Last weekend. The good, the bad, and the ugly…

What a whirlwind weekend this past weekend was!  As incredible as it may seem, it was the first weekend with just the three of us together at our house in Knoxville since July 16th!  We were certainly looking forward to spending some quality time together as a family unit.

And we started out doing just that!  Beginning Friday evening, we were all in the living room, smiling at each other, and marveling at just how “right” it all felt and how it was good to be “back to normal”. 

Saturday morning was just as nice.  Doing more of those “normal” things.  Mowing the lawn.  Cleaning the house.  All of the things that most people would not enjoy at all, we were relishing – soaking up every wonderful minute just for its shear normalcy.  With as crazy, topsy-turvey, upside down, crazy, spinning out of control as things have been lately, it as absolutely marvelous to be so “normal”. 

And “the good” continued as the “quad mom” agreed to watch Mike for us while “mommy and daddy” got to go out on a date and celebrate their anniversary!  It was a great night with great food and great wine.  Thank you Jim and Allison for watching Mike for us!!!  Someday (after a lot more practice) we’ll be qualified to watch the quads and we’ll be able to return the favor!!!

As the date drew to a close, so did “the good”.  We went to pick up Mike it just seemed like he was a little whiney.  Not anything that anyone would ever notice – except that Mike is NEVER whiney.  He whimpered most of the way home and his congestion, which had been sounding better just a couple of days before, was now back in full force.  We got home, put on his brace (hopefully we’ll be able to eliminate that from the bedtime routine in another 3 or 4 months!), and put him to bed.  He wasn’t asleep for long before we heard him crying in the monitor.  That’s REALLY uncharacteristic!  Mom trekked up the stairs and calmed him back down.  An hour or so later, he was crying again.  Again, mom trekked up the stairs and calmed him back down and he fell back asleep.  just a few minutes later, he was crying again.  This time, daddy made the trek to Mike’s room.  Three times in one night – something is certainly not right.  Mike doesn’t wake up crying in the night three times in a month!  Three times in a night?  Hmmm – something isn’t right.  And then, like turning on a switch, out pops a fever!

So we start the Tylenol regimen.  That get’s him through the night, but by mid morning on Sunday, it wasn’t keeping the fever down.  We decided to call the “nurse line” since the pediatrician wasn’t open on Sundays (because kids NEVER get sick on Sunday’s!).  The nurse asked all of the routine questions and then asked to hear Mike’s breathing over the phone.  That’s when things started slipping from “the bad” in to “the ugly”…

When the nurse heard Mike’s breathing coming in a raspy pant (and since the pediatrician's office was closed), she felt that we shouldn’t wait until Monday to see a doctor.  Of course, that means a trip to the ER at Children’s Hospital!  We were concerned that the nurse might be over reacting a little – but what kind of parents would we be if we didn’t follow the advice (especially if it turned out to be bronchitis or pneumonia or H1N1 or………).  It’s certainly better to be safe than sorry.  So, off we go.

We get to the hospital and waltz in through the ER doors.  We are whisked from room to room and see several different nurses (who all assure us that it was better to come in than to wait for the doctor’s office to open).  After much poking and proding and taking his temperature a half dozen different times (we assured Mike that when he gets older, there is a better way to take his temperature) we saw the doctor.  He listened to his lungs (“hmmm – they sound a little congested”) and then looked in his ears (“Oh!  That one’s infected.  And looky there – it looks like we’ve got a double!”).  They took some x-rays of his lungs just to make sure nothing serious was going on there (especially since mommy has asthma).  The x-rays looked good – at least there was one little piece of good news!

Now it’s been 24 hours and Mike has had three doses of his antibiotic.  He already seems like his normal little playful self.  And looking back on it all (hindsight is 20-20) – it really wasn’t over reacting.  He ears were bothering him enough that it hurt when he swallowed which is why he hadn’t been much interested in eating.  Every time he coughed, it would bring out this long moaning cry.  And Tylenol had stopped controlling his fever.  I’m sure that by Monday, he would have been beyond miserable.  It’s too bad he didn’t have some of the “classic” ear infection symptoms that everyone has told us to look for – like red ears that he tugs on all the time!

And why is it that pediatrician offices are closed on Sunday’s?  Maybe we just haven’t told Mike that Sunday’s are off limits for sick days…