Ugh....!

 

We've been a little under-the-weather lately.

 

Speaking of weather, MY WORD, it is cold!

 

I'm not quite sure how Matt and I are still functioning, but we are. Barely.

 

I think we're going on 5 or 6 nights of very little sleep.

 

It's been rough.

 

But we're on the mend.

 

It all started out a few days after Christmas, I woke up and could feel it all over my body.

I had a cold. A bad one. I knew it wasn't the flu, but it was a cold and I wasn't excited for what was to come.

 

Slowly, but surely, all the kids got sick. Runny noses, sore throats, hoarse voices, sneezing and coughs. Maddox was not loving life and he was the first to start keeping us awake at night.

 

One by one, we all started to get over it.

 

I was happy that everyone only ended up with a cold.

 

My kids just aren't very sickly. Tummy issues are usually what we deal with.

 

In fact, up until this experience, we had dealt with one case of the Flu. It was Holynd, she was about a year old and it was about a month after her first Flu shot. It was horrible. She was sick during Finals. I'm still trying to get over that experience.

 

About a week ago, I woke up and was sick again. I wasn't entirely surprised. I had nursed three kids back to health, along with myself. The cold had come back around and got me again.

 

I noticed that Holynd was starting to cough again. "Her cold must be coming back too", I thought. Wednesday I sent her to school with strict instructions to blow her nose if needed and to cough into her sleeve. She didn't seem sick at all, except for those few nagging symptoms. Plus, the air quality was so horrible, I really thought that she was fine.

 

Wednesday night, it was apparent, she was NOT fine.

 

Thursday we stayed home from Dance Class. Thursday night we experienced one of the worst nights ever. I don't think we slept hardly at all. Holynd was in our bed just hacking her lungs up. I started to get nervous and asked Matt to give her a blessing. He blessed her she would get well and that she'd be comfortable. I immediately knew that this wasn't going to be an easy road, but that all would end well.

 

After the blessing, Holynd was convinced that she was better. "I'm not sick anymore Mommy. Daddy blessed me." She was still coughing and her fever was slowly creeping higher. I remember thinking, "If only I had her faith".

 

The next morning I knew we'd be going to the doctor. I was pretty sure she had Croup. My one question was: We're they even going to do anything for her if I took her in!?.

 

I knew that a couple of my friends were dealing with the same thing, so I sent out a couple of texts and my friend Jessie called me right away.

 

"Haven't been to sleep yet have ya?" was the first thing she said.

 

"Feels like it." I responded.

 

She told me they might put her on a round of steroids to help her little airways. "If it's serious enough that's what they'll do, it's always a good idea to get their ears checked in these situations anyway." I hadn't even thought about ears. I still haven't had to experience an ear infection, or a sinus infection. Fingers crossed that track record holds strong. 

 

I was pretty sure Holynd's case was serious enough for a round of steroids.

 

I put her in my bed and gave her another dose of Ibuprofen. Her fever was at 103 and I was really starting to freak myself out. An hour later the fever was down to 100, so I calmed down a little - only to get really worried about a half-hour later, when it was back up to 102.

 

Matt came home for lunch and I think he was surprised at what he found.

 

Our little Holynd was just miserable. She couldn't stand or walk and she was barely making sense.

 

She was also coughing so bad that I was worried she was going to start throwing up. I'm now convinced that she would have, had she'd been able to eat the day before or that morning.

 

I took her to the doctor and the NP knew what it was before she even opened the door.

 

"This is a pretty serious case of Croup. I'd like to give her a steroid injection now."

 

Oh boy... I had promised Holynd SEVERAL times that if she went to the doctor they wouldn't give her a shot and here we were and the first thing they were saying was "Shot".

 

They checked her temp, 103.1. I immediately told them that I had been giving her Ibuprofen. They told me to start giving her Tylenol and Ibuprofen every three hours to keep the fever down.

 

After holding down my screaming, coughing child to get a steroid injection, we were on our way home.

 

I was in tears.

 

This was the first time I had ever had to deal with any sort of sickness like this. To top it off, I knew I had to go home, take care of Holynd and somehow make sure my two other babies didn't get the same sickness.

 

Matt carried Holynd in and laid her on our bed. She looked so pale and was refusing to even try to drink water. I went ahead and started her on Tylenol, in addition to the Ibuprofen.

 

Two hours later, she still wasn't improving. But, she was starting to fall asleep. After the night we had experienced the night before, I figured that her just sleeping was a blessing.

 

An hour later, I woke her up to give her another dose of Ibuprofen, she barely opened her eyes to take the medicine.

 

A little less then an hour later, I heard her shout for the bedroom.

 

She was sitting up (hooray!), and yelling at me that she was wet. I felt her bottom and realized she hadn't had an accident, she was SWEATING!

 

Her fever had broken. I helped her get comfortable and change her jammies.

 

She immediately asked for a bowl of ice cream. (Luckily, we had some left over from her birthday).

 

I was so happy! I started calling and texting everyone!

 

Looking back, the scariest part only lasted 24 hours, but it seemed SO MUCH LONGER then that.

 

We didn't send her to church Sunday and she still had to stay home from school Monday, but she's slowly getting better. I never want to deal with Croup ever again. Especially a case that serious.

 

The cough loves to wake her up in the middle of the night, which is really starting to wear Matt and I down.

 

So far, the other two are just as healthy as can be. In fact, Maddox's destruction and exploration skills seem to have a reached a whole new level.

 

But more on that later.

 

All I have to say is, I'm ready for Spring.

 

Now.