From the Caregiver's HAErt
— Danita LaShelle Jones

I stared down at the incoming text message and completely froze. The beeps from her monitor in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) had finally settled into a consistent rhythm. Although our oldest daughter, whom we lovingly refer to as Ladybug, was resting, my adrenaline was still pumping from the…

I haplessly fell backward on my bed, blew a sharp breath out of my mouth, and stared at the ceiling. We had made it to the middle of the week without any incidents with my oldest daughter, nicknamed Ladybug. We hadn’t needed to make a trip to see the pediatrician,…

I sat in my idle car and drummed my thumbs on the steering wheel. Another glance at the clock revealed that it was 10:57 a.m. I had three minutes left before it counted as a full day. Part of me hoped that I wouldn’t be noticed by a security guard…

One of my favorite ways to relax at the end of a stressful day is to play games on my phone. I pick games that require minimal strategy and effort. I’m a happy camper if I have to match pieces of candy or jewels, launch a plane in the air,…

After a losing battle trying to find a comfortable sleeping position, I sat up in bed, maneuvered my laptop around my large, pregnant belly, and started Googling “tips on having twins.” By hour two, I had a wealth of information, mostly from reputable websites about babies and parenting. But my…

By the time my husband and I added a set of twins to our already rambunctious 5- and 2-year-old, family and friends appropriately named our house “the Circus.” Sure, there were families out there with way more kids than we had, but our reality was what mattered. Everything seemed to…

There I was again, speaking with hushed tones into my cellphone as I talked my husband through the tangled wires I knew he was digging into on my side of the bed. “What else do you need, babe?” he asked patiently. I rubbed my forehead as I peeked over at…

In retrospect, I took a lot for granted. My 12-year-old daughter, whom we affectionally refer to as Ladybug, has probably seen more doctors than the average child her age. Although her visits started with the discovery of a rare allergy to spinach, finding out she has hereditary angioedema, or HAE,…

Of all the places to have a meltdown, mine happened in the parking lot of the public library. Last summer, my daughter, whom we affectionately call Ladybug, was hospitalized several times overnight due to hereditary angioedema (HAE). When she was at home, I had to administer multiple IV sticks…

I am a theater person. I was introduced to it in kindergarten, majored in it in college, and have taught it at every educational level. As a result, words that would never pop into someone’s head when describing me are “doctor” or “medicine.” Those words are reserved for my amazing…

The gas gauge needle settled on 3/4 full, and I sighed in relief. However, as I began the 80-mile trek home, the idea that I’d likely be stuck in traffic overshadowed my relief. I glanced in the rearview mirror to check on my daughter. There she was, curled up in her…