A 30% Chance

Wanna know what I'm thankful for this week? Tylenol, Pixar and our Kindle Fire.

Guess how we spent our week? (hint: we consumed lots of the above three things, as well as made good use out of our health care coverage).

Last Sunday night as we were wrapping up for the day, I had a thought - a premonition. I gave us a 30% chance of going for an unplanned doctor's visit. Dash had vomited a lot all day and my knee was in pretty excruciating pain. I figured they may want Dash to come in for a weight check, so his reflux meds could be adjusted - maybe he'd grown out of the dosage. What I should have done was given myelf a 30% chance of landing in a doctor's office every single day that week.

Monday after talking to the nurse, I found out I was correct in my assumption that they'd want us to come in, so I piled the kids in the car and off we went. My first time with both kids at the doc - thank goodness for Cars on our Kindle Fire to entertain Ellie. Come to find out, Dash has not grown out of his dosage, he was just sick. Go figure - mama's excellent observation really should have caught that.

Miserable baby

Tuesday we went in to get my leg looked at. Verdict: sprained MCL. Again, took both the babes, and again - thank goodness for nurses who jump at the chance to hold a baby, and Cars on Kindle.

She earned Ice Cream for being so good!

Tuesday night Ellie jumped off the mattress on the floor in her room, landed funny on her foot, which immediately bruised and she stopped wanting to walk on it. Fabulous. I spent some time searching for Toddler Foot Fracture on the internet, and in we went Wednesday morning. Verdict: just bruised. Thank GOD.

Bruised & Swollen. 

Thursday I had a pre-scheduled yearly appointment. I took Dash and hired a babysitter for the second time ever (yeah, even with Cars on the Kindle, I'd really rather not have Ellie at the gyno with me...). Came home to an exhausted Ellie, put her to sleep and she slept for 3 1/2 hours and woke up with a fever. Fabulous.

By Thursday night both babies had fevers - Ellie was hanging out really quite high too (in the upper 103 range). Called the pedi to make sure I wouldn't need to take Dash in overnight (remember - fever of over 100.4 rectally is quite bad for a 3 month old baby). They told me to give tylenol and evaluate in the morning. By Friday morning when the nurse called to check in (LOVE my pediatrician's office), both kids continued to have fevers, and she suggested we come on in.

Back to the pediatrician. By the time we left the house (in an absolute panic I might add - Ellie was spiking around 104, shivering uncontrollably and had just had her lips turn slightly blue. Come to find out a cold popsicle and a feverish body will do that) I mentally told myself that I was giving us a 30% chance of going to the hospital in the next 24 hours.Luckily, I was wrong on that one.

Verdict: nasty virus for both kids. Maybe even picked it up at the doctor's office, given our frequency of visits.

One of three trips to the pediatrician

Saturday was the worst - Ellie woke up spiking a 105.4 degree temp (I swear, I didn't even know they could go that high) and after a moment of panic, we somehow managed to keep our wits about us. Tylenol, Ibuprofen and cold compresses were administered, and the 24 hour nurse on call at the hospital told us that her fever had about an hour to come down, or we were to head in. I packed our bags. Luckily, the fever dropped. Then Dash woke up with 101.6 and that wouldn't come down, so again - I mentally prepared us to go in. The pediatrician's office told us we could watch it, and eventually it came down. Toward the end of the day, Ellie started acting incredibly lethargic (for a girl with a ton of energy, this was probably the most lethargic I've ever seen her). Cue, more panic. Thankfully, she perked up eventually.

Sick Ellie

Sick Dash

Did I mention that the kids wouldn't eat anything and on Friday I was spoon feeding Dash to get him some fluids? The bonus is that I have restocked my freezer supply of breastmilk, thanks to the time spent pumping, and when Ellie would take it, she got a good infusion of strong antibodies thanks to "mama milk bottles."

Both kids spent the day being diligently medicated by their parents, and today I'm hoping the worst is behind us. I still can't walk well, but... you win some, you lose some. Also - any guesses where I'm going on Monday afternoon? Yep - another appointment. Pre-scheduled Dermatologist. :) Hoping that's the last of them!

Other things I'm thankful for? Easy to read thermometers, supportive parents, good co-parenting, having a bed in Ellie's room for daddy to sleep in to watch over his girl, Babies documentary, popsicles, juice, vitamin water, humidifiers and netflix. :)

Update: guess where we ended up Sunday night? If you guessed ER, you're correct. One more thing I'm incredibly thankful (besides, duh - my babies and their health)? Potty trained toddlers who will tinkle for a promise of a treat. Best way to avoid needing a catheter is to pee in a cup, thank you Ellie.)