Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Firemen are our friends!


This weekend, as most of you know already, I got to ride in an ambulance. Yes, I am now a member of the ambulance club. In order to be in this club, you have to actually be lying on the stretcher and can't just be an observer. Having an IV helps towards gold membership. I think what guarantees your gold membership is having the sirens on all the way to the hospital, which I did not. I had something better. I had the paramedics singing "Vanilla Ice" and doing interpretations of rappers. At my request, no country was allowed and they pumped up "Sublime" for me on our trip to the hospital.

It was the least they could do. At least 7 of them, tromped into our tiny apartment to see me lying on the floor in my underwear after losing alot of blood. When I asked for pants, they replied,"No" because the hospital would be taking them off anyway. I was granted blankets, thank goodness, on the way out to the ambulance.

Mia was such a trooper. All day she was sick with a fever and was just not feeling good. Ben contributes her lack of energy towards her good behavior. She was awesome. Ben asked how she was doing, and she replied, "Firemen are our friends." We have had many fire drills living in this complex and it has just been recently that the sirens and alarms don't send Mia into a screaming fit.

Ben's performance during this emergency was fitting for a gold medal. He did what any boy would do. . .he called his mom! Well, not any mom. His just happens to be a nurse. A nurse who usually does our triage for us. Ben called 911 and found someone to watch the kids. In my light headed state, I was trying to think of some friends he could call, but they wheeled me out before I could help him.

The Bishop of our ward(our church) just happened to call Ben during all of this and ended up being the one to watch our kids. We thought it a fitting initiation since he was just called last week. His wife later helped during the night and the missionaries even stopped by unexpectedly.

There are times when I have to say to CJ,"Let me be the mom!" This night was not one of them. We relied on her in so many ways. She helped Mia into a nighttime pantie because she wet the bed. She then, let Mia sleep in her bed. She helped Xander find his binky and to not be scared of our visitors. Then, successfully, put him to bed after calming him down. She stayed up until Ben came home around 1:00a.m. and slept on the floor. Yes, this girl deserved a gold medal too! Instead, she got a "Highschool Musical 2" purse, bracelet, and "Hannah Montana" headbands for her help.

Our ward family here has helped us so much. I ended up staying overnight at the hospital after my Dilation and Curettage (not to be confused with D&C) and Ben went home to relieve the Bishop's wife. People kept bringing us food(to Ben's delight)the next day,and friends took Mia and CJ so they wouldn't be stuck at home all day.

In the meantime, Ben was taking care of our car, which had been a victim of vandalism and had its window broken. This had been the 3rd time, since we have lived here, that our car had been damaged and left with no note or anything showing some one's conscience. The person fixing the glass was awesome and even offered, free of charge, to take one of the giant dents out. That just made my day!

We feel so blessed of all the help we have received. In fact, I am still getting help with my kids,even today someone took Mia and Xander for 3 hours so I could nap. My sweet friends keep bringing me dinner. Thanks for your prayers and all of your support! For Ben, I will say, "Thank you for all the food and even though Valerie said we didn't need it, you brought it anyway!"

11 comments:

Andy Porter said...

We are so glad that everything is alright. We hope that you recover well and quickly, although we hope that the food keeps coming.

Valerie said...

Ben hopes so too!

Ben Porter said...

THe food has already stopped :(

Sarah said...

I'd bring you something if I were there! I'm so sorry for everything and wish we could help out.

Hannah said...

Mormon's sure are good at keeping people fed! Gotta love it! I just want to give CJ a big hug for doing so much and being so big...what a good girl!

Betsy said...

I never wished I was back in California more than that night. Sorry we weren't around, but it's always good to know you guys are so great and will always be well taken care of.

Russell said...

CJ is the best. When I think of kids helping out like that it makes me all mushy. Good for her.

Russell said...

On an unrelated note, has anybody heard from Hannah in the past few hours? Betsy's been trying to get ahold of her all morning but no response.

Valerie said...

I'm confused. Mushy, like oatmeal mushy or mushy like "I've eaten way too many cookies" mushy, the possibilities could be endless.

P.S. I think Hannah was snowboarding in an restricted area and just couldn't reach her phone.

Abby Marie said...

I just barely heard the story about all this. Valerie you are resilient (spelling?). I can't believe after all that, that you had the sense of humor to tell the ambulance drivers not to listen to country.I love you and I'm so glad you're okay!

Ben Porter said...

You think that's impressive, When the ER nurses asked if there was anything else they could do for her, Valerie asked for a breast reduction & a tummy tuck. (She still grumbles that they never gave her one.)