An Eventful Weekend!

Well, what a weekend we have had! Filled with highs and lows. Having a child is certainly an adventure. I don't think Chloes Nanna and Poppa knew what they were in for when the Muttons came to visit for the weekend. It started well enough. Lindy and Jezz have just moved out of mum and dads house into their own place in Healsville (very nice house by the way, if you look out the windows you can sometimes see kangaroos and deer! Yes, deer, I thought they were pulling my leg!) So mum had done a fantastic job setting up the upstairs part of the house for us. No more sleeping in the lounge room for us. If mum and dad aren't careful they will have us visiting every weekend for some nice home cooking! Chloe even had her own room with a cot and change table. Ben and I were sleeping in my old bedroom next door.

We had decided to visit mum and dad for a belated mothers day celebration. It was also the first time we had taken Chloe out to dinner with the McCarthy clan. In fact it was the first time I had fed Chloe in a high chair at a restaurant. We went to Zigames in Boronia at the very family friendly time of five thirty. At least, that was the plan, unfortunately poppa lost his wallet (essential as he was paying for dinner!) so we didn't arrive at the restaurant until ten to six. Lindy and Jezz were there minding the table for us. Entre arrived and Chloe was having a fantastic time. I saw the health nurse the other day and she suggested giving Chloe lots of finger food so after Nannas special mixed vegetables that I had taken with us I gave her a crust of bread from the middle of the table which she thoroughly enjoyed. Once she had finished with it she played throw the toy off the table which kept us busy until the main meals arrived. Lindy kindly donated another piece of crust from her plate for Chloe to chew on however, Chloe threw this aside once she sampled a hot chip from poppas plate. You can't blame her, how good are hot chips! So good apparently that she repeatedly tried to take them directly from poppas plate once his back was turned. I thought she was actually eating them until I discovered the secret stash of chips she was keeping on the ground below her high chair! A good meal was had by all and we all decided that taking Chloe out had been a success. We all retired back to Nanna and Poppas for a coffee and cake at the very respectful time of seven o'clock. Poppa even found his wallet, Chloe had been hiding it on the back seat of the car!

Now for the lows. When we used to visit Nanna and Poppa when I was pregnant we once joked about needing to know the way to Fern tree Gully hospital. The last time I was there was when I was born! Late into the night Chloe came down with Croup for the second time in her short life. It is a very scary viral chest infection, a bit like asthma but with a cough that sounds like a dog barking. The last time she had this in Geelong Ben and I had panicked and raced to the doctor in the middle of the night only to be told it was nothing to worry about, it sounds worse than it is. So this time it was midnight when Chloe woke up crying and coughing. Knowing what it was this time I decided not to panic. We went down stairs and sat in the bathroom with the shower running which seemed to work. We then went and watched big brother up late for a little while until Chloe started to go to sleep. I decided to give her a bottle and put her back to bed since the worst seemed to be over. Once she was asleep with the vaporizer going I went back to bed in the next room. We woke up around three thinking Chloe was playing in her cot as we could here her making little noises. She does this sometimes. After about ten minutes Ben went in to resettle her and found her struggling to breathe. She had tears running down her face and the little sounds we had heard was her trying to cry out for help. It was very heartbreaking to see as we don't know how long she had been like this. So I raced down stairs, woke up mum(Nanna) and asked for directions to the hospital. When we arrived we were surprised to see nobody waiting in a very big and flash hospital waiting room other than a drunk man on a stretcher who was passed out (it makes you realise how much more funding Geelong hospital needs given the size of the Geelong community. Your lucky to get a seat in their waiting room and you always have a huge wait)

They admitted us straight away and we were told we were one of ten cases of croup that had come in that night due to the cold air. Once we were there chloe improved which you could tell by the volume of her crying. When we arrived she was unable to cry at all. By the time she recovered she was screaming her lungs out! The baby in the room next door was the same age and also had croup. He did the same thing, started quietly and got alot louder! We were all comparing notes. Anyway, Chloe is doing well now, she still has a horrible cough and a drippy nose and is very sleepy as are her parents! When she is awake though she is quite active. She has discovered the cats and enjoys chasing them along the window. They are outside. Today she pulled herself up to standing using only the wall and also managed to cruise along the couch to come and see me.

I think the worst part of the whole ordeal is one, I think this might continue to happen throughout winter when ever she is getting a cold (hopefully not!) and two, it really shakes your confidence as parents. I have always assumed that if Chloe needed us in the night she would cry out but now we know this isn't always possible when they are really sick. So this has led to us now jumping up at night to the slightest sound. Also, it is hard to know when to take action. When we took her to the doctor straight away the first time we were left feeling like we had over reacted where as this time we probably could have acted sooner. oh well, I am sure there will be many more experiences like this now that we are parents. I can remember a couple from my child hood.....

We did have a very nice weekend catching up with the family although on the way to The Basin we had discused how we were looking forward to a relaxing weekend as extra pairs of hands are always welcome when looking after Chloe, even just having others to play with her for a while gives us a mini break. Rather than relaxed we ended up coming back sleep deprived and nervous wrecks but very well fed thanks to Nannas cooking!

Thanks again for the weekend, Dad and Mum, and your house is lovely Lindy and Jezz, we can't wait to come visit when its all finished. Be careful climbing the ladder after a couple of happy hour drinks! And if Jezz ever needs a chippy to help him Chloe is always available. She could hold the extention cord and shake it. She is also good with plastic hammers! Chris and Aff, you were missed at dinner, we look forward to seeing you again in the not to distant future.