Monday, June 16, 2008

Update on Us

I think we are finally starting down the road to health. At least I sure hope so! Matt and I wound up having a fancy date at the walk in clinic on Saturday. We were even allowed to share a room :) The doctor told us we both have pharyingtis. Yeah we had never heard of it before either. Basically it is the world's worst sore throat. Luckily she gave us antibiotics...woohoo!! I am feeling much better and can finally swallow again. Of course now I am coughing my lungs up but that is doable. Matt is taking a little longer to feel better. But I think he might be milking it. Just kidding! Thank goodness for antibiotics!!


Dax is still battling the asthma beast. He is normally so sweet and laid back but I think this is starting to get to him. He has been more irritable the last week or so and just does not seem himself. Asthma sucks! Piper is very worried about his asthma and has taken to praying that he can start breathing again. I live for those tender moments.

Here are a few pictures of what our week looked like last week. Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes!!




Mommy and Dax at the After Hours Clinic
Piper's Hives
I hate hives!
Daddy giving Dax a breathing treatment.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Chez Mitchell is sick

Having sick kids is no fun. But having sick kids when you are also sick is downright cruel. Add to that a sick husband and a puppy who has no idea what potty training means and you can guess the kind of week I am having. 


Dax and Piper have both been coughing off and on for over a month now it seems. It is like a volleyball game, one has it for a week and then passes it to the other. While we were in the After Hours over the weekend we were told that they had a virus and that is where the pink eye and the hives came from. 

Hives? Oh did I not mention those? Yes, well Piper woke up on Sunday morning with a rash on her side and her neck. I didn't think too much of it until a few hours later it had spread to most of her back and the creases of her elbows and back of her knees. We gave her benadryl and enjoyed a quiet afternoon while she napped. We weren't sure what was going on and thought it could be a reaction to the eye drops that she had had the day before. As the day progressed I started to think maybe she had strep throat. Dax had strep with a very similar rash a couple of years ago. We tried to make her comfortable and decided I would take her to see the regular pediatrician first thing on Monday morning. We put the kids to bed and when Matt went to check on Piper about 2 hours later he found her covered in bright red, angry hives. I of course freaked out a little bit. I had never seen anything like it before. Perhaps the most worrisome part was that they had spread to her face as well. So at 10:30 pm Matt loaded her into the car and I took her to the After Hours clinic. We were regulars over the weekend. Doctor said it was hives and did a strep test that came back negative, thankfully. He told me to keep doing the benadryl. I told him it wasn't working so he wrote a script for a stronger antihistamine. By midnight Pi and I were home with her new meds. We gave her a dose right away and had her sleep in the big purple chair in our room. Monday she had another flare up right before the 8 hour mark for more meds, but now she is doing fine. We are going to stop meds tomorrow and see if the hives reappear.

So if you are keeping track that brings a total of 2 separate After Hours visits at $50 a pop as well as two different Rx's at $10 a piece. On Monday I had an OB appointment and my wonderful mother in law came over and stayed with my goopy eyed, hivey children. Bless her! The appointment went well but as I headed home I noticed a body ache that usually means a bad cold is settling in. By the time I was home my throat was on fire. Wonderful! Who doesn't like being 9.5 months pregnant while sick?! I also realized that my right shoulder/neck area seemed to be on fire....hmmm. Wonderful mother in law told me to go bed and rest and she would take care of dinner. Love her! I was able to get a bit of a nap in and awoke to yummy smells and Matt walking in the room. Wonderful except his first words were, "I'm sick!". Oh great! We get the kids shuttled off to bed and I set an alarm to get up at 1:30 to give Piper a dose of her medicine and then we both hit the sheets, exhausted and miserable. Alarm never goes off since I had my phone set to vibrate, but not worries, the need to vomit at 3 am woke me up. As most of you know I have horrible pregnancies where I throw up a lot! But I have not thrown up in several months now and especially not in the middle of the night. I was not sure if this was sick related or labor related as I had been having contractions since my OB appointment that afternoon. Either way it was not appreciated or wanted! We gave Piper her medicine and headed back to bed. I was awakened with the need to throw up again around 4:30, YUCK!

By Tuesday morning I was feeling awful. Throat felt like it was swollen shut, I could not move my right shoulder and I was nauseated. I bribed the kids with everything I could think of to make them get along and behave so I could lay in bed all day. We watched Alvin and the Chipmunks more times that I would like to admit and had many, many popsicles! Amazing wonderful Matt came home and fed our children and got them ready for bed while I lay in our bed pitiful and miserable. What a wonderful man he is! We did the whole bedtime routine, books, prayers, songs and cuddles and out the door. At about 11:45 Dax started to cough. The kind of cough that does not allow you to sleep. I took him some medicine and made him get up to go potty. He went back to bed and I told him to let me know if he needed me. About 10 minutes later I heard his little voice call me. I set him up in our room on the famous purple chair and he requested a throw up bucket. I ran to the kitchen (yes me huge and running, funny visual hu?) and got a tupperware dish for him to use. Poor kid threw up a ton of mucous. I felt so bad for him. The coughing just would not stop so we made Daddy scoot over and he climbed between us and we watched Alvin...again.

After last night I decided I should take him to the pediatrician to talk about this cough. I was starting to think it had more to do with his asthma than a virus. His doctor agreed and wrote us new asthma med scripts since our last round had expired. She also gave us some super strong cough medicine samples. Back to Walgreens we went to drop off two more Rx's. We ran a few errands while waiting for Dax's meds to be ready. He is now on Xopenex twice a day and Pulmicort once a day. I am hoping we will only need to do the steroids for a week at most. I hate keeping him on them for any extended period of time. It is now 3 am and he is sleeping in my room and has not coughed in the last hour and a half. I hope his little airways open up for him. Even while sick he is sweet and tender, it makes my heart that much more.

So our grand total in doctor visits and meds in the past 4 days adds up to $225.  Luckily our insurance saved us a ton of money on Dax's asthma meds today but they still totaled out to $80. I just want them to feel better. Hopefully we will all join the land of the healthy soon. The idea of giving birth while sick is not appealing at all.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Oh No!

The dreaded pink eye has invaded our home. Just in time for the start of Summer. What kid doesn't want to have gunk and goop in their eye and be kept inside away from all the friends? 


It started with a little bit of eye goopies in Dax's right eye. We wiped it away and didn't think much of it. Within an hour both eyes were filling up faster than we could clean them out. YUCK! So off we went to the After Hours Pediatric Clinic, of course this would have to happen on a Saturday when our co-pay goes from $25 to $50! We were given a Rx for eye drops and by the time I was home with the drops Piper had goopy eyes as well. The doctor said that might happen and to go ahead and use the same drops. 

Oh the drops! Dax laid down and stayed nice and still while we put them in. You would have thought we were trying to kill Piper and this was before the first drop came anywhere near her. We had to both physically hold her down while she screamed. Did I mention that I have to give them these drops 3 times a day?! Did I also mention that I am now 9 months pregnant and can do nothing with any kind of grace at all. This should be a fun week!

The kids are no longer contagious after 7:00 tonight. It would be a cruel twist of fate for Matt or I to get the dreaded pink eye. So send clear eye thoughts this way!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Piper's in her bed....ummm....

So here we are the last school night of the year. Tomorrow is Piper's last day of Kindergarten. It has been a great year and I can hardly believe it is already over. Matt and I put the kids to bed at 8:30 or so and I came out to the dining room table to work on some stuff while Matt watched TV in our room. A little after 9:00 I walked in our room to use the bathroom and what do I see when I open the door? Matt laying on the bed with our little girl watching Hannah Montana! Matt threw Piper's blanket over her face and started to laugh. I was shocked and said what am I seeing here?! He said, "Nothing, Piper is in her bed asleep." The two of them were both giggling and I was barely containing my smile as well.


Piper spilled the beans as to how this little operation happened. Apparently Matt went into her room and told her he wanted to watch the Hannah episode he had recorded over the weekend with her but Mommy couldn't know. So the plan was for Matt to walk over to where I was sitting and ask how I was doing and while that was going on Piper was to run into our room. Sneaky little devils they are! But Matt took a step further and even made a "sleeping Piper" in her bed.

I have to admit it is pretty funny and very sweet. How could I be mad at a Daddy as loving and caring as Matt. These are the memories that Piper will hopefully hold onto and always remember.

Partners in crime

Hannah Montana...very important to Matt and Piper

Sleeping "Piper". She sure has grown since bedtime!!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Ewww

The kids were watching the Disney channel the other day and there was a kissing scene on the show they were watching. Dax said, "Eww, gross!" and Piper said, "It's not gross. I can't wait until I can kiss boys." Dax turned and looked at her and said, "You are only allowed to kiss me and Daddy. That's it. No boys!" It was such a cute moment and I am glad I was able to overhear it. What a sweet brother to be so protective of his big sister. I guess they really do love each other :)