Doctor's Office Visits

Last week, I spent WAY more time than I would like at the pediatrician's office. Abby had a rough week. She had 2 projectile vomiting episodes on Tuesday morning. I called the md, and they wanted to see her. Really? What did they want to see? She looked exactly the same; she just barfed 2 times. Whatever.

Okay, they looked at her and determined it was probably just a little bug. I just needed to keep her well-hydrated. They could have told me that on the phone.

The LPN that we saw said that I could try to keep the others from getting sick, but that it was probably a lost cause. She told me that she has twins, and when they were little she tried to keep one from getting sick when the other caught something, but it never worked. She said she must have looked crazy to them because she would wear a mask and gloves to keep from passing germs.

She did not throw up again all day Tuesday. She took a long nap and woke up acting like her usual self-smiley, hungry, etc. No big deal. I thought we were good to go. Not so much.

Tuesday night she was fussy through the night, and then on Wednesday morning, she barfed her guts out again. I called the doctor's office because she also started feeling a little warm to me, and when I took her temp, it was 101. Her little feet and hands were also turning purple. They wanted to see her again, of course. So, we headed on back.

The doctor examined her, took some blood, took her temp again (102.4 there) and again gave us a lame diagnosis...some kind of bug, maybe the flu, could get worse before it gets better, keep her hydrated, give her Tylenol every 6 hours to keep down the fever, blah, blah, blah. The purple feet and hands happened to babies with drastic temperature fluctuations sometimes, as the body directs blood flow to the core and away from the extremities. It is only problematic when their lips and/or tongues turn purple. That means oxygen deprivation.

Back at home, she was miserable the rest of the day, and that night was awful. I was up almost all night with her. She just was terribly uncomfortable and generally pitiful. I hated seeing her like that. Thursday was more of the same, and my dad took over on Thursday night. They spent all night together-pacing, cuddling, sleeping (very little), etc. He said they were inseparable all night. She wanted constant contact.

On Friday, Michele came to help with the kids. She was sick earlier in the week but had made a recovery by the end of the week. I was going to go into the office on Friday, but I woke up feeling miserable that morning. We had Michele come anyway because the kids had their 6 month appointment to get shots, and we needed an extra set of arms to comfort them.

That morning, Michele noticed that Abby was looking blotchy, and when we went to change her clothes, we saw some little bumps on her belly. By later in the day, she had an all-out rash all over her little body. It turned out she had Roseola, which is a virus. It causes a baby to be sick and run a fever for 2 or 3 days, and then, it causes a rash once the fever breaks. We have no idea where she got it. It must have been from someone at the baptism on Sunday.

We had to start her on Benadryl to relieve her itchiness. Can you imagine feeling itchy all over, but not knowing what to do about it? She doesn't know how to scratch. How awful!

While we were there, the kids were all measured and weighed. Here are the latest figures on their growth:
Abby-26.5 inches, 15 lbs 9 ounces, 17 1/2 inch head circumference
Marie-26.5 inches, 15 lbs 4 ounces, 17 inches
Will-26.5 inches, 15 lbs 8 ounces, 17.5 inches

I really can't believe that they are all the same length. Marie looks so much shorter and stockier than Mr. Willers and Abers. It's so weird, but Billy and I measure her a second time at the doctor's office to make sure they hadn't been careless.

Unfortunately, mommy is now sick too with the same terrible cough that I had at the same time last year. I was looking at my posts from last year at this time, and I had the exact same thing now that I did then...scratchy throat, cough, post-nasal drip at night, etc. It sucks. Since I'm breastfeeding, I'm limited to only taking Robitussin again. Yet another reason to wean-I want real drugs!