First Ever....

Excuse the extended absence. For once, it's not due to laziness! ;)

So Wednesday afternoon, Jonathan had fallen asleep in the car while we were driving around town from our errands and on the way to get Ben and Simon at school. As we pulled into the school I saw him squirm and wince... a second later he started screaming and clutching his tummy.

He had been having tummy issues on and off for nine days and six days into it, seemed to get the stomach virus the other two boys had gotten, then continued with on and off tummy stuff for a couple more days. I didn't think much of any of it because in between, he was completely normal, eating, drinking, no fever, running around like crazy.  He was home from school that day because he had been having another round tummy problems all morning. He had been okay otherwise though and had, in fact, accompanied me to the library while I worked a shift and then to the Bagel shop, where he had a little bit of lunch and played while I met with his Infants and Toddlers teacher. I had no reason to think anything was seriously wrong.

... but something about the way he was crying and couldn't get comfortable at that point was alarming....and also I noticed his belly was HUGE and hard. I got Ben and Simon from school as quickly as I could (thanks to Mrs. Terry for grabbing them a few minute early for me) and ran home, where I thought I'd settle him in on the couch.... thinking *maybe* the Clif Bar he had had in the car before he fell asleep had just set off some gas in his already aggravated tummy and that maybe laying down flat would help.

It didn't take long to see that it wasn't helping.... I don't think I had even gotten his coat and shoes off.  Thankfully, the pediatrician's office has walk-in hours from 4:30-6:30 on weekdays, so I decided to run him over there. I gathered up the older boys (who were amazing troopers and didn't complain once even though they had just gotten home from school) called Tom and asked him to meet me there for two reasons -- 1) Ben had basketball at 7, so I thought he could come get Ben and Simon and take care of dinner and homework so Ben would be ready.... 2) I thought there was a remote chance we would get sent to the ER just to be safe and I knew I'd need backup, at the very least, for the older boys.

I prayed the whole way over that the on-call doc was our pediatrician.... it almost NEVER is after regular hours, it seems. But God was listening and when we checked in and they said Dr. B (our ped) would see us in a minute, I almost cried from relief. The other docs are great, but it's just easier when it's your own doctor who knows your child and their history.  I had also just talked to him that morning about Jonathan's continuing tummy issues, so he was already up to date.

Tom showed up just as the doc came in, and the decision to call him turned out to be the right one, as the doctor looked at J and his rock hard, distended belly for all of two minutes before telling us (to his credit, very calmly) we needed to take him to the ER -- and not just any ER, one that was unfamiliar and much further away than the usual ones we rush to.... I wasn't thrilled about this, but he said when there are questionable abdominal problems going on, he prefers this particular hospital because they have gastro surgeons and pediatricians on site 24/7.

So off we went.... Tom dropped Jonathan and I off and sped home with the big boys so Ben could go to basketball with Pap and Simon could stay at the house with my mom.

In the lobby while we checked in, Jonathan seemed to be feeling better. He was dancing and running around. I started to think we wouldn't be there very long...

Initially, it was actually the most efficient ER experience we've had to date with any of the kids. It was about 5:30 at this point and we were called back to a room within minutes. He was seen by the nurse relatively quickly, then the ER doctor. They pushed on his belly and put in an iv for fluids in case he was dehydrated and also so they could take some blood. He went for an x-ray and they saw a ton of air stuck in his belly. After that, there was lots of sitting around.... they wanted to do a CT scan --  I hadn't yet picked up on what they had zeroed on in at that point, though in hindsight, I'm not sure why. After that, time slowed down because he had to drink some contrast stuff for the scan and we had to wait for it to take effect.  In my head I kept changing the time I thought they'd let us go. At first it was by 8:30.... then they wanted to put a tube down his nose into his belly to relieve some of the pressure... that didn't go wonderfully well. Then there was the contrast dye and waiting for that... and then the scan.... so I thought maybe 10:30....  we entertained him with our phones and computer and a DS. Every so often his belly would hurt again and he'd cry and roll around on the bed and he had a couple of yucky tummy issues in there.  The doctors who came in and out prepared us for the very likely possibility he'd be admitted.

We listened to the families come and go on the other side of the curtain. One kid had a bad case of flu.... another a stomach virus.... another case of flu and finally a little girl with a UTI.  Poor kids. :(

Finally they did the CT scan.... an hour later the surgeons came in and told us they found mild inflammation in his appendix, though his blood counts were all good, which is generally NOT the case with appendicitis. Did NOT see that coming. I don't know why that possibility didn't occur to me, but for whatever reason, it hadn't. They said they'd be admitting us. Tom left around midnight to relieve my mom.  Jonathan finally fell asleep. Another hour and a half passed before they took him up to the children's hospital.

When we got up to the room, J was still asleep and stayed asleep.

I had to answer a bunch of questions for the nurses (one of whom turned out to be an old friend  of  a friend I hadn't seen in YEARS!!!! Small world!) It was 2a.m., and I was exhausted, but they told me to stay up because the pediatric residents would be in to take some history. For what seemed like the 500th time, I told the whole story of J's tummy stuff from January 6th to present.

So the deal was that they found his appendix to be larger than normal. But they weren't sure if it was just the normal size of his appendix or if was the beginning of appendicitis, or possible just the way it looked on the CT scan because his whole belly was full of gas. They had decided to take a conservative watch and wait approach, with the idea that, if it were appendicitis, it would make itself known within 48 hours. If he improved, then it most likely wasn't... if he started getting worse, they would operate to remove it.

Talk about nerve-wracking.

The poor kid was asked about four million times over the next day and half if his belly hurt and where. There was a revolving door of doctors and nurses and medical students who would come in and push on it. Bless his heart, he was amazingly tolerant of all this. The only thing he really wasn't so cooperative for through the whole entire ordeal was the tube in his nose in the ER. (he yelled "Take it out! Take it out! I can't sniff!!!" the entire time and as soon as his hand wriggled free from the nurse, he yanked it out)

Anyway, so we hung out the next day.... watched a lot of tv, played alot of iPhone apps and Minecraft.

Aunt Sarah dropped by with cousin A very briefly (which terrified me because the floor was PACKED with kids who had the flu and Aunt Sarah is about to pop out a new baby like literally any minute now)  and dropped off a cute little gift of a stuffed doggie and a book. (which J appreciated later when he wasn't feeling so yucky) and a bag arrived from the gift shop from his friend Brady. The balloons attached offered LOTS of good entertainment the next day.  We couldn't really leave the room  -- because he had diarrhea, they considered him a potentially infectious risk. Eventually, they did let us wander up and down the hall, but he wasn't allowed to touch anything.

They didn't let him have anything to eat or drink for what seemed like forever, both to let his belly rest and in case they needed to operate.  He was okay with this until late afternoon of the first day (he had iv fluids that helped with that, I think) , then he started saying he was thirsty and hungry and started begging for pancakes. They started him with clear fluids and eventually let him have pancakes that night, which he WOLFED down in minutes.

Unfortunately, he landed himself back on a liquid diet shortly thereafter, because his belly pain came back. (probably because he ate three pancakes in the span of ten minutes) At one point, he really freaked everyone out because he said it only hurt on the right side. I thought for sure at that point we were headed to surgery. BUT, when the docs pushed on it, he didn't wince, so they decided it was probably still just localized gas pain and continued to watch and wait.... it wasn't long after that that he finally said it didn't hurt anywhere anymore... first time in days and days.

Things continued to improve and they unhooked the iv, so he could at least get out of bed.

The next day, keeping him there became much more difficult. He just wanted to get the heck OUT of that place.

He boxed some balloons...

We took a lot of walks down the hall to see the elevator and the "fishtank" (which was a live feed from the Baltimore aquarium on a giant tv) 

Finally, around 2p.m. on Friday, they discharged him. The only catch was we had to visit our pediatrician first thing Saturday morning to have his belly checked one more time. (and maybe again Monday depending on how he looked.... gah. But better safe than sorry, i guess!)

I am happy to report that all is well today. The general consensus is that he had a really bad gastrointestinal bug that just had so much of his insides inflamed and puffed up, that the appendix looked inflamed too. Truthfully, I think it was a totally separate bug from the one that made him throw up Saturday and that hit the other two boys... it was just WAY too different. In fact, I am leaning toward thinking he picked it up at swimming lessons the Saturday before the 6th. I remember he ingested a TON of pool water that day and who knows what was in that... and also, the changing room we were in that day had smelled  a little "off", like someone had gotten sick in there. I remember cringing and actually wondering if J or Simon would come down with anything in the days following. Forgot about it until all this hospital craziness.   

We are supposed to take him back right away if he spikes a fever or gets sick again or anything weird changes. But all seems well, thank goodness. He is totally back to normal in all respects.

WHEW. 

So that was our first kid out of three to ever have a hospital stay. Can't say it was fun, but it was a GOOD experience. The children's hospital was amazing and I've said it would absolutely be my hospital of choice if we ever have to rush one of them to the ER again for anything other than stitches.  (Let's face it, with three kids, boys especially, the likelihood of more ER visits is high... LOL) Everyone we met was just so kind. Glad it worked out as well as it did, all things considered. 

Not anxious to repeat the experience though! 

Child #2 Down....

The stomach virus claimed Ben in the middle of the night. Didn't see that coming at ALL. He was bouncing off the walls all day yesterday and ate like a horse. I was more worried about the sniffly nose he had when he went to bed.

ARGH.

This means his almost two-year perfect attendance streak will end today. Oh well.... he'll be happy about that. He says it was a lot of pressure. LOL!

At least this is a super quick one. Just like Jonathan, he was only sick once and slept all night after that.

Still not sure if it's the same thing Simon already had. I guess we'll find out soon. Seems the incubation period is only 24 hours or so.

Fun times!

Lots of carpet cleaning to do today....

Simon's 6-Year Well Visit... or, An Example of How the Graff Family "Descends" Upon Places...

I had the pleasure of taking all  three children to Simon's well-visit yesterday morning.  You may remember how I was offered Xanax by the pediatrician the last time this happened.  It's always a treat. BUT, on the whole, my boys are actually very well behaved and while it's not an ideal situation to have to try to talk and listen to a doctor with three boys crammed into a small room, it's doable.

However, lately, there has been a ridiculous amount of fighting between Simon and Jonathan over absolutely everything, but a biggie is who gets to push elevator and automatic door buttons, of which there are many at our pediatrician's office. Sigh. I dread it. They both whine and screech and squeal and then sometimes Ben forgets he is nine and decides to get in on the "my turn!!" action too. Seriously?

So after two rounds of whining, I finally offered to pay the older two a quarter for every button they willingly let Jonathan push.

Genius.  Genius I tell you.  They each earned $1.25 and we had a peaceful walk up to the office. Ahhhhh....

It all changed when we got to the office, however, and the receptionist held me up at the desk over something stupid. (okay, so I may have forgotten which child's well visit I was there for and confused her...)

While this was going on, Simon and Jonathan started fighting over the train table. Now, I have been cursing that train table since it appeared in the doctor's office waiting room sometime last year. All my kids do is fight over it. Jonathan doesn't want anyone near him or the train he is pushing, so he sounds his baby dinosaur alarm whenever anyone tries to run their train through the track where he is. P;lus he always wants the trains... ALLLL the trains. He also likes to destroy the track and throw pieces of it across the room. AWESOME.

Simon, at six, still wants to play trains and wants CERTAIN trains and he wants to play with them the "right" way and hates when Jonathan messes up the tracks.... and OMG... kill me. I HATE THE TRAIN TABLE. Mind you, we have trains at home and they hardly ever get touched. So what gives?

There were two families with us in the waiting room, both with newborns. And I know they were watching the scene with horror and/or judgement. (that's okay, I did that too once... karma will get you someday, people!) My two youngest kids were yelling at each other, train tracks and bridges were flying.  I kept kneeling down and taking Jonathan by the shoulders while talking calmly about "nice hands" and "sharing with Simon". This was mostly for the benefit of the parents around me though because I knew it wasn't going to do much good. The only way to really fix it/discipline him in this kind of scenario is to remove him from the room or take the toys away neither of which I could do at the present moment.

Alternately, I'd pull Simon aside and tell him to use the trains he had and not to take things from Jonathan. Mostly I was just biding my time until the nurse called us back.

Mercifully, she came out to get Simon for his hearing and vision test. He balked, leapt into a chair, curled up into the fetal position and started making low growling noises that sounded like a very small demon.

WTH?

The nurse stood, waiting. I picked Simon up, put him on his feet and pushed him toward her. He stopped and sat down.

"Okay, hold on for one second." I said to the nurse.

I went and scooped up Jonathan from the train table, grabbed Simon by his right hand and dragged him down the hallway.

GEEZ.

He was fine after that so can someone please explain why that was all necessary?

After that, things returned to normal and Ben and Jonathan played quietly in the waiting room while we waited for Simon to return.

Then Ben announced he had to go to the bathroom.

"It's right over there, " I said, pointing. He looked at me with a a worried expression.

"Dude, you are NINE years old, the bathroom is RIGHT there, I can see it from here... go. And hurry because they are going to bring Simon back any minute now and we'll have to go back to the exam room."

Finally, he went.

That's the precise moment the nurse popped her head out, "Simon?"

Sigh.

"One second. My other one's in the bathroom," I said as I once again scooped up Jonathan and took Simon by the hand.

She didn't smile.

Okay then... I walked over to the bathroom to see what was taking Ben so long. "Ben are you almost finished?"

"Yes."

"They are taking us back to the rooms. Do you remember where those are?"

"NO!!! Don't leave!!!"

Sigh. (this is God paying me back for doing this kind of thing to my mom my entire childhood)

I leaned my head against the door and we waited.... and waited...

It felt like an eternity before he came out. That kid stores a LOT of volume in his bladder. FINALLY we followed the nurse back to the rooms.

Simon got weighed and Ben watched anxiously. He always does.

"51 pounds, 12 ounces." said the nurse.

"Aw MAN!!!!" exclaimed Ben from the corner. You see, he knew this day was coming. The day his younger brother outweighed him. And now it seems he does... by about two pounds. LOL.

He was 45 and 3/4 inches, so Ben still has a couple inches on Simon he can cling to.

She initially put us in the exam room that I swear is a converted janitor's closet. She took Simon's blood pressure and surveyed the scene. "I'm going to move you guys the room across the hall when it's free.... just so you have more room."

"Bless you." was my reply. These boys need space to spread out while we wait or they start climbing the chairs (and me) and the exam table like a family of chimps in a cage that's too small.

We moved and the waiting began. We played some games of "I spy with my little eye", but we've played so many times in that room we're running out of tricky things to choose. "I spy something pink!" "The baby's hat in the photo." "Shoot"  "I spy something green!" "The floor."  "Darn it." Etc....

Simon complained about having to undress to his underwear even though at home, when I tell him to go get dressed, I will go up a half hour later and find him naked playing Legos.

Ben spun circles on the squeaky stool and LITERALLY tried to climb the wall. Simon destroyed the tissue paper liner on the table. Jonathan climbed the exam table and eventually resorted to playing with the stirrups, which is his go-to favorite activity in the pediatrician's exam rooms.

Finally the doctor came in. I know he's always amused when I have the whole brood with me. I wish I could see it from his perspective sometimes because I'm sure it's really very funny.

He talked to Simon for awhile and then started the exam. When he looked it Simon's ears he remarked, "Well, it's a miracle he passed the hearing exam because both ears are REALLY infected."

Awesome. Mom of the year! (I had actually kind of suspected that because he has been super congested lately, but he hadn't had a fever or said anything hurt, so we waited, knowing he was going to the doctor anyway.)

He also has a sinus infection. So our well-visit also became a sick visit.

We managed to get through most of the rest of exam without incident until Jonathan, who had been playing with Ben, started yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Ben! Whatever you are doing to him, PLEASE stop it!!!" I said.

"I'm not doing anything! I was just trying get him to make eye contact with me!!" was his indignant reply.  (he has sat through one too many sessions with our teachers from Infants and Toddlers)

Then from Jonathan we heard, "Noooooooo! STOP EYE CONTACTING ME, BEN!!!!"

I lost it and looked over to see Dr. B doing the same.  He had his head down on his laptop just laughing and laughing. Finally he composed himself and said, "Well, your family certainly is.... well educated!"

LOL.

Sooooo anyway...  other than the ear infection/sinus infection, Simon is a really healthy kiddo. We talked about his mood issues some (Dr. B got to see some of that for himself while we were there). He and I agreed that it's something to watch and maybe we'll end up taking him to the same psychologist Ben saw last year to figure some things out. We also talked about the possible attention issues brought up by the kindergarten teacher. I said I honestly didn't see that in him (and believe me when I say we know ADHD at our house....) but we were keeping an eye on it. He agreed with that and said, "Yeah. I don't want to add anything else to your plate in that respect right now.... let's just keep an eye on it and keep me posted."  God bless that man. It goes without saying that if I were really worried, I wouldn't hesitate to get him evaluated, but I'm not at the moment and really want to see how first grade starts off in the fall before thinking about anything like that. I'm much more concerned about his moodiness/angry outbursts than anything else.

He didn't offer me Xanax this visit, so I must have been more composed than I was previously. ;)
So all in all, a great visit I guess?

As for Simon's percentiles, because I always put them in these posts for my reference later:
76th for weight and 45th for height.  Yeah... he's dense! LOL!

The Last Few Days....

Jonathan and I are a little lost still without school to occupy us, but we're adjusting... slowly. Playdates have helped! :)  Aunt Krystyna and Alek invited us over to swim this past Friday and swim we did... in their awesome and beautiful pool!

That night, Tom and I took the boys over to our pool club for a whole evening of swimming, where we ran into our usual summer pool friends and some other friends we were surprised, but so excited to see there! The boys had a blast and wore themselves out. We stayed until almost 8p.m.!

Saturday morning, after swim lessons, we loaded up the car and headed west to Cumberland for Tom's cousin's graduation party. We stayed the night at a hotel and the boys swam some more at the hotel's indoor pool, which we had all to ourselves! I don't have any pictures, because I was too busy swimming too! Ben even raced me all the way across the pool! He was proud of himself and SUPER fast! Swim team starts this week, so I hope he stays confident!

The next morning, Jonathan and Ben (okay, mostly Jonathan) had a hotel room dance party while Simon and Tom loaded the van up to head home.

We relaxed, unpacked and caught up yesterday afternoon while Jonathan napped and then went to drop  some dinner off to Uncle Taylor and Aunt Sarah at their new house. We didn't stay, as our brood tends to descend upon places and Taylor and Sarah were crazy busy unpacking and getting organized, so the timing was NOT good... but we did get a quick tour and the boys put their stamp of approval on the playroom and amazingly awesome backyard! We are so excited for them!

Last night at bedtime, I noticed the constant allergy post-nasal drip cough Ben has been sporting for something like a month now had suddenly gotten much worse and he started saying his ear hurt. GRR... even with diligently keeping up with the Zyrtec and Nasonex for two months, his allergies have been beyond BEYOND ridiculous this year. He has been making this godawful, disgusting snorting sound constantly and keeps sniffing all the goop back into his head... anyway,  so he had managed to acquire what I was pretty was a sinus infection and an ear infection. A quick run to the pediatrician this morning confirmed my suspicions... actually, we technically caught it before it turned into a full-blown ear infection, but taking Ben's history into account, he went ahead and gave him antibiotics anyway.

WHEW... after that I got him back to school in time to keep his perfect attendance streak alive. It's a total fluke that he even HAS perfect attendance... not something we set out to do this year... just an unusually healthy year for him.... but now, with 9 days left to go, we're both determined to see it through to the end!

So that catches us up? I think? Onward to another busy week. We have our first-ever real, paid babysitter coming tomorrow night to watch the kids so Tom and I can go see John Williams conduct the BSO. It's going to a late night and it will be a total miracle if I can even stay away.  But... we'll see. The kids are super excited about Miss Tara coming over to play and so am I! :)

My brother's wedding is Sunday, so we're getting ready for that too...

After that? SUMMER can officially begin... well, next Friday when school ends. ;) Almost there!!

The Rest of Our Week...

Well, Simon bounced back quickly from his crazy day. He stayed home from the school the next day to give the antibiotics time to kick in. I let him spend the entire day building Legos in his room and he told me, "Mommy, I really like building Legos all by myself when it's so quiet here!"  I guess I take for granted that he's never really here by himself or even just with Jonathan and me. When he's here, EVERYONE'S usually home and yeah, it can be pretty loud and crazy around here.

Jonathan had a well-visit that day, so the doctor got to get a look at Simon and told me next time he has that reaction to getting sick, to bring him into the office instead of going to the ER because he wants to see it in action.

In Jonathan news, he had his well visit and is 30 pounds and 36 inches tall. I think the nurse may have been generous on the inches because I measured him just the other day only got 34-1/2. He was a little wiggly on the table while she was measuring. LOL.  But going by those stats he's in the 44th percentile for weight and the 29th for height.

The doctor listened to him jabber on about computers and passwords and pushing buttons and declared, "Well, he definitely doesn't have a speech delay anymore and he's certainly not autistic." I agree with the speech delay but just nodded and smiled at the "not autistic" comment. Do I think he's autistic in the way that most people think of when they think of someone who is autistic? No. Do I think he may have some mild spectrum-y tendencies much like his oldest brother that don't necessarily interfere that much with his functioning?  Probably. But at this point it's kind of semantics, neither here nor there, and definitely not worth arguing with the pediatrician.

Anyway, so Thursday, Simon was completely fine and went to school, though a little worn out when he got home.
:)

So yay for a quiet end to the week and beginning of spring break!

Yesterday Went Sideways....

Jonathan and I had a lovely morning at preschool yesterday. We stopped at Safeway on the way home and got some things to take to Grandmom's for dinner since Tom was going to be home late.  We came home and I was just explaining to him how we were going to have some lunch and then he was going to take his nap, when my phone started buzzing on the counter.

I didn't recognize the number. "Hello?" I said, assuming it was going to some kind of sales call.

"Hi, Mrs. Graff. It's Melissa, the school nurse from Jacksonville. How are you?"

"I'm okay... but... uhoh?"

"Yeeeah... I have a very green Simon here in my office."

(relief) "Oh no... He must have caught the stomach virus that's going around his class. I'll be right up."

"Well, Beth C. is here with me and says she'll bring him home for you if you want."

"That's okay. I don't want him to puke in her car. I'm right around the corner. Be there in five minutes."

Jonathan and I jumped back in the car and headed to school. I was not particularly worried about anything except getting my mom to come up and sit with him later so I could go get Ben at school or having her get Ben at school.

Then I got there.

Nothing could have prepared me for the sight I encountered when I turned the corner into the nurse's office. Simon was sitting with Beth with his head in a trash can. His face was completely ashen, his eyes were glassy and his lips had NO color whatsoever. He could only nod to say yes or shake his head for no.

The nurse thought maybe he just really needed to throw up since he was complaining his belly hurt, so she was pushing water and Coke. Nothing was happening. His eyes kept rolling back and then closing and he couldn't even support his own weight to sit up, much less stand or walk.

Scary. Scary. STUFF.  Ranks up there with scariest stuff I've experienced as a mom EVER.

She took his pulse, which was normal and  his blood pressure, which was on the low side of normal.  Everyone agreed he was stable enough that  I should take a minute and call the pediatrician to ask him what I should do. I called him and nurse put me on hold and then came back on to tell me I needed to immediately take him to the ER.

Wait. What? How?

I looked around at my somewhat desperate situation... Jonathan, who had a completely full diaper and was due for a nap and currently rolling around on the health room floor. (gag) No diaper bag or other supplies on me. A 50-pound, obviously ill five-year-old who couldn't walk and looked like he was going to slip into a coma at any moment, oh and Ben, lest I forget him, was still in class, oblivious to all the action.  Should I call an ambulance?! Should I throw them both in the car and just drive as fast as I could to the hospital and sort the rest out later? What about Ben? He had to get home from school somehow!

I called the pediatrician again, must have sounded frantic enough that the gatekeeper let me talk to him personally instead of just relaying the message. I don't even remember what I said, I just wanted to hear it directly from HIM that going to the ER was actually necessary. He assured me it was because of how sudden it all came on. And then he asked me a bunch of questions about if he'd possibly gotten into any medication or poisons. "Nothing! He has been at school all morning!" Can I let him go to sleep?" I asked. "Because he really just wants to sleep." He told me that was okay. I was relieved, beacuse I was fighting a losing battle on that one.

At some point, I called my husband who was in North Carolina and thus completely useless to me. I called my mom who was a half hour away at the grocery store, but headed out immediately. Then I called my mother-in-law who is ten minutes away and she came right over to school. Between my mother-in-law, the nurse, Beth and I, we formulated a plan that  I'd drive the van up to the door and they'd wheel Simon to the car and life him into his seat.  My mother-in-law would watch Jonathan at the house and give him his nap, my mom would come with me to the ER, and Beth would pick Ben up from school and take him home.

We headed to the house, where I left Jonathan with my mother-in-law and took a minute to grab some gatorade, snacks, some cash, extra clothes for Simon, a blanket, his DS and my laptop. (Not my first rodeo!)  By that time, my mom was almost to our house, so I picked her up on the way at the nearby grocery store and she talked to Simon all the way to the hospital. He sipped on the Gatorade and eventually started to perk up enough to make silly faces at himself in the rear-view mirror.

As we got closer to the hospital, he still looked tired but he was talking and could walk on his own. They took us right back and he got a hundred different tests... blood sugar, EKG, flu, strep, blood pressure standing up, sitting down and laying down. All was normal... except for strep. That he had.

So after being there three hours what they concluded is that he had strep... yes... but that his body's reaction to a mild fever/dehydration and onset of illness caused what's called a vasovagal reaction...  this happens to Tom too. He turns completely ashen and then passes out cold and this is often the first warning of an illness that he gets. It's great fun, really.  It happens to his mom and grandmother too but illness isn't their trigger... they don't have any known trigger... just seems random! We had actually started to suspect this might be the case while in the nurse's office and I was happy to have it basically confirmed.

He's on an antibiotic for the strep now and is completely back to normal and will go to school tomorrow. And now we know what to watch for next time and what to do. (lay him down and push fluids)  The school nurse sent me an email about how she'll put it in his file and what she'll do if it happens at school again. It's actually all pretty fortuitous that it happened to him this young so we know what to do going forward and to keep an eye out for it happening again.

Anyway, so scary stuff!! Glad today is a more normal day!!

Germs. Ick.

Simon brought home some respiratory loveliness two weeks ago. Sore throat, headache, low-grade fever all of which finished off with a lovely, wet cough. He came home from school with it,  missed the next day, (his first so far!) and was back the next day feeling fine. Kicked the cough in five days days or so. My little asthmatic sickly one has finally grown an immune system!

Jonathan fell next.. I think it was last Friday? Sore throat, which hurt him badly enough that he gagged himself and threw up all over me. (briefly panicked and saw Thanksgiving and whole-family stomach virus flash before my eyes until I realized what had actually happened) Low-grade fever for a day. Bounced back well enough that he never even missed a day of school over it. Then the cough kicked in... fine... figured it would work its way out like it did with Simon.

Somewhere in there, Ben complained of a sore throat one day, but never had any of the rest of it.
Non-event there.

Anyway, so it has been 8? 9 days? Jonathan is still hacking and it's still the same. Now he's all tired and cranky. No fever. Eating fine. Drinking fine. Sleeping all night. (except for one random night in there where he wasn't tired at all EVER) So I was trying to be nice and non alarmist and wait it out. But for the second day in a row now, he has taken his nap starting at 10:45.  Cranky and hacking. We had to leave school this morning because he was just WIPED. He even asked to go home. Poor thing. :(

Guess we're all to the germ incubation center in the morning to have his chest listened to. Joy! Hope we do not pick up anything else while we are there!

Birthday Weekend! Random Fevers!

My birthday was Friday, opening day for birthday season in Graff'ville. The day before two of my friends brought over lunch, which was so perfect and fun. My mom brought over lunch on Friday. Lots of lunch! Lots of quiet. My kind of birthday!

Friday morning, when I got Ben up for school, he looked off. Dark circles under his eyes and pale. He said he felt fine though, so I thought maybe he had just stayed up late after we had gone to bed. I put my hands on his shoulder to sort of prod him into the bathroom to brush his hair and noticed he was warm. 100.6 said the thermometer! What the heck?! He runs kind of warm anyway (99.4 or so is actually a pretty normal temp for him sometimes) so I sent him to go lay down for a half hour and figured I'd check back in. Thirty minutes later, he was still 101. No school. Birthday treat for me! I didn't have to do any dropoffs or pickups! After some Motrin, he was completely fine and he and Simon played all day.

Then, somewhere around 2:00, he wandered upstairs and collapsed onto the couch. Fever was back up. Right behind him came Simon, who also collapsed on the couch. His fever tell is always pink rims under his bottom eyelids... he looked awful. Temp? 101. Seriously?!

I dosed everyone back up with Motrin and tucked them in on the couch with Nick Jr. By the end of the day, Simon was 100% fine with no fever. Ben's continued to come and go all day yesterday. No other symptoms.

I can only figure we picked it up at the park on Wednesday. I think that's the only way they could have possibly gotten sick at the exact same time. Usually it's one or the other bringing something home from school and then giving it to the other, so it's more staggered. Figures. The one day I go out of my way to do something fun after school and they catch something. Stupid germs.

At any rate, it didn't slow anyone down and there were never any other symptoms, so I should be grateful. But SHEESH.

Tom and I were able to go out last night for my birthday. We had dinner at a really nice place downtown and people watched while the St. Patrick's day crowd stumbled by our window seat. I'm glad the fevers didn't get in the way of our date because it had been a LONG time since we had been out alone!

Waiting to see what today will bring. The little one is super cranky. Trying to determine if it's the pointy teeth he's getting still or if he's coming down with what the other two had.

It just never ends!

Pitiful...

Over the weekend, it became apparent that Ben's constant sniffling was not just his allergies as it usually is. Yep. He definitely has a cold. Probably the one he somehow avoided when the other two had it. It seems pretty mild, but he was having a hard time breathing so found it hard to fall asleep last night. He seemed mostly okay this morning, so I got him ready for school and gave him a dose of cold medicine. (thank GOODNESS he is old enough for it!!)

We got in the car for school and he didn't once ask to stay home or anything... but I looked in the rearview mirror and he looked completely out of it and half asleep in the backseat. So I turned the car around and sent him up to lay down for a little while while Jonathan takes his morning nap. He didn't complain, which made me realize I probably made the right call.

I may end up taking him late... not sure yet. I just checked on him and he ACTUALLY fell asleep... which is pretty rare for him during the day... so we'll see what the rest of the day brings.

Poor buddy... :(

Update: I took him to school halfway through lunch. He was happy to go and was just a little sniffly when I dropped him off. I'm glad he didn't need to miss the whole day because the amount of makeup work when he misses a day brings us both to tears!!!

Plague and Pestilence..

Yesterday afternoon Jonathan threw himself on the floor in a fit because I wouldn't let him stand by the kitchen door and continually open and close it. This is not particularly unusual. But, when I picked him up off the floor to relocate him so his brothers wouldn't whack him in the head when they came in from outside, I noticed he felt not just warm, but completely burning hot.

I gave him the backdoor thermometer check and what?! 104?!

NO idea where that came from.

I actually assumed it was his ear infection making a comeback. Seeing as how we have potential weather hitting tomorrow, I played it safe and took him in to the doctor's office this morning. It my surprise, his ears are fine, as are his throat, chest and nose. Just a fever bug. My bets are on roseola since he hasn't had it yet and seems like all my kids have contracted it sometime around 1-1/2. It's actually a nice one to go ahead and get out of the way and checked off, so I'm hoping I'm right. Guess we'll see if the next week brings a rash...

At any rate, he has been sleeping a lot of today and is super snuggly. :) I am enjoying the cuddling while it lasts because when he's not sick, he's the least snuggly baby I have ever had!

Update....

Ben had some fluid in his ear and some pain when the doctor puffed air onto his eardrum (that diagnostic test was a new one for me!) so he's on an antibiotic now.

Simon somehow emerged from that awful snot-fest with NO ear infection, so YAY for that.

Still can't figure out how the one that didn't have a cold ended up with one... but whatever!

We got bonus weigh-ins, of course. I was SHOCKED to hear that Ben is now 46 pounds!!! Must be the five waffles he eats every morning. Simon is 44-1/2 pounds these days.

When it Rains, It Pours....

Did I mention Jonathan has a double ear infection? So, there's that.

Simon had an awful week trying to get readjusted to school after missing all of last week. They sent him home Tuesday saying he was still sick. I told them he played them. They kind of agreed with me once he had calmed down enough to stop making his nose run all over the place. At that point though, I was already there and had screwed up Jonathan's nap to be there, so I just cut our losses and took him. We went back on Thursday and he tried his best to do it again, faking a cough and throwing a ridiculous screaming fit. Thankfully, they didn't buy it this time and he stayed all day and was fine when I picked him up. Grr...

Ben had stayed healthy, somehow... until this morning when I got him up for school and he said his ear hurt. How he managed to acquire an ear infection, I have no clue, but off to the doctor's we go again at 11:15. I'm having them check Simon too while we're there because I am simply NOT going back three times in one week. And of course, with the appointment being at 11:15, there's no way Ben's making it to school today because by the time I get his medicine and whatnot, it will be nearly 1:00. What's the point? I HATE to let him stay home unless he has a fever or is puking because everytime I give the kid an inch on the school thing, he tries to take advantage of it for WEEKS after, attempting to convince me he's sick with this or that.

Oh, and I left Jonathan's antibiotic out all night. Thought I was going to have to deal with that too but when I called the pharmacy, they told me it's okay to leave amoxicillin unrefrigerated for 24 hours or so. GOOD to know!!! Whew. One bullet dodged, anyway.

Hopefully, the weekend holds only healthy, happy things... so tired of sickness!

Here!

LONG week.

Simon didn't go to school all week because he has had an absolutely awful cold. He's finally feeling better, but now the baby is getting it and I'm pretty sure I'm right behind him. Ben seems to have been spared, so far. (as has Tom, but that's not a surprise because he has a superhuman immune system)

As a result of Simon being sick, we hardly left the house all week except for school dropoffs and pickups and a couple grocery store runs. I am going completely stir crazy. So sickness or not, we really must find something interesting to do today.

I've also been distracted because I have been in manic non-blog/Facebook writing mode. I've made myself a goal and I've been pretty inspired lately. It has been nice to get back to long-form writing. It has been a long time when I have really sat down for hours at a time and chiseled something out of a massive bock of spewed words. This is basically my "process", as I have come to realize. I spew a mass of ideas. I go back. I chisel out the important details then go back over them a hundred more times, buffing and polishing them until they shine. I'm curious if that is just me or not of if that's how others write too? Anyway, so I have about 5-6 works in progress. I'll share them eventually... but for now, I am just enjoying the process. I didn't even realize how much I had missed it and how much I need it.

Ben brought home a stellar report card on Thursday. I was truly shocked that every single grade from the previous report card that was anything below the highest mark had gone UP, it was pretty close to perfect! Not only that, his teacher wrote glowing comments that surprised the heck out of me. This year is turning out okay after all... and his work habits, his handwriting and his overall effort have improved substantially since the beginning of the year. Happy. :)

Anyway, so that's what's up... I have some pictures to post too... maybe later today. Happy weekend!

Brothers are the Best...

Winter Germs and Wonderful Friends...

Simon was a little "off" all day yesterday. He didn't want his breakfast, which was red flag number one. Sometimes this happens when he just wants to keep playing, but when he didn't come back for it by 9a.m. claiming imminent starvation, my sick kid antennae were officially UP.

He spent the better part of the morning watching movies in the basement while Ben ran circles around him playing basketball and jumping in the moonbounce. (one activity Simon rarely misses out on) Lunchtime rolled around and he took two bites and pushed that away too.

Sick kid antennae now completely extended.

Tom, who had called me paranoid earlier, was now on board with me that something was up. (when will he learn not to question my momstinct?)

Simon maintained that he felt fine though. No tummy ache, no fever, nothing.

He and Ben played Ninjago until we went out to let them spend some giftcards they had gotten for Christmas. I was so sure Simon was getting sick that I took a change of clothes and a handful of plastic bags with me just in case.

No puke action, but he did fall asleep on the ride home.

By evening, I had retracted my antennae somewhat because we went out to dinner and he was pretty much himself. He ate, drank, colored and chatted.

Sigh of relief.

Fast forward to this morning... that sigh of relief was horribly premature.

Simon hadn't made an appearance downstairs by 7:30, which is REALLY unusual. He's always my little morning buddy. I got Ben up and while I was picking out his school clothes, Simon wandered in looking like the undead.

HACK HACK HACK.

Lovely. But, it wasn't puke, so, silver lining!

He made a sad face and pointed to his mouth.

"What's wrong buddy, do you have a sore throat?"

"No."

"Then what hurts?"

"My voice hurts."

(sigh) I tucked him back into bed and he immediately passed back out. Using the lips to forehead technique, I estimated his temp to be about 101. Thermometer read 100.9. I seriously rock this sick kid thing.

I pondered the logistics of how to get Ben to school, because even having Ben ride the bus would require getting Simon in the car... I decided to let him sleep until the very last minute, then I'd load everyone else in the car and go up and carry Simon out. It wouldn't be pretty, but I thought it would work. I once drove around with him actively puking into a trashcan so we didn't have to cancel a showing on our townhouse. I could do this.

In an effort to get some intel on what kind of virus we were dealing with , I posted a quick shoutout to my preschool mom friends on Facebook asking if anyone else was sick... then I texted my friend Beth, (henceforth known as Quitter of Facebook) whose son was with Simon on Thursday at school, to see if HE was sick too. He wasn't (thankfully!), but Beth offered to come pick Ben up and take him to school.

And the angels sang and the light shone down.

This possibility had not entered into my head as her Kindergartener is usually a bus rider. She swore it was not an inconvenience though and so, as I took one more peek at my sleeping, sick second born who gets dragged absolutely everywhere, I accepted.

Interestingly enough, I had just been sitting at my desk pondering the whole predicament and feeling a little sad because in my old neighborhood, there would have been a hundred solutions (read: lovely neighbors) who I could have asked for help. I miss that SO much sometimes. But, I had failed to remember that one of those lovely neighbors is my lovely neighbor once again. Beth to the rescue!

Not that I wish winter germs on her boys, but I do hope I can return the favor soon!

Thank goodness for friends to the rescue!

Now, onward to hoping the rest of us don't get this. I caught Jonathan sucking on Simon's toothbrush while I was putting laundry away upstairs. (sigh)

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

I was awoken in the middle of the night once again by a child complaining of ear pain. Simon this time.

We were at the doctor's at 9:45. Another ear infection. Another antibiotic. I was tempted to have him look at Jonathan since he is running green on one side, which almost assuredly means he has SOME kind of infection. But Mr. Man is in good spirits and sleeping just fine, so I really didn't have any reason other than the nose to think he's sick. And I really hate having to ask the doctor to double up when I don't think of it until we get there. Soooo... yeah. Probably heading back sooner than later for #3. Maybe not. But I won't be surprised.

I actually haven't even gone to get Simon's antibiotic yet because we needed to get home for Jonathan's morning nap. Instead, I just gave him a dose of Ben's. It was the exact same prescription, dose and all because... ready for this? Simon now officially outweighs Ben at 45 pounds and change. YYYep...it was only a matter of time. Ben was 43-1/2 pounds at HIS appointment five days ago.

Yikes. Don't anyone tell Ben this.

I actually could have shaken the nurse who commented when she weighed Ben, "Wow! You're a really small seven-year-old!" Yes, thanks... thanks for that. He hadn't noticed.

So anyway... two ear infections in a week. Not complaining because it could be worse... we could all be puking and we're not. So, Life. It is good.

Happy Puke Year!

We will be ringing in 2012 with at least one puking child. Who's next? The suspense is killing me. Stay tuned!

(my bets are on ME since Simon and shared an ice cream last night... joy!)

Update: He's completely fine. Nothing else every happened and he was totally normal after the one incident. Very weird. And then Tom remembered that he drank two FULL (and I do mean full...) cups of chocolate whole milk at dinner the night before. We're pretty certain it was that because Tom realized he feels the same way if he drinks whole milk and for a similar amount of time. (we all drink skim around here)

Hoping we're right, but all signs point to yes. He never got a fever. Never got sick again and played normally the rest of the day. So very strange.

Sheesh.

This is the most stubborn ear infection I've EVER seen. Ben's ear STILL hurts when the medicine wears off. Our pediatrician warned me that it was going to take 48 hours for him to feel better but I kind of thought he was just being conservative. Apparently not.

Poor Ben. :(

Should Have Listened to My Gut...

Wednesday night, Ben mentioned, kind of in passing that his ear "maybe hurt a little." I gave him some Motrin and waited to see what Thursday morning brought. I was all set to run him to the doctor for the inevitable ear infection diagnosis though because he has had a cold and truly, for the last six years, save for the years in there where he had functioning ear tubes, every single time he has gotten a cold, he has gotten an ear infection.

However, much to my surprise, In the morning, he said it was completely fine and didn't hurt at all.

I put down the phone, on which I had the pediatrician's sick-hour number already keyed in and decided that maybe we were past ear infection territory with the oldest one, finally! Hurray!

A little voice inside needled me ALL day though... I should just take him in, have it checked... would hate to deal with a middle of the night ear infection.

Buuuut, I ignored it because I thought it was paranoid. We went about our day and Ben never mentioned another thing about his ear.

And, 'round about 11p.m. last night, I woke from a sound sleep. At first I couldn't figure out why and then I realized I heard crying that was NOT coming from the baby monitor. Down the hall I went... Ben's room.... sure enough... "My ear really hurts!!!!"

(sigh)

We got it under control quickly with the whole 3 hour Motrin/Tylenol routine (we're pros at this at this point) and he slept soundly all night. But today, I'll be at the total mercy of the pediatrician's office as to when they can see us. I don't even think our regular pediatrician isn't in on Fridays if I remember correctly, which means we'll get the on-call pediatrician who will squeeze us in and we'll have no choice but to take whatever time they give us. This most likely means messed up naps for Jonathan which is never a good thing. If ONLY I had just done it yesterday....

Kicking myself.

Always listen to the little mommy voice, people. ALWAYS. Sheesh.

Gr...

Dear Relentless Sinus Infection,

It's Christmas Eve. You are not welcome here. I am ignoring you and will continue to slam you with amoxicillin every eight hours. YOU are on my naughty list.

Love,
Erin