The Day Yoga Almost Killed Me

I don't write much about myself on here. Most of the time I stick to the kids when I do manage to find some time to write. However, I figured most people out there could use a laugh and why not at my expense.

I have a new friend. She's really in to fitness as I used to be before the kids. I don't remember who's idea it was, but we got a Groupon to 10 classes of Bikram Yoga. I had an idea of what it was before we started - yoga in a hot room. HA! I had no idea. I will preface this by saying that I haven't done any class type/gym type exercise in over 2 years. I walked religiously every day during the spring/summer/fall but once winter hit any activity has been at a standstill - literly. I don't know why I thought breaking back in to exercise with this type of Yoga was a good idea. I am a moron.

We get to class and the woman who greats us is nice. She shows us where the locker room is and then she takes us in to the "room". I think it's more accurate to say the torture room. The place where all sanity goes to die. It's like walking out in to the hottest day of the year in Florida and then saying to yourself, hum, maybe I'll do some jogging while I'm out here.

I brought along a bottle of water. It was a small bottle of water and that was mistake number one. Mistake number two was not eating ANYTHING before class. As most moms know, you sometimes forget to eat when taking care of small needy beings. Disaster was ready to strike.

Class was tough. I had more sweat dripping down than I ever had in my whole life I think. We were nearing the end of class when all of a sudden my fingers started to tingle. And then my arms. And then my upper lip. My eyes began to swim in their sockets and my hands started to curl in to themselves all on their own. I could not open them! I actually started to panic and then quickly realized that panicking was making me start to hyperventilate. I was so embarrassed. The instructor had to escort me out of class to sit the last 10 minutes of class in the A/C in the lobby area with a big bottle of water she brought me. She never said that I wasn't the only one to have that happen to them. I can't be the only one, right?!

I still have 9 more classes left. Tonight is class number two. Please, for the love of God, send some prayers my way that I make it through the torture without needing to be rescued!

An ER Visit for Rachel

A couple weeks ago, right before Thanksgiving break, Rachel got sick... it started as a normal cold but by the Saturday after Thanksgiving she sprouted a fever and some breathing troubles. This isn't anything new for her. She usually gets fevers with infections. By Sunday she seemed better and on Monday she acted fine and even ate all of her lunch before going down for her nap. About 30 minutes in to her nap, she woke up crying. The kind of cry she gets when she has a bowel movement. Sure enough, she had one. I cleaned her up and she had another one. I cleaned her up and she just kept crying. After about 15 minutes she started to shiver and then I knew something serious was going on.

I ended up taking her to the ER. On the drive there she was scary looking, very pale and breathing shallow. I was afraid she was going to pass out in the car. As soon as we walked in to the ER and sat down, she vomited all over me about 3 times. We were rushed back in to the triage room. Her fever was 104.8 and her O2 Sat was in the 80's. She just looked BAD. The doctor in the ER had her chest X-rayed and we were told she had pneumonia. Rachel was admitted and spent the next two nights in the hospital.

After we were sent home with antibiotics and albuteral treatments, her breathing never really got better. I took her to the doctor twice more and we ended up being referred to a pediatric pulmonologist. Because of Rachel's history of needing oral steroids and antibiotics several times last year and so far three times this year, the pulmonologist decided that we needed to try a daily nebulized cortico steroid. This is to help Rachel ward off the inflammation that her lungs seem to have whenever she gets a virus. I guess we shouldn't be too surprised since Stephen and I both deal with asthma.We hope that the inhaled steroid will keep Rachel from getting as sick as she did over Thanksgiving. We just started treatment yesterday. I will update and let everyone know how it is helping her.

30 Blankets in 30 Days Total

You guys did it AGAIN. Not only was the 30 blanket goal blown out of the water, so was last years record of 70. This year we were able to send 95 blankets to the NICU where Rachel was born. I am so excited knowing that some parents in the NICU over Christmas and beyond will benefit from the generosity of all of you!! Thank you so much and I can't wait until next year!