New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve morning, Shannon went to work, I made the kids pancakes and then they spent an hour doing this... (washing dishes for fun):

 

As you can see, they look pretty happy. The twins were finally feeling GOOD that day. Adam ate 5 pancakes and was smiling away. And then, he disappeared...

And I found him here... on the couch, not moving, not smiling, not talking at 9:30 am in the morning, which is completely not like him.

But I went on, in the back of my mind thinking that something wasn't right, but there was nothing really I could do. He had a fever but nothing scary, and decided that when Shannon got home from work at noon I'd take him to urgent care since our pediatrician's office was closed that day. I tried to enjoy Colin and Claire's new found happiness in feeling "pretty good" for the first time in a long time.

But Adam's fever soared. His breathing was very labored and he refused to move... drink... interact, and was just miserable. When Adam is visibly miserable, something is very wrong. So when Shannon got home I wasted no time in putting both Adam and Colin in the car to speed off to urgent care (Colin still wasn't breathing quite right after the RSV, and that concerned me since he'd been sick for over two weeks at that point).

But once I got out of the driveway I knew I should have left Colin at home and very seriously contemplated detouring to the ER instead of just urgent care. Adam moaned, looked pale, couldn't breathe... and I feared that I was going the wrong direction. But urgent care was closer and I'd already decided to take Colin, so I kept going. By the time I parked, got Colin into the stroller and went for Adam, he was choking and vomited all over himself, the car seat, and nearly every possible corner of the van. I stripped off his sweatshirt, wiped off his pants with his almost completely soaked blanket, and picked him up. We walked in smelling of vomit and they could see the panic in my eyes, so when I said, "he needs to be seen as near to immediately as possible," they took us back right away.

They ran the RSV test and since we knew strep was in the house (despite the "unlikely" but very possible chance he could get strep with no tonsils), ran the strep test too. Then they gave him a breathing treatment as he tried to maintain consciousness in my lap before the results came back. The RSV came back negative (I know he had it but it had been a while since he first showed signs), but the strep came back positive and they said that strep can cause his throat to swell up so much that it was causing an obstruction. They tried to prescribe oral antibiotics but I insisted they give him a shot instead, because I knew there was no way I would be able to get it down and he clearly needed relief immediately. The doctor, without hesitation, agreed to do as I asked.

So they brought in two nurses, one man to help me hold him still and a woman to give the shots. I held my end of the bargain, but the nurses really struggled to hold him down, as they all do, because even barely conscious, the kid is freaking strong.

All the while I had asked my dad to come up and stay with Claire while she napped so Shannon could come get Colin (Colin was very good and just stood in the corner while we held Adam down and made him miserable). Right after it was over, Shannon came in, got Colin and started to take care of the mess in the van while I took Adam home in the truck and put him to bed... and he slept for 4 hours until about 5:30 pm. During that time, I went to Primacare for a strep test just in case I could get ahead of it (I didn't really think I had strep, but the way things were going...) It came back negative, thankfully.

When Adam woke up he was feeling much better, not nearly himself but his fever was manageable again and he was breathing okay.

Shannon and I had contemplated taking a break and doing something together for New Year's Eve just to take a break from the sickness, but we didn't feel comfortable leaving. So we let Adam have a quiet night while Shannon played with the twins. Adam was wide awake from his long, late nap, so we rang in the New Year together while he said, "Mommy? .... I love you." every three minutes. I think he knew I had his back even though the last thing he wanted was a wretched shot.

In all honesty, our New Year's Eve turned out just fine. Maybe even better than some I've had in the past.

Parties are exhausting.

Enjoying a puzzle.