What A Weekend

It all started on Sunday night...a major thunderstorm ripped through our area out of nowhere. It was near midnight and we saw the lightning in the distance. Before we knew it, the wind picked up and we made the call to go ahead and get the kids up and head to the basement. It was a pretty violent storm, but it was over within minutes. Lots of hail, thunder and lightning, and the tornado alarm had been sounded. It wasn't until the next morning when I got up that I realized how bad it was. One of our favorite trees had been uprooted, and thank God, it fell toward the golf course. Directly across the fairway, several other trees were uprooted. They say it wasn't a tornado...I beg to differ...

Monday was really slow at work because of the power outages - not a good start to the week...I should have known all hell was breaking loose! When we got home from work Cassandra told us Elli had a fever. She was burning up and her eyes were bloodshot (maybe from all the sneezing and coughing??? said with fingers crossed). Mom was on her way to our house to watch the kids so Jeff and I could enjoy a dinner out, and Elli was sick. Reminiscent of when we left them with her and they all ended up with the stomach flu! They all went to bed fine, so Jeff and I headed out. When we got home, Elli was sitting up with mom and she looked terrible. Not only was she running a fever, her little eyes were starting to swell shut...uh oh...pink eye. No denying it now.

We were up all night with Elli AND Tyler (yep - Tyler spiked a fever in the middle of the night). Jeff took them both to the doctor on Tuesday and sure enough, upper respiratory infections for both, ear infections for both, and pink eye for Elli (at this point she is not recognizable - eyes are swollen and the whites look like raw meat). Ugh. So far so good with Haley.

We were up all night again Tuesday night with Tyler. He couldn't breathe, had a fever and just couldn't get comfortable. I noticed when he fell asleep that he was breathing really hard and his pulse was about twice as fast as mine. Hmmmm...maybe he's just having trouble breathing through all the snot (fingers still crossed)...

When we got home after lunch on Wednesday, he was laying in Cassandra's arms and hadn't moved all morning. Still had a fever and he was panting. Back to the pediatrician we headed, but this time we didn't come home. We went to the hospital where we stayed for the next 3 days...pneumonia...yikes.

He was so sick, poor little guy. He ended up on oxygen the first night, had IV fluids and antibiotics, and he was hooked to a pulse and oxygen monitor. What a horrible sight to see this tiny little boy laying in a huge hosptial bed hooked up to all that stuff. He didn't even try to get up - just layed next to us and mostly just slept. That night was rough. He must have woken up 10 times in a panic - we think maybe the oxygen made him feel like he wasn't breathing.

Thursday morning was more of the same, but after his nap, he seemed to turn a corner. He got some color in his cheeks and started to ask to get out of bed. We even walked him down to the toy room and chased him around with his IV pole while he played. When he finally started to feel better he would ask about Elli and Haley. He would say "Eddi...hoooome, Hadey...hoooome, Tyder...Truck, truck, truck". In other words, I wanna get in the truck and get out of here!!

He loved all his nurses and blew them all kisses every time they walked out of his room. He got to see a few of his wonderful nurses from the NICU and even got a visit from Dr. Mike who delivered him! I think he was beginning to think he was famous! :) He was really excited to say good-bye when we were released Friday night! The girls were waiting on the front porch for us when we got home - they were jumping up and down and clapping and took off running for the driveway! Haley gave Tyler a hug and life was back to normal! I'm sure he had stories to tell that night when they went to bed!

Thank God for mom and Cassandra - they both went above and beyond to help us with the girls. Jeff and I were able to stay in the hospital with Tyler the entire time. So many of our friends offered to drop everything and help. We are so blessed to be surrounded by such great people! We are also so grateful for all the prayers...we know there were several friends who contacted their prayer groups within minutes of us getting to the hospital...thank you all SO much!

So for now, we are all getting back to normal and caught up on some much-needed sleep! Elli's pink eye has mostly gone away (it was SERIOUSLY the worst pink eye I have seen in seven years of practice), and her upper respiratory bug is almost gone. It must have been one doozie of a bug considering she's been on antibiotics for 6 days and is still fighting it! So far so good with Haley (said while knocking on wood)! Tyler had a bit of a fever this afternoon, but has been fine since. We're holding our breath tonight and hoping it was just a fluke. Another stay in the hospital is not high on my list of things to do on Memorial Day!

Here's to hoping for a better week next week!!!!





Our poor tree! Notice how the two trunks split the tree in front of it and didn't take it down...how did THAT happen?!



















Tyler on Monday night...no clue about what was about to happen!




















Haley...trying to escape before the wrath takes over!!!




















Elli...the first few hours of pink eye...she actually looks pretty good at this point!