Buy One Get Two Free!: Sick and tired

This month's blog post is brought to you by the feelings of sick and tired. Oy we have had a rough month. Everybody has been sick and Mommy and Daddy are super tired. The month started off great. The kids have started singing. I catch them singing along to movies, tv shows, and their favorite kid songs. We went to the park, walked with friends, went to a cool Jedi birthday party, and even started a new swim class.

But then all the kids caught a cold with a runny nose and a cough. They were managing well for about 12 days, then Elsie caught a secondary virus that came with fever, and a quick, deep cough. This turned ugly quick. You could see her deteriorate daily, and by the 3rd day she was very lethargic and her oxygen saturation was dropping(97-100% is desirable, 95 and above is still in normal range, below 92 is no good, anything in the 80s is an ER visit). A visit to the pediatrician on Friday afternoon resulted in a chest xray (that was clear!) and doing some albuterol nebulizer treatments at home since she was sitting around 95%. We were able to hold out to Sunday, but alas 2 viruses piled up dropped her O2 sats to the 80s and off to Hasbro we went. They gave her some IV fluids and fever meds and she instantly perked up, by bedtime she was holding her own at 90% and the next day she started eating and drinking again, and got to come home. We were excited this was a 2 day stay since her last Hasbro stay was 5 days with more dire stats.

We got 2 days at home and everyone seemed healthy. Sammy and Danny still had the original cold they'd had for 2 weeks, but were getting through. We had a great Thanksgiving at Auntie Cathy's house, ate lots of food and dessert, ran around and played, and loved the company. Then Friday Danny started with that quick cough. By bedtime he had a big fever that wasn't completely coming back down with meds. And by the next morning he was also in the 80s for sats. So Hasbro round 2. Sadly we were in the ER for over 8 hours before being admitted. The doctors kept telling us that if they did another nebulizer treatment he might be able to go home. I was like 'who are you kidding, when I pull the oxygen mask off him for 2 breaths he's at 85, we're not going anywhere' Finally they decided to admit him, but hadn't put in an IV. I asked the team and they said because he was not dehydrated they didn't feel they needed one. We got a room upstairs and the overnight team also did not put in an IV. Now his fever is running rampant, up to 104+ and we are trying to give a super febrile 3 year old Tylenol and Motrin by mouth. It was not successful, he was so miserable he didn't want anything to eat or drink, nevermind take meds, and he was spilling half the dose everytime. Meanwhile he is REALLY laboring to breathe. So the morning rounds came by and I pushed for an IV. They are telling me they are having the ICU team coming up to evaluate him and bring him down to that floor and give him breathing assistance like CPAP. I won't lie, I was so anxious to think my little boy would go back on breathing support. It's been 3 years since he came off and I never thought we would have to go back on. So now I really push for an IV to give fluids and IV meds for this monstrosity of a fever. We've been in the hospital more than 24 hours and he's had a high fever of 104.4 and the lowest of 102. They put one in and after 2 rounds of meds and 8 hours later his fever was down to 99. The fluids perked him up, and his respiration rate started to improve. His sats started coming up and he was laboring less. It took another 2 days to get him back to normal and get discharged. Some scary moments in those 4 days.

While Danny was in the hospital, Sammy started with the quick cough. Trying to avoid 3 hospital stays, we were making daily visits to the pediatrician to monitor O2 sats and they told me to treat even a 99 degree fever so it wouldn't spike like the other 2 did. Done. Feeding Sammy Tylenol and Motrin at the smallest sign of fever. But everyday he looked worse and worse and sats just kept falling. So Tuesday, Danny gets discharged after lunch and Sammy gets admitted after dinner. Ay yi yi. The good news is Sammy must have already been at the bottom of the virus, because as soon as we got to the ER and got some IV fluids he started to improve. He needed oxygen overnight but once he woke and was moving around a little they rebounded and he started eating and drinking again. We got a pleasant surprise from the doctor late in the afternoon saying they were happy with his current status and would check back in a bit and maybe he could go home. Miguel called at dinner time with the good news and Sammy got to be back with his siblings by bedtime.

So, on the last day of this long month of sickness, we are all reunited. Life is good. Although this has been a really rough month, it is good to have perspective. We have 3 ex 24 weekers. This was Elsie's 2nd, and the boys 1st hospitalization since we left the NICU 3 years ago. That in itself is amazing. Even the doctors at Hasbro said they see 30 week preemies being hospitalized several times a year. Their lungs are more fragile when exposed to everyday germs. We are grateful they don't have residual effects like chronic lung disease, and asthma, and a host of other complications. So a few days in the hospital to help them get over the hump of a hefty virus? We'll deal with it. Thank you to all our family and friends for all the well wishes and the offerings of help over the last few weeks. It is much appreciated. Let's hope for a healthy, uneventful December!