So I am going to try to keep this short, but have been wanting to put this on a post for a couple days now, just haven't had time.
My parents have been here for over a week - which was great - they left tonight, which I'm sure is great for them -I'm sure they are truly exhausted, these kids are nuts, as am I at times!
Anyhow, Saturday will go down as the worst day in history in our house - I'm sure even though it was sunny, there was a dark cloud over our house. Again, I am going to try to keep this short, but a lot of crap happened that day!
First, at 8 am Mark and I are in bed, actually getting some sleeping in time - as my Mom is watching the kids for us- I hear Jakob say "Nana why did you fall down the stairs". I didn't think much because I thought she was fine. Then I hear Jakob run to Papa who was in the bathroom and say "Papa, Nana fell down the stairs." So, the story goes that my Mom was holding Sarah, while going down the basement stairs to get a towel out of the dryer for Papa's shower. She apparently fell on the the 4th step from the bottom - on her right side while clenching onto Sarah for dear life. She got up, was fine for a second, got the towel from the dryer and then fell onto her knees as was dizzy. That's when she called for Jakob. After I heard Jakob run to get Papa, I hopped out of bed, got my robe/coat on and walked into the kitchen, just as Don (Papa) was holding Sarah and walking my Mom into the kitchen, as I stepped into the kitchen, my Mom passes out and I try to catch her, but her head hit the kitchen cabinet, I was able to get her onto my body at least before she hit the ground. So, I am screaming bloody murder to Mark- who is still in bed in his underwear - I'm yelling get the phone (3 times), Don is holding Sarah, who is screaming (she was fine, just super freaked out), Jakob is watching in horror, Don is freaked that Mom had a stroke and I'm freaking out trying to get the phone. Mark dials 911 and hands the phone to me. I am seriously talking super fast to the operator, repeating our address, oh... like 3 times, before telling her what is going on. (I have called 911 a few times in my job as a school nurse, but never for a family member - WAY different). So, the firefighters (3) and Paramedics (2) show up, we are all in our pj's - not the way I pictured firefighters coming over to my house - I digress - so by this time my Mom is awake - (she actually woke up while I was on the phone with the 911 operator and she was arguing with me that she was fine and didn't pass out - it was kind of funny). The firefighters lift her off of me and roll her onto the backboard, I hop up and run to the bathroom as I don't have a bra on, and look like hell and realize that I am going to be going to the hospital with her! I run in the bedroom to get dressed, Mark hands me Sarah, which slows my dressing process (sweatshirt and jeans) way down. I come out of the room as they have her on the gurney and ask the paramedic if they can "wait for me to follow them, I just need to brush my teeth!" OMG, I will never live this down. First off in my defense, my Mom was no where near being in the ambulance yet and she wasn't going to die, she was stable and ok, they (I) just wanted to have her checked out. Second, I had slept with my mouth open all night with the heater on and Mommy had some horrific breath! So, the paramedic was super nice, she looked at me, a bit funny, but then said "Yeah go ahead." The paramedics were awesome and let us follow them to the hospital, even pulling over to wait for us (Me and Don, Mark stayed with the kids). I should mention that Jakob was so great, he was so brave and was asking us what they were doing with Nana and why, and was quite excited to have the fire engine in front of his house! He was such a champ with calling for Papa when asked to by Nana, we call him the "Little Rescuer". I should mention that I have told Jakob many times before that if I ever fall down the stairs he is to bring the phone to me or call 911 himself and tell them to come to our house, so he knew this was serious.
So, long story short, my Mom is fine, has a broken rib and passed out related to a serious drop in her blood pressure - vagal response. All in all, it could have been way worse, but she is just fine, in a lot of pain, and couldn't pick up Sarah - torture for the Nana! I should also mention that Sarah came away just fine.
So, we got home from the hospital about noon and all had a rest, and some showers!
That evening around 8 pm - almost exactly 12 hours from the stair falling incident - I let Roxy out (our 8 year old, million dollar, fixer upper, German Shep. mix) to go potty. As she is outside, she starts creeping toward the back fence, I call to her and I hear a weird noise, she comes running back up the stairs into the mudroom shaking her head - I thought she ran into a spider web - I shut the door, with me inside and realize she was sprayed by a SKUNK!! OMG, it was awful, I am sure my nasal passages were burned, I still can't smell right! I didn't think to put her outside, I just thought that I needed to get out of the room - so I went into the kitchen and started yelling at Mark and Don to do something, they looked at me like I was crazy, until they smelled the skunk scent! We ended up getting Roxy outside, after I had to enter the mudroom again - holding my breath - she has been outside since. After going into the mudroom again, I thought I was going to die, I'm sure that is what tear gas is made of - Skunk spray really is just sulphuric acid - or so I read on the Internet.
So, after some serious google searching on how to get rid of skunk scent on a dog and in a house, our poor dog has been bathed twice now in peroxide, baking soda and dish soap mix, the mudroom has been wiped down, but it still wreaks! We have bowls of vinegar all over the house - which are helping. We've washed our clothes in vinegar and it seemed to work. But, I can not get the scent out of my nose. Plus, water supposedly reactivates the scent and Roxy is outside and it is raining!! AWESOME!!
I'm not sure what else rotten could have happened on Saturday, but luckily we all got a really good laugh out of it! I felt like I was being tested on how to react to serious and unpredictable situations - I didn't do the greatest but, live and learn, I guess!
