More Sick Days

Just when I think that we are on a streak of good health...
Nick decides to throw me a for a loop.

He caught the stomach flu. So my baby that never, ever throws up decided to freak mommy out by throwing up all day.

And yes, shunt watch came into effect the moment he started to throw up. Out came the measuring tape, fontanel soft (I am so glad that hasn't closed over yet), eyes fine, lethargy/irritability nothing unexpected with the flu.

Routine, medicines and any type of physio or work went out the window. Any appointments or reasons to leave the house were cancelled or ignored. Katheryn ran wild and couldn't figure out why I didn't want her playing or touching her baby brother. I carried around alcohol wash so that I could disinfect anything that had vomit on it.

Nickolas is not a juice drinker. He hates water or anything that is not milk. And giving any type of milk product to a child that is vomiting. Not a great idea. But I knew I had to keep him hydrated. I tried different juices, different mixtures, apple sauce. Anything! And I was still keeping shunt in the back of my mind.

Whoever would have thought that the stomach flu would be on the top of a wish list!

 The next day Nick slept alot, didn't look very happy when he was awake. But kept what little food he felt like eating down. He didn't want to eat very much. Not even his banana! His most favorite food to eat!
Shunt worries continued, but head measurement and fontanel still checked out. And everything else.
Sometimes normal baby sickness happens. It's not like we live in a bubble!

Every time I thought about taking him somewhere, Doctor, urgent care clinic, Emerg, he perked up and we decided to wait. Because really I felt they would tell me it was a virus, keep him hydrated and he'll get over it. And I can do that without dressing everyone, dragging them out into doctors offices and waiting for hours to be seen.

OK, so no one wants to hear the run down of being sick. I'm sure you've been there. Katheryn caught it Saturday.

Nick took a couple of days (4) to really bounce back. By Saturday I got a smile, by Sunday he was 75% better. But then his output was starting to get lousy, because he was still refusing to drink. Friday I got him pedialite that he just barely tolerated. And he really hated me shoving a syringe in his mouth and making him drink that way.  I think he was hitting his minimum output, but that was it.

Now looking at his fontanel - was is sunken? Did he produce tears? Was his mouth dry?

And the round of worry started again. Gastro, dehydration, shunt, UTI, constipation, diarrhea (which you'd think I'd know which one it was). Every little thing sent me into another cycle of worry.

But I think we have finally turned the corner. I've allowed Nick to drink his milk only, because that means he'll drink. We will conquer the need for water another day.

But here's hoping that the spring weather will bring more days of health than sick. Because it has been a really long time for a long run of non-sickness!

Ugg! Sick!!

Watching your children when they are sick is horrible. Especially when there isn't anything you can do. You know they feel lousy - you can see it in their face. Can't breathe, not hungry, fever. Just not interested in anything. But still trying really hard to still be happy!

Katheryn had it last weekend. Snotty and coughing, not sleeping through the night. Fever off and on for a couple of days. But still active on and off too. Then she got this lump on her neck! To say I freaked out would be an understatement. But after Kyle calmed me down and we decided it was not worth a trip to the ER, Katheryn continued to be active and we got in to see the doctor Monday morning.

Googling in this case was actually a good thing. Most cases of a lump on the neck in children under 10 years old is a swollen lymph node secondary to another infection (ear, throat ect).

A prescription for antibiotics later, and a fight for 2 days to get Katheyrn to actually taken them. And we got ourselves a whole new girl!

Talking up a storm and running around the house. She actually has so much energy that she would be racing around and stop and talk to me, and continued to run on the spot! I haven't seen her like this in months!

Nick on the other hand is being hit by a cold now.

He still has a smile for the camera, so at first you can't see how lousy he feels.

Then you notice how he just sits there with his mouth open - because he is so stuffed up.

And the constant leaking and...

OK well everyone knows the symptoms of a cold. Everyone knows how lousy THEY feel when they have this. But now I'm watching it in one or the other child and all I have is hot steam and tylenol at my disposal. And food and fluids. And rest.

Hopefully we are on the mend now. I haven't seen so much snot is a long time!

And I am really glad that I stocked up on a 6 pack of kleenex boxes last month! (I think we have 1 left)

I've been worried off and on about Nick. Is he getting enough fluid, is he dehydrated? How is his shunt? His bladder? Do inflamed sinuses put pressure on the shunt or increase ventricles? (Never heard of it, but there is always a first time). How long is too long to be sick?

Is there ANYTHING I can do to make him feel better?

And should i still make him do physio? Or is cuddling better?

I can see how harder he has to work to do things. He's not sitting as straight, he's supporting himself more. All he wants to do is be held and supported (like in his highchair). It's taking him longer to eat his breakfast.

Can we please just get over this cold!

Through all this, the not breathing, feeling lousy, snotty and generally feeling swollen and tired and grumpy. He still hams it up for the camera!

I know it will pass. But it feels like we just did this (in December).

Is it springtime yet?!

Merry Christmas! Part 1

So somehow Christmas snuck up on us this year.

Not really sure how that happened.

Actually that's not true, I know exactly how that happened. Life happened. Unexpected things happened. My nice and orderly thought out plans did not happen. And time still ticked by.

But oh well, what can you do.

Except hold on and hope and pray for the best, and enjoy what you get.

In the meantime, I'm really glad we got our Christmas pictures done early. I'm glad we got everything done early, because things just stopped. So here is our family Christmas pictures - I'm still shocked that we did get some with both kids looking at the camera and showing something that could resemble a smile.

Let alone a picture where mom and dad AND kids are looking and smiling, and don't look like dorks!

Christmas did come and go, and I did have my camera, but not at the level we usually have pictures.

We celebrated a sicky Christmas. Not anything bad sicky, just normal sickness. But 3 weeks of various children and adults in the household having fevers and sniffles and coughs and aches and pains... well you get the picture.

But we were together. And family that we weren't able to see we can make up for when we are all better.

It wasn't the best Christmas ever, it wasn't the worst. I guess we will just have to keep celebrating until the next holiday season to make up for it. (Now that we have energy and are medication-free!)

More pictures to follow!