Don't Germs Go Away In Spring?

It's spring. I know it is. The calendar says so, and I got the email from a friend of mine announcing that we're ready to start booking our spring girls night out. It has to be spring, right? Forget the 19 degrees when I woke up this morning. I'm simply pretending that doesn't exist.

Because you know what? I'm done with winter. I'm done with being stuck inside. I'm done with no sun. I'm done with snowpants and hats and scarves and winter jackets. And most of all, I'm done with sicknesses.

We got through the majority of the winter relatively unscathed. Sure my husband (an almost two decade teacher, mind you) got illness after illness early this fall, but that was an aberration; he never gets sick anymore (we'll ignore the nasty cold he has right now, too). We'll ignore all Little Miss's issues, as those were caused by an ill-fated attempt at reintroducing dairy this fall.

Mister Man and I? We sailed right on through the winter, laughing at the germs that tried to catch us and failed. We didn't have so much as a sniffle. Then March hit. Mister Man came home on a Monday, telling me he had strep. Since he's successfully diagnosed himself twice before - the only other two times he's had strep, mind you - I took him straight to the doctor, and lo and behold, he had strep. No worries, that's what antibiotics are for. I expected him to be home with me on Tuesday but fine the next day.

Ehhhh, not so much. He got a fever Tuesday night that didn't really leave until Saturday afternoon. Even after three days on antibiotics, he still had a 103.5 degree fever. That said, I was extremely grateful that his strep didn't come the next week (two weeks ago, in real time) when we were headed for Florida for the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration and then a week of spring break. Everyone was healthy for that. It was awesome - sun, warmth, and no germs.

This week hasn't been so ... lucky. One of the girls in our carpool stayed home Monday - the first day back from spring break - because she had a sore throat and swollen lymph nodes and just generally felt icky. (Thank you to her mom for keeping her home even though there was no fever!) Spring break is when all the germs are supposed to go away. Everyone is out of school and away from people who are passing things around all day in the close quarters of the classroom. When we come back, the strep being passed from child to child is magically gone.

Or so the theory goes.

I got a call from the school nurse yesterday around 2pm. It didn't start with the usual, "Hi, Mister Man is fine!" greeting that I get when the school calls. My stomach sank immediately. He had complained of chills, and when the nurse took his temperature, it was 101.5 (he was fine that morning, promise!).

I quickly learned that he was the last child standing in his row in first grade. All the other students in his row had already come down with the fever virus. It was Tuesday mid-day after spring break, and already five other children were home sick. Yikes!

I headed down to pick him up, and he was sound asleep in the nurse's office by the time I arrived to pick him up. I carried him out to the car. (Oh, what a cute picture that would make, said one passing teacher to another as I passed them in the hallway - especially with Little Miss carrying his coat and backpack for me - while internally I groaned that this was most assuredly not the kind of cute picture I wanted memorialized.)

He went straight up to bed when I got him home, eschewing dinner. When I checked on him twenty minutes later - before I went upstairs to go to bed because I had a splitting headache and could feel a fever coming on - he was sound asleep.

Welcome to FeverPukefest 2011 in our household.

My plans last night were summarily canceled, and I still feel like a truck ran over me. Fortunately, my headache is now gone, my fever is mostly gone, and the puking has ceased. (Thank the skies, as I don't ever throw up and hate hate hate it!) Mister Man woke up at midnight to have a few Cheerios, but went back to bed immediately.

This morning, he slept until 10am. His fever was up to 103 again. He is showing no interest in food or drink, although I've been able to feed him a little applesauce and oyster crackers and rice cereal - and water, of course. He's not going to school again tomorrow, as he's now spend the last twenty-four hours in bed, showing no desire to leave it.

So seriously, Spring? Wherever you are, please come fast. I am not doing any more illnesses this year. I'm done! (Although I would again like to express my appreciation for the ten days of health we had while on vacation - I am very, very grateful for that!)

How Long Can This Love Last?

With a chest X-ray this morning, it's official that Little Miss has pneumonia. Again. Fortunately, we caught it very early - the doctor didn't even hear anything in her lungs and it was fortunately still very small. That said, I think we're done with dairy for at least a couple weeks until she recovers. Coincidence that in 18 months being dairy free she didn't get so much as a cold and two months into reintroducing dairy she has pneumonia?

We are again home, and I have a short respite right now while Little Miss takes a nap. This is her third day home, and it's really starting to hit home to him that she's seriously sick and missing out on things.

This morning as he's getting ready for school:

Mommy, can you take Little Miss's temperature so we can see if she can go to school today? he asked worriedly.

Sorry, Mister Man. With a temp of 103.6 yesterday afternoon, even if she had no fever this morning, she still isn't well enough to go to school today, I explained.

You mean she's going to miss her Halloween party at school?! he wanted to know.

Unfortunately, she is, Kiddo, I confirmed.

But it's ok, because Grandma is going to come over to our house this afternoon and have a little Halloween here for her, right?

Yep, she'll be here when we go to your friend's party and will do something fun with her.

I think I'm going to ask for extra stuff at my Halloween party at school so she can have it at home later, he decided.

That's very sweet.

And, Mommy, the cookies we're taking to Henry's (not his real name) party this afternoon, can we leave some here for her so she can have a cookie at her party, too?

Of course. Of course we can leave a cookie behind for her. I love how he worries about her and wants to take care of her all the time, but especially when she's not feeling well. These are the days where my heart swells with pride. I can only hope that as they grow older, they don't grow apart and they continue to love and respect each other the way they do now.




Current Giveaways:

Family 4 pack of tickets to Ringling Brothers in Chicago at the UC November 17 here
Family Taco Night prize pack here
Wendy's gift card here
$40 gift card to 1-800-Flowers.com here

Cheerios: Thank Goodness I'm Home

I've been a stay at home mom (ha!) for almost exactly four months now. It's definitely been a learning process, and I keep waiting for "normal" to set in, for me to have a routine and a day to day that doesn't constantly change. I'm beginning to decide that this isn't something I will ever have, and I'm slowly becoming ok with it.

A big part of the reason I am ok with the inconsistency and the lack of routine is because of the fact that I can have inconsistency and things will still be ok. I look at this week as a perfect example of things that couldn't have happened were I still working.

On Monday, the wee ones had a birthday party immediately following school. When I was working, I needed them to come straight home, and I couldn't drive them - or their friends - places after school to do fun things. While my mom potentially could have covered for me and taken them, it was nice to go and to get to know some of the other moms in Mister Man's class better. Not having those relationships as much last year was a bit of a challenge.

Yesterday, Little Miss was sick. Instead of scrambling and trying to figure out who was taking Mister Man to school and what I was going to do with a sick Little Miss in the house while I tried to work and be on conference calls, I was able to drop everything to be with her.

When she's sick, she's needy, and I can't get anything done. I cuddled with her, played Uno with her, read books with her, worked with her on her homework, took her to the doctor, and more. I didn't write any blog posts. I didn't hang out on Twitter. I didn't even get the dishwasher emptied. I'm pretty sure that taking care of Little Miss is far more important, and I'm glad that I could be there for her.

With her being sick, she missed a gymnastics class. When I was working, we would have had to eat that class, as there was no way that I could find a time to get her to a makeup class. Gymnastics is her thing, and she loves it. The fact that she was willing to miss it was my huge clue that she was seriously sick.

Today was more of the same. I have a great person who carpools with me who was able to drive both ways, meaning I could let Little Miss sleep in and not worry about getting her moving and out the door. I again got nothing done - it's 7pm and I'm only now sitting down to write a post I had intended to write days ago - but my view of "nothing" has changed.

My getting nothing done means that I spend quality time with the wee ones and have a consistency in their routine - even if not in my own - that they thrive on. My getting nothing done means that we talk about all sorts of things, and I don't feel the need to rush to finish the conversation because I have to finish a project or get on a call. My getting nothing done means that I join my family for dinner every night instead of watching them eat while I edit a presentation or sit on a conference call.

I asked them recently if they liked it better when Mommy worked or when Mommy stays home. Hands down they were happier with me at home, and I'm happier, too - something no one should discount. My mom, especially, has mentioned that Mister Man seems to be so much more at peace and regulated than he was when I was working. While some of that is undoubtedly due to his getting older and the therapies we have him in - again, something that was a huge challenge to do when I waws working - I have to think that my being home and him having a consistent routine and parenting style makes getting through each day just a little easier for him.

I lasted six months when I tried the stay at home mom thing previously. I had the itch to do something - anything - way before then, however. Someone recently asked me if I was ready to go back to work. While I would debate whether or not I'm working raising the wee ones, the answer is a firm no. I'm not ready to take a job outside the home right now. I know where I'm needed, and my family is better and happier for it.

And that? That is worth more than any paycheck I could bring home.

***

Current Giveaways:

Family Taco Night prize pack here
Wendy's gift card here
$40 gift card to 1-800-Flowers.com here
Two Aquaphor Wonder Sets here

Oh How Quickly It Turns

At ten this morning, my phone rang. On the other end was the nurse from Little Miss's preschool -- mind you, for the second day in a row calling. Yesterday, she wanted to know if she could put lotion on Little Miss's chapped hands.

Today, she wanted to know if I'd given Little Miss any cough medicine, as she was sent to the nurse's office for coughing and the nurse noticed she had a rapid heartbeat (I've since learned that I need to know how many beats that means). Fortunately, she had no fever, and the nurse didn't feel I needed to do anything at that point (read: don't leave my planned morning and pick her up from school).

When her bus pulled up, I noticed the girl in front sleeping and started to make a comment to the bus driver about other kids getting their naps on the bus but that Little Miss never falls asleep. I stopped when the bus driver showed me my sleeping girl. Hmm. I brought her inside to sit down for lunch, but she wanted no lunch and just wanted to go take her nap. Uh-oh.

A little before 2:30, she woke up whining that she didn't feel good. She never says she isn't feeling good. I gave her a hug and realized she was warm. Yep, fever of 102.2. And I noticed she was breathing rapidly and had some retracted breathing going on, too. I sighed and called the doctor who got me in at 3.

It's never a good sign when the doctor listen's to your child's chest for a loooong time. And then puts on the pulse-ox reader and sighs, saying, "That's what I was afraid of." Yes, we've been down this road before. It involved a trip to the ER at 5pm after an early afternoon doctor's appointment. Oh, and her fever was now 103.3, up over a degree in less than an hour.

He gave her a breathing treatment around 3:30, and yes, we have the nebulizer at home for future treatments. She responded well, and we decided not to send her to the hospital for a chest X-ray and monitoring. We went home with a prescription for Omnicef (since she's allergic to Amoxicillan) to treat what he strongly suspected was pneumonia.

By 5:20, she was back to the retracted and labored, fast breathing. And her fever was back at 103.7. I made the obligatory call to the doctor on call, already knowing what she was going to tell me.

I'm currently writing this from the ER room she's sitting in (isn't technology nice? The whole hospital here is wireless!) as she's being monitored. Her fever went up to 104.8 when they brought her into a room. Fortunately, her chest X-Ray was clear, but last time it was clear on Day One and mucky as all get out the next day. They took her oxygen level while we were waiting for a room to open up, and it was low enough that they put her on oxygen while we waited. Wheee!

As an aside, before you decide to go to an ER, check to see whether it's a full moon. Tonight is a full moon, in case you're wondering. And the place is packed. With lots of nut jobs (although folks who groaned ohhh nooooo when they saw us walk up to the only empty couch that happened to be somewhat in their vicinity, was that really necessary?). And little parent supervision.

Anyway, she has responded again somewhat to the second breathing treatment, and they haven't given her any steroids as yet -- although they just as well may have since she hasn't closed her eyes yet after she had her nose violently swabbed by a nurse as she was sound asleep. Oxygen level is at 94% which isn't great, and we can't get her pulse below about 160, so it's looking likely that she'll be admitted. That, by the way is down significantly from the 209 she spiked at while we were here. I'm already planning to spend the night here with her, poor kiddo. We'll know in an hour.

On the plus side, both the wee ones were scheduled to spend the night with my parents tonight because my husband has a Scholastic Bowl tournament tomorrow morning where he's leaving by 6:30 and won't be home until evening. And I have choir practice at 10am. And a cookie exchange I am (I mean, I was) hosting. So Mister Man is at my parents' house, and they are unaware of the recent change in plans. Shockingly, Little Miss completely understood that Mister Man was still spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house and she wasn't. Then again, that tells you how sick she is, doesn't it?

On the downside, I'm totally on my own tomorrow. I'm hoping that we're able to be released, but even if we are, I need to wake up every three hours to give her a breathing treatment round the clock for the next few days. And Monday going to school is looking less and less likely, which is a problem for me and work - home of thirteen percent cuts in my department on Thursday.

Murphy's Law I've become intimately reacquainted with: once you fall asleep, someone must bother you within two minutes of fall asleep, regardless of how long you were left alone before then. This has happened to us: before she went to see the triage nurse, when she had to get her chest X-ray, when they brought her back to her room, when they did her nose swab, and again when the doctor came to check on her levels just a few moments ago. Fortunately, Mommy rocks at getting her to sleep (Daddy failed miserably in his lone attempt, although it was entertaining for me to watch).

Oh, and today's afternoon plans of making next year's calendars for my family? And downloading the last month's pictures from my camera? And maybe trying to find a picture to send out with our Christmas cards? Yeah... those plans were sorta shot. Maybe I'll celebrate Groundhog Day instead of Christmas this year!



PS As of yesterday afternoon, Mister Man has also lost his only pair of winter boots (see Monday's post).

An Accidental Escape

Right about now, I should be getting near whatever suburb my husband's family reunion is in. I should be crammed into a car with my husband, wee ones and in-laws.

After all, this family reunion was a big deal. My SIL isn't going (she went to the Michigan game instead), and my FIL's plan is to write her out of the will -- not that they have much to leave, but this is the attitude towards the family reunion. Lucky for me, it just so happened to fall on the one weekend this college football season when Northwestern has a bye. Otherwise, we'd probably also be written out of the will.

Wait, I said should, didn't I?

We aren't there. In fact, we're at home. Both the wee ones are napping, and I'm making myself some lunch (yes, I know it's 2:49 but when you've been sick for awhile, sometimes you forget about meals since you don't eat much anymore) while watching some football.

That doesn't sound like I'm about to arrive at a family reunion somewhere in southern Illinois (don't ask, I truly don't know where) in about ten minutes, does it? It doesn't sound like we got in the car at 5:30 last night to drive six hours down to St Louis either. Or like we've spent the morning with my in-laws.

Yep, it's been one of those weeks, but this was all my husband's call. Skipping the family reunion of your spouse's family is not really the decision you want to be in charge of, and luckily I didn't have to be.

On Tuesday, Mister Man's nurse at school called me at 3:36. Since school ends for him at 3:30 (technically 3:40 but since they want the kids on the buses pulling out at 3:40 it now ends at 3:30 -- no further comments from me on that), I wasn't too concerned and figured she was calling to tell me that he had fallen or someone had scratched him or whatever.

Not so much. He had managed to puke all over the hallway, and they (understandably) don't send kids home on the bus after they've thrown up. I was stuck in a traffic jam trying to get to my house by 4 when his bus would normally drop him off. North of my house. The school is about 25 minutes southwest of my house. Luckily, my husband was able to go pick him up.

Mister Man continued not feeling well the rest of the week, and he hasn't been to school or daycare since. It hasn't really been anything too bad. He wasn't throwing up, he just had a really low grade fever, and the biggest problem seemed to be that he was coughing a bunch, which wore him out.

On Tuesday night / Wednesday morning around 3am, Little Miss woke up crying. Yep, she started vomiting (phew -- thankfully Daddy was around and able to take care of her so I didn't have to keep my gag reflex forcibly in check) and had a 103 degree fever. Perfect timing, really, right?

Needless to say, Little Miss also stayed home on Wednesday and Thursday, but she seemed to perk back up. Usually I'm most worried about her since she only weighs 26 pounds (at 3) and she's had pneumonia twice so we know these things go to her lungs. Oddly enough, she's totally fine. In fact, I sent her to school yesterday and swim lessons today.

The biggest issue was really going to be the reunion. Even though Little Miss seems to be on the mend enough to do some things, riding in the car for six hours there and back knowing they each get carsick wasn't really something I was looking forward to.

Plus, my in-laws live in a tiny ranch house with paper thin walls. And they stay up late at night. And never turn off the tv. And are partly deaf. And there are no beds for the wee ones. You can see where I'm going here on the sleep thing, right? Yeah.

The reunion was scheduled for 3pm, an hour from my in-laws' house. That means no nap for either wee one. And with it just starting at 3, I don't see my in-laws being willing to leave at 5 or 5:30 so we could get home for a decent night's sleep.

Fortunately, this also worried my husband enough that he called his parents yesterday morning to tell them we weren't able to come. So far as I know, we're still in the will. With Mister Man's birthday next Saturday, they were also planning to celebrate it with us (retired folk drive up here to visit us? Surely you jest!) this weekend.

This morning, our decision to not go was validated.

I awoke to Mister Man in his bedroom screaming for MOMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYY! Knowing what was likely coming, I sent Daddy. I made the right call. Mister Man was again ill but was able to make it to the bathroom.

Once finished, he wanted to come rest with me and snuggle -- which I have never let him do since I was nursing. After an hour or so, he was ready for a piece of toast, which he ate with his head on the table. He then requested permission to go back to bed. About twenty minutes later, he screamed and ran to the bathroom. This time he made it to the bathroom but didn't get the toilet lid up in time.

Now, I'm not a mom who takes her kids to the doctor in situations like this usually. I've gone too often before and paid the lovely co-pay and been told there's no problem. And I've been sent home with my face burning in shame over my panic.

However, I vaguely remembered that my doctor had an acute illness clinic before regular hours M-F and mornings on Saturday. I called to verify, only to discover that the acute illness clinic apparently doesn't start until November 1. Bummer.

Since I'd gotten that far, I decided to leave a page for the doctor to get someone's opinion. Thirty seconds later, my phone rang. I spoke to the doctor who suggested bringing him in. I sort of gave a quizzical response, and she informed me that they have an acute illness clinic from 8-11 on Saturdays and it was only 8:42. Huh. Apparently the voicemail message needs to be updated, but I'm good with that.

I felt sort of silly taking him, since he actually was willing to walk into the doctor's office -- versus me carrying him up and down the stairs the past couple days. The doctor saw us within about three minutes and ...

he has bronchitis.

Whoops. Now I feel like a bad mom. How long has he had this (ok, more days than necessary, which is really all that matters, right?), and why didn't I go on Wednesday or Thursday or Friday? Poor kid! No wonder he was so punked out.

Needless to say, I'm feeling really validated by our decision to not head down to St Louis, even though I tried to get the wee ones to make a video to send to their grandparents saying they were sorry they couldn't come and hoped to see them soon. My husband wouldn't let me send it though since they didn't look sick on the video.

So who's placing bets that Little Miss, who has had pneumonia twice (and yes, we have our own nebulizer) will end up with it working its way to her chest now? I know which way I'm leaning.

I am sort of sad that I won't be able to meet "all the hillbilly folks" as my husband described them. Only six other people attending the reunion had I met before, so this would have been interesting one way or the other. I had been planning to bring my camera, too! Next time.

Achoo!

I need to ask a favor. I really need to change one thing. I just want the power to change one little thing. It's small. I promise. But so many people will benefit.

We started school a week ago Tuesday. By Saturday, Mister Man was snuffling and sneezing regularly. I attributed it to allergies, as I'd also been sneezing periodically.

No, it wasn't allergies.

Yesterday on the car ride to a playdate, Mister Man told me his ear was hurting? You mean the one where I told you that if you didn't quit snuffling you'd get an ear infection? Yeah... that one.

And last night, Little Miss was up at 1:43am crying for someone to wipe her nose. This the girl who sleeps through the night and wakes up in the morning to play silently until I'm ready to get her out of bed. Yep, this morning she was sniffling, too.

Oh yeah. This morning, I woke up with that tickle in my throat. You know, the one that tells you that you're starting to get a cold and it's time to load up on the orange juice and chicken noodle soup? Yeah, that one.

So four days into the school year, and the bugs have already had time to percolate and germinate and turn into illnesses.

Granted, we have no green excretions yet, so no one needs to stay home from school, but I'd really, really like to make it harder to transmit bugs from one person to another. I totally get how it's important to have the bugs and to ensure that you have a strong immune system and test it so that you stay strong and healthy long term. But really, we're four days in, and this isn't boding well for the rest of the year.

Can I please just have the power to make that one teensy change? I'm fine with getting sick once in awhile, but can we wait until the middle of winter when it's horrible out and yucky and you actually want to make chicken noodle soup? And really, we don't need to be sick nonstop from September to May, do we? Can't I just schedule one or two weeks in the middle of winter?

I promise, none of this is coming from intense jealousy that my husband, who's been a teacher for fifteen years, doesn't get sick anymore and only the three weak members of the family have this issue. I swear. It's all about trying to make life easier for the wee ones and for all their little friends.

I swear. Pretty please?

Freaky Child!

I got that call from daycare today. You know the one. We all dread it. “Hello, Mrs. X, you need to come pick up your daughter.”

Of course, the call came about about 9:45 in the morning. She had been dropped off at 9am. Of course, I was in the office and in meetings until about 11:30. I was a bit panicked when I got the voicemail since it had been left so much earlier in the day. I hadn’t seen Little Miss that morning.

On the days I go into the office, my mom very kindly comes over at the ungodly hour of 6:15 – that means I’m up at 5:45, people! – to get the wee ones up and dressed and breakfasted and off on the bus and to daycare before she starts her day. (Thank you, Mom! You know you’re appreciated!)

Thus, I hadn’t seen Little Miss since I’d left to go practice softball the night before. When I left, she was fine. My husband didn’t say anything was wrong with her when I got home the night before. And my mom had sent her to daycare that morning. What could be wrong?

I called the daycare back immediately and asked to speak to Little Miss’s teacher. She wasn’t available but the director told me that her grandma had picked her up already and was taking her to the doctor because she had a really bad eye infection, and they were worried that it was contagious. Umm, thanks for calling me back to let me know that my mom had picked up Little Miss!

I then called my mom who said that her eye was hugely swollen and red and puffy but that she didn’t want to not send Little Miss to daycare that day for fear that my husband and I would be mad at her for keeping her home. Wait, what?

Needless to say, I was a bit worried about her, but the doctor’s appointment was at 11:45, so there was no way I could make it there in time. I decided that if it was really that bad and she had to go to the hospital for surgery (thanks for planting that thought in my head, Mom) I’d leave immediately and made my parents promise to call as soon as they heard from the doctor.

At 12:30, I called them again. They were just with the doctor then and would call me back. I waited, staring and staring at the clock. With each minute that passed, I was more convinced that there was something seriously wrong with her.

Finally, my parents called. It was just a bug bite. A simple little bug bite. So why was everyone freaking out so much?

Apparently, Little Miss is allergic to mosquitoes. She had a bite just to the side of her eye and it had swollen and so forth with the allergic reaction. Oh. Well, now that I think about it, the couple bites she got last year did swell up and have big red patches, but nothing like this!

New medical knowledge for me: the face has lots and lots of blood vessels so any allergic reaction will have much more swelling as there are that many more vessels to let the blood loose, etc. Oh, and because there is so much more blood, it will take that much longer for the blood to be taken back up by the vessels, which means that she’ll have what looks like a shiner for a much longer time. Great.

It’s now a week later, and she still has a shiner below her eye (awww, isn’t it cute?). Don’t call DCFS on me. It’s actually worse right now, as she got bit on her arm at daycare this time, which also got red and black and blue and swollen. My guess as that the second bite got the first bite inflamed again.

The good news is that Little Miss has an incredibly high pain tolerance and isn’t bothered by the bites. But hoo boy, I can tell this is going to be a fun summer! My mom has already vowed to not let her outside again until winter. Riiiiiight.