Our First "Normal" Sickness

Where to begin? I guess it all started last Thursday when I took the babies to B.J.'s work picnic. It was a pretty warm day but we were under the shelter at the park so it didn't seem too bad. Well, Annabel had a major meltdown for her noon bottle (her and Mady had been struggling since we changed to 100% cold milk) and didn't take a whole lot but then downed her 4:00 bottle. When I went to change her she was burning up with a temp of 103.8! Of course the first thought that crosses any parents mind whose child has a shunt is that that is the problem, the second thought was that eventhough she was in the shade, maybe the heat dehydrated her, however, she was really acting fine other than the fever so we called the after hours nurse and gave her tylenol per their recommendation which brought down the temp. Friday she was acting normal except for still struggling with her bottle and I just had a feeling that with us traveling this week that I should get her checked by the pediatrician. Sure enough, she has a double ear infection! : ( So after I left the doctors Friday afternoon I called back and asked if I could bring in the other 2 to have them checked also as Mady had been putting up the fight with the bottle and Johnathan was doing a touch of coughing (and with them, if one were to get sick I knew the others probably would too) and with us traveling I would just feel better. Johnathan checked out fine but Mady had a single ear infection. : ( So both girls got started on Amoxicillin.

Friday night we had our friends the Whitcomb's over - it was neat to see how kids a little bit older interacted with the babies. The babies were acting pretty normal still at this point as Annabel's temp was gone and Mady had never broke one. Saturday Johnathan started coughing a little more and had quite a few diarrhea diapers and was tugging at his left ear and when we woke up Sunday morning he had a temp so I ended up taking him to urgent care and although they weren't able to get a great look at his ears (he was pretty squirmy), they could tell that his nose was inflammed so they decided to prescribe Amoxicillin as well, but with less concentration than the girls prescription. Sunday afternoon we went to the NICU reunion and it was great to see some of the nurses and some of the doctors that had taken care of the babies. One doctor in particular was working when the babies were so sick and specifically saw Mady thru her NEC scare and an infection. I took a picture of them with the babies and will post pictures from the last few days and this week when we return home from NY.

We were originally planning to leave for NY early Monday morning but had decided that we'd rather leave yet on Sunday if we could get everything packed so we ended up out the door by 7:00 p.m., which put us in to NY at 3:00 a.m. Monday. On the way Mady refused her 8:00 bottle, we took her temp and she had a fever of 100.5. The tylenol brought it down but again tonight she spiked with one. : ( Overall the babies have been acting almost normal thru all this (other than the temps, plenty of diarrhea from the Amoxicillin, and a little extra fussiness) but today has been really hard on Annabel. Our poor girl has been coughing like crazy and is clearly uncomfortable. It breaks my heart seeing her like this!

I knew that they'd get sick at some point, I just thought it wasn't going to be until this fall or winter since we had gotten this far! I know I can't complain, other than the early time in the NICU this is their first sickness since being home. I just pray this isn't something that's going to be a repeated issue. And of course, eventhough I know we can't shelter them forever I wonder if we should have been extra careful a little longer? The other thing is that it's hard to know for sure how much of this related to ear infections (Johnathan, maybe none?) as they are teething right now and all of their symptoms can be associated with that as well! They really are handling it well (other than Annabel today, and even with her you can still get smiles out of her at times). It is hard being away from home too, with their past I would probably take Annabel to the pediatrician tomorrow if she's not better but I'm not sure what I will do here. I just pray that with the meds she's feeling better tomorrow. She hasn't spiked a fever again, she's just coughing and is more conjested than the other two. She has contined to struggle with the bottle (I think because the formula irritates the phlegm that's already there) so tonight we offered her pedialyte instead and she took that well so that was encouraging. Hopefully they all start feeling better soon so this trip will be more enjoyable with B.J.'s family!

On a positive note, Johnathan showed some big signs of improvement with eating solids this weekend! I have been working with him with offering my finger again and that has gone okay but the other day I decided to try a baby silver spoon and he'd grab it from me and with my help he'd put it in his mouth! He really might just be one who needs to feed himself. It hasn't worked at every mealtime (I suppose it's not a fair judgement right now with them not feeling well) but to us it's a very positive sign that everything will be okay with a lot of patience and extra work! : )