Melissa is sick

Crashed on the couch

She first threw up at 1 AM, so Jonathan and I cleaned the bedding, floor, toys, wall, knobs, light fixtures, faucet, and daughter. It was pretty messy. Today she hung out in pajamas and continued to upchuck- mostly in a pot. We're trying to keep her hydrated. Here's hoping that tomorrow is a better day. Poor girl!

Poor sick Isaac

Poor sick Isaac
Originally uploaded by jbellis

New Jersey trip continued...

By Saturday Isaac started to perk up a bit. Mom, however, was in quite a bit of pain. "I wonder if it is appendicitis?" she mused. Do you want to see a doctor? "Oh no. I'll just wait a see. I doubt it is appendicitis."

Saturday evening Jonathan and Dad both flew into town. We were all very happy to see them. Sunday Mom started to feel just a bit better but stayed home from church. Monday morning, the kids and I played with Aunt Lisa, Hazel, and baby Jed in the park. While we were gone, Mom began to feel much worse and finally decided to see a doc in a box. A few hours later we heard she was in the emergency room.

While having dinner that evening with Dielha and David, we learned that the tests for appendicitis were positive and they were going to operate. Poor Mom!

She got out of surgery just fine and came home the next day. She was wiped out, but feeling much better after the appendix was removed.

The fates weren't done with us, and Dad and Christine got sick next. Dad dealt with an abscessed tooth and Christine hunkered down to battle a bad sinus infection. We kept wondering what would be next. Fortunately nothing as dramatic as appendicitis popped up again.

I'd be grumpy too!

Isaac is still recovering from a miserable cough and runny nose. He's also cutting 6 new teeth at once (two of which are molars), and he has a fierce case of diarrhea and diaper rash.

He's not a happy Pumpkin...

Trial by puke

Rachel is a huge fan of "Totally Toddler" cleaning solution, but I haven't been able to find any in Texas (or online). So I got some "Kids n Pets" at Wal-mart to see if that could fill in.

It did fine on the dirt that someone tracked in yesterday morning. Rachel claims that the stride was larger than a kid's, and she had nothing to do with it. I'm not sure what she's hinting at there. But I asked if this meant Kids n Pets was the real deal, and she said we won't know until we've tested it on blood and vomit and poop and all the other things kids do.

We're moving faster than I anticipated to mark off that list. At 1:00 AM Melissa puked violently all over herself and the carpet. Kids n Pets acquitted itself well. She didn't make it to the bathroom but at least she got out of her bed. Daddy does not like making beds at 1:00.

Melissa claimed to be all better when she got up at 9, but we kept her home from church anyway. (Duh.) She was not pleased about this, but didn't make much of a fuss. If you know Melissa you know that this is unusual for her. But the real proof came later.

Rachel: "It's time for some rest. Let's go to bed now."
Melissa: "Okay."

Okay? Okay?

Wow.

Isaac's nebulizer

Isaac's nebulizer
Originally uploaded by jbellis

It helps his bronchitis a lot, but Isaac does Not Approve.

Isaac is sick

I have many stories to tell (and a house to clean!) but my priorities have been elsewhere...

Yesterday I rocked, bounced, and held a very fussy, cranky baby. That is pretty much all I did. Isaac was coughing, had a fever off and on, and seemed listless. This had been going on for week, but the last 2 days were noticeably worse. Isaac is generally such a happy baby and appears to have a high tolerance to pain and irritants, so when he cries, his parents take note. The doctor squeezed us in for an appointment at the end of the day. Apparently he's got bronchitis and an ear infection. Isaac's doc tried a nebulizer on his gunky, crackly lungs. He perked up considerably after treatment and was able to cough up some of the crud. The doc sent us home with a nebulizer off the shelf and some antibiotics.

Much to our dismay the nebulizer did not work when it was time for his next treatment. We flipped the switched, nothing, nada. Grr. Last night was another long night. Jonathan got up with him at 2-2:30 am. I took him from 5 till almost 7. This does not include all the times he woke up to eat or just needed to be snuggled back to sleep. Counting those times, I can't really say how many times he woke up. At 5 he was running a fever of 102; so another dose of motrin for you kiddo! Cleaned out his plugged up nose, changed him, fed him, gave him an Isaacsicle, rocked, sang, and rocked some more. Finally he crashed, and we both went to bed.

Jon got Matthew ready in the morning and out the door. Then he took Melissa and went back to the office to pick up a working nebulizer. The nurse verified that, yes indeed it doesn't run, and gave us a different (working) model. Isaac just finished up his latest treatment. His lungs sound really crackly now that the medication has loosened things a bit.

Poor little guy!

Hell is two beds and three children

Downtown Tacoma, 7 am

When we flew out for the wedding, we didn't stay with Rachel's parents for the first three nights because we didn't want little kids underfoot for the pre-wedding prep. And we didn't stay closer because even as early as December all the rooms in every hotel anywhere near Puyallup were spoken for by attendees of some sewing convention. I had no idea there were so many people THAT into sewing.

Rachel has been burned before by airlines screwing up connections or cancelling flights altogether, and while going on standby and arriving at 2 AM is no big deal when you are single (as Jeremy in fact did Friday night!) it is serious business with three kids. So we flew out Thursday to be safe.

Andrea picked us up, dropped me and the kids off at our motel, and took Rachel off to a bridal shower. Matthew had been complaining bitterly and at great length about his ear (my sympathy was sorely tested by his desire to remind me every couple seconds that it still hurts) so after dosing him with ibuprofen Rachel asked her dad to drive the half hour up and check him out. When the drugs kicked in Matthew forgot all about his ear, but it was a good thing Dad was already on the way, because it really was red and infected. Dad wrote out a prescription for Amoxicillin, and even filled it for us in the morning. There are definite perks to having a family physician.

Then we went to bed. And by "went to bed" I mean "Matthew and Melissa bickered constantly until I pulled Matthew into my bed instead half an hour later." Finally they fell asleep, but the fun was not over yet. Any time one of the kids woke up, they all woke up. So there was a lot of not-sleeping going on for sure.

Then they got far too early in the morning, and by "far too early" I mean in particular that not even McDonald's was open. They kept trying to have the best of both time zones the whole trip: go to bed on Pacific time, wake up on Central time. Mommy and Daddy did not approve.

I tried to let Rachel sleep in for a bit after the kids got up like I do at home, but it was hard to find places to take them. Watching them in the room with Rachel was of course not an option. (The object was to let her rest.) The Sinden house was too far away, and Isaac in particular was getting more than his fill of his car seat anyway. I did discover that Friday and Saturday mornings the office building across the street was open, and it turned out there was a little reception area at the top floor with a nice view, clean carpets for Isaac to roll on, and a little magnet sand game with two kid-sized chairs.

So that was my refuge, but Sunday morning that was locked up and Isaac and I had no better option than to sit in the minivan while the rain came down. Fortunately Isaac went back to sleep quickly. Often he will do this when he gets up early; just don't try to put him down. But then Matthew and Melissa woke up too. The close McDonalds didn't have a play area so we headed to downtown Tacoma. They didn't have a play area either, and they didn't open 'til 8 besides -- an hour away. So we went back to Fife where at least Jack in the Box was open by now.

To add insult to injury, the "free wireless internet" didn't even work. Damn it. Even the iphone got crappy reception there and failed about two out of three page loads. Fortunately the Sinden dsl connection worked -- until today. Rachel tells me that's dead too now. Good thing I came home early.

I think I just lost 5 lbs...

Problem is, I didn't need to lose 5 pounds!

My abdominal muscles are reminding me of the workout they received yesterday from heaving. Blech. I'm keeping myself on a liquid diet until my gut feels more settled. Jonathan came home early yesterday to watch kiddos so I could lie down in bed. I felt better when the fever broke, but still pretty shaky.

Poor Isaac is sick too. Fortunately it's not a GI virus, those always seem more nerve wracking because you're worried about whether they're getting enough fluid in to make up for what they are losing. Isaac has some sort of upper respiratory virus. He's congested, running a low fever off and on and just feels miserable. This makes for long nights. Jon and I gave up around 4 AM and just watched an episode of Psych while cradling a NOT sleepy Isaac. He conked out by the end of the show and we all went back to bed. Thank goodness for netflix!

Here's hoping that today is a better day...

Update: Fever is back and feeling like crud again. No one wants to nap 'cept me. Looking forward to when Jonathan gets home this evening.

Take your medicine like a man

Take your medicine like a man
Originally uploaded by jbellis

Isaac is teething, still. We're giving him Baby Tylenol at night to
try to ameliorate things. He does not approve, but he takes it with
much better grace than the others did at this age. Isaac just
grimaces and tries to turn his head away.

Takin' it easy

I didn't want to tempt fate, so I stayed in pajamas until it was time to pick Matthew up from school.

Feeling much, much better today. The fever dropped dramatically several hours after starting the antibiotics. When it got down to 101 I was feeling almost lively.

Fever is gone today, but the right breast is still exquisitely painful. Why, why, why is it always the same side? I'm sorely tempted to just nurse Isaac on the left side. Never had a bit of grief on that side....

The trend is at least going in the right direction. With Matthew I had 4 bouts of mastitis before he weaned; the first when he was around a month. Melissa it was 3 times. The first was when she was 3 weeks, and I got so sick we decided to head to the ER- just in case. Had a raging fever of 104 despite being on antibiotics for over 24 hours and taking motrin. In addition, fluids weren't staying down. Turns out it was "just" mastitis. Felt rather sheepish about that. Still, they gave me an all purpose, stronger antibiotic which must have started eradicating the bacteria, because the fever dropped fairly quickly.

Isaac is 5 months, and this is the first and I'm hoping (knock on wood) last time. Please?

So why do I continue to breastfeed? When I look down at my deliciously plump, satisfied baby with milk dribbling down his chin, and then he looks up at me and grins, well, how could I not?

Yuck

It's a cold, rainy day, and I have mastitis.

I'm wearing warm pjs, a bathrobe, and thick socks, yet I'm still freezing. The thermostat says it's 70, but I think it lies.

Melissa can have anything she wants today.

Update: Melissa can have almost anything she wants. She wanted me to do her hair, and I'm not really able to remain upright for ten minutes at a time. A grand mal tantrum ensued, with Isaac joining in the chorus. 45 minutes of this and she tired of it. Then she wanted me to read a story. That I can do- lying down. Jiggled Isaac to keep him somewhat pacified. Body aches!!! Convinced little Miss to go wash her ponies in the bathroom sink so I could try to get Isaac down. Works. Isaac is sleeping and Melissa is happily splashing.

Now I'm only freezing on the lower half of my body. The upper half is on fire. I always forget just how miserable this stuff is.

Drinking lots of water, but am not hungry AT ALL. Uggghhh!

Update2: Can't do it, getting sicker, called Jon.

Some negative progress

Baby Rygg's next reading after nursing was 280.  They gave him an insulin shot, but the next reading after that was in the 400s.  So they started the intravenous insulin again.
They're going to stick with the IV insulin for a while now but they're going to let Rachel continue to feed him.  I don't know when they want to try the shots again.
I can feel a sore throat coming on.  I gargled with salt water but Rachel's mom will be going up with her for a midnight nursing run.