Happy, happy birthday (thankfully)!

Emily is officially 12 and we are happy to celebrate this milestone. Being her first real birthday party since before COVID, she celebrated with a sleepover with friends from school on June 1st (celebrating early because we leave for Minnesota tomorrow). We sugared them up really well - snow cones, peanut butter cups, pizza, soda, and bundt cakes - doing our part to add to the country's health crisis! 

Dinner time!

In the morning!

Only two of the three girls spent the night, but Emily declared it, "The best sleepover ever! Just like in the movies." What more can we ask for! They definitely seemed to have fun staying up late, watching Arachnophobia (one of Emily's favorites), and then making a giant bed on the floor of her room.

That said, the day of her celebration was one of ups and downs. She awoke at the regular time and decided that she would take a shower right away. She never takes showers in the morning, but it made sense, because she wanted to be ready for her party in the afternoon. After awhile in the shower, I heard her get out. She opened the door and called, "Mom, I need some water, I am going to be sick." I could tell immediately that something was wrong. 

As I rose from my seat, I heard a thud. I ran to the bathroom and found her loosely wrapped in a towel, lying on her stomach on the tile, not moving. I knelt over her and asked her what happened. I was afraid that she was going to seize, but she was completely unresponsive; eyes open, totally blank, totally gone. I felt like there was about to be a crack in the universe - the time before this moment and then the time after it, which would never be the same. 

I pulled her up a bit and was screaming her name, asking if she could hear me. Again, nothing. I was seconds from calling 9-1-1, but then she came to. She was disoriented, asking me if what was happening was real. Naturally, she was really scared (as was I). She was able to sit up and talk to me, but then she said that her entire body felt like all her limbs had fallen asleep and it hurt for me to even touch her - everything was tingling. Again, totally freaking me out.

She had some water and some food and started to feel better, but I was on high alert. She had a mild concussion about a month ago, and I was afraid of another blow to her head. She had clearly hit her cheekbone and one of her elbows, which was trapped under her body when she fell. I was afraid of fractures, intracranial bleeding, etc. I decided that a trip to the ER was in order. 

As tends to be the case, we spent four hours in the ER only to conclude that she was fine, but modestly more prone to fainting than others. That, the hot shower, which dilated her blood vessels even further, and her decision to sit down before suddenly getting up to call to me, all caused her to faint. Fortunately, there was no serious damage from the fall - no fractures, no bleeding, no concussion. All the while, her biggest concern was whether this would interfere with her birthday sleepover. She asked pretty much every person who attended to her whether she could still have her party. Fortunately, the doctor cleared her for all activities. :)

We got back from the ER with plenty of time for her to rest before her party. In the meantime, I had a chance for my blood pressure to return to normal. LOL. She was just excited about the dramatic story to share with her friends. That afternoon, they all had fun swimming, laughing, running around the neighborhood, etc. I am just grateful that the day ended as well as it did. She said that this is probably the most dramatic birthday that she has ever had, and I encouraged her to keep it that way!