The longest week ever!

You would think that after the last two weeks we'd be beat down and can't go on. But that's not the case. We are happy, excited and looking forward to the calling that God has for us!! I'm about 80% sure that in the next 18 months God has some amazing things in store for our family, and I'm about 99% sure we are under a serious spiritual attack because of it.

Our attack has started off slow, something here and there, a few things at a time , but this week it has turned to catastrophe! Our week started out with Hobble-bobble jumping off a chair and fracturing her ankle. Right away it swelled up and we rushed her to the Ortho-on call Emergency care center. They put her in a boot and sent us to a pediatric-orthopedic doctor who did confirm she had a fracture and needed to be in her boot for another two weeks.

Saturday evening Little Bear (4yrs) came in and started complaining of a stomach ache and that she didn't feel well. She had a fever of 100.5 and so we canceled our plans, had her lay on the couch, and gave her some motrin, then she began vomiting and could not keep anything down. Around 3am that night her fever spiked to 104.7; I continued through the night trying to cool her down so we could wait till morning for a E.R. visit. I covered her with cool rags and gave her more motrin, and tried getting her to drink which was not successful! We ended up in the ER that morning and she tested positive for Strep. They gave her an antibiotic shot, a popsicle and sent her home with anti-nausea medicine. Once we were home we again could not get her to drink anything! Her fever continued as high as 103.7 and we continued monitoring her day and night trying to keep her drinking, cooled off and medicated.

Monday evening as I was just about to lay my head on the pillow and pass out after an exhausting weekend, I was awakened by Pumpkin (6) who was gasping for air as she barked a croupy cough. Normally, croup in our house is a normal thing. She is on singulair all winter long for it. Since our winter was pleasantly mild this year it was given occasionally when the weather changed. I could tell this time was different, as she struggled to suck in air I did our normal routine of sticking her head in the freezer, and when that didn't work sitting in a steaming bathroom. After watching her struggle for air 15 minutes (too long) I dressed her and rushed her to the ER. I was afraid to let her stop talking in the car, afraid she would stop breathing. Once we arrived I pulled her out and rushed across to the doors. Once inside her breathing slowed, and quieted and became fairly normal! I was so frustrated! After not sleeping the last two nights, being at the hospital again for no reason was not something I was happy about! Once we got back to the room, the doctor was quick and to the point (which I appreciated). She received a breathing treatment, and steroids for the next few days and we were sent home!

Wednesday morning, Little Bear woke up with a broken fever! She acted fairly well most of the morning then started to get bad again. By the time she went to bed she had her fever back up to at least 102 and was having severe abdominal pains below her belly and on her right side, and chest pain. We were worried it may be her appendix, or pneumonia! We called the on-call doctor and told them what was going on...they didn't have a whole lot of advice for us so we were left to decide what to do on our own. I spoke with a nurse friend on facebook who advised we should probably head to the ER- and again we did. This time they gave her an IV, ultrasound, blood work and tested her urine. The urine came back with blood in it which they said was a sign of dehydration, the ultrasound came back normal, and the blood tests came back normal! They gave her motrin to break her fever and sent us home after she ate a popsicle. On our way home I was exhausted! I wanted to doze off with every blink of my eyes but I was determined to get home! As I pulled out of the parking lot to head home, I began praying that God would protect us on our way home! I decided to go the long way home through town instead of taking the highway home which is shorter! I kept getting stuck in traffic and behind slow moving cars!! About three miles from home I began to hear a slight thumping and felt the steering wheel start to pull and vibrate. I thought I might have a flat tire but wasn't sure since it wasn't really loud, and not to mention I had never had one before. I called Nathan and told him I thought I had a flat, and then it began to get louder! I slowed my speed and since I was less than a mile from home, was tired, and had a sick kid...I kept going! I got home and was taken back by the sight of the blown out tire! It was busted open! My first thought was, "if I had gone on the high way, we would have really gotten hurt!" Then I started to pray and thank God for protecting us!

Thursday, as I checked out checking account I noticed a withdrawl from paypal for 300.00! Since I did not make that withdrawl I immediately started investigating it. As I thought my account was hacked but I was able to recover our 300.00! Little Bear's fever was around 101. She spent the day on the couch and was a little active but for the most part she was really sick. She still refused food and anything to drink including popsicles! After she went to bed she slept for about a half-hour; then she came running out of her room threw herself on the floor and started to vomit. We ran her into the bathroom and opened the toilet and she spewed blood! I immediately put on my clothes and shoes preparing to head to the ER as we awaited our on-call doctor to call us back. This time they called ahead to the ER and they said they would just admit us when we got there. Once we were there they started an IV, took more urine, took more blood and sent us upstairs to our room. They wore gloves and gowns anytime they came in the room, and they were great! The doctors were really nice and examined her from head to foot!! They discovered she didn't just have strep but she had tonsillitis as well! They believed the blood was from a tear in her esophagus from vomiting, or a result of not eating or drinking for so long and it caused acid build-up in her stomach.

Friday, she was taken down for an x-ray to rule out pneumonia. After having fluids overnight she was a totally different kid! She had her energy back and wanted to go home!! We stayed the majority of the day and evening to make sure she could keep down food and liquid then was released to go home around 8pm.

Saturday, I slept most of the day. My amazing husband knew how tired I was after our eventful week and took care of the kids most of the day. He woke me in the afternoon and told me that Sweet-pea had a slight fever of 99.9. She acted normal most of the day and we gave her motrin to help with her fever. At dinner she didn't eat much; we started baths afterwards and she began to shiver so badly when I undressed her she couldn't hardly talk. When I got her out she was shivering so much her lips turned blue! I waited a while and took her temperature and it was 104.0! I gave her some tylenol and sat with her on the couch for a few minutes before deciding to take her to Kidmed. I figured the earlier we could get antibiotics in her the easier it would be to avoid the hospital! When we got to kidmed she was lethargic and her cheeks were rosy. All she wanted to do was sleep, and would not let go of me! I sat in the waiting room for 45 minutes with her on my lap, after 20 minutes of waiting she vomited all over my shirt and pants! The lady at the desk called out to me that there are bags on the wall, but I was so filled with chunks of food, and Tylenol in my lap that there was no getting up unless she wanted to scrape it up off the floor. FINALLY she brought on over to me, but it was too late she already spewed it all over my lap! I took off her clothes down to the diaper and took her to the bathroom to clean her and me off! As I came out of the bathroom I held her in my arms pacing the floor trying to soothe her to sleep while the heat from her body baked my skin! I paced for about 15 minutes while listening and watching a nurse have a personal conversation with another patient sitting in the waiting room. Getting annoyed (and ready to leave for the ER), I asked the desk clerk how much longer before they could see her and she said, "about 1-2 more minutes." About a minute later the nurse who was having the conversation turned to me and said, "is this Sweet-pea, I'm out here for her...we were just chatting!" I was IRATE! Here I am covered with vomit, rocking my baby who had a 104 degree temp, and was miserable and she was "chatting!" We went back to the room and was seen by the doctor, they did a strep swab, flue swab, and x-ray. She was positive for pneumonia, and negative for everything else.

Once we established her diagnosis, I let the doctor know what I thought of her nurse , and then we continued with getting blood, pulse-ox, and they were planning to put in an IV. Two nurses came in; one was the same one that brought us back and then there was another who actually did the IV. They put the needle in but didn't have it attached to a tube, a her blood poured out all over the bed the nurse tried to screw the tube onto the end of the needle. She took some blood and as she went to put the tube of blood on the table she pulled the tube and the IV flew out of her hand onto the floor and blood squirted all over my face, the floor the bed! I was FURIOUS!! A few minutes later they came back in to retry, and I refused the IV! I told them if she needed it we would just go to the ER. The doctor came back in and said her blood work was slightly elevated, but that was expected for someone with her condition. They gave her a antibiotic shot and sent us home.

When we got home, we were welcomed by the site of Pumpkin laying on the couch with a fever of 101.7.

It is now 5:29 am on Sunday and I have yet to go to sleep! Because I wanted to keep an eye on them through the night I put the blow up mattress in the living room and Nathan slept on the couch and I in the chair. About 3:30 I finally finished my school work from last week and decided to check on them before I laid down. Sweet-pea's fever was back up to 103.7 and Pumpkin's was up to 101.7. I gave them both drinks, and motrin and before I knew it their fevers broke and now they are jumping around on the mattress watching veggie tales along with Hobble-bobble.

So at this point yes I am completely exhausted and I would be completely fine if I never saw a hospital or emergency care facility again in my life; however, my faith in the last few weeks has grown so much! I feel closer to God, closer to the girls, and closer to my husband. God has used all our trials for good this week! I love that I can look back and see his had working in our lives especially in the tough times! I found myself laughing a lot at everything. While it may be my way to keep from crying it still has been great for keeping light of each situation, and taking them one at a time!

So here is to hoping tomorrow brings us better heath, and no need for more emergency visits!!