This One Put Me Down and Out

Gabriel is six months old.

This latest migraine, that is.  But we'll get to that after all the good stuff.

First, we set out on a road trip to western Ohio for a long weekend to visit our youngest grandson, who just turned six months old on the day we arrived.  The last time we saw him was almost two months ago, and we badly needed a baby fix.

We arrived after a 7 1/2 hour drive at about 9 PM, and that rude little stinker didn't even stay up and wait for us!  I suppose in his little brain the debate between sleep vs. grandparents wasn't much of a debate at all, really.  Little guy needs his sleep!

A very relaxing weekend was spent just catching up on the lives of daughter Sarah, SIL Lance, and happy Gabriel.  We stayed mostly close to home, and I certainly accomplished my goal of overdosing on plenty of snuggles and huggles.  Gabriel was all too accommodating and loves to be held and fussed over.

He has such a ready and pleasant smile, all throughout the day.

We learned that he doesn't have much interest in the rolling over process, but he'd much rather sit up like a big guy and play that way.

When he got a little sleepy, somehow there were always some soft chests and waiting arms to help the nap happen.  No doubt there was quite a bit of grandparental spoilage going on, too.

Gabriel proved to be an easy traveler, as we made a long outing the one afternoon to explore in a nearby Bass Pro Shop.  We shopped, ate lunch in the cafe there, and then shopped some more.  He just sat in his stroller very contentedly taking it all in, always ready with that smile that melts.

I was on duty for the evening dinner feedings.  This little guy is quite the chow hound.  He loves solid foods, and opens his mouth like a little birdie when he sees it coming.  It's always good to follow up the cereal with a little giraffe for dessert, too.

He is growing and changing so nicely, and it was such a pleasure to watch his parents enjoying every new part of parenting him.  We won't see them again until Christmas, but I'm sure in these next two months he will have changed a lot.  He will certainly make the holidays fun.

We no sooner made the trip home, when the phone rang.  Daughter #2, Lindsay, was needing me to make the trip to her place and babysit sick little Ellie.  Being free to come and go to help out the kids and grandchildren in these situations is one of the best perks of being retired.

Ellie and Lindsay

So I repacked my bag and headed towards Amish country.  It's not everywhere you see this kind of a sign in a parking area.

When I arrived, Ellie was obviously not feeling tip top.  She wasn't interested in eating or drinking much of anything, and wasn't her happy self.

Ellie on a good day

However, the next day while she was in my care, she seemed to bounce back to her normal happy self.  She easily amused herself wearing her princess dress up outfits throughout the day, and taking care of her baby dolls.  We played with play dough, and painted some pictures. Ellie loves seeing what's in Grammal's bag, and this time she found some make up.

Unfortunately, all day while Ellie was getting better, I was coming down with a killer migraine headache.  Not even my migraine prescription seemed to give any relief, and after struggling with the pain for about 12 hours, that evening when she returned home from work, Lindsay hauled me off to the local emergency room.

After a heavy shot of pain medication gave some relief, I was discharged and gratefully crawled into bed to get some rest.  

Darn it if that migraine didn't come back early the next morning, waking me to another miserable pain filled day.  And again, no medications were helping, so after another 12 hours of suffering, we headed back again to the emergency room.  Not surprisingly, the emergency staff personnel that had cared for me the night before were surprised to see me there again.

After experimenting with numerous intravenous pain medications, the migraine finally receded.  

As I write this, it has been four days since that night in the hospital.  My body is still rebounding from all the medications I had that night.  Like I said at the beginning of this post, this migraine really took me down and out.  It was the first time a migraine headache didn't respond to the pills I carry with me at all times, and that concerns me.  I'll be seeing my family doctor for some follow up care in a few days. 

In other news, grandtwins Tori and Brianna got a new black kitten at their house.  After quite a bit of debate, the kitten was named VADA, sort of like a female version of Darth Vader.  Those kiddos are highly creative, I'll give them that.  

Brianna, VADA, and Tori

Coming:  the remainder of the photos and blog posts from our recent Washington, D.C. trip.