Daily Vegas ~ House of Sick

I don't know if you have noticed, but I haven't been posting much lately. Between the Hubs return to our household, out of town visits from Family, and a computer crash, we have been crazy busy here in our Vegas home.

Add to that that now 3 out of 4 of us are down with the illness. Yep, we have been hit by our first winter cold. I tried my best to push through it this weekend since my Mom was coming to visit this weekend, and we had a family wedding, but today I have surrendered.

Surrendered to the fact that I have absolutely NO VOICE left at all. Trying to chase a toddler around with a tissue to catch his giant sized boogers while having no voice is an interesting. Especially when you are trying to tell him that the floor lamp is not for little hands... My son just laughed at me, but honestly I probably would have laughed at me too.

Needless to say, we are working out the sickness. And hoping to find the anti-virus that my son has stashed somewhere...

Reverb10 ~ Moment

December 3 – Moment.
Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).
(Author: Ali Edwards)

 

Why do these rooms always have to be so sterile looking?  The white walls were making my "I haven't slept in over 20 hours" headache worse.  An iron smell floated through the air, and was beginning to make Squish anxious.  He was flushed and lethargic, and for the time being cuddled into my chest.

I sat there waiting and waiting and waiting.  Wasn't this supposed to be a rush order?  Maybe Squish would take a fruit pouch.  As I dug it out of my diaper bag, which was sitting right next to me, I couldn't help but wish my Hubs was here to help us.

Squish perked up for a moment, smiled (something I hadn't seen in well over 32 hours), and opened his mouth in anticipation of the fruity treat.  While he was eagerly sucking away at the pouch, I mentally patted myself on the back for remembering to pack this fruit pouch. 

Just as I was feeling like I was getting a handle on the situation, Squish sat up in my arms, looked up at me with his sad, sick eyes, and proceeded to vomit the entire contents of that fruit pouch back up all over my chest, sweater, arms, and himself.  Oh wonderful, nothing like the smell of stomach acid to mix with the sweetness of the fruit.

As the random eyes in the waiting room peered over to see what that strange noise was, some looked disgusted, some sympathetic, others tried to appear like they were not looking, but I knew they all saw what had happened, and I knew they were all just going to sit there instead of offering to help.

I didn't panic, I wasn't upset, I knew I could deal with this.  I dug deep into the bag, and pulled out a extra pair of footed jamjams I had also remembered to pack the night before when we headed out at 12am.  Along with the jamjams I grabbed my wet bag and two cloth diapers.  I stripped the Squish down to his diaper, placed him on an empty chair, wiped the vomit off my chest, sweater, and everywhere else I could manage. 

I dropped the offending cloths into the wet bag and swiftly zipped it up with the vomit encrusted jamjams.  I quickly placed Squish into the new jamjams, zipped them up, returned the wet bag to the diaper bag, grabbed a few wipes to clean off a little further with.  

Not two minutes had passed, and as I was settling down with a warm yet shivering baby cuddled back into my arms with a blanket that had thankfully missed contamination, I heard a rough voice shout out our name.

As we walked back, the smell of iron got thicker, and mixed with the distinct smell of rubber. The next few minutes were extremely unpleasant.  And yet, as my arms surrounded my son to hold him still for the moment, I knew I was not only doing what was best for my son, but I was also being a good mother.  As the needle left Squishy's soft arm, I had a weird sense of accomplishment.  This was so different from the fearful parent I was just a year ago. 

Despite my severe lack of sleep I felt alive.  I felt confident in the choices I was making for my sick son.  He needed me, and I was there, organized, and not anxious.  The last time Squish was this sick, my Hubs was also on deployment.  I questioned every choice and instinct I had.  I was not confident.  I didn't know how to parent on my own.  This was so different from the time before.  I knew that we could make it through these deployments.  I knew I was an advocate for my son.  I knew what he needed, and I got it done.

As we walked out of the laboratory towards the car I was happy to be heading home, away from the sterile white walls, away from Mommy self-doubt, and towards a comfy bed, and a short nap.

Daily Vegas ~ You are your toddler's voice, SPEAK UP

As many of you know my little Squishy hasn't been doing well the last couple of days. In fact in the past 48 hours he has been in 3 different hospitals for tests, and ER visits. Had blood drawn, had a catheter inserted to get a clean urine specimen, 2 chest x-rays, and seen 4 different doctors.

Granted, as of right now, everything is pointing to a nasty virus, but he has also been improperly diagnosed with Pneumonia and Bronchitis. (I have to admit, after I cried due to feeling like a mom failure for not knowing my child was so sick, I thought that was odd that 24 hours ago my son was running around the strip. Sure he had a cold, but he was happy, no fever. I didn't realize Pneumonia could just show up over night. But I thought Doctor's know best.)

This isn't the first time this has happened. Back in June Squishy was diagnosed with a UTI after getting a high fever and not being able to hold down any voice. While we were in the ER I said to the Doctor, "So these spots on his feet and back are they a heat rash?" Doctor replied, "Oh probably." Again, I figured he must be right.

The next day we went into our Pediatrician with the diagnosis of the UTI. I again pointed out the spots on his feet, and the Doctor opened Squishy's mouth to find it covered in ulcers, he had hand foot mouth disease, not a UTI. (Which means the prescribed antibiotics were not needed.)

Back to currently day, my son was diagnosed with Tonsillitis, and an Upper Respiratory Infection, but his 2nd X-ray showed absolutely NO Pneumonia or Bronchitis. I think that it was an honest mistake. I don't know that the first x-ray didn't show up weird. But what I do know, is the best thing you can do for your child, no matter what the diagnosis is to go in prepared.

1. Write down any and all symptoms you child is having. Just because something doesn't necessary fit into a perfect "illness checklist" doesn't mean it isn't important.

2. Be prepared. When you get into see your Doctor, especially with a sick child, make sure you have all the questions written down that you want answers to. Squish gets upset when he sees Doctors and he isn't feeling well. So if I didn't have a list in front of me it would be easy to get lost in the tears and clingy child.

3. Listen to your gut. If something doesn't seem right to you, speak up! Your toddler can't always verbalize what is going on. They are very reliant on you to be their voice. So if the Doctor tells you something is normal, and you don't agree, say so. If you don't understand a diagnosis, ask for clarification. If you noticed something odd, and the Doctor brushes it off, keep bringing it up. Mother's Instinct is real, and powerful. You know your child the best. Listen to your nagging gut when something just doesn't feel right, or something needs to be done.

4. Be Polite, Patient, and Powerful. Doctors tend to respond better to parents who have their head on straight. It is easy when your child is sick to get lost in the emotions that go along with that. Sometimes it can manifest itself in and impatient, rude, or timid parent. Keep you head about you, do your best to control your emotional reactions, but don't forget to use your voice. Save the other behaviors for the car, or the shower, or the conversations with your partner.

5. Don't forget, as a parent you are your child's advocate for the next 18 years, if not for the rest of their life. Speak Up.

A special thanks to Vanessa over at .

She picked me to be this weeks Monday Maven!! How fun is that! I am excited to be featured for this. If you haven't already found her blog, make sure you head on over and check it out! She has a beautiful family and pretty great information on monetizing you blog!

Daily Vegas ~ ToDos ToDos!

Just wanted to share a picture pre-sickness!

Why is it that your whole world doesn't stop just because you have? Or at least slow down. Wouldn't that be nice. If I had a "Life Remote Control" this week I would use the "slow down" button.

Squish is still pretty sick, we head back to the Doctors tomorrow. I am hoping for the antibiotics to start kicking in soon. I also wish Toddlers had a "slow down" button. My little man can't seem to sit still once his fever goes down, plays for a bit, and then is back to being a snuggle bug. I wish he would just rest and let his body get better.

**Update: While I was typing this my son woke up (he was sleeping next to me), after only being asleep for a little bit and he was super warm. I took his temp, he was 104.5 so I packed him up and headed to the hospital. He was 105.2 when he was brought back, another chest x-ray and a catheter later... Get this - My son doesn't have Pneumonia or Bronchitis. Someone read his films wrong, and the ones they took tonight were completely clear. Instead he has swollen lymph nodes, pussy tonsils (tonsillitis), and an Upper Respiratory Infection (which is from his cold and explains the cough.) I have lots of questions for the Doctor tomorrow that is for sure... **

So this is going to be a crazy blogging week for me. One week until our Toddler Wonderland event (don't forget to grab the button for extra entries!) We have some seriously awesome sponsors lined up, and some amazing tutorials.

Also this week I have some really great reviews and giveaways coming this week! I am super excited. I write about what I love, and these are going to be no exceptions.

Want some hints??

• Aden + Anais (This product hasn't left my son's side this entire weekend. Not to mention he has slept with it every night since it arrived and came out warm from the dryer.) (Review and Giveaway)
• My Brest Friend (Something I am still using even though Squish and I stopped breastfeeding 2 weeks ago) (Review and Giveaway)
• Buggy Shady (an absolute MUST HAVE for any parent with a stroller!) (Review and Giveaway)
• Joovy (Hmmm what could this be??)
• Go Gaga (It's purple, and strapy and pretty amazing) (Review and Giveaway)
• Another fabulous Kiboomu Giveaway, and a Giveaway your littlest techie won't want to miss!!

Wow! And all that before I hit the road for the Sits Girls Bloggy Boot Camp in St. George Utah! (still a few tickets left if you want to join in!!)

HEY while you are here - you should enter the Rock Me Baby Records Giveaway (2 winners) 1 fantastically fun CD full of Classic Nursery Rhymes!! - ends tomorrow (11/8) LOW ENTRIES!!

Okay, so I am out - time to snuggle up with my little man, and hope tomorrow is better than today.

Daily Vegas ~ Out of Commission

My Squishy has had a cold since Halloween. He has had a cough, but no fever, and clear boogies. He has been acting mostly like his normal self, with some wheezing when he would over exert himself. Yesterday, with my Dad in from Florida, we spent the whole day down on The Strip enjoying family things like the Wax Museum, the beautiful day, grandpa time, and did lots of walking. I knew Squish wasn't 100% but I would never have taken him out if I knew today was going to be in our future.

This morning I woke up early to drive my Dad back to the airport, I went in to check on Squishy as I had heard him stirring around and making noise, and was surprised to find him really warm. He was 102.7, and climbing quickly. Squish has always thrown up when he has had a temp over 102, I picked him up and he promptly threw up. I knew we were headed to the Doctors office after the airport. After he threw up on our driveway on the way out, I decided to ask Auntie Kim to come along in case he threw up while driving. (Thank you Kim for coming, I know it was pretty crazy early for you.)

We got my Dad dropped off at the airport, (More on my Dad's visit later, I had a nice time with him before today!) and headed to the Doctors. We got in there, and after listening to Squishy's chest we were sent to the hospital for a chest x-ray. After paying the rather large co-pay since this was an "elective" x-ray (don't even get me started...) Squish was off to get some pictures taken. The X-ray techs were so sweet and nice, and the girl even got Squishy to smile. (Which we hadn't seen all morning.) Squish did great, and not 45 minutes later the Doctor called us back and said...

Pneumonia and Bronchitis.

Yes, at that point I cried. I felt so bad for my baby. (Who by the way is not a cuddle kid, and did nothing but lay on me and cuddle in the whole day.) How could he be running around Vegas one day with a cough, and have Pneumonia and Bronchitis the next? We spent all day cuddling. He didn't leave my arms until he finally fell asleep around 140pm. He slept for about 2 hours, and woke up feeling clearly better. We are managing his fever with alternating Motrin and Tylenol, and he is taking his Decongestant, Inhaler, and Antibiotics. He is currently wobbly but wanting to play with his animals on the ground. He tries to play, and has managed a bounce or two to Imagination Movers, but he keeps coming back for a snuggle.

Sick Baby is no fun. We head back to the Doctor early Monday morning. Hopefully he will continue to get better. I can't say I mind the cuddling, just wish it came without the sick Squish.

Sunday Citar

I'm gonna go ahead and call it fate when I stumbled on Fresh Mommy's blog today. Her tagline is :

You may be wondering why that seems to strike a chord with me today. If you didn't read my last post, Blahs, I suggest you start there.

So now you should know that my 6 word Saturday was : "Tomorrow has got to be better."

Well, it started out better. But boy, did it go downhill faster than Bode Miller.

Some lowlights include:

• Scooping Throw-up out of my son's car seat in handfuls.
• Blow-out after Blow-out (which is really hard to do in a cloth diaper) (my poor little man!!)
• Contemplating turning my bathroom into my bedroom... every time I felt well enough to go to bed, I was wrong.
• No sleep.
• Calling Poison Control after running some poopy laundry to the laundry room, and Squish decided to eat his sunscreen. (I wasn't even gone but 20 secs, and I still don't know how he got it open!)
• Finally, tripping on the sofa (don't ask), and crashing down upon my son's sippy cup with my butt causing it to explode and soak my bum, and my carpet... Let's just say, I never imagined a butt bath in Pedialyte.

Before this all went down, I had agreed to watch Squishy's best buddy, Fishy. (Oh Gosh, how I hope and pray he doesn't get the stomach bug now... I would feel just awful!!) They love playing together, and yesterday was no exception. I swear if I wasn't scooping out the throw-up myself and washing the poop off his clothes, there is no way I would have known he wasn't healthy, or was about to be hit with the stomach bug. They played and played... so cute.

Which leads me to the Sunday Citar inspiration where Fresh Mommy asks that we blog about quotes that inspire us.

"TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six. Open your child's imagination. Open a book." ~Author Unknown

I love to read. Admittedly I don't do enough of it now that Squish is here, but BK (before Kellan)

I read ALL.THE.TIME. I loved getting lost in a story. I loved finding a book that I was saddened to get to the end. I hope I can instill that love of reading to my son. There is something so basic and amazing about the way a book captures your imagination.

So I am out, to spend the rest of the day resting, and re-hydrating, and hopefully getting Squish to do the same thing. Make sure you stop by Fresh Mommy and join in the Sunday Citar Inspiration.

Sometimes it is all you can do...

Squish has been fighting the mother of all colds for quite a while now. (Or as I like to call it - a stage 5 clinger). It seemed to be getting better, and then on Tuesday his fever came back. I immediately made an appointment to go back to the Pediatrician the next day.

Over the night time it had skyrocketed up to 104.1. Every time I would give him Tylenol - the fever would be back in about 3-4 hours, and each time higher. By the time we got to the Pediatrician, it was holding pretty steady at 104+.

Squishy had barely slept the whole night. Maybe 3 hours. We were both exhausted. I was getting really frustrated too. I couldn't understand why my baby kept getting sick.

The Pediatrician was concerned about his fever being so high, so we went to have some blood drawn. I thought it would be a simple heel stick... nope he is too old for that now.

So I had to bear hug him, and hold him still, while another nurse held his arm down, and the lab tech took the blood. I swear that was the longest minute since his circumcision (which at least then I didn't have to hold him down!) We were to return for the results later that day at 5:30pm.

His temp continued to climb up to 104.5. Tylenol would only keep it down in the 100s to 101s for about 2-3 hours now. All he did was moan, and want to be held/cuddle. (Which is not my baby - he hasn't wanted to be rocked since he was 4 months old - instead preferring to be put down in his bed and talk himself to sleep.)

I didn't mind holding him or doing anything to make him feel better. I would have gladly switched places with him in a minute. I was wishing he could tell me what hurt, or what was wrong. 5:30pm seemed to take days to arrive.

Finally we went back to the pediatrician, Squishy's white blood count was elevated - a sign he was fighting some sort of infection. The other blood results wouldn't be back for a couple of days, and the Dr. didn't want to risk it being bacteria in his blood, so Squish was given a shot of antibiotics.

Last night he slept a little bit more, and instead of taking 3-4 hours for his temp to rise, it took 5-6. But it still got up pretty high. He woke up at 2am with it 104.8. Not fun. But we cuddled, tried to nurse (he has been way too stuffy to nurse really well. He has way cut back on the amount he is eating, and often times throws up bc of the mucus in his throat).

But he did sleep more. And even woke up without a temp and played for 30 minutes. Almost exactly 30 minutes after he started playing, he started moaning/groaning again, and sure enough his temp was back up to 103.5.

We went back to the Pediatrician like planned, and were given another shot of antibiotics. Squish came home and napped for 4 hours!!!! (I napped 1/2 that time - which was much needed). He woke up seeming to feel better. He played with me on the floor for about 45 minutes - but soon enough he started to moan again, and his temp was back.

We continue to do Tylenol for his fever, and tonight I gave him a bath to try and loosen some of the congestion in his sinuses. I am hoping he sleeps better tonight, and gives the antibiotics a chance to work. We go back tomorrow for another shot.

We are hanging in there, and just focusing on getting healthy. I don't know if we will ever get a formal diagnosis. Dr. says it is most likely bacterial, but it could possibly be just a really awful virus. I think his sinuses are infected, but who knows. Either way, time will tell, and the antibiotics should help if it is bacterial, or if it is viral then it should get better on it's own.

Seeing your baby in pain is awful. Not being able to do anything about it other than what you can sucks too. I would gladly trade places with him if I could. But we are making it through this. My Pediatrician said to me last night. "Just think when he is a happy healthy kindergartener we will look back and barely even be able to remember how sick he is right now." I hope so, but I have a feeling this will stick with me for a while.

It is just a reminder that sometimes as parents we can't do anything in the situation, but the best we can or know how. I can't take away his illness, but I can get him the help he needs, give him extra hugs and cuddles, hold him, rock him, and let him know that I am here for him. I hope he always knows that.