A yucky, ucky weekend for the bambinos

So, who here likes pink eye? How about a good ole' dose of conJUNCtivitis? :-D Please, sign me up for another round!

My poor angel baby, Livi, woke up with a nice gunky, pink eye last Thursday. Ezra was doing great and his eyes were as clear as could be, so he got to enjoy a day of play on his own. Livi, however, was stuck with mom, ouchy eye drops, and feeling miserable. We paid for the "wooha" eye drops that the Drs. office told us made it non-contagious after the first drop. However, after waiting around at the pharmacy for an hour (the Drs. office FORGOT to call in the Rx after we spoke that morning... no visit needed for pink eye these days), the Pharmacist told me that was bologne and that all antibiotics take at least 24 hours to become non-contagious. Ugh. I call the doc, they argued that, and I went with the more expensive stuff in the hopes that the first drop would at least significantly reduce the risk of spreading since having Ezi and Livi around each other is almost a guarantee that fingers will be rubbing eyes and poking the other ones eyes with their contaminated fingers. :-) Nice, huh?

Friday morning Livi was looking and acting much better, but on Saturday, things went downhill. She developed diarreah, became really rattly in the chest, and started occasionally making a weird, strained sort of breathing noise. I call the after hours number for our pediatrician and after discussing things with the nurse that called us back, she asked to listen to Livi. The result.... head to the E.R. to have her checked out. No other option since the urgent care was closed at that point as well. So, Ya-ya and Papaw (my parents) watched Ezra and I loaded up my angel and zoomed to the hospital. Daddy met us there, and we made an evening of it.

They started listening to her heart and lungs, sucking boogies out of her nose to check for Flu and RSV, gave her a nebulizer treatment, and THEN decided on a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia. Let's just say that Olivia did NOT want to be stripped naked, set on the bed apart from her mommy's warm, loving arms. She was screaming (bloody murder... but it was a much more silent version than normal since her voice was pretty weak and squeaky). The front x-ray was "OK" since she could see me standing there with her with my pretty teal, lead vest on. The side view was not so good. Livi was turned away from me and her arms were held out in front of her by the x-ray tech. I had to hold her head to keep her looking forward... at this stranger x-ray tech. She SCREAMED and wriggled and then.... she projectile PUKED all over the tech. Poor angel had it all over her lap, her diaper, the floor, her legs, my goodness, it was everywhere! She was shaking and crying and I had to get a new diaper on her and wipe her up before she could be held and snuggled again. It was heartbreaking.

And Joe... oh my did he freeze. He's sort of a "reactive" puker. When he seems someone else puke, it can make him puke. He was standing back behind the x-ray machine and when the chaos of getting her cleaned up began, he stayed frozen in the background until he heard me hollering for assistance. He pulled himself together and managed to keep from following in Livi's footsteps... thank goodness! Once Livi was cleaned up, they gave her a hospital gown sized for a MUCH larger/older child, and I snuggled her again. She almost instantly began falling asleep and remained content if we were the only ones in the room.

The results of the chest x-ray, flu and RSV tests were all negative. The x-ray showed some markings that were consistant with what a virus does, I guess, but no pneumonia. They gave Livi some meds to calm her stomach and prescribed an antibiotic to help ward off an ear infection that looked like was beginning in her left ear. Just as we changed her to go, one of the doctors overheard her cough, something she hadn't done prior to arriving at the E.R., but she'd done it a few times there when we were alone with her. The doc thought it sounded pretty bad, and decided we should try some steriods to see if that would help. So, one more nasty tasting thing for her to taste, and we were outta there!

I am so thankful that it wasn't anything more serious and that today she seems much better. She still has a lot of congestion and a raspy voice, but is getting back to her normal self. Yeah! Ezra did seem to get sick, but not nearly as badly and also seems to be feeling/acting much better today! Hooray... we've gotten through our first trip to the E.R. with one of our babies and come out successfully!