Whew, What a Month!!

Needless to say, God is giving this pregnant woman a run for her money!


It all started about a month ago. As you may remember, I posted on 1/21 how Logan wasn't sleeping well. At the time I had no idea why, he'd just wake up for HOURS at a time to play, talk, laugh, whine, cry, etc. Then about 10 days into this he started teething. I blamed all the restless nights on that and we went about our business as usual...just minus some sleep! He teethed for a while, which continued our restless nights for what seemed like weeks. The last weekend of January Brent noticed some enlarged lymph nodes in Logan's neck. They didn't seem to bother him, but definitely weren't there before. On this same weekend we'd gone to the World of Wheels car show and Logan kept pulling at and putting his fingers in his ears if we got around anything remotely loud, which was new for him. I called the advice nurse to see if there was any reason for concern. She asked about a fever, illnesses, etc, which he had none but I'd been doping him up on soooo much tylenol and motrin for the teething that I very well could have been masking a fever. She said he should be seen. So, in we go. This was Logan's first visit with a male Dr. and he HATED him, haha!! He gets that from his Mommy, I wouldn't let any male near me when I was little...not even my first ball coach. The Dr. said his ears were clear, the nodes were most likely reaction from teething and the night waking was a "behavioral" issue. He told me to not pay him any attention when he wakes up, ignore him, don't get him out of bed, etc, (all of which I was already doing but couldn't relay that over Logan's screaming). The very next day Logan has a runny nose. Nothing major, just a constant drip like he's had before....the only "illness" that he'd had before. We started the chest rub, humidifier, and continued the tylenol/motrin regimen we'd already been doing from the teething. No big deal.....until the following Wed (a week later) when he developed a high fever. He had a mild fever the day before but nothing major. On Wed. I took his temp under his arm, which was 101.5 (and not very accurate!). I called the Dr but couldn't get through to the nurse so I just made an appt for the next couple hours. By the time we got to the Dr. his temperature was 103.6 (which it very well could have been that all along since I was taking it under his arm). The Dr. examined him and said that his ears were clear, his nasal drainage was clear, chest sounded clear, she attempted to look in is throat but didn't get a good look. They took blood and his white count was a little elevated but not elevated enough to explain the high fever. Flu test was negative. She seemed to think there was some explanation for his sudden spike in temp after 1 wk of mild cold symptoms, so they sent us across the street to have a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. By this point I'm stressed to the max. I know that I can't go back with him because of the pregnancy. I also know from working at Chattanooga Imaging how much the techs hate it when the parents can't help with their child's x-rays! It took 3 techs to hold him down and get the x-rays taken. In the mean time, I get a nose bleed...which I've never ever had before. I'm not sure if it was from all the stress of the day, having a cold myself, or a combination of all plus the extra blood/blood vessels you get when pregnant. Anyways, after all that (and a $333 bill for one little bitty x-ray) the x-ray is negative, thank goodness! They send us on our way with amoxicillian and orders to rotate tylenol and motrin every 2 hrs until the fever goes away and to come back Friday if he still has a fever. Friday comes and he still has a fever. Not as high, but in the 100-101.5 range. I call the nurse again and she says to come in. So, off we go again to the Dr! They rerun his blood which comes back better than it was Wednesday, so the antibiotic is helping something even though they don't really know what. They also tell me at this appt that he also has a lot of "viral cells" so they think the fever is caused by a virus. They also get a chance to look in his throat this time, which she said was "nasty" and that it could have been strep but by this point a strep test would be negative due to the antiobiotics in his system. They send us on our way again saying that the fever would probably stick around for 2-3 more days and to keep rotating the medicine and continue his amoxicillian. This is a Friday, (and I'm so so sorry for the long detailed explanation...it helps me organize my mind by putting all this down somewhere!)...the same Friday that Logan is suppose to go stay with Mom while Dad comes down to help us lay our hardwood floors (Happy Valentines Day to us!!). Also, the weather man all of a sudden decides that there's going to be anywhere from 2 to 6 (so precise, aren't they?) inches of snow come this same day. So, Mom decides to come down with Dad to watch Logan down here just in case he gets worse or they get snowed in. Bless their hearts, they had 1/4 of the kitchen and his bedroom to play in and they couldn't go outside due to the snow and him being sick. The floors go down nicely...I love them! But, during this time Logan develops a rash. Mom mentions fifths disease but I blow it off, thinking it's just strep rash. It's gone by Monday and so is the fever, YAY!! Then Wednesday rolls along (exactly 1 wk from the original high fever) and Logan wakes up with one heck of a rash covering his whole body. Now I'm freaking out about Fifths disease since it's bad for pregnant women to be around, especially if they didn't have it as a child...which, lucky me, I didn't. So, back to the Dr we go. They assure me that it's not Fifths but that he is in fact allergic to amoxicillian. They have me start him on benadryl, discontinue the amoxicillian and start him of zithromax when the rash is gone to finish out his antibiotic regimen. That night, being on the benadryl, was the first night he'd slept all night in a LONG time! It was wonderful! But, he woke up Thursday with the rash even worse. I thought there was no way for it to spread anymore, but it did....and continued to spread til about mid day. Then as if someone put a magic spell on it, it slowing disappeared and disappeared a lot faster than it came. Friday the rash was mostly gone, but he was still a little splotchy. I probably should have started the zithromax this day or the next, but guess what?? I came down with this too and completely forgot! I went to bed at 8 Friday night and didn't get up til 12 Saturday and that's only because I really wanted to go to this baby shower I'd made some stuff for. After that we went out to eat for my birthday and as soon as we walked in the door and got Logan down, I went to bed myself! Sunday, I tried to act like I felt better because it was my birthday and I didn't want it to be ruined but I was kidding myself. I felt like hell. I was so clumsy (I guess my ears being off??) that I fell twice. Once I fell getting out of the car because my purse strap was around my foot and I didn't know it. The second was just simply walking out the door telling our friends bye that had came over to play outside and grill out. I rolled my ankle...the same ankle I thought I'd broke last July by tripping down the steps (geez, I'm such a clutz!). It immediately swelled up, not as much as last time, but I swear I really think it hurt more this time. I guess because I couldn't take anything for it! I can only take tylenol but the cold med I'd been taking already had tylenol in it so I couldn't take anymore. Brent ended up putting me in bed with my heating pad on my head, ice pack on my foot-propped up and 2 benadryl. I told him that if I felt like this tomorrow I'm taking Logan to daycare and calling in. He said ok but I don't think (and he admitted) he knew exactly how bad I felt. That night was not a good night. I tossed and turned best I can with an injured ankle. He ends up getting up early and taking Logan to daycare for me and tells me to just call in and rest. I told him that as soon as I could get out of bed I was going to the quick care across the highway. So, at 1 I finally get out of bed and go to the Dr. I wait for an hour and a half to only get seen for approximately 2.5 seconds and be told all I have is a sinus infections. There's absolutely no way that all I had was a stupid silly sinus infection....but he gave me the only med I could take, amoxicillian, so there was no reason to argue with him. In the mean time Brent and Mom have arranged to meet in the middle so mom could take Logan for a couple days. I go back home, get back in bed and don't get out til Tuesday for my OB appt. I start feeling a little better Tuesday, but not great. I was really weak from laying around for basically the whole weekend. At some point I talk to mom and she tells me that she doesn't think Logan is feeling well and that he is starting to get a fever. Brent had sent tylenol and she'd already been giving him that. We were going to play it by ear and hope it was nothing major. Wednesday morning at 4 a.m. Brent gets a text from mom saying Logan's fever is up. We don't get this text til Brent gets up for work, which I think was around 6:30 this day. Brent tells me what's going on....but I'd just taken 2 more benadryl trying to get some sleep so I was not comprehending what he was telling me. He finally gets on the phone with mom and she tells us that his fever is 102. something under his arm....which is probably more like 104. This wakes me up. Momma bear somehow found the energy and fought off two benadryl to drive all the way to Chickamauga, rush hour traffic and all, to her sickly little boy with more medicine (including the zithromax I'd forgot all about while sick). His temperature finally goes down around 2, which is a huge relief, but the double booster dose of zithromax (which has steroids in it) wires him up SOOO much. It was like Brent on speed. It was completely insane....but at least he's feeling better. We came home yesterday. Logan still had a low grade temp then, but nothing major. Today, however, he woke up from his nap with a 101.5 fever which increased to 102.4 even with the tylenol/motrin regimen still in place...so we're still watching that closely. I'm feeling better but completely worn out. I'm working this weekend, so still no time to recover for me.

So, that's been our month from hell. I'm pretty sure it can only get better from here! Here's to hoping anyways...