FOUR little FULTONS: Neti Pot

Sunday, February 21, 2010

What do you do when you are full of the snot monster?...

Over the past few weeks I have encountered way TOO many boogers! When you have four toddlers there are MANY a nose to wipe! It got me thinking, what all do I do to battle the snot monster? I mean this slimy stuff seems to come out of all crevices when you're sick! YUK! We definitely make a trip to the pharmacy to get the necessities or better yet to Costco & to buy in bulk. LOL!
We also go see the doctor to make sure the "icky" bug does not spread if we have way TOO many days of ickiness! Nothing like a runny nose to turn into something much BIGGER when you least expect it to! Our defenses were down & we had to bring in reinforcements. Enter a BIG bottle of saline spray.
then the blue nose aspirator. I LOVE this thing! It gets anything & everything out of a nostril! If there is a booger in there this thing will find it!

I however LOVE my Neti Pot! The BEST thing ever made for the sinuses! If you don't have one of these things you should get one! On a side note they even make them for children! Not that you will be able to get a small child to put salt water up there nose but the option exists! LOL!& then I get a MANY boxes of tissue & place them all over the house. We LOVE Puffs PLUS brand with lotion added. Gotta keep that nose happy or it will come back to bite you! Nothing worse than having a raw, red, sore nose from TOO much blowing!

So now that you know what I do during these times...

What do you do when you are full of the snot monster?...

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

not feeling SO ucky!

This past weekend was pretty full! I thought I was being smart by working a TON of hours the weekend so I would not have to work the weekend of the reunion. (Working part time to keep my benefits I have to work 40 hours every 2 weeks). Well, It all backfired & I am now sicker than a dog. I think I have caught thee worst cold from either wearing myself too thin OR from being drenched by a BAD rainstorm during my brother in law's wedding. We ALL got soaked. The kids loved playing in the puddles & getting wet! I am sure that if asked they will tell everyone that it was the COOLEST wedding ever! LOL! I just wanted the sky to clear up & for my hair/clothes to be dry! hehee! On the way home Michael & I said we needed a HOT shower & warm bed! Then I added that I just wanted to sleep, sleep, sleep. By the time we got to my mom's my throat felt worse, my nose was getting runny & I was feeling ucky! I would have given anything for some Nyquil! That stuff really works! I have started using this "new" thing Dr Oz talked about on Oprah, a Neti Pot. It works wonders too! It is this little tea pot looking thing that you put really warm salt water in & then pour up your nose. It sounds gross & some people ask why would you INTENTIONALLY put salt water up your nose!? LOL! It really does the trick! I'm kind of addicted to it! Now if I could just sleep I would be all set! This weekend will not be any better in the schedule dept. We are attending my 2nd cousin Dylan's Barmitzvah. He turned 13 & it is one BIG party. This event has been planned forever & Dustyn cannot wait to go. Heck we want to go too! I just hope that I will feel better by then! I think we have the child care covered since we will have my good friend Debbie, her daughter Jackie & my nieces Katie & Sarah watching them. 4 babysitters for 4 kids! Trying to prepare all the stuff you need for a night out is a lot of work. I had to line up babysitters months ago! The babies will love having all of the attention & they will not have their schedule interrupted, YAY! So for the next few days I am going to rest up, eat well, take plenty of vitamin C & hopefully by Saturday I will be...

not feeling SO ucky!

Our Story...

Ok I am now over 8 years into this "job" of mine, being a mommy to multiples, high order multiples to boot! They say that if you try to conceive without protection for one year with no success then you are infertile. Those words were a lot to take in. I sought answers from everyone. We started out with our 1st OB/GYN Dr William Casale doing the normal testing that they were equipped to do. We did it all, IUI's, spermwashing, etc. I then contacted RESOLVE, a wonderful organization for people like me (could not get pregnant). I started making mental notes of what I needed to achieve my dream, to be a mom! The next step was to go see a Fertility Doctor. We chose to see Dr Mark Denker. After checking me out he then referred Michael to see a Urologist who ended up putting him on clomid. Yes, men can take this RX too! It helps make more sperm just like it helps a woman create more follicles. It is AMAZING the things you learn when you are trying to conceive! After further testing we were both told we had fertility issues, I had fewer eggs than a woman my age & they were "tough", Michael had double vericasils so that in order for us to have the "best odds" we needed to go the IVF route. I had this feeling that it was not going to work right away, call it my intuition. So we bought a package, can you even believe that they sell "packages" like a travel agency? Our "package" included 3 rounds of IVF with ICSI, minus all the meds I would need. The drugs are an expense we did not even think of but had to purchase for this entire thing to work. Well, it ended up taking all 3 rounds of IVF & accupuncture courtesy of Dr Susan Schiff for me to get pregnant & boy did I get pregnant! (Trust your intuition!) We started out with very few follicles, only 3 fertilized into embryo's and all three took. I was finally pregnant! 8 weeks into my pregnancy one of the embryo's split & became identical. Can you believe that!? What are the odds? No one told me that could happen! AMAZING! We had a lot of decisions to make. No one thought that we should keep all four. In the medical world it is called a "selective reduction". Only a few doctors even do this procedure. We did not know what our future would hold just that we could not reduce anything! In the beginning we had a hard time finding a doctor that felt like we did & wanted our four babies to thrive! We finally found Dr Moises Virelles, a fellow Christian & my now OB/GYN. He then referred us to an AWESOME Perinatologist, Dr Gary Cohen. Having the two of them on our side we knew ANYTHING was possible! My pregnancy was really uneventful. I was put on "bed rest" at 22 weeks. I later found out my "bed rest" was unlike other women's bed rest. I was just not allowed to work. I continued to do things, just stayed off my feet as much as possible. If I went shopping I would ride a motorized scooter. If I went to a party I sat pretty much the entire time. I had no issues, my cervix was long & rock solid. I really feel that God wanted me to be a mommy! The babies were great! They kicked each other more than they kicked me! People would look at me & could not believe that I had four babies inside me, I tell you I was meant to carry quads! Now don't get me wrong, it was not a joy ride, I was miserable towards the end & felt it very difficult to breathe. I never even went into the hospital prior to January 15th. Even though I asked them to admit me MANY times!! On January 17, 2007 we welcomed our GBGG quads; Camryn, Brendan, Avery & Lindsey into this world. 1 set is fraternal & 1 set is identical. They weighed 4 lb 7 oz, 4 lb 4 oz, 3 lb 6 oz & 3 lb 3 oz. I made it 32 weeks 5 days when I delivered them at St Mary's Medical Center. They were all HEALTHY and they did not need to be intubated! WOO HOO! They were little miracles destined to be here! I had nurses come up to me & tell me how wonderful it was that I carried them so long, that it was a better gift holding onto them as long as I did than a Harvard education! WOW! We were SO happy, excited & most of all unprepared for how much our life was about to change. I will say it was a GOOD change! I cannot imagine my life without them! Everyone watches our little ones in amazement & they still do. This is their story....

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