Winter Germs and Therapy

Well, the second week of the year was not any better than the first - it was worse actually. I have literally been to the doctor every week (most weeks twice a week) with the kids for the last 2 months. I am not one of those moms to rush to the doctor for every fever or sniffle either - each time the kids were diagnosed with an actual diagnosis and prescription. I ended up having to take Noah to the doctor on Friday because he had a bad cough - his diagnosis was croup, which I figured it would be - he had it once before. I remembered him not caring for the medicine much, but apparently I blocked out just how bad it was. We went to the store from the doctors office and I gave him his croup medicine in the car - worst idea ever. It immediately made him vomit. (In case you were wondering, curdled milk is the worst thing to clean up). So, we had to go home and retake the medicine in the bathtub (which made him vomit again) before we cleaned up the car and headed back to the store. That night I had to give him his medicine in the tub again, and it made him vomit again, but the medicine smelled awful so I assumed it just tasted really bad. I found out I could mix it with applesauce or juice. I put 1/8 of his dose in applesauce and he threw it up - obviously this is not a taste issue and he is allergic or has a reaction to it. So, I called the Saturday clinic and was unsure if they returned phone calls on Saturday, so just loaded him up and headed back to the doctors office to get a different prescription. While checking Noah in my phone rang, it was the doctors office. They said they would just give him a one time dose of the medicine so he wouldn't have to take the other stuff anymore. The Saturday clinic is a first come first serve basis, so I was not excited to see 20 kids ahead of us. Luckily, they called Noah back within 10 minutes - they said they didn't want him to catch anything else in the waiting room! Me and the nurse had to hold Noah down and squirt the medicine in his mouth - he was so scared it was going to be the medicine that made him sick again. Then they had us wait 15 minutes to make sue he kept it down and sent us on our way!

On the way home Noah looked very sleepy, and when we got home he had a 101 temperature. I gave him some fever reducer and in 15 minutes he was running around playing like it was no big deal! It was very strange. We had a birthday party to go to that afternoon and Noah seemed to be doing a lot better and the doctor said he was not contagious so we went to the party and then I took Noah on a special date to see Frozen. During the movie his cough started getting bad again - and croup gets worse at night. That night he coughed until he puked in bed again. The next day he coughed less, but still didn't sound good. Monday he coughed a little less but still coughs a lot in his sleep - until he gags. I hate that helpless feeling when he cannot stop coughing and all I can do his clean the puke up and put him back in bed. He seems to slowly be getting better each day - it is just taking a long time this time.

Ryan seems to be doing a lot better healthwise  - just a few days of antibiotics left and hopefully no more ear infections for a while (or forever, that would be nice too). Ryan only got one therapy session in last week because of the icy weather. Her genetic test was also scheduled last week and had to be rescheduled due to the weather. This appointment time is better for a lot of reasons (time of day and time of the week) but I really wanted to go as soon as possible. But, it has been rescheduled in a few weeks so we will know if there our Ryan has any special DNA or not soon enough :)

For those of you praying for Ryan and her developmental delays - keep them coming, they are working for sure! Ryan surprised us the other day and just sat right up without pulling up on anything! I made her do it a few more times just to make sure it wasn't a fluke. I then got the camera out and she refused to do it for the camera - I do have 10 videos of her laying on the ground crying now though. Then, Ryan was standing by the couch and "cruised" all the way down the couch and loveseat! These are huge advancements and two things on her therapy list we can check off once she does them with regularity! Please keep the prayers coming - especially for Ryan to let the therapists touch her. She hates any strangers touching her (she has a very short list of those allowed to touch her) and it makes the therapists job very hard and makes her and me (or the sitter, depending on where her therapy is that day) to see her so upset. She was doing a lot better with it and has her two favorite therapists, but after the break of therapy has went back to hating it again. We will get there but we won't ever turn down prayers!