First Dentist Visit

A few weeks ago (march 19th), I took Trigger for his first dentist visit.  I am NOT a fan of going to the dentist.  I have had lots of work on my teeth…and it started at a young age.  I have horrible teeth and no matter what I have done to take care of them, I constantly need work.  Anyway, I have put off taking Trigger because of my issues and because I knew that Trigger would have a difficult time…especially with his sensory issues. 

This experience was different than other firsts.  I usually try really hard to talk up a new experience and try to prepare him the best that I can.  Well, maybe because of Miss larkin or the fact that im running all day, I didn’t really prepare him like I usually do.  I did tell him several times that I was taking him and I could tell that he was not excited.  When we got there, he started to get nervous.  I let him play with my ipad while we waited.

Then, he got called back and he held it together but let me tell you…you could read it all over his face that he was SCARED TO DEATH!!!  I sat down beside him and held his hand and tried to help the hygienist explain to him what she was doing.  I was so proud of him!  If you have never thought of a dentist trip from the eyes of someone with sensory issues, you should think about it…it is major sensory overload (loud noises, lots of smells- Trigger sense of smell is really good, bright lights, gritty toothpaste, etc.)  I mean it was a HUGE deal that he did so good!  He did beg the lady to not turn the bright light on…his eyes are really sensitive too.   Anyway, he made it through it.  We use Dr. Paige Volentine.  She said that Trigger will definitely have to have braces…Guess who isn’t surprised?  I mean, that was a no brainer after he had that paci for so long! 

After they were finished, I took some pictures.  He was really proud of himself!

He was absolutely exhausted after his appointment…things like that WEAR HIM OUT!  I’m glad that first is over!  Now, we will just have to go again in 6 short months.

Before

Before we realized how sick Campbell was, I let him help me cook our supper…yep, I know…On Monday, he kissed all over Larkin…on tuesday, he helped cook our supper.  REALLY???  I love doing things like this with Campbell because I always let Trigger help me cook when he was Campbell’s age.  Thankfully, Matt and I did not come down with the flu…maybe because of tamiflu.  Either way, I’m thankful that campbell’s help didn’t make us sick!

He was so perfectly behaved!  and I think he LOVED the attention!

You want to know why Larkin got the Flu…

these were all taken on Monday (march 26th) morning and Campbell started running fever around noon that day…and was diagnosed with the flu on Wednesday.  Soooo, if the flu is airborne and it is airborne up to 6 to 8 feet, then the poor little girl didn’t have a chance!   By the way, isn’t that gross that if someone (let’s say at walmart because we all know that place is filled with horrible diseases) sneezes 6 to 8 feet away from  you, BAM,  you could get the flu!  That is sooo gross and makes me want to wear a mask out in public…and yes, I know I have issues!

big brother captured it all on camera too! ;)

yep, she had no chance of coming out of that without getting the flu…and she was diagnosed the Friday after Campbell was diagnosed!

First Time in Bumbo

I’m honestly not one of these people that just loves the bumbo seat.  None of my children have really like them.  I have had this same bumbo seat for all three and it has been used very little.  It seems as though as soon as they get the hang of how they are supposed to sit in it, they don’t want to be confined in it…or at least that is how my children are.  Anyway, I put Larkin in it for the first time when she was 2.5 months old…it’s really kind of early to put her in it but she did great for a few minutes!

Praises and Pity party

Okay. Last night was not fun. We were told to give breathing treatments every three hours around the clock. At 3am, I woke Larkin up. Brought her to our room, fed her for just a little bc she was struggling and wheezing very bad, I stopped and did a breathing treatment. After we finished, she was still wheezing pretty bad and was still acting as though she couldnt get a good breath...her coughs were very tight. So, i fed her again to try to pacify her some...she stopped her crying but was still wheezing alot...so i had to give another breathing treatment. This had happened in the drs office earlier so i was hoping it would work again. She finally fell asleep and her wheezing didnt sound as bad and she was struggling/retracting so i put her in her bed.



After every other three hour session, she did good with just one treatment.
So we went back for a recheck. I had just given her a breathing treatment before we left the house. Dr Slusher was pleased with her progress. She said she still heard wheezing but it was way better than yesterday! She still wasn't really happy with how tight her cough was...it needs to loosen up so she can get some of that stuff out of her chest. Dr Slusher gave us a detailed schedule to follow with the breathing treatments. We will still do every three hours today but do not have to wake her to do them tonight...just give them when she wakes for a feeding. Then, we will do them every four hours for a couple of days and then move to just four times a day. Our schedule is through next Tuesday and then we will go back on tuesday for a recheck. That's alot of breathing treatments between now and then!


Larkin has acted a little better today. She hasn't really stopped smiling the whole time but she seemed to be less fussy today...nights, of course, are the worst...I heard wheezing again tonight and I had not been hearing it as much.
Campbell is still doing good and playing. His cough still sounds pretty bad though. He's still on his antibiotic and breathing treatments three times a day.



Ok. Now for my pity party. And believe me, I know this is all going to sound pathetic so you can just ignore me!
Dr Slusher told us that we are to re-enter our bubble. Even trigger...bc at this point, Larkin can't be exposed to anything else and risk her getting even more sick! Sooo, what does that mean? It means that we will miss ALL Easter activities. I'm so incredibly sad about this...trigger misses so much (he already missed his school egg hunt bc of flu at our house) and now he has to miss our church hunt and both family get togethers. I'm aggravated. While all of my friends and most of my family are at our church's Easter egg hunt, where will I be? At HOME with my SICK children by MYSELF bc guess what! Matt will be working! It is going to be such a lonely, long day....and when he works saturday, it will be the same thing...Ugh!
And there's another part to my pity party, I have the kids Easter clothes all ready to go (minus ts unironed shirt) and do they get to wear them??? NOPE...larkins first Easter and she can't even attend church.
I'm sorry. I'm just tired and a little cranky...and my husband just went to work and I'm holding a sick baby girl and haven't even eaten supper yet...and don't even know what my other two children are doing bc I don't have their monitor....and praying that more than one child doesn't wake crying at once while he's gone. This is what I really want to be doing!






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I can't make this stuff up!

Ok. I'm going to try to make this quick bc I've got to feed Larkin and then give breathing treatments.
I have been pretty stressed with the "hovering over Larkin". I have counted respirations, assessed larkins rib cage to look for retractions, pinched her fingernails to check oxygen levels, etc. too many times over the last few days. Sunday I heard some sound coming from Larkin that sounded like wheezing. Matt never heard it and our dr friend said she was fine...and she was at the time. Yesterday (Monday) around 430 (isn't that when it always happens), I started hearing major wheezing sounds. I KNEW that was what I was hearing. But, her respirations were still good and her oxygen level seemed to be okay so we stayed home. Let me just say that I am NOT afraid to take my children to the ER. However, with Larkin being so young, I knew without a doubt that they would admit her. So, we waited it out until our appointment today at 245. I got there around 220 bc her breathing had gotten worse. When we got back to the room, they weighed her. She had lost 1/2 a pound since Friday. I knew that wasn't a good sign. When dr Slusher came in, I had her immediately listen to the wheezing sound and she confirmed that it was definitely wheezing. She said it's not usually heard without a stethoscope so she made us do a breathing treatment to stop the wheezing so she could hear if there was anything in her lungs. After the breathing treatments, she came to listen again and she was still wheezing bad so we did another breathing treatment and headed to get a chest xray. Her wheezing had gotten better and her chest xray was clear. Dr Slusher did do an rsv test. It came back POSITIVE. So, dr Slusher is thinking that Larkin had the flu...while at the dr office or from one of us, she got rsv. It doesn't really matter how. The point is that my sweet, tiny baby has rsv with lots of wheezing. In fact, she's wheezing away right now in my arms. Dr Slusher sent us home to do breathing treatments every three hours around the clock. We will go back tomorrow (Wednesday) at 130 for a recheck. She told us to (once again) watch for signs of resp distress and to take her to the ER tonight If she showed any signs. Sooooo....the stress continues.
Here's my baby getting her first breathing treatment!


I'm kind of thinking that we might need to get another nebulizer so I can have two going at once...Campbell is getting breathing treatments too.
I'm off to feed Larkin, give breathing treatments, and go to bed. The every three hour thing is going to kill me!
Oh and one more thing...just because at this point, it's just humorous. I was running to get the phone tonight. When I was going thru a doorway and turning, I got my wedding band caught on a piece of the door...yep, I couldn't do it again if I tried!!!! And it hurt my finger (made it sore) and bent my wedding rings. I am NOT even joking.

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The Woodard Pediatric Unit

Well, I thought I would update you on what has been going on.  Friday, March 30th, I decided to take all three children to see Dr. Slusher.  Larkin started coughing all of the sudden on Thursday night…and remember that I took Campbell to quick care on Thursday afternoon and was told that he had an ear infection and a throat infection.  I was not too convinced after the nurse prac argued with me about several things so I thought I should get a confirmation of his diagnosis and check his medicine because it didn’t seem like the right medication to me.  Trigger still had a cough after 2.5 weeks…and he was on omnicef and almost finished with it so I wanted him checked just to make sure we weren’t missing anything. 

I called at 8:02 and Dr. Slusher was already booked.  Let me just say that it highly irritates me that she seems to always be booked.  Anyway, her nurse called me back and worked us in first thing.  We jumped in the car to make it on time.  When we got back to the room (Liz went with me), with all three kids, it was quite chaotic.  Just getting everyone weighed, measured, and giving the run down on each was exhausting.  Trigger acted like he had downed a few pixy sticks before entering the room and thought it was fun to run from one end of the room to the other and crash into the walls.  I am not lying!  And for some reason, he always thinks it’s great to turn off the lights.  Campbell couldn’t decide if he wanted to crash into the walls like his big brother (and SQUEAL) or cry and want to be held.  Apparently both options sounded fun to him.  Larkin was fussy and just wanted to be held.  Honestly, it will have to be a desperate situation for me to take all three together again….even with the help of Liz.  It’s just too much. 

I was very thankful that I had typed up my notes on each child.  Dr. Slusher didn’t laugh at me…instead, she was VERY thankful for it!  She check Campbell first…since he was the most sick that day.  She immediately heard stuff in his lungs so she said we would definitely have to go have a chest xray done because she was worried about pneumonia.  Then, she checked his ears and guess what?!?!  BOTH were infected…yep, that’s right BOTH ears.  So, in two weeks, he has had his left ear infected, cleared up, left ear infected again and then his right ear got infected too.  I can say with almost certainty that we will be headed for set 2 of tubes.  *sigh*  The ray of sunshine was when she said his throat wasn’t really infected.  Instead, it was just really irritated from the drainage.  Dr. Slusher was very discouraged that Campbell had just finished an antibiotic and still got two ear infections.  So, Campbell headed for a chest xray with Liz while I stayed with Trigger and Larkin to be examined. 

Trigger was the easy one…he still had drainage…and had some fluid on his ears but she said he was fine for now…just to continue his tamiflu and omnicef.

Then, she examined Larkin.  AND, what does she have????  THE FLU!  My 11 week old baby has the FLU!  I just can’t believe it.  She said her chest sounded good and her ears looked good. Dr. Slusher told us to watch her closely….to “hover over her”.  She told to watch her breathing and to watch her behavior.  YAY…it was friday and I was being sent home to hover over an 11 week old to make sure she was breathing okay.  Not my most favorite thing to do…probably one of the scariest things.  Because of her age, there is absolutely nothing to give her.  She can have tylenol for fever and that’s it.

Dr. Slusher left and we waited on Liz to come back with Campbell.  When Dr. Slusher came back, she said that they didn’t get a great picture of Campbell’s chest but that the radiologist said his lungs looked clear.  So, PRAISE the LORD, no pneumonia!!!!  Dr. Slusher gave me the option of Campbell getting a shot and starting the antibiotics the next day or just doing the anti and no shot….guess what I opted for?  THE SHOT!  I’m such a mean momma!   But, this poor baby needed some heavy medicine to jump start his healing.  It was possibly the saddest thing ever to see the fear on Campbell’s face when I laid him back.  But, I will almost always chose a shot when they are that sick.  We were sent home…Campbell was to continue Tamiflu, start another stronger antibiotic, and start breathing treatments….and give motrin/tylenol around the clock.

It’s been a rough weekend…I had to type up sheets of what medicine to give and when.  It seriously is ridiculous how much medicine we have sitting out on our kitchen counter.  Oh and for some FUN reason, my children HATE medicine when they are sick and need it.  Any other time, they (campbell especially) beg for medicine.  Campbell has learned how to spit out his medicine so that is oh so fun!  Also, he HATES and I mean HATES breathing treatments.  We have to hold him down….like in a deadlock using all of my limbs to hold his limbs down.   We haven’t had much napping going on around here…Campbell fell asleep today in my arms after his breathing treatment (which was another traumatic experience).  I didn’t dare put him in his bed because I knew he would start wailing.  I just laid him on the chair in the den.  He slept there for 3 hours and 15 minutes.

Poor baby is so exhausted.  He pretty much walks around all day crying and yelling “hol me”.  But, the kicker is that he doesn’t just want to be held…he wants you “uuuu” which means up and walking around.  Even though he has lost about 2 lbs, I still can’t do that all day.

Larkin has been held for the last two days and only been put down to change her diaper or to sleep at night.  She sounds awful!!!  She has some whistling while breathing…she isn’t nursing great but enough to stay hydrated.  I took her to a friend’s house (he’s a dr) today and he listened to make sure she didn’t have any fluid on her lungs and he said she sounded good.    Her fever hasn’t been extremely high so that is excellent.  The highest it has gotten is 101.6 but we have kept tylenol in her around the clock.  We might have to go back tomorrow or Tuesday to check her breathing/lungs.

We have had a rough two weeks and we are exhausted but things couldve been so much worse.  And, Larkin is still not out of the woods yet.  She is still running some fever and still having some breathing that we have to watch…not necessarily labored but close.   Dr. Slusher said the fever could last for 7 days and other symptoms could last up to 12 days.  They both will be able to resume activities when they are fever free for 24 hours so we are hoping we are good for Easter. 

We have certainly been overwhelmed with the help we have received from our family and friends.  WOW!  We have already had several suppers brought over which has been a huge help since we don’t have time to cook with each of us carrying around a baby!  AND, we have had so many people texting and checking in…and PRAYING for us.  We are so blessed to have such a good support group.  Thank you to those of you who have prayed for our sweet family. 

Okay…I’m off to get some sleep…ive been going back to Larkin’s room every ten minutes for about 2.5 hours because she is fussy!