Weekly Wrap-Up~ The one when I decided school was over-rated~Unschooling takes over.

Yep, you read that right.  We have not done ANY formal learning this week.  Why? 

Well, after this past weekend, I didn’t have the emotional ability to even think about school.  If we had meals, and clothes and could walk through the house we were good. 

I haven’t really shared the emotional state that Saturday put me in.  Really, I was holding together by a thread.

When I headed to the ER with Hannah, I really thought we would come home with a prescription for antibiotics for an ear infection or strep.  But…that is not what happened.  It was what was happening until, the very last minute before we were to be discharged…I mean, I had just finished signing that I understood how to take care of her.  When she suddenly she looked very, very sick.  The nurse was in the middle of her dismissal vitals when she left the room running…her temperature was 104.8 and she hadn’t even finished taking it.   I had four other children in the ER with me, and I had to try and act like nothing was wrong, as did the other staff.  My FIL came and got our other children quickly, but I let on nothing of what was taking place inside.  I had held it together until I walked back into the hospital.  My world collapsed, and  I had to make decisions I didn’t know how with out my husband.

“Do we life flight?” 

“Which hospital?” 

“There aren’t any beds available for her there, where do you want to go?“

Finally we figured out the how and where, it only actually took about 10 minutes, but in those ten minutes I was scared.  We were sitting in a room full of nurses, aides, a PA and a doctor who really were not sure how to further help Hannah.  Hannah’s heart rate was over 200, her respirations were very shallow and fast as in 60+ per minute and her fever was over 105 and climbing and her O2 saturation was holding in the low 90s and jumping to the upper at times.  She was unresponsive, and Tylenol had done nothing.   As a former EMT, CMA, and CNA, I knew she was in trouble.  We were sponging her off with cool damp rags as much as possible. 

I called for our church to get a prayer chain started.  I called my friend Julie to find a phone cord as my battery was low and getting lower trying to keep my husband informed of what was going on.

Then Julie showed up and my world started to level again.  See, that is what friends are for.  They can pray for you to have the emotional stability.  They can hold your hand and give you a hug.  They also will help you to remember that God is there and he knows more then we do what Hannah needs.  They will bring you their phone cord so when you are sitting in the hospital at 4 am unable to sleep, you can read the Bible you have downloaded on your phone, or listen to What Faith Can Do by Kutless on your phone.   When all you can do is cry out to God…

God please help us.  Please, please help us.  I am not sure how many times I kept saying that…over and over again.

See, I took a little two year old into the ER who could still walk and talk, who had been playing with a balloon right before we left the house.  I asked myself three times on the drive to the ER, why I was taking her, and God pushed me to go ahead.  Her temperature was 104.1 and she had been vomiting since 3 am.  She just didn’t act too sick…Until, she was VERY sick.  See, that is Hannah though, that is why it scares us so…

So, that was the weekend, we came home on Sunday, less then twenty four hours after she spiked those fevers that cause a whirl wind in a tiny little hospital in rural Kansas.   

Monday, we woke to her running a fever yet again.  We took her to our pediatrician who decided to treat her for a UTI after we visited about her symptoms.  See, all the tests we had run so far showed nothing really too bad.  She had had an antibiotic shot in the hospital for an ear infection and her fever went away for 36 hours.  Something was still off in her little body, and I mentioned the odd smell of her wet diapers.  Bingo!!

Tuesday we slept, and cuddled and watched movies. 

Wednesday I was back on my knees as she had another fever. 

Thursday, she seems fine and we got out of the house to play in the yard for just a bit. 

My older children have played store, geography quizzes, spelling quizzes, house, and numerous other childhood games.  Hannah and I have slept and cuddled and read books…pretty much normal, except for her excessive sleep as she recovers. 

Today, less then a week after she sat up and vomited all over me in the middle of the night, Hannah appears to be recovering very well.  She has played outside for just a few minutes and is napping quietly.   I have been working on my book organization and database.  My brain is literally swimming with ISBNs and sticky dots.

Tomorrow, our friend Sarah will be here and our family will have a lot of fun as always with her.  She and I will work on this book thing some or maybe a lot…

I think my children probably learned more this week then they have in all the weeks I have homeschooled.  Saturday morning they did all the homeblessing on their own.  Saturday at the hospital, they learned about all sorts of medical equipment in the ER.  Sunday they got to listen in on Hannah’s exam before getting to go home.  Monday they played at the park while I took her to the doctor.  Tuesday they fixed meals, played together, taught each other letters, sounds, numbers, counting, and cities and states.  Wednesday they did laundry and put five loads away without a fuss.  Thursday they understood why we didn’t stay out side for our normal all afternoon time…Hannah was getting worn out, and we need to conserve her strength.  Friday we talked about earthquakes, tsunamis, and Japan, California, Hawaii, and such in relation to the Earthquake.