Shame on Mommy

I have a book called "Taking care of the ME in Mommy". Its awesome and I recommend it to any moms out there who haven't read it. Its very hands on and really encourages moms to take care of themselves (spiritually, emotionally, etc) so that they can take care of their families.

Too bad I haven't headed this advise in the physical sense.

We had a super fun sprinkler playdate at a good friends house yesterday. While the babies were napping in the house, the kids were playing in the sprinkler, playing in the baby pool, painting, pretending, and having a blast. Us moms did... what we do. We chased kids, slathered sunscreen on them, filled up sippy cups with water and monitored turns with the popular toys. A typical playdate in the sun.

Until it was time to go and I started feeling a little light headed. I knew I hadn't had enough to drink or eat and should have slowed down a little to do so.

My more than sweet hostess ;) helped me as one by one I striped the kids down, hosed them off, dried them off, dressed them, loaded them into the car and then started with the next one. Four kids and one smiley little baby later, we were headed down the road.

I knew I was dehydrated so I was slowly taking sips of water but with each sip was feeling more nauseated. So halfway to my house I pulled over so that the water could *cough cough* come back up. Not fun. And to make a long story short, my angel/friend, Rashelle, who had been with us at the playdate pulled up behind me, assessed the situation-- her friend hunched over in the front seat of a suburban with 5 kids in the car wondering whats going on-- and called 911.

The next thing I really remember was laying in the back of the suburban with three EMT's poking an IV into my arm and asking me questions which I apparently was giving really odd answers to.

EMT: "What is your name?"
Me: "Haylie"

Hm. Now you KNOW I'm out if it, I didn't even know my name!!

EMT: "What is your medical history"
Me: "I don't know, ask her" (Pointing at Rashelle)

EMT: "Could you be pregnant"
Me: "Probably, I already have 5 kids"

LORD HAVE MERCRY, thankfully I'm not!!!!!

EMT: "Where do you want to go to the hospital?"
Me: "Ask her" (Again pointing to poor Rashelle)

EMT: "What day is it?"
Me: "I dont think I would know the answer to that anyway"

Pitiful.

Anyway, Spring Hill must still be smaller than I feel like it is because apparently a heat exhausted woman on the side of the road warrants a fire truck, an ambulance, two police cars, my dad in his car and my friends Jodie and Rashelle each in a minivan! What a scene.

So they took me by ambulance to the ER (Jake and my mom met me there) and by the time I got there the oxygen and IV were already helping enough to make me totally coherent again. (Also they said my blood sugar and blood pressure were both a little low when I was in the ambulance.) But one more bag of IV fluid, bottle of gatorade, and negative pregnancy test later (just to be on the safe side ;)) I was up and walking and ready to go home.

And I'm fine now though I still get light headed really easily. They said it would take a couple of days to be fully back up to par. And that once you've hit the point of dehydration that you can be really easily susceptible to it again. Awesome.

So let it be a lesson to us all... its hot out there!! Don't be like me and think "Suck it up, Amy. Be tough. You're fine." Drink something for crying out loud and take care of yourself. So you can take care of your family. Otherwise you just might land yourself in the ER having someone else take care of YOU.