Oh Crappy Day

****Warning - the following content may not be suitable for weak stomachs. Please proceed with caution. :-0 ****

Sure. My typical posts begin with something along the lines of "well, it's been about 3 months since my last post" or "I know I always say I'm going to get better about blogging"....but tonight I'm going to break that routine.

First, for those that may not read our family blog (The Rickards Family) which my beautiful bride does such an awesome job of updating...let me give you the quick run down of the past month at least.....

Monday, September 13 was definitely a night to forget. After putting the kids to bed, Lori and I finally sat down to veg out and watch some tv. At the first commercial break (House), we hear a loud, strange sound from upstairs...sounded like a barking noise...at first we assumed it was Preston doing something, so we ignored it. A minute later, we heard it again, and it didn't sound quite normal...so I went upstairs to see what was going on.

About half way up the stairs, I noticed the sounds were coming from Cadence's room so I literally jumped up the 2nd half of the stairs...Superman-like. She was on her hands and knees in her crib, very pale, and struggling to breathe. I yanked her up thinking she was choking...but the only thing she could have choked on was her pacifier so I knew that wasn't it. The next thought was possibly having an asthma attack/allergic reaction to something. All we knew was that our baby was struggling to breathe and we had no idea what was causing this.

I called 911 while Lori went to change from her pajamas. I was very frustrated at the operator asking me what kind of "sounds" she was making when trying to breathe that I yelled, "CAN'T YOU HEAR HER!" (Since I was holding her right next to the phone.) Sorry lady, but I was a little stressed....

The 911 operator assured us that Cadence was breathing because of the sounds she was making, but said she needed to dispatch a paramedic crew which arrived about five minutes after we called. WOW! Then one of our neighbors arrived about a second later, volunteering to watch Preston.

The paramedics said she was definitely having trouble breathing and her oxygen was low (in the 70s after giving her some oxygen) so they transported her to the hospital. Lori rode with them as I gathered some belongings...and took a minute to break down...(I found out later that had we waited and taken her to the hospital on her own, she may have gone into distress due to lack of oxygen...calling 911 literally saved her life...)

Once at the hospital, Cadence was diagnosed with croup and strider. She was given an oral steroid and that seemed to help a lot. After the steroid, she perked up a little and was frustrated by the fact that she was hooked up and had limited mobility. (See poor picture below taken from my phone.)


This was a very scary experience for us. I'd heard of children having croup, but thought that coughing was the main symptom that led to a diagnosis. The ER doctor as well as Cadence's pediatrician said most kids get the cough and have a mild case, but in some instances, like Cadence's, it can be sever.

Cadence had a runny nose that day and the day prior, but had not coughed at all - not even once, until this episode.

After a couple of hours of observation, we were released with instructions to monitor her and follow up with our pediatrician on Tuesday. Thankfully, we had no additional episodes and didn't need additional medication. Cadence was very cranky for the next few days, rightly so, but now is better and back to her silly self.

Besides going to the Auburn - Clemson game in Auburn, AL, which was a lot of fun by the way, that pretty much summed up September.

On to October....and let me just jump to today...now is where the weak of stomach can just sign off.....

Lori has kickboxing on Monday and Wednesday nights so I have kid duty after work. Tonight was also Preston's last swimming lesson.

I meet the crew at the pool, he does a great job, we all go to Wendy's to eat...Lori heads off to kickboxing and I headed home with the youngens. It was pretty much their bed time so I figured I'd give them a bath then put them to bed....and so the fun begins....

Bath-time went well as usual...got the little princess washed and smelling all clean, got her out, dried her off, into her pj's, ready to roll....except for her "ba-ba" (pacifier) and blanket which are necessities for sleeping. So I tell Preston to pull the drain so no water's in the bathtub (which turned out to be a very good thing...) while I run downstairs to get her "ba-ba" and blanket. I also tell him "do NOT get out of the bathtub" - for fear of him slipping or busting his head...

I get downstairs and find the blanket but can't find "ba-ba"...so I look around a bit. All of a sudden I hear Preston frantically yelling, "I HAVE TO GO POOPIE! I HAVE TO GO POOPIE!" So I tell him to go and he says, "BUT YOU SAID NOT TO GET OUT OF THE BATHTUB!" After a few bouts of going back and forth I hear him go "OH MAN..." That was about the time I got back to the top of the stairs....

Poor little guy had tried holding it but didn't make it....oh boy did he not make it....it was all over the side of the bathtub, the lid to the toilet (it was closed as he tried to get on to the toilet), the toilet seat, the rugs, the floor, and of course....Preston. (See why it was good that the water was drained....???)

He was very distraught and I had to reassure him it was ok and that he tried. So I picked him up and turned the shower on....he LOVED that (bright side)...so I let him stand there and get cleaned up while I cleaned up the bathroom.

Where's Cadence during all this??? Good question. But how could I forget about her while she was constantly trying to get back into the bathtub herself....

I finally got what I thought was everything then Preston decided he needed to pee....so I get him out of the shower and plop him in front of the toilet only to hear him say, "Daddy I just stepped in something..." Yeah, I missed a spot....so pee-pee in the potty then back in the tub....

FINALLY after about 20 minutes of cleaning, everybody was good to go...I washed the rugs out, put them in the tub, soaked them with Oxy-Clean and remember...I never dried Preston off. He was standing ever so quietly in his room, wet and naked....poor kid. So I get him dried off and put his pj's on and Cadence starts pitching a fit.

When I go to pick her up, PU!!! She stinks. You guessed it, she now has on a poopie. So....I go back to her room, tell Preston to pick out some books for us to read and change Cadence. And oh how I wished it ended there....

After removing her diaper, she decides she wants to be funny and reach down to her bottom to see what the warm mess is on her butt....grabs a handful of CRAP and rubs it in her hair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I kid you not....I am about at my wits' end at this point....

So, back to the bathtub....but this time, the bathtub was filled with rugs and Oxy-Clean. So guess who else got to experience a shower for the first time? Yep, you got it! Cadence. I held her up while the shower ran to give her a second bath...keep in mind, I'm still in my work clothes....

Alas, the kids are clean again - the bathroom is soaked by this time as am I - but the kids are clean.

I read Preston his book....put Cadence to bed....and now am sitting down to relax....just in time for Lori to get home from kickboxing....I really don't know why the kids wait until Daddy's home to show off their creative side.....