My hectic, chaotic, crazy, scary Christmas vacation!

:::: Warning long post ahead :::: (and this is even the condensed version!)

Wow! What an ending to the year! I'm kinda glad it's all over. :)

So, to start at the beginning. Christmas Eve my two little 'middle' girls Mychigan and Daisy started getting a cough. Christmas morning went smoothly enough, and then Christmas night Daisy was coughing so hard that we had to take her outside to breath! Wow that was scary! They both had a fever and we were seriously thinking about the ER. We made it through the night though, and made a Dr. appointment for the next day (30 minutes out of town because none of the Dr.'s offices were open around here...stupid!) We get there and find out they both have a virus and that Mychigan has Strep throat. So they both get started on antibiotics and we pray nobody else gets it. On the way home we stop at a little restaurant to eat and Ryver is feeling warm. I am so hoping my hands were just cold or something, but by the time we got home I took her temp and it was 101.1. We made it through the night that night, but Ryver and I slept in the recliner as that was the only place she would sleep and I felt more comfortable with her right there with me so I could watch her. The next day we were pretty normal, but her temp. was still pretty high (between 99.9 and 102 all day) The little girls were feeling much better, but still had this cough. Then the night of the 27th, Ryver went to sleep just fine around 9 and then woke up around 11:30 really hot. Her temp was around 103.0, so I thought I would just give her some tylenol and then sleep with her on my chest again in the recliner. She wouldn't have it. She was stiffening up and then would scream, then she would shake like she was cold and then scream again. So I made a decision to go to the ER. I was so scared!

I got to the ER and told them my baby wasn't breathing very well, which it seemed like she wasn't, but I think now it was just because she was in pain that she was gasping. They rushed her right in and checked her oxygen levels which were normal and perfect. They took her temp which was about 103.7 (wow!) and she was pale. When we got done with triage, they took us to a bed, and then came and did an RSV test (I was on the verge of tears here, my poor baby!) and took blood and then put an IV in. After about 45 minutes they came back and all the test results were negative except she was a little bit dehydrated. So they gave me the choice of getting admitted and giving her fluids all night or just giving her fluids for an hour or two. I chose an hour or two and we were there until 4 AM. I can tell you that sleeping on a folding chair is so not comfortable! I tried to sleep on the bed with Ryver, but she wouldn't have it, she wanted me to hold her cradle position, so the chair it was.

Ryver with her IV...poor baby!

The next morning, Dell let us sleep in (sweet man!) and took care of the three other girls until 11 when he had to go to work. Ryver did better through the day and then the night she slept pretty well too...but her fever wouldn't go down! She stayed at somewhere between 102 and 103 the whole time bottoming out at around 101 when she was on the tylenol. So on the 29th, I decided we would see a Doctor, even if it wasn't my regular doctor. We went to a woman that told us that she had roseola. Then sent us over to the stupid hospital again for more blood work and a Urine Analysis. By about 2 PM that day I was ready to head up to Provo to my regular doctor, even though I knew he wouldn't be in because it was Saturday. Then this doctor called me and told me that she had some results from the blood and urine cultures. The blood showed she was anemic and had high white blood cells. The urine showed that she had high white blood cells and blood in the urine and bacteria. She said she had e-coli (not the kind you die from) and she thought she 'wasn't put together right' What?!? My baby's not put together right? What does that mean!? She wouldn't explain any further, and told me not to worry (ya right!) so I decided right then to head up north. So we got packed up and waited for Dell's mom (he had called her to come and get the little girls) Sabryna was coming with me because she had started with a fever too.
We headed into the canyon right at around dusk and straight into a blizzard. We went about 20-40 miles an hour the whole way and prayed myself the whole way there. We got through the canyon safely and I pried my fingers off the steering wheel at my Grandma's house where they were having a birthday party for my mom (Happy Birthday mom! Dec 29). After the short festivities, we made an appointment with the after hours clinic and headed out again.
When we got there we did a strep culture on Sabryna which came back negative thank goodness, and she was diagnosed with the same stupid virus the other two had. Ugh!
Then I told my whole story to the on call doctor who at the end said "Well, I guess you already have your diagnosis" WHAT?! Why do you think I'm here, my health? (well, I guess I am, but my child's... :)) I mean come on! He just didn't care and was grumpy and ornery, so we decided to wait until Monday when they said my regular doctor would be in the office.
Monday morning comes and I call to get an appointment and they tell me that my doctor actually isn't in the office because it's a holiday and would be back Wednesday. Well I'm not waiting until then, so I saw the CPN, or whatever she was. I had the hospital here fax the test results to the Dr. office and when we got there we had a little better diagnosis. (By the way, her fever broke Sunday morning, yay!)
All her symptoms were because she had a Urinary Tract Infection!
But since she is so little they suspect that she has what's called 'Kidney Reflux' . That's where her tubes that go from her kidneys to her bladder are a little kinked (which is where the other doctor that said she was 'put together wrong' was trying to go, but she put it so badly!) and a little bit of the urine goes back up into the kidney. Causing a UTI. Poor baby!
So tomorrow I have to call Primary Children's and get an appointment with a specialist to go have a procedure done where they will cath her and take pictures of her while she urinates to see, and then we will go from there. There are 4 levels of this reflux thing and the doctor was guessing she is a 2 or 3, which if she is she will be on antibiotics for at least a year and will grow out of it around age 4, but if it is a level 4 that will require surgery. I'm hoping for 2 or 3. She is now on antibiotics and is feeling much better, but did end up catching the other girls cough and now a days doctors don't let babies up to age 2 have any cough medicine...so she just has to cough it out. I hope we don't end up in the ER again for that! I have had enough of Doctors and hospitals for a long time now! I just want my kids and my poor baby to get better!

Then to top it all off, we have been having issues with our renters. They have been playing their music way too loudly (they live underneath us) and have been getting drunk and disorderly and obstinate. Dell wants to kick them out, and so do I, but he doesn't want to have renters anymore. He wants to do foster care or something, which I'm all for, but not while I have a baby. We need the rent $ to pay the mortgage, and I think it would be pointless for me to get a job and pay all the money to day care. So if any of you have any good solutions for a work at home job for me, or some way to make an extra $750 a month, please please please let me know!

I'm so excited and ready for school to start again tomorrow! I love my kids and love spending time with them, but they are so stir crazy now! It's too cold to go outside and they are already bored with stuff in the house. (Hello! They got 7 new movies and 8 new games and countless new toys...how could they be bored?) They just want me to entertain them, and I'm just so stressed out and tired with all the sickness and crap we have been dealing with the whole week....

We did have a good Christmas though. My mom and brother came and we had happy chaos. I love Christmas and Santa hit us hard! The kids woke up...at 9 AM! When does that happen? Did anybody else get to sleep in on Christmas morning? :)

Christmas Eve Jammies :)

Christmas Morning, Santa came!

McKade, Grandma Jan and Ryver

Ryver with her new glow in the dark stars (she loved them!), on her new blankie that daddy and mommy made for her with her new cabbage 'Jaelynn Jolie', and on her new bean bag chair, that Santa brought for all of them. The kitty loved sleeping on the lights, how cute is that...they must have been warm!


I was happy it was here, now I'm happy it's over...and HAPPY NEW YEAR! It's 2008! I hope it's a great year for everyone!