Pajama Week

Okay, so our pajama day which acutally started last Monday, due to the snowstorm we got, has lasted right up until yesterday evening...well unless Mike left the kids in their jammies today...I wouldn't know as I am currently at the hospital with the twins!

So, let me back up a few steps...we have all been very sick for about 8 days now. When I say very, I mean that in different degrees and on diffrerent days. We've all had fevers varying from the lower 100's all the way up to the 104's. We've all had coughs and runny noses, typical symptoms of head colds, or upper respiratory infections. The twins had just finished getting over ear infections, so I figured they were out of the woods...uh...no...foolish mommy.

We had visited the doctors office on Saturday for Caleb and Joshua as they seemed to be the worst affected by whatever had us. The doc. said that although Josh had a little fluid in his right ear since the left one was fine, she wouldn't treat him just continue to monitor. If he still had a fever by Sunday night, Monday morning, then he should be seen again. Caleb looked fantastic...his ears looked "beautiful", his lungs sounded "clear", it was just another cold that had a hold of him and unless he exhibited any other symptoms come Monday, he would just be monitored as well. Come Sunday, everthing began to fall apart.

First there was Joshua. His fever had definitely come back, and he just wasn't looking or doing well. I called the docs. and they decided they wanted to see him at 11am the following morning. So, we checked everyone else's temps. and they were mild, gave medications and got them to bed. Then I started back up with a horrible fever, (that I thought I had already been rid of as I was feeling a little better...ahhh the calm before the storm), and I have to tell you I thought for sure that I was going to chatter the teeth right out of my head. I couldn't stop shaking and shivering...for over an hour! Once it calmed down I went to bed where I began with the night sweats, and then the shivers again. Finally around 5:30am, I ended up vomiting and calling it quits. I laid down on the bed and stayed there all day. Thank goodness my husband stayed home. He took care of the other kiddos and brought Josh and Ethan to the doctors...where Josh was diagnosed with a double ear infection...hun! Ethan was checked over and given the clean bill of health and we finished up the day with some absolutely delicious homemade chicken soup that my husband made for us.

As I was feeling slightly better, (not vomiting anymore), Mike went to work on Tuesday (yesterday) while I maintained the troops at home as best I could. Caleb started the morning off with a low fever, 100.8 degrees so I gave him some Tylenol as I could tell he just wasn't feeling well. Both Caleb and Eli have already had slight fevers the week before with cough, and congestion. The fevers had gone away, but the cough and congestion hadn't. So, when Caleb's fever started again, I checked Eli's and it was fine. Exactly 4 hours later, again and again, Caleb's fever continued to rise, to the point where I checked him 2 hours after a Tylenol dose and it had jumped up another degree since the dose. I called the docs. explained the whole sordid story...again...and they decided it didn't sound good and wanted to see him at 7:30 last night. In the meantime, Eli decided to start exhibiting an elevated fever, so by the time we brought them in they both weren't doing well. Their respiration was very fast, their fevers were moderate and they were moaning. After checking O2 stats, temps, ear, listening to their chests, and doing a RSV test that came back negative, the doc. decided to admit them to the hospital for overnight evaluation. Well, thank goodness he did.

They did a chest x-ray on both of them with some blood work. We're still waiting on the official results but so far Caleb's x-ray shows possible pneumonia. Not sure on Eli's. The doc. that came by this morning decided to repeat the RSV test and do a Flu test as well and both came back positive. One of Caleb's ears are infected while the other now shows fluid building up. Eli's ears appear okay for now. Caleb is definitely the sicker of the two, but as of now, they are both here at the hospital for another night...at least.

What a trip! I'm still trying to recover from my, what now looks to be was a case of the flu, while Mike is home trying to help take care of the other three. Rebekah now has a moderate-high temp with a runny nose...she had it last week too...so we have at least one more to go through. She's a pretty tough cookie though, I think she'll fight through it okay.

Well, that's where we are at for now. One of my babes is waking and I need to get him to eat. I'll post pictures at some point later, but for now just pray that this is the worst of it, and that we will all be home and on the way to health soon!