Two-for-One Tuesday!

Two-for-One Tuesday? No, I won't be selling anything today, I'm just planning to post TWICE! There's a lot to post about from the past week, plus I'm hoping to finally post my first post in the "The Things They Don't Tell You About Caring for an Infant" series. So here goes the first post:

Last week I wrote about our upcoming trip to Virginia Beach to watch our friends compete in a marathon. We were so excited about the trip--so excited to see them accomplish such a big goal. Then Jack developed a fever Wednesday afternoon. I noticed when we went to the park Wednesday morning that he seemed a little unexcited, but I figured he was just sleepy. After his afternoon nap, though, he woke up hot. I thought it was probably just warm upstairs, but when Kraig came home and we finally found the thermometer, his temp was 102.6. Immediately, I was a little concerned. He's never really had a fever. So I gave him the appropriate dose of Tylenol and then waited to check again in an hour. After an hour, his fever was even higher. We stripped off his clothes and put him in a lukewarm bath in the kitchen sink. Eventually, it came down to below 102, but he fought the fever and sleep all night long.

In the morning, his fever was still in the 102's, so I called the doctor. By the time of our appointment, 10:30, his fever was gone. He weighed in at 18lbs 5oz, and we went to our room to wait on the doctor. While we were waiting, the nurse did a flu test. Our doctor, who I love, came in and checked all the usuals and then confirmed that the flu test was negative. I was relieved until she said, "Actually, it would have been easier if this was the flu." Since his fever was so high, over 104 once, she needed to run a gamut of tests to rule out something more serious. So, she wrote us orders and told me to take Jack to the pediatric wing of the hospital. Not so reassuring. Since he was still eating well, however, she said they wouldn't have to keep him overnight. She left and we packed up to leave the office.

Originally, I had intended to leave Kate at the church with Kraig, but we were running very late that morning and I took her with me instead. She is normally terrified at the doctor's office and cries literally the whole time. Thankfully, she had been a big, brave girl and didn't cry once. I was sure I wouldn't be so lucky if I took her to the hospital. So I called Kraig to tell him what was going on and he came to take Kate back with him. I'm so thankful that he can be flexible at the times that we really need him to be. Once Kate was gone with Kraig, I headed down the street to the hospital, calling a few people on the way.

We got to the hospital and settled into the right place a little before noon. We sat around for a while, during which time Jack finally fell asleep; he was well overdue for a nap. Not long after he fell asleep, they came to take us to radiology for a chest x-ray. It took a while, but they got what they needed and we headed back to peds. After we got back, the phlebotomist came into draw blood. Poor little guy did the best he could, but I could tell he felt like all the smiling faces were betraying him. After that they put in a catheter to get a urine sample. I'm guessing they should've done the urine first, because I'm positive he peed when they stuck him with the needle. Next, they gave him a shot as a preventative measure in case there was a bacterial infection. Finally, they were done and we went to a quiet room to nurse. He was too upset to nurse well, though, and he kept biting me. We headed out and he was asleep before we left the parking lot.

The doctor called later in the evening with some of the test results, and we heard the rest at a follow-up appointment on Friday. All the test were negative, thankfully, so they decided it was just a virus. He was fever-free most of Friday and has been fine since. He never really acted sick, thankfully. We were finally convinced that he was fine and we could still head to the beach on Saturday.

We worked on laundry the rest of Friday and then put the kids in the tub to get ready for bed. It was a little earlier than usual, so after bath time we came back downstairs for a snack. Kate wanted an apple. I peeled one for her and cut it up. She sat on my lap eating it out of a bowl. And then she puked. She had said all day long she didn't feel well, but she acted fine and I chalked it up to the fact that Jack was sick and getting extra attention. Clearly, she didn't feel well. After she was done and we got her cleaned up and changed her clothes, she went to lay on the couch with her daddy. And then she puked again. All over Kraig. It was ugly. Once we got them both changed and cleaned up, she laid back down on Kraig. I think she puked once more, but then she fell asleep on Kraig. He eventually put her in her bed. She woke up twice in the night, but never to be sick. Clearly, we weren't going to the beach. I called and cancelled the reservation. Naturally, she woke up just fine on Saturday. Like nothing had ever happened. We stayed around the house in the early part of the day to make sure she was fine and then headed to the mall to walk around and grab some dinner. I was so mad that we'd changed our plans, but there was no telling that Kraig and I weren't going to be sick soon, too. So far, so good.

We didn't make it to the marathon, but the guys finished and did a great job! They raised a ton of money and they finished the race in 4 hours and 21 minutes, I believe. We're super proud of them for following through on their commitments.

On top of all that excitement, Wednesday was my 27th birthday. Kraig did a great job of making it a special day. He made me cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We had to change our dinner plans since Jackson was sick, but we had gone out Monday night for my technical birthday dinner. We ended up with Burger King. Haha. He also brought me a delicious chocolate cake, and rather than give me a present, he sent me shopping for some much needed clothing. I'm down 46 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, so I literally have nothing that fits anymore. I went shopping Sunday afternoon and scored 4 tops, two skirts, a pair of capris and a pair of shorts. I was super excited. I never do that well--especially at one store! I'm so thankful to have a few things that fit well now and even more thankful that they're much smaller than my old clothes. I'd like to lose around 19 pounds more. We'll see how that goes. It's time to kick it back into high gear before summer comes!

Anyhow, long post about our crazy weekend. Hope your weekends were more calm! And now....to work on the next post!