Happy Valentine's Day!!

Let's start off on a good note. . . Happy Valentine's Day!!!  Not too much is going on around here this week.  I have something to do every day but I've had weeks where I had tons to do each day!

This afternoon is Chloe's Valentine's Party at school.  I hope I remember to bring my camera and that will be a different post all together.  Yesterday, her and I made goodies bags for her class.  I think they turned out pretty awesome!  :-)



Tomorrow, is Girl Scout Day for me.  And Jerry is going to call around and see if he can get the rest of the things we are missing to get our taxes done.  With the move at the end of December. . . I am certain we received everything, but I can't seem to locate a few important items.  So hopefully, next week we will be able to go get our taxes done. . . weather permitting of course!!  We remember last year when Jerry rolled the Explorer.

Thursday is my doctor's appointment.  I am hoping it doesn't take all day and that we hear nothing but awesome news.  This is kind of the turning point - past halfway - where things can start getting iffy.  I try not to think about it too much because it stresses me out, but then I am trying to really pay attention to see if maybe I can tell when somethings up.  I really don't want to have this baby following in his brother's footsteps with an early/scary arrival!

I have nothing planned on Friday.  Nothing at all. = )  I hope it stays that way.  I missed work last weekend because of sick children and I am sure I'll pay for it next weekend.  = (  {Oh, and heads up.  I doubt I'll be considered for the position, but I signed up for an office job working the same shift I currently work in the Traffic Receiving Office.  A lot of others signed up, but I am just looking for something that will allow me to work as long as possible without so much heavy lifting.  That was you FYI, just in case I mention it in a later post.}

Saturday night after all our party guest left and it was just me and the kids. . . The boys' cough took a turn for the worse.  Jaxen spiked a fever and was cranky and miserable.  Jacob was up all night crying / whining / driving me nuts!  SO after being up with two sick, fever running, horrible coughing little boys until 1:30am - I stayed home to get some sleep myself.  Jerry didn't think I would be very safe drive a forklift on an hours worth of sleep!  Plus with me home I was able to dose them with medicine every 4 - 6 hours while Jerry got some sleep.  Jacob was the first to break his fever and thankfully Chloe never got more than the cough.  Jaxen had me running to the store for more medicine Sunday because Tylenol would not break his 102.0 fever.  Finally, after a bath and Motrin - we were able to start seeing a difference in his fever.  And after a dose of Motrin, he was able to eat and play for about 30 - 60 minutes before crashing back to the moping around then house. 

Jaxen slept most of the weekend away and he really needed to.  But every time the Motrin wore off his fever would spike again.  So I stayed home Monday too - since I could get paid my sick pay.  And it wasn't until Monday afternoon that I was able to get rid of the fever completely.  He still gets cranky really fast, so I am keeping him on Tylenol.  But he is eating and playing again for longer periods of time.  I'm sure it will just take time to get him back to his old self.

Well that's it for me.  I have to finish paying the bills - what I originally sat down at the computer to do!  Then it's time to see if I can get the darn cat out of the tree.  = \

A night in the E.R.

And the award of the first kid to make mom sit in the E.R. goes to -------------- Jaxen!
Oh what a night it was.  Sunday morning, I dropped Jaxen off at the baby sitter's house.  I noticed he was coughing but then again so were the other two.  When I got home, Jaxen was still napping.  Jerry said he was cranky so I let him sleep longer than normal after Jerry went to work.  It was about 6pm when I woke him up for dinner.  His cough was horrible!  It was now high pitched and sharp . . . barking like a seal.  Which is never a good sign.

Being a Sunday night, our pediatrician's office was closed so I called the Ask Mayo Clinic which is provided free of charge with our insurance.  I've called them before and they are pleasant to talk to.  Very helpful and reassuring.  Sometimes, Mom's just need to know that they are doing the right thing and that a doctor's visit isn't always necessary.  If anything, the Nurse Line saves me in doctor's bills.  Just by giving me another option to fight a stubborn cold.  Jaxen's only 12 months old and I can't give him anything over-the-counter without calling the doctor and getting a dosage.  Most medicine packages say "Under 4 years, Ask your Doctor".  The other two are on Musinex 24/7 because of their own coughs and it's working.  I was curious if I could give Jaxen some Musinex.  However, this time it wasn't reassurance or a dosage that I got.  :-(

After taking all Jaxen's information and hearing him coughing and trying to breathe through the phone she recommended that I get a hold of the pediatrician and if I could then an ER visit was necessary.  Of course, the pediatrician wasn't there and the answer machine says to go to Children's Mercy.  Now, no offense to other parents but Children's Mercy is in North Kansas City and would take us an hour longer to get there and would probably cost me 10 times more than our local hospital just because it's a "Children's Hospital". 

I called Jerry and let him know what was going on.  He was going to see about getting off to come with us - to watch the other 2 for me.  I got the other 2 ready while waiting for Jerry to call me back.  Which didn't take too long. . . he was on his way.  And by the time that I got all three ready and a backpack packed for a lengthy wait, Jerry was here and off we went.

I felt really stupid because the cold air opened Jaxen's airways and by the time we arrived at the Emergency Room, he was breathing okay and the coughing had stopped.  But thankfully, the ER staff took everything serious and told me cold air opens the lungs and that his symptoms would come back in a few minutes.  And sure enough, by the time I got the paperwork filled out, Jaxen was struggling to breathe.  The respiratory specialist was called down before the doctor saw Jaxen and gave him a breathing treatment within minutes of arriving in the ER - which helped a lot!  The only thing Jax didn't like about the breathing treatment was the clip on his toe that was monitoring his heart rate, while he got the medicine.  The respiratory specialist verified that he definitely sound croupy and that it was the beginning stages of croup.

After the breathing treatment, we waited a long time!  The ER received 3 cardiac patients who took priority over Jaxen - which is understandable.  And the nurses kept coming in a playing with Jaxen, keeping him happy.  I finally got Jaxen to fall asleep about 11:15pm.  And sure enough it was about 11:40pm when the doctor showed up to check Jaxen {we checked in at 8!}.  He ordered a blood test, a flu test, and a chest x-ray to make sure that there wasn't anything extra going on.

I held Jaxen down while they drew blood and swabbed his nose.  Jerry got to go with him for the x-ray, while I went to the bathroom and visited with the other 2 in the waiting room.  After the x-ray, Jaxen and I were back in the hospital room. . . waiting for the test results.  It wasn't too much longer when the doctor came in and let me know that Jaxen has Bronchiolitis {which is a baby's version of Bronchitis}.  Jaxen's white blood cells were great, he tested negative to the flu and RSV, and there's no pneumonia in his lungs.   Jaxen got a dosage of steroids before we left and a prescription for another weeks worth.  And we had orders to see the pediatrician in 2-3 days for a follow-up appointment. 

We were discharged and back home about 1am.  Once we got the kids in bed, Jerry went back to work.  I called into work, called off the babysitter and went to bed myself.

Jaxen woke up the next morning acting more like his normal self.  Still a little raspy but not struggling to breathe.  I filled his prescription and got more Musinex for the big kids. . . trying really hard not to spread this one around!!  I don't need another ER visit anytime soon!!

Sickness

Oi!  It has been one heck of a week!  I went back to work on Monday.  It feels good to get back into the routine of things. . . I'm not use to being up and on my feet all day long, so when 4 o'clock rolled around I was ready to go home!  When I walked in the house, Jaxen was screaming!!  I just picked him up and he instantly stopped crying and stared at me.  His face said it all!! "Where were you?!?!"  Lol, I let him know that this was going to be the new normal. . . and he was going to have to get use to it!

Tuesday evening we had a Birthday Party for Chloe at the bowling alley.  It was so much fun and Chloe had a blast!  We had 2 lanes, 10 kids and 2 hours of bowling.  After the bowling alley we went to dinner at Pizza Hut with Joylynn and 4 of her kids.  It was a very fun evening and we didn't get home until 830-9pm.  The evening didn't end too well for Jerry and I - We made someone mad at us because we didn't want to be part of their drama anymore, and he gave us notice - starting in April, he was raising our rent $100.  I'm still furious at him, but I can't do anything about it.  When we questioned him about it, (heck we use to call him family!) he said it was just business and we don't have a contract with him.  So, I think Jerry and I are looking for another place to live.  I can't imagine paying as much as we do and not own the house.  And we know that we can get a loan from the bank (we asked about it when we got the new car), just have to find a place we like.  The only other option we have is to buy this house from him and I know he only bought this place for $39,000 and he said he'll let us buy it for $75,000 and we've done all the work on his house, he hasn't done anything!  Plus buying this place means I'm stuck her for a while, and I really want a yard.  We really want to stay in the area and keep Chloe in the same school district. . . and maybe get a couple acres of land with a house.  It's a big decision and it's really scary to make.  But I don't feel like we can afford to stay here with the rent going higher.  I know we can for a while but I think we would slowly sink and I can't afford to do that with three kids.  I can't see staying here and living in fear that if we tick him off, he can kick us out just because.  I need something stable for my family.  He will be the one screwed over when we move out.  All it takes is a single decision at a specific moment to change your world forever. . .  just know that we are thinking about everything!  We will make a decision that we feel is best for us and our family.

Sorry about the ranting there. . . I always have a way of keeping quite when it comes to these kinds of things because I don't want anyone to worry.  But there it is, the latest drama in our lives and probably the biggest reason we need to move and get him out of our lives altogether.  Anyways, Tuesday night was a long night for me, I was stressing and I think Jaxen knew it.  I was up with him until 3am and my alarm went off at 545am!  Then after work I had Girl Scouts!!  So you can imagine how tired I was. . . LOL!

Thursday I had to leave work around 2:30pm because the school called and Chloe was running a fever and needed to be picked up.  The school had given her Tylenol and she was acting fine when I got her home.  But just before dinner she feel asleep on living room floor and was running a high fever when we woke her up.  She didn't eat that night she got medicine and layed in my bed.  When I went to work Friday morning, she was still there. . . sleeping!

Chloe stayed home from school Friday, because of her fever.  She basically slept Friday and Saturday away!!  Saturday night Jacob fell asleep on my living room floor and he too was running a high fever when I woke him up.  Medicine and to bed he went - only to end up in my bed a few hours later because he got sick in his bed.  Today, Chloe's been fever free - just giving her cough medicine to help with her runny nose and horrible cough.  However, Jacob has been on Motrin and Tylenol all day!!  I can't seem to get his fever to break. . . he runs a 100.8 fever with Motrin. 

***Since writing the above, I have called our 24-hour Nurse Line (offered by our insurance).  Poor Jacob had 103.2 fever again and I was starting really worry.  I have never not had Motrin and Tylenol work after 24 hours.  Plus in talking to my mom, I realized that Jacob had been in a diaper since 830 last night and I changed a wet diaper after he got sick in his bed and moved him to my bed at 1130 last night. . . but he had not peed since.  Worrying about dehydration, I got him in the bath to cool him down and called the Nurse Line.  She walked me through everything, gave me confidence in the things I was doing correctly and gave me ideas to get Jacob back to normal.  She informed me that a temperature of 103.2 under his arm is equivalent to a temperature of 104 by mouth.  But after assessing Jacob on the phone, she didn't feel it was necessary for me to run out in the middle of the night and take him to the ER.  Not yet anyways.  The nurse gave me a list of things to watch for and recommended that Jacob see his doctor within 24 hours.  So waiting until morning and not creating a ER bill seemed the most logical.  Jacob's fever has since gone down and he sat up and was talking with me for a little while, I think he's drank more in the last couple hours than he has all day!  Nurse wants me to watch him closely tonight (set the alarm for every 3 hours), monitor his temperature and his mood.  She also told me to trust my instincts, Mommy knows best - so if any time I feel he needs to go, I am to take him immediately to the doctor.  She said not to second guess myself. 

I really felt better after talking to the Nurse.  This was the first time I called the Nurse Line and I like that they are there to help you make an educated decision on whether or not to go to the ER.  They say a fever is nothing to mess with so as a parent you automatically think the worse, but she gave me my confidence and let me know that a high fever wasn't horrible as long as Jacob was responding to me and aware of his surroundings.  So it looks like another long Sunday night for Mommy!  Daddy is on stand by at work and I've kept him informed.  We think it's best to let him rest him and home and if he shows any signs of dehydration or his fever gets any higher, Jerry will be on his way home so I can get Jacob to the hospital and on an IV.  So as of now, Jacob and I are bunking together in my bed and I will call his pediatrician in the morning to see what he wants to do.  Hopefully, by morning the fever will be gone.  Fingers crossed!

If anything changes, I will let you all know.