Motherhood is not for wimps!

Blog hopping the other day I came across a post entitled "Motherhood is not for wimps!" This weekend that phrase became more of a reality than I could have ever imagined it would.

It started Sunday morning with a call from a good friend of ours. The news was heart breaking. The events of that day are their story to tell not mine. But it sufficeth to say no parents are tried more than they have been.

Some good friends of ours were kind enough to take our kids to church with them so we could go and stay as long as we were needed at the hospital with our friends during their trial. Those good friends then took our kids to another good friends house.

We left the hospital and I headed over to our good friends house to pick up my less than pleasant (read: whining, crying, exhausted) children (sorry friend). As I'm holding Kieralee she tells me she is going to puke right as she does it all over me, the floor etc. I get her cleaned up and put in the car and I headed back in to change my shirt and get Lathen. When I got back I noticed she had tried a piece of candy that was in the car but had spit it back out. About half way home she was coughing and grabbing at her mouth saying there was something in it, she then began to violently throw up. I fly into our driveway, Kevin pulls her out and takes her to the bath tub to get her cleaned up. That's when he noticed she was breaking out all over and her eyes began to swell up and her breathing started to sound labored. We immediately got back into the car and headed to the ER. I walked in, told the guy behind the counter my daughter was having a reaction, showed him her face and he swiftly took me back. As we passed the desk area where all the doctors and such sit around he said "Anaphylactic Shock" and 5 men were in our room. They went to work, and they went to work fast! They put an IV in and immediately gave her a dose of steroids and benedryl and then they gave her an epi pen in the leg. Poor girl was scared and confused and was fighting for her life! She especially didn't like the guy trying to put the oxygen monitor on her toe. (Not sure what she thought he was doing, but when she woke up the next morning, the first thing she did was check on her toe) We ended up staying at the hospital around two hours until her rash was gone. They gave us some prescriptions to make sure she didn't rebound and also an epi pen for us to have with us at all times.

Lathen was such a trooper. He was really concerned when he entered the room and saw his sister like that, but was glad when we told him she was ok. I can't even describe the fear Kevin and I had at the thought of what could have happened. We are so grateful for modern medicines and the doctors that took such quick action in saving Kieralee's life.

All that being said, motherhood is not for wimps! As I think back on this past weekend and the different stages of motherhood in action I am in awe. Our friends who I mentioned first in this post, the woman's mother got on a plane and was by her daughters side as soon as she could be. I sat and thought about that and how no matter what we are always mothers and we jump into action for our children no matter how old they are. Then of course I thought a lot about our dear friend who experienced what I would considered the hardest thing as a mother. And she handled it with amazing strength. Of course finally I think about my own scare as a mother and the thought of how things could have gone the other way for Kieralee and what that would have meant. But look at us, all of us mothers no matter how we've come to gain that title. Ready and willing to do whatever is asked of us. Ready to take the good with the bad, the joy with the heartache. No matter what is thrown our way we keep trying our best with a reward that is often hard to see, especially by others. I am grateful for mothers. I am grateful for my mother. My prayer is that God will bless, care for, and help all mothers; as I know he does.