Christmas Surprise...

The last 2.5 years have been a bit draining both emotionally and physically.  Juliana has had a lot going on health wise, and then Chili Dawg was thrown into the mix this past year.  When we lost him, things just seemed to drain me even more.  Going into this month, I wasn't looking forward to Christmas.  I tried to get into the spirit for my kids.  Noah is looking forward to it so much.  He picks the story about Jesus' birth almost every single night.

This week, things stepped into high speed.  Ryan went out of town.  Juliana had her re-evaluation for physical therapy.  I didn't even think about it, because she was discharged from PT back in April, she didn't qualify for it when she was re-evaluated in July, so I didn't even think I should consider it when time came for it this month.  Juli requalified for PT.  It's not a bad thing, I know.  She's going to get the help she needs, so hopefully she won't need it later in life.  It was just one more thing added on.  Tuesday night, I was pretty bummed.  I stayed up later than normal, having a paper grading fiesta (the end of our semester is the 22nd, so I have to stay on top of my grading right now).  When I finally went to bed, I was just drifting off to sleep, when a cry made me sit straight up in bed.  I stumbled into Juli's room and was hit by THE odor.  I started to call for Ryan, because I needed backup, and then I realized that I was alone.  I wanted to cry, because the vomit went from one end of the crib to the other, all over the bumpers, the sheets, blankets, and all over Juliana and her hair.  The saddest part?  She was crying and was sound asleep.

I stripped as much off her crib as I could with her sleeping, got the washer started and a bath ready.  Then I took her temperature and woke her up.  She had a fever of almost 103 and then she began to wail.  I gave her the world's quickest bath to get her as clean as I could and then got her into new jammies and remade her crib (this is where it would have helped to have Ryan home).  Then, I went downstairs, turned on my laptop and wrote my subplans for the next day.  I finally got to bed almost 2 hours later, and of course neither kid slept in the next day. 

Why am I telling you all of this?  Because it sets the stage for what I am about to write next.  I had originally taken Thursday off (so, yes, I had Wednesday off with sick Juliana, and Thursday off) because Juliana had a cardiologist appointment and Noah had his preschool program duirng the day.  Both were at times fairly close together, so Ryan also took the day off (yes, he came back into town after the puking was over). 

Ryan took Juliana to the cardiologist, and this is where the Christmas surprise comes into play.  I was on my way to Noah's program with my mom, when my cell phone rang.  Ryan told me that Juliana's heart no longer had any holes in it, it wasn't enlarged anymore, and they didn't see any evidence of hardening either.  I cried a bit in the car.  Juliana doesn't need to see the cardiologist anymore.  We get to cross this doctor off her long list of doctors now (don't get me wrong, we LOVED Juliana's cardiologist, but heart problems are scary)!  That is quite a Christmas present.  As a bonus, Ryan and Juli even made it on time to Noah's Christmas program too, and Juli was very proud to see her brother on stage singing and dancing.

Merry Christmas!