Moaning in March and Aching in April

I wish I was writing to share all sorts of stories regarding our amazing early spring frolics in the wilderness, but alas, March brought us only a little energy for celebration or play. The month began with Natty coming down with a wicked case of Influenza A accompanied by croup. Her fever spiked at 104.5 during the week she was sick and the croup required one late night trip the the Children's Hospital ER for a nebulizer and oral steroid treatment. Needless to say, we - her parents - were completely freaked out. Natty was pretty gracious about the whole experience. She mostly just wanted to be held and nursed and rocked, so that was about all we did as a family for 7-10 days. Believe me, we were extremely grateful when we were all back in good health.

The Buddhists say that attachment and aversion cause great suffering. March has made me a believer. After our successful recovery from Influenza A we had about a week of wellness during which we hosted a really great play date with a bunch of neighborhood families. Natty and I recently joined another ECFE class on Friday mornings that has brought many amazing moms and kids into our lives (Good timing too, because we were starting to get a little stir crazy around here as winter drags on). Anyway, the moms in the Friday ECFE class are great. They are feisty and politically active and engaged and raising their kids with as much consciousness and presence as possible. I feel grateful to have found this group of women and the icing on the cake is that we're neighbors. We all live within 6-8 blocks of each other.

Anyway, so one week of our regular routine and then, BAM! We were on our way to Duluth on Sunday evening to enjoy a little mini-vacation with Jillian and her boys. Natty was chilling in her car seat after having just eaten dinner. Maren was in the backseat, Gracie was riding shotgun next to me and we were just humming along singing road trip songs. Suddenly, Gracie began to pant and drool and her tongue was hanging out further than I even realized it could. Her eyes were popping out of her head and she look really panicked. We pulled over immediately and Maren opened Gracie's door just as Grace slumped over and lost bowel control on the front seat of the car. Our sweet old Gracie grrl had a major seizure. Maren was able to get Gracie out of the car and into the grassy ditch for some fresh air. We let her rest there until she was calm and then we promptly turned back toward the Cities and heading to the nearest emergency Vet.

To make the rest of a very long story short, April began much like March. Sweet Natty May had a four day/three night "all-inclusive" stay at Children's Hospital in Saint Paul this week. She was hospitalized Wednesday night with a pretty serious case of dehydration caused by a gastro-intestinal virus. We were finally able to bring her home yesterday. We are weary and very grateful to be home! This has been one of the longest weeks of the year so far. Natty is still kind of weak and vomiting as well, but she is much better than she has been in days. We're feeling pretty hopeful that we're nearing the end of this illness. She's asking for water and toast today which is a really great indicator that she is on the mend. Hooray!!

Gracie, by the way, is doing very well. No more seizures since Sunday (which feels like it was 2 months ago now). She is spunky and happy to have us at home again.

I'm looking forward to the return of the sun and the heat that tends to keep illness at bay. The Twins home opener is tomorrow night and I am really looking forward to settling into my seat at the Dome, with my sweet friend Jodi, to cheer on the Twins! Momma could use a little down time...

Be Well,

Alyssa