Could We Be Any Sicker?
Poor John Christian has had a rough winter! It all started with a cold around Thanksgiving that turned into a sinus infection just before Christmas. On New Year's he had the stomach bug! Not even 2 weeks after that I got a call from our church preschool where he goes on Tues & Thurs from 9-1 saying that he had a fever of 102. By the time I got to the church it was up to 104.4! Thank goodness for the Eckerds a block away that had dye free Tylenol & Motrin! John Christian is allergic to red dye which is a problem all in itself! Anyway, the pediatrician said to get his fever down & bring him in the next day. There were no other symptoms except the fever, but that turned out to be Strep Throat.
We finished the 10 days of antibiotics for Strep & 2 days later he had a fever of 102. 9 accompanied with stuffy nose & cough. This turned out to be a nasty little upper respiratory virus. I must admit he was a little champion when they pricked his finger. Not one tear! (Charlie did not react the same way a few days later when he had his finger pricked!) In addition to the virus John Christian also had a little fluid behind his ear, but not yet an ear infection.
2 weeks later we were back in the pediatrician's office for an ear infection. He was given a 5 day antibiotic for the ear infection. The ears did get better, but the symptoms of the nasty virus had not yet gone away & he was coughing all night long. It turned out to be a sinus infection. He got some fabulous green cough medicine & 3 days of a Z-pack. By this point I'm thinking surely, he must have had everything by now! Well, I was wrong!
Today, I was up with Charlie at 4AM & heard John Christian calling me. At first I admit I ignored him b/c the child always has a reason why he should be let out of bed. Most recently he's said things like: "I need supper. Get me a pimento cheese sandwich please." (that went on for a week) Then there are the classics, "Will you sing me a song?", "I need some milk.", & "I need to go pee pee in the potty." He is a sneaky little guy & I just figured he wanted out of the crib! He persistently kept calling "Mommmmmmmyyyyyy". After a few minutes I finally decided to see what creative reason he had for being up. This time he said his tummy hurt. I decided that I'd give him some baby gas drops figuring that would calm him & he would go back to sleep. Honestly, I didn't think his tummy really hurt. I know.... I know... What kind of mother am I? It's just that lately he's into "hurting" things to get a bandaide or just for attention & I figured it was one of those times!
30 minutes later I heard what I thought was him cough, but ran into check on him just in case. I had Charlie screaming in one arm b/c hearing John Christian cry freaked him out, John Christian was crying and puking everywhere, & Zach had just pulled out of the driveway on his way to work. It was 4:45AM. What a way to start the day!
I've been teaching Charlie how to hold a bottle. So, I ran to the kitchen, fixed a bottle, ran back into John Christian's room, put Charlie on the floor & prayed the bottle would occupy him long enough for me to clean up puke & tend to John Christian. By 5:30 I had Charlie back asleep in his crib, John Christian resting in my bed on a towel holding a trash can, & his pillow, sheets, blanky, etc... in the washing machine. Motherhood is fun!!!
Needless to say the vomiting continued all day. I couldn't get him to keep even a thimble full of pedialite or gingerale down. By 4:30PM after 10 hours of vomiting Zach had to come home from his first official day in his new office to keep Charlie so that John Christian & I could head off to the Emergency room.
The entire way to the ER & in the waiting room John Christian begged me for milk or gingerale. He must think I am a horrible mother b/c I was unable to give him anything to drink or eat for fear he would continue to throw up & things would just get worse. Luckily, our ER has a Pediatric ER. The wait wasn't that bad. We were entertained by a young white male in custody of the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department. He must have been on something. Either that or he was just plain crazy!! He kept telling the deputies that he was going to call his daddy, the judge, his congressman, & lobbyist. He was going to sue everyone & the next time the police came to get him he would be waiting on them with a knife to cut them all up. My favorite was that he was strong & was going to bust those handcuffs right off & fight if they tried to take him back to jail. This of course was the last thing I expected to see at 5PM on a Monday night in the Pediatric ER. I'd hate to be there on a weekend!
Anyway, while we continued to wait John Christian continued to beg for something to drink. Finally, a little girl asked her mom, "Why won't that lady give her little boy anything to drink?" Some horrible mom she thought I was! Thankfully, the mom explained to her daughter that I would give him something if I could, but that he was obviously sick. Last year when we spent 2 nights in the hospital for John Christian's dehydration due to a stomach bug they sent in a nutritionist to question me about how I feed him. She was surprised to see that I seemed to know as much as she did about children's nutrition. What did she think? That I was depriving my child of food & water? This recent trip is our 3rd one to this hospital for near dehydration. I think if we go again they may send DSS to question me! : )
We finally did get into see a doctor. John Christian wasn't dehydrated yet, but at the rate he was going he was once again headed in that direction. The nice doctor gave him a 1/4 of some miracle pill that kept him from throwing up anymore! Now, if there was only a pill for the diarrhea I knew was on it's way! The nurse told John Christian that after he took the antinausea pill & it worked she would bring him a popsicle. So, for 20 minutes all I heard from him was, "Where's that nurse? Where's my popsicle. I want my popsicle!" It's a good thing the medicine worked b/c I would have strangled that nurse for promising him a popsicle & then him not getting it b/c he was still vomiting! Finally, the popsicle arrived. She offered him his choice of 3 kinds. He chose the orange one first. As he was gobbling it down he stopped to tell me, "After I eat this orange popsicle the nurse will give me a blue one. Then, I will eat that purple one." He has quite the vocabulary to be 2 1/2. He didn't get another popsicle, but we did get sent home. Before we could even get to the car he was crying that his stomach hurt & that he wanted his daddy. I could already picture orange popsicle puke projectile all over my van. "Please", I prayed, "Just let us make it home before he vomits."
We made it home by 7:45PM! Zach & Charlie had an uneventful night & Charlie was sound asleep. Charlie actually slept from 7:30 - 7:30 with only one little incident while I was away at the grocery store stocking up on Gatoraide, bananas, etc... for John Christian. John Christian slept also! I slept for 9 hours straight without getting out of the bed. This was huge! I don't think I've slept more than 3 or 4 hours since November when Charlie quit sleeping! Hooray!! I want to thank God for his kindness b/c he knew I would be in for another full day!
Today the diarrhea showed up along with a fever of 101. 4. It was a 100 last night & the dr told me that was not a real fever. For those of you that are parents you know that anytime it's your child with the fever even if it's 99 it's still a fever to you! I've had quite the morning. In between trying to force John Christian to eat & drink, changing diapers, & cleaning the bathroom; I've been working on this blog. (I won't go into details, but I just want to send a quick thank you to the inventors of disposable diapers, disposable wipes, Clorax Cleanup, Clorax Wipes, Viva Paper Towels, Playtex Yellow Rubber Gloves, & the inventor of plastic grocery bags to name a few. Oh, & God Bless the person who thought to put a fan in the bathroom!) AND it's only 2PM!
We finished the 10 days of antibiotics for Strep & 2 days later he had a fever of 102. 9 accompanied with stuffy nose & cough. This turned out to be a nasty little upper respiratory virus. I must admit he was a little champion when they pricked his finger. Not one tear! (Charlie did not react the same way a few days later when he had his finger pricked!) In addition to the virus John Christian also had a little fluid behind his ear, but not yet an ear infection.
2 weeks later we were back in the pediatrician's office for an ear infection. He was given a 5 day antibiotic for the ear infection. The ears did get better, but the symptoms of the nasty virus had not yet gone away & he was coughing all night long. It turned out to be a sinus infection. He got some fabulous green cough medicine & 3 days of a Z-pack. By this point I'm thinking surely, he must have had everything by now! Well, I was wrong!
Today, I was up with Charlie at 4AM & heard John Christian calling me. At first I admit I ignored him b/c the child always has a reason why he should be let out of bed. Most recently he's said things like: "I need supper. Get me a pimento cheese sandwich please." (that went on for a week) Then there are the classics, "Will you sing me a song?", "I need some milk.", & "I need to go pee pee in the potty." He is a sneaky little guy & I just figured he wanted out of the crib! He persistently kept calling "Mommmmmmmyyyyyy". After a few minutes I finally decided to see what creative reason he had for being up. This time he said his tummy hurt. I decided that I'd give him some baby gas drops figuring that would calm him & he would go back to sleep. Honestly, I didn't think his tummy really hurt. I know.... I know... What kind of mother am I? It's just that lately he's into "hurting" things to get a bandaide or just for attention & I figured it was one of those times!
30 minutes later I heard what I thought was him cough, but ran into check on him just in case. I had Charlie screaming in one arm b/c hearing John Christian cry freaked him out, John Christian was crying and puking everywhere, & Zach had just pulled out of the driveway on his way to work. It was 4:45AM. What a way to start the day!
I've been teaching Charlie how to hold a bottle. So, I ran to the kitchen, fixed a bottle, ran back into John Christian's room, put Charlie on the floor & prayed the bottle would occupy him long enough for me to clean up puke & tend to John Christian. By 5:30 I had Charlie back asleep in his crib, John Christian resting in my bed on a towel holding a trash can, & his pillow, sheets, blanky, etc... in the washing machine. Motherhood is fun!!!
Needless to say the vomiting continued all day. I couldn't get him to keep even a thimble full of pedialite or gingerale down. By 4:30PM after 10 hours of vomiting Zach had to come home from his first official day in his new office to keep Charlie so that John Christian & I could head off to the Emergency room.
The entire way to the ER & in the waiting room John Christian begged me for milk or gingerale. He must think I am a horrible mother b/c I was unable to give him anything to drink or eat for fear he would continue to throw up & things would just get worse. Luckily, our ER has a Pediatric ER. The wait wasn't that bad. We were entertained by a young white male in custody of the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department. He must have been on something. Either that or he was just plain crazy!! He kept telling the deputies that he was going to call his daddy, the judge, his congressman, & lobbyist. He was going to sue everyone & the next time the police came to get him he would be waiting on them with a knife to cut them all up. My favorite was that he was strong & was going to bust those handcuffs right off & fight if they tried to take him back to jail. This of course was the last thing I expected to see at 5PM on a Monday night in the Pediatric ER. I'd hate to be there on a weekend!
Anyway, while we continued to wait John Christian continued to beg for something to drink. Finally, a little girl asked her mom, "Why won't that lady give her little boy anything to drink?" Some horrible mom she thought I was! Thankfully, the mom explained to her daughter that I would give him something if I could, but that he was obviously sick. Last year when we spent 2 nights in the hospital for John Christian's dehydration due to a stomach bug they sent in a nutritionist to question me about how I feed him. She was surprised to see that I seemed to know as much as she did about children's nutrition. What did she think? That I was depriving my child of food & water? This recent trip is our 3rd one to this hospital for near dehydration. I think if we go again they may send DSS to question me! : )
We finally did get into see a doctor. John Christian wasn't dehydrated yet, but at the rate he was going he was once again headed in that direction. The nice doctor gave him a 1/4 of some miracle pill that kept him from throwing up anymore! Now, if there was only a pill for the diarrhea I knew was on it's way! The nurse told John Christian that after he took the antinausea pill & it worked she would bring him a popsicle. So, for 20 minutes all I heard from him was, "Where's that nurse? Where's my popsicle. I want my popsicle!" It's a good thing the medicine worked b/c I would have strangled that nurse for promising him a popsicle & then him not getting it b/c he was still vomiting! Finally, the popsicle arrived. She offered him his choice of 3 kinds. He chose the orange one first. As he was gobbling it down he stopped to tell me, "After I eat this orange popsicle the nurse will give me a blue one. Then, I will eat that purple one." He has quite the vocabulary to be 2 1/2. He didn't get another popsicle, but we did get sent home. Before we could even get to the car he was crying that his stomach hurt & that he wanted his daddy. I could already picture orange popsicle puke projectile all over my van. "Please", I prayed, "Just let us make it home before he vomits."
We made it home by 7:45PM! Zach & Charlie had an uneventful night & Charlie was sound asleep. Charlie actually slept from 7:30 - 7:30 with only one little incident while I was away at the grocery store stocking up on Gatoraide, bananas, etc... for John Christian. John Christian slept also! I slept for 9 hours straight without getting out of the bed. This was huge! I don't think I've slept more than 3 or 4 hours since November when Charlie quit sleeping! Hooray!! I want to thank God for his kindness b/c he knew I would be in for another full day!
Today the diarrhea showed up along with a fever of 101. 4. It was a 100 last night & the dr told me that was not a real fever. For those of you that are parents you know that anytime it's your child with the fever even if it's 99 it's still a fever to you! I've had quite the morning. In between trying to force John Christian to eat & drink, changing diapers, & cleaning the bathroom; I've been working on this blog. (I won't go into details, but I just want to send a quick thank you to the inventors of disposable diapers, disposable wipes, Clorax Cleanup, Clorax Wipes, Viva Paper Towels, Playtex Yellow Rubber Gloves, & the inventor of plastic grocery bags to name a few. Oh, & God Bless the person who thought to put a fan in the bathroom!) AND it's only 2PM!
posted by Rebecca at 8:33 AM
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