CrAzY Working Mom: sick kid

Showing posts with label sick kid. Show all posts

Sunday, January 02, 2011

Warning: Dirty Post!

You have been forewarned that this post contains content that may not be suitable for women who have not bore children, anyone with a weak stomach, or if you don't like to read about bodily fluids! If you think you can handle it, read on!

I've been up since 3:30am with my sweet little Emily. It seems as though she's contracted the virus that Tyler had last week. She came into my room this morning with vomit in her hair saying she wanted to get into bed with me. I was quick to haul her to the bathtub as she once again began to heave. The poor little thing had liquids coming from both ends. I got her cleaned up, got the puke pail ready, and for 4 hours I've been up with her catching her vomit with the puke pail in between naps.

Since we have spent our Christmas break potty training, when she needed to go potty, even though she had a diaper on she wanted to go to the toilet. We ran in there and she pottied. As we returned to the living room, she began to vomit. Thankfully we made it to the puke pail. Unfortunately, we hadn't replaced her diaper...it was NOT pretty as I only had ONE pail to catch the liquids. It was at this point when I realized that you have to be dedicated as a mother to endure this!

I laid down on the couch once, she'd been asleep for a good 30-45 minutes so I thought maybe she was in a good deep sleep that no vomit could interrupt. Just as soon as I shut my eyes, the alarm clock began to chime. I went to the bedroom and turned it off, laid back down, and within minutes the auto-brew coffee machine began to spew out liquid goodness. The aroma filled the air and quickly reminded me that if I fall asleep at this hour, nobody will make it to church. It was about that time that Emily was awakened from her slumber by another visit from the vomit fairy.

Whilst cleaning vomit this morning I have come to two conclusions, when we build a home, we will have a) NO CARPET and b)Leather Furniture!!!

Please say a little prayer for Emily if you're so inclined for quick healing and maybe throw one in for me as well, for a quick nap at some point in the day. Believe you me, though 4 hours of sleep has gotten me through many a day since I've become a mother!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Apparently She's Allergic

Emily's body is covered in a rash. She was crying last night and scratching around her diaper area, so apparently not only does it look bad but it feels bad as well. Our regular pediatrician was out of the office, so we saw another who was in the office. His first question when he saw the rash was, What antibiotic did she just finish? Before I could answer he replied to himself, "Let me guess, penicillin. I laughed and said yes. He said that her rash was a classic allergic reaction to the antibiotic. The fact that her father and I are both allergic to the same drug is further indication that it is for sure the culprit. The good news is that she is NOT contagious. The bad news is that she will get worse before she gets better and there aren't any topical ointments that can help. The doctor said that Benadryl might help the redness and itchiness. Hopefully I have a bottle that was not recalled!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

The State of My Union...and Other Ramblings

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. What a CrAzY week! We buried my sister-in-law's sister on Monday. She was 39 years old and lost her year long battle with ovarian cancer. It's been a tough situation altogether. She was a mother to a beautiful 12 year old girl. Please keep the family in your prayers as they go through the healing process.

Tyler has been sick this week. I am not sure what was wrong with him. He lost his little voice, had a belly ache, and cough. He seems to be feeling better. He seems to think he needs to stay home from pre-school ONE more day. ;) We'll see how it plays out tomorrow.

The weekend was fun. We attended a birthday party on Saturday for my nephew, Jerimy. Unfortunately I left my camera (can you believe that I would do something like that) at my sister's house. She's bringing it to me tomorrow when she comes into town. So, I have no pictures to post yet.

Sunday we went to The Big Buck Classic, hence Tyler's camo picture. He was all decked out and ready to go. We had a nice time. The kids got to see the Rattlesnake wrangler. Funny, and TRUE story: Emily Grace, my 16 month old daughter was pushing her way to the fence to see the rattle snakes. Her eyes were wide and she was so excited! There was a double fence so I guess that she couldn't have touched them, but once she got too close, I snatched her up and held her in my arms. She screamed! People thought that she was scared. But, she was ANGRY that I wouldn't let her get close to the fence. The fence where 50-60 rattlesnakes were piled up in the corner. The fence that just might have let her tiny little fingers slip through within striking distance of those venomous reptiles! Eeeeewww...the thought just makes my stomach turn.

All in all we had a fun weekend, followed by a not so fun week. Tonight was the state of the union address. Brien and I skipped it and decided to watch a movie instead. I get so frustrated when I watch things like that. I can tell you the state of our union isn't too great right now! We're small business owners who at the end of the month will have no health care coverage because my COBRA coverage from my previous employer has expired. So, right now we're playing the insurance marketing game. He has sleep apnea, high blood pressure, and is a smoker. We cannot get an insurance carrier to write a policy for him. Since Emily was sick with RSV last winter, the only one who would write a policy for her wanted me to pay a 110% increased premium and have a pre-existing clause where nothing related to RSV or ear infections was covered. It's disgusting to think that my husband and I both work hard to provide for our family and can't even get simple, affordable health care coverage while there are people who won't even attempt to find a job are handed vouchers for food, formula, provided them free childcare and health care at no out of pocket cost to them. So, who's pocket is it coming out of?! While you take a guess, I'm going to finish watching this movie and try to forget the state of THIS union!

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Mommy Don't Stand a Fighting Chance with Emily!

I Just wanted to update for all of those asking about little Emily. She had an ear infection in her right ear and the RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) had flared up again. She's on a 10 day antibiotic for the ear infection and still taking cough meds and her inhaler, or "puffer" as we like to call it. If you've never had to use this on a child, an infant child this is quite a chore. She loves to play with it and will even pretend to puff on it, but once I push the medicine in the chamber the fun's over and she heads for the hills! It literally takes both of my legs and arms to hold her down and get her to put it to her face so she can breathe in the medicine! She's quite the fighter and has a pretty mean right hook...I am not even exaggerating. This photo is from April when she was originally diagnosed with RSV. She was only seven months old in this photo. She is now 16 months! Time has really flown by, but I digress. She seems to be doing well and is sleeping through the night again so hopefully we're on the downhill slope of this stuff. Now if we can just get the weather to cooperate!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

My New Assistant

Meet my new office administrator, Emily:

As you can tell she is busy fielding phone calls for me as I blog. Yes, that is a computer mouse that she is using. But, please keep in mind that she is still in training.

I had to go pick up baby Emily from daycare today when she began to run a 101° temperature. Monday night she fell asleep at her normal bed time but woke up as I was going to bed. I got up with her and we did not go back to sleep until around 2:30AM. She was very fussy and I was unable to console her no matter what I tried. I think she only fell asleep when she did out of sheer exhaustion! Of course I woke up late Tuesday morning. Fortunately I was able to get everyone up, dressed, and out the door in time and no one was late. Yes, I am just THAT good. ;)

She seemed to be feeling better yesterday. She did sleep a lot, but I would have too if I could have! Today when I got the phone call, I figured I might as well go ahead and take her to the doctor. When he looked in her ear he said, "YUCK". Obviously her ears are both infected. In fact the doctor said that it was quite possible that with all of the pressure that she is experiencing they may rupture. He told me, "not to freak out" if I see blood tinged puss leaking from her ear. Ummm...yeah, not gonna happen! Hopefully she won't experience this and the 10 day antibiotic will heal her quickly and completely! As it stands now we may be looking at getting tubes in her ears in the near future.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

What do I Brush?

It is so entertaining to watch little Emily (age 13 months) with her big brother, Tyler (age 4) and Shelby (age 6). She wants to do everything they do. Tonight they were brushing their teeth. We only have two step stools in the bathroom. She was first upset that she did not have a stool. Shelby offered up her stool since she is tall enough to make due without one. Then Emily was given a toothbrush and she brushed her teeth...well, sort of. She did have the brush in her mouth at one time before she moved on to her hair.

She is also talking a lot more now. She will point to things and say, "What's That?". She also loves to say "Bye-Bye", "No-No", "Night-Night". It seems as though she picks up more and more each day. In no time she'll be choosing a Medicare supplement plan. I think that her being in day care is making her personality really shine as well. She is just too funny. She was singing itsy bitsy spider yesterday while we were waiting at the doctor's office. She was quite the trooper as she had to have an in/out catheter procedure done to collect some urine as well as blood drawn out of her teeny tiny arms. The staff at the doctor's office are all so great and treated her with the utmost care and respect for myself and my mother-in-law who was of course by my side. Emily has been really sick for the last week. She has been sick at her little tummy. She has eaten very lightly and what little bit she does eat she vomits up shortly there after. The doc tested for urinary/kidney infections, strep throat, and pneumonia. Once those three were ruled out he determined that she must have had a stomach bug that has left her with ulcer-like symptoms. She was not dehydrated. That was my main concern since she was not drinking very much and what little she was did not stay in her body for very long. She seems to be feeling better now. She's still not in tip-top shape but she's doing much better than she was. It was so good to see her playing with her siblings tonight, and back to her silly self!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Do Flu Shots Cause The Flu?!

All three of my children were given a vaccination for the seasonal flu on Wednesday. Emily, who is 13 months old had to take a shot. She handled it like a champ. She did a bit of crying, but overall she wasn't too upset with the whole ordeal once she was back in her mommy's arms. Tyler (age 4) and Shelby (age 6) were able to take the nasal mist. Shelby volunteered to go first and I informed her that the "first" one gets an extra scoop of ice cream, which to a six year old is better than diamonds. She was very excited and stepped right up to the nurse, sniffed it right in and we were ready to move on to the next child. Unfortunately, the next child was Tyler and he was NOT ready to be moved on to. He began to kick and scream so we moved on to Emily who was also beginning to get upset because her big brother was so upset. Thank goodness my wonderful in-laws met me there. Memaw held Emily while the nurse injected her as Papaw and I tried to convince Tyler that the nasal mist was a great alternative to the shot. To convince him that he should choose the mist, we informed him that we could not MAKE him take the mist but we could the shot. We could hold him down like we did baby sister. He perked up a bit as well when he was reminded that the local ice cream shop was about to close and we needed to get over there if we were going to get our ice cream treat. Finally he sucked it up and "took it like a man".

We were off to the ice cream shop where Shelby had a dish of vanilla with chocolate syrup. Tyler had a cone of vanilla while Emily and I shared a nutter butter (vanilla ice cream with peanut butter and nutter butter cookies mixed in). We all shared our cool treats and between the four of us we were unable to finish off the sweet goodness, although Emily enjoyed the remainder of Tyler's ice cream cone and made quite a mess of it!

Fast forward to Thursday morning. Emily woke up and acted very lethargic. She was not acting like herself, but I took her on to daycare anyway and informed her teacher that she seemed to be feeling bad again. She ran fever on Monday, but had been fine since. I did inform the nurse of that on Monday she had been sick but was fine since. She assured me that she was fine to get the shot. I had to return home after dropping the kids off at school and daycare because I left my cell phone there. When I reached the house, I grabbed the phone and headed back out. I had two missed calls from the daycare. I returned the call where her teacher told me that she was running a slight temp. It was 100°. I was a bit concerned at this point wondering if the flu shot was making her sick. After alerting my Facebook friends and calling my Mother-In-Law, I was quickly reassured that it was normal to run a slight temp and actually show some mild flu-like symptoms after getting a shot. I called her pediatrician and he was out of the office.

Within 30 minutes, I recieved another call from the daycare. The co-director called this time and explained that they had taken her temp with two different thermometers and it was now 103.1°. With her temperature rising that fast, we decided that she needed to be seen by a doctor immediately. I didn't call the office because I was still waiting on the nurses to call me back. I walked in and told them that she needed to see a doctor. I was shaking, and my voice was cracking because little Emily was almost life-less as I spoke to the receptionist. She was NOT being herself. The receptionist then asks, "Is she sick?". I ~~replied~~ thought... Ummm...no I just thought the doctor should look at her outfit, isn't it adorable?!?! Of course she's sick, you moron! But, I nervously replied, "Yes, she's sick." So, while waiting to see some other kid's pediatrician since ours is out of the office on Thursdays, my mother and father-in-law come over as well as my sister. They all knew the worried tone in my voice.

At this point, my mind was racing. I was thinking that she was probably already sick with the flu and now we've given her this shot and it will just speed things up. There is always the possibility of the Swine or H1N1, whichever you prefer to call it. I call it a constant worry when you have three children attending a germ-filled school and daycare! I tried to keep my cool and hide the fact that I was scared out of my mind, although I was later informed by my sister that she could see right through me. *LOL*

Upon examination by the pediatrician it was determined that the poor little angel had a double ear infection. While I hate that she has this infection, I was very relieved that it was just an ear infection and we can take antibiotics to treat it and drops to dull the pain. I am not sure about the flu shot. This is the first year we've taken them. Of course the H1N1 shot is not available and I am still up in the air on whether or not we will take it. What do YOU think? Do you and/or your children take a seasonal flu shot and will you take the H1N1 shot if it is available to you and/or your children?

Thursday, September 17, 2009

My Busy (Sick) But Fun Week!

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, folks. My week in a nutshell:

Monday:

A.M. : Stayed home with Emily took her to the doctor (our doctor was all booked up) so we had to see a partner. Office was packed when we got there. Waited only an hour to see him. Diagnosis: DOUBLE ear infection. Very fussy baby girl all weekend and most of this week.

Afternoon: Fair parade. Tyler rode a horse with his grandpa and threw candy.
When we got ready to leave there we were headed to the fair when Shelby informed me that she felt like she was going to be sick to her stomach. She didn't want to go to the fair. I knew this child must be really ill if she didn't want to go to the fair, so we went home. Lucky for us because as she exited the van, her lunch exited her body. We came in and she spent the remainder of the evening curled up on the couch.

Tuesday: 1:30AM, I had the same visitor that Shelby had Monday afternoon...two fold, both ends!!! I was miserable. I spent the majority of Tuesday morning in the bathroom as my family slept peacefully in their beds. Brien was awakened by Emily around 3:30. I couldn't hold her because I was running back and forth and this did not please her. He got up with her and stayed up with her until he had to be at work at 7. What a man! Thankfully my father in law took over duties from there. He took the younger two while Shelby and I stayed in for the day, hopefully containing our illness to ourselves.

Wednesday was of course a day of catch up for me at the office on billing, payroll, and searching for health and life insurance online since I'd been out all week. I was super busy there and due to the fact that I had been trying to nurse Emily to health all weekend and most of the week, my house look like a tornado had blown through it.

Thursday was an impromptu visit to the County Fair! It was the only night this week that it hadn't been raining or some member of our family wasn't projecting bodily fluids out of one or more orifices. We had an amazing time and of course I took wayyyyyy too many photos as usual.

Emily had her first Turkey leg and funnel cake:

Shelby milked a cow:

Tyler spotted his dream car!

(of course since it's yellow, it's Bumblebee - the Transformer)

Of course they played games, had some wonderful fair food, pet the animals in the livestock barn, watched some bull riding and much much more. We will be going back on Saturday (pray for no rain!!!) to ride the rides during arm band day and watch the family favorite - Demolition Derby. Overall it's been a busy week. I will be uploading more pictures later on, but for now I am too pooped. I'm headed to bed. See you all tomorrow for Looking at the Sky on Friday!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

A Call to the Nurse - H1N1 or Just a Virus?!

Emily's first week at daycare went smoothly. Better than I had expected. Of course the mornings are hard on us because she does cry. But, on Friday she reached for her teacher. That is a milestone that I hadn't planned on reaching for a while. She did start crying when she took her, but she at least didn't have to pry her from my arms. One good thing about daycare is that she is going to bed with no troubles. She is getting on a schedule and it is benefiting us all.

Unfortunately, she seems to have contracted some sort of stomach bug. Other family members have had it, so I'm not sure it came from daycare. But, she began running fever yesterday morning. She was feverish with a runny nose, and VERY clingy all day. I was a bit worried since the H1N1 virus has caused 5 deaths in the state of Arkansas. I talked to the on call nurse at the clinic yesterday and she said as long as her mucus was not thick and green or her breathing labored then I should just wait it out and bring her in to the clinic on Monday if I thought I needed to. But, if her fever gets up over 103 and we can't get it down then we need to take her to the ER. I did feel better after I spoke to her. Her nose is running clear and in fact today isn't doing much of that. Today she is experiencing some diarrhea, but no vomiting. Hopefully we're on the down hill slope of this illness and maybe since we've taken up stock in the hand sanitizing business no one else will contract this virus. *fingers crossed*

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Emily Update

We visited the doctor yesterday since Emily contracted a runny nose, cough, and slight fever over the weekend. The doctor came in the room and immediately started sniffing the air. I began to get a bit worried and thought back to my morning routine and remembered adding my deodorant as well as a splash of Bath and Body Works' scented body mist. He walked to Emily and began to sniff her and said that he smelled something. He then proceeds to look in her ears, nose, and mouth. He then removes her diaper and looks there. By this time, I'm a bit perplexed. This is normal when he does a routine physical, but she was there for flu like symptoms. I was just hoping it wasn't a repeat of the RSV she suffered from last winter.

He then asks me she has vomited as of late. I thought back to last Thursday when she threw up on my blackberry (don't worry, the blackberry is okay). Yes, I told him she had and in fact she was eating some snacks when she did so, I believe. Yes, Friday was when she started to feel bad.

The doctor then proceeds to tell me that she has an unmistakable "foreign body" smell. I am sure that the puzzled look on my face only added to the oddness of this situation because I hadn't the slightest clue as to what he was talking about. She smelled normal to me. But, he proceeded to explain that sometimes, especially children her age, learning to pick up small objects, as well as self feeding will "get something stuck in a hole". He might as well have told me she swallowed a barcode scanner

No, this is NOT a JOKE and I am not kidding. The diagnosis that our pediatrician gave us was that she has a "foreign body" infection. In fact, the nurse came and and confirmed that indeed she smelled "the smell" as she checked her temperature. She's on a routine antibiotic. What we hope is that the antibiotic will cause the inflammation to subside thus releasing the "foreign body". What he suspects is that she threw up and possibly a piece of food is lodged in her sinus cavity. My concern is that I do not smell this "smell" that she is omitting so how am I to know if she is well?!

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon as we're waiting to pick up her sister from school, Emily becomes very fussy and almost inconsolable. She is NEVER this way, so I knew something must be wrong. Suddenly she projectile vomits all in the (new) van! I clean her up and as I am doing so I find a piece of grass/hay in the vomit. I got a bit excited because I hoped this might be the answer to our problem. I get her all cleaned up, she plays for a bit and becomes inconsolable again. Repeat...more vomit. This vomit doesn't include any "foreign bodies" only the remnants of the mashed potatoes and chocolate pie she had for lunch. *GAG*

So, now I am concerned that maybe this antibiotic might be upsetting her stomach. She cries again for about 30 minutes and just as the kids are walking out of the building to meet us at the van, she falls asleep. Whew!
So, we made it home with her and she was fine the rest of the night. She still has a runny nose and cough. But, I really believe that this is probably contributed to her big brother sharing a virus that he had last week.

As far as the "foreign body" is concerned, if it's still there when we visit the doctor for her one year check up, then we'll take invasive measures to try to find it. Fingers crossed that it was the grass that was in her vomit. We'll see.

In the meantime, has anyone else ever heard of such a crazy diagnosis, or is is just my CrAzY family that this has happened to?!?!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Plateaus and Office Visits

My b/f/f, Becca sent me this. I thought it was cute. I've been on a "diet" now since Monday. I've done the Wii Fit every day this week with the exception of yesterday. I was home with a sick boy. So far I'm two pounds down.

We had a doctor's appointment at 3:30. We were a "work in". We left the office at 5. The nurse said that by the end of the day they will have treated 68 children...just ONE doctor! That is a lot of sick kids. Anyhow, Tyler has an ear infection and some congestion, but not bronchitis or pneumonia, thankfully.

Please send me good thoughts so that I can keep on the right track to weight loss. :) Hubby is on board with me this time too, so that makes it so much easier for me to do it with his support and vice versa.

Happy weekend!!

CrAzY Working Mom

Search This Blog

Mail Me:

My Daily Reads