to let go with one hand and stand there looking around.  After 9 months of swaddling, it's still hard to get used to walking into her room after a nap and finding her standing there!  She is still the celebrity in our house, and everytime she wakes up the kids rush into her room to ooh and ahh over her (they say things like "Our queen is awake!" lol) . I can't believe the novelty hasn't worn off! Emily still feeds her a breakfast bottle every day on the way to school, but she is getting better about eating 1 or 2 meals a day of baby food and cereal.  She learned to say her first word recently, which is "uh-oh".  I actually stopped swaddling her because I found her wrapped up tight, rolled onto her belly saying "uh oh, uh oh" over and over! She loves to say that all the time. Emily also taught her to do "so big" really well. Rebecca gets so excited when you ask her how big she is and she throws her hands in the air, then the whole family cheers :)

Christmas Photos!

Rebecca's First Christmas

Drumming together

Elaine gave PopPop a world map :)

That's one HAPPY boy!









DRUMS!













I loved all of Elaine's surprised faces!



Lexi's beloved "wheeled backpack"







Rebecca and Great Grammie crawling together :)









Grammie helped Lexi sew a doll blanket using her new sewing box

Happy girls