Thanksgiving Break Part 2: Hospital & Turkey Day

So like I mentioned, we didn't get home from Washington DC until 3:00 AM! So we were all exhausted. Of coarse Gavin didn't sleep in so I was up with him in the morning so that Doug (the driver) could catch more Zzzzz's. Around 10:00AM Doug got up & we switched. He would watch Gavin so I could go back to bed. Heaven! Doug decided to be the great husband that he is & start cleaning out our mess of a car from the road trip. And since he had Gavin, he would just have a little helper. Well, he wouldn't help much, just play in the car & push all the buttons & pretend to drive. (so cute by the way) A couple hours later, Gavin started acting really off. He wouldn't go down for his nap which I just assumed he was passed the tired phase & just being a stinker. He wouldn't drink his milk or eat anything either. Needless to say I was beginning to get frustrated with him. When Doug came home from playing ball I explained how he was acting & told him he needed to watch him so I could get started on the Thanksgiving baking. This is when Gavin's behavior got really odd. He just kept pacing in circles, moaning, not focusing on anything just off. We thought maybe he had a tummy ache, but moments later Doug put it together. I don't know how he managed to come to this conclusion other than the Holy Ghost telling him. Doug's brother Dave had left one of his Adderall pills on the cars dashboard on the drive home intending to take it. So when Doug & Gavin were in the car picking up, Gavin swallowed the pill. So after freaking out & calling the doctor they sent us straight to the ER. The car ride was probably the scariest. His eyes kept fluttering in the back of his head, his mouth would do this weird twitchy thing. He wasn't Gavin. Once being seen by a doctor we were really glad that we knew exactly the dosage he took & what it was. I guess a lot of parents have no clue how much their kids swallow when the little stinks get into medications. They monitored his heart rate which was 183 (supposed to be 100-120). The couple hours we were there he just gripped his football & car & paced the room back & forth. They told us it would metabolize in his body after 5-6 hours. There would be no long term effects to his heart or brain. Thank goodness! By the time we left the hospital it was already 5 hours. So we figured by bedtime he would be back to himself. Not so. Doug didn't try putting him down in his crib until midnight because he was still so wired. And he just cried for like 2 hours. So around 3AM I decided to try driving him in the car to see if he would fall asleep. He did! So he slept for about 2 hours & then it all started again. Anyhow, around 8AM he was still acting that way. Something was wrong! They said he would be out of his system by then. We didn't really know what to do other than return to the ER. We got right in & had a wonderful doctor & nurse. She apologized that the previous day they had given us the wrong information. She said for someone Gavin's size it would take more like 28-30 hours for it to leave his system. You might all be thinking duh! I could have told you that & we too probably would have second guessed that 5-6 hours seemed short. But when a doctor tells you something, you believe it! Gavin was pretty dehydrated so she decided to give him an IV to give him fluids. Oh my! I'm so glad that they don't let you watch that part. She brought him back & he was soaked in sweat & the nurse was pretty sweaty too. She said, "I wasn't planning on wrestling a turkey this big on Thanksgiving!". :) They had a hard time keeping him still. Which is normal for a 14 month old. Let alone one that has been hyped up on a controlled dose of amphetamine.

My poor baby! He just looked so sad & exhausted when she brought him back to us. After he got his fluids he did start responding better to us. He'd look at you when you said his name. He would reach out to get his own ice chips. He wanted & ate a popsicle. He slept. Anyhow we took him home & had our Thanksgiving with friends. That night we put him to bed & he slept all night long! So he is back to his happy healthy self & has just been playing catch up on sleep since he didn't sleep for over 20 hours. It was by far the scariest thing we have experienced as parents. We are so thankful for all the prayers & sympathies as we went through this. They truly did bring comfort to us all.

So I did say that we had our Thanksgiving. Our good friends the Marchant's have hosted Thanksgiving dinner every year that we've been in Buffalo. It is so fun to get together with friends on the holidays. Especially when you can't be with family. All the food was delicious! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the food or the guests. :( We had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, pineapple & cheese casserole, corn casserole, eggnog & sprite, cranberry sauce. Yum yum!

Later that evening we all met up at the Evans home for our traditional Pie Night. This is my favorite. There are so many pies to taste! They were all so good & it was a great way to end the holiday.

{My cherry pie}

Stephanie, Me, Crescent, Denyse, Brad & Megan
{mississippi mud, cherry, apple, pumpkin cream, pecan & banana cream}

I love that Brad is in the picture! He is the baker in his family & was dang proud of making that pecan pie!

It was our last Thanksgiving with some of our dear friends. They will be moving in the spring after graduation. :( This will definitely be a Thanksgiving we will all remember.

The day after Thanksgiving we didn't do any shopping! Instead we went bowling with the Evans. Gavin was in high heaven with all the colorful balls everywhere.

I didn't bowl very well our first game, but the second wasn't too shabby. I actually got a TURKEY! How appropriate right? :) They all made me do a turkey dance. We had a lot of fun!