So I guess I should put a health update on here since it seems that has been the all-conuming thing in our lives the last month or so! I will start from the beginning for those of you who don't know what we have been experiencing.
It actually started off simply enough, the day before the kids were scheduled to go back to school from Christmas break Noah came down with a small cold, so I kept him home because he was running a fever....from there everything else is kind of a blur! Abby and Ethan both seemed to pick up the cold too, but I thought that was just it...a cold. However, Yousef had to go out of town for a few days on business and so I took them to stay at my mother-in-laws for the night. Right after I put the kids in bed, I noticed Ethan sleeping on the couch and he was breathing really fast and having some distress signs with it as well. (I only knew what those were b/c Abby had pnemonia when she was little) Anyways, I immediately rushed out in the snow to Children's Urgent Care to have him seen. We had 5 min. according to my watch, but they sent the security guard out to tell me that they were closed! I was so upset I couldn't even speak, so I called Yousef in Tennessee, but was crying so hard he couldn't understand me. We decided that I should just drive carefully (HA!) and go straight to Children's ER b/c Mt. Carmel East doesn't have a pediatric ward.
So I rushed to Children's and as soon as they saw him, they got him in a room right away. He was breathing over 60 breaths per minute! He also wasn't eating and they put him on an IV because they were afraid that if he were to eat while his breathing was so bad, he might choke. They admitted us and I am so thankful that we were at my mother-in-laws, b/c I don't know what I would have done with Yousef out of town. My mother came in first thing the next day to take Noah to school for me, but on the way there he threw up in my mom's car...He had the flu! In the meantime they had established that Ethan had RSV. We did get released later that evening and I ventured home with a sick child and was met with another who had it coming out both ends.
Thankfully Noah's was just a quick 1 day through for him, but unfortunately he had passed it on to Abby, who threw up from Thursday through Saturday and had it coming out both ends I had to put her in a pull-up! Finally by Saturday we ended up going back to the ER because she just couldn't keep anything down even with the surpositories they gave us. Thank God that the emergency room staff was able to give her something else that immediatly stopped her vomiting but they informed us that she also had a double ear infection which was her 4th in 3 months which meant a trip back to the Ear, Nose and Throat Dr.! YEAH! Back home we went a few days with being good, and then I was babysitting and noticed Ethan was breathing bad again and after a call to the Dr. we were off to the ER again. This time we were only there for a few hours and they gave him a steriod, but on our follow up appt, his doctor noticed he was still weezing so she put him on steriods for a week. 4 days later, he was breathing bad again! UGH!!
After a call to his Dr. and 3 breathing treatments in row, I rushed the kids off to a friends house (Thanks Joe and Julie!) and back to Children's I went. This time his breathing had slowed some by the time we got there, but he was still showing signs of distress. They checked him out and he had a double ear infection on top of everything else! So they put him on antibiotics and also gave him an inhaler, which seems to be working so much better then the nebulizer! We still have to go to the ENT for Abby and will most likely have to get her tubes put back in, but I don't mind that b/c she does so much better when she has them. Noah has had an ear infection in the middle of all this, but other then that he has been such a trooper and such a big helper to Mommy. As for Ethan he is doing much better, they did tell us to try to keep him away from any kids that might be sick so we are trying but with 2 siblings that is easier said then done!
Oh did I forget to mention that Yousef had his wisdom teeth taken out right in the middle of this mess?! LOL, I guess we just got it all out of the way at once. Anyways, everyone is doing much better and it has just made us be all the more thankful to God for simple things like just being healthy! Thank you everyone for all your prayer and support, I honestly don't know how we would have made it through this month with out it!!
