Saturday, December 4, 2010

That Strange Virus

This is a photo-free post.  When you read it, you'll know why.  For one thing, you don't want pictures of this.  For another, I didn't exactly have the time or energy to take pictures...

Nola was sick with fever on and off all of Halloween weekend.  On Sunday night, she had fever, so Rudy stayed home with her on Monday.  She was fine all day long, but when I got home that evening, her fever hit again.  Rudy had to go to class, so I took both kids to the walk-in clinic.  The doctor who saw Nola was very nice and did a great job of listening to my concerns about the fact that she's been sick so much.  He diagnosed her with yet another ear infection (yes, her tubes are still in!) and wrote a prescription for an antibiotic.  He recommended that she be seen by an ENT soon to have her ears suctioned yet again.  On Tuesday (11/2), I stayed home with her.  I had been having urinary tract infection symptoms for a while, so I took the at-home opportunity to go see a doctor.  Turns out, I did have a bladder infection and got an antibiotic for that.  I took Nola to the ENT and got the fluid suctioned out of her ears, went to vote in the mid-term elections and then headed for home.  She went back to school on the 3rd.  Antibiotics are a good thing.

Life was totally normal for the rest of that week.  We worked, Rudy went to school, the kids went to daycare, Nola and I took our antibiotics, etc, etc, etc.  Then, there was November 8th.  Exactly one week after spending a Monday night at the walk-in clinic...

Rudy was at class.  I put Nola down to bed just like normal around 7:30.  I bathed Caleb, put him to bed and sat down with a heavy sigh at about 8:15.  I remember thinking, "Aaah.  Quiet.  I've been waiting for this all day."  That's about the time I heard Nola start crying.  I figured she had just woken up for a moment like usual, but she continued to cry, so I went in to her room to check on her.  I didn't turn the lights on.  I was just going to cover her back up, maybe pat her back and walk out.  When I went in, she was up on her knees, holding onto the side of the crib.  I reached in to lay her back down and that's when I realized that she was wet.  I thought her diaper had leaked.  I turned the light on and realized that she had thrown up in her crib...a lot.  I picked her up and put her in the bathtub with her clothes on.  I gingerly took her PJ's and diaper off and gave her a bath.  Once I got her dressed again, I sat in the big chair in the living room and held her for a while.  She fell back to sleep and I put her in her bed.  Rudy and I debated about daycare on Tuesday and decided that unless she got sick again, we would consider it a fluke and take her in.  She slept through the night, woke up hungry and went to daycare.  We thought it was all over until she did the exact same thing on Tuesday night.  Rudy stayed home with her on Wednesday.  She was perfectly fine all day long.  Wednesday night, she threw up again.  The pattern continued until Saturday night - the first night that she didn't throw up.  She was fine Saturday and Sunday, so we figured it was over.  Monday (11/15), she did it again.  I stayed home with her on Tuesday.  When I took her back to daycare on Wednesday, the worker in the classroom told me that all but one of the kids in the classroom had the exact same virus - throwing up only at night.  Who ever heard of such a thing?!?  Once the virus passed, she developed a rash and then it was all over.  (knock on wood...)

In the midst of all of that was opening weekend of deer season.  Rudy and Caleb went to Fordyce on Friday, 11/12.  Mom and Aunt Harolyn came up to visit Nola and I, even though I warned them about Nola's virus.  They stayed at the house all weekend, playing with Nola and enjoying a change of scenery.  I spent all day Saturday doing my Christmas shopping and got it all done!  I love having all of the gifts bought before Thanksgiving.  It makes the whole holiday season so much less stressful.  They left on Sunday morning and the boys came home on Sunday evening  (without any deer meat...thank goodness).

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