Ringing in the New Year.... Emergency Room Style!

I will be the first to admit that I am not the party animal type! :) I had my college years of staying up until 3am or so, but then somewhere around having to take all of those 8am classes, I learned that I value sleep WAY too much!

So my idea of ringing in the New Year involves Adam, the kids, and me going out to eat at Outback. Six years ago that is what we decided to do, and then we did it again the next year for similar reasons, and ever since it's turned into this strange tradition :) From there, we'll come home, put the kids to bed, watch a little football, and I typically end up in bed right around 10pm. Adam will stay up watching games and then wake me up about 10 min before midnight. We'll watch the ball drop in Times Square from the comfort of my cozy bed, and when it's all over, I'll roll over and go right back to dreamland!

We've done a few parties here and there, but I think I still ended up coming home early from our neighbors last year and rung in the New Year in my favorite p.j. style!

Last night I was proceeding with my plans perfectly, actually planning to go to bed a little sooner maybe because ONCE AGAIN... I'm sick!! After I got sick, Cooper and Gracie got a cold and cough and we went to the Dr's office on Dec. 26th. Well, everyone got better, and now two days ago, everyone is ill again! I think we went into the Dr's with one thing, and came out with another. Well my Cooper man has a history of respiratory problems. He was born 4 weeks early and therefore spent the first week of his life in the NICU for respiratory issues. Ever since, he's battled asthma and even spent another week in the hospital 2 years ago for RSV.

So... after coughing fits to the point of vomiting several times yesterday, we decided we better make a phone call in to the Dr. and sure enough they said to take him to the Emergency Room. UGH!! I knew it was not going to be fun!

So at 10:15pm last night, Cooper and I trudge through the freezing cold into the Emergency Room where it is of course JUMPING! It was 30 min before we got to see the triage nurse and from there she said to expect an hour + wait to get to the back! Cooper was such a trooper though. He watched cartoons and hung in there VERY well!

We were finally discharged at 1:15am after being there for 3 HOURS!! We went through all of that for the E.R. Dr. to listen to our story and Cooper's chest and give us 3 NEW prescriptions! Cooper was my partner this year in watching the ball drop on t.v., and he was even sweet enough to give me my New Year's Kiss! :)

As yucky of an evening it was, it was enlightening for me in a way. New Year's is a time that most people reflect on the past year and make resolutions towards the upcoming year. I'd given this all a little thought over the past week, and then to be honest with you, I realized sitting in that E.R. waiting room just how lucky I really am!

There were a lot of sick, poor. and obese people in there. I saw people that probably wouldn't be in the shape their in health wise if they weighed considerably less. I saw some people that looked like they didn't have a dime to their name. Don't get me wrong... I am not trying to be mean here. It just made me appreciate what all blessings my family has in our health and living situations. It made me GLAD to take care of my body so that I can be healthy and live a life without a lot of those issues that come with a sedentary lifestyle. It was a true moment for me to kind of take a step back and take stock in my life and realize what all we DO have and stop focusing on what we need to achieve.

So, I'm one of those people that believes that everything happens for a reason. I'm not 100% why we had to celebrate the beginning of our New Year in the E.R., but I'm hoping it has more to do with reflection than an expectation of what our year will be like! :)

A Happy New Year to you All!

K :)