As Christmas neared, things were looking great. We had a photo shoot for our Christmas card where I got lots of wonderful pictures (I think I took about 150!). You may notice that in the background of the pictures on the tree, there is a snowflake ornament. Yes, I planned it this way. Since I couldn't pick a favorite to use on the card, we used a collage of several of them. The card turned out wonderfully and I got them mailed out on time. Here are a few for your enjoyment:
Around the time that I printed the Christmas cards, I realized that there was actually 1 week less before Christmas than I thought there was. YIKES!!! So, I had to ramp things up a notch to get everything ready.
Our plan for Christmases in the future is to spend Christmas morning in our own home so that Carder can open his presents and will know that Santa will know just where to find him. However, since he wouldn't remember this Christmas, I told Derek that we could go to his parents home to spend the holiday with them, his sister, and his grandfather. So, we were going to open our presents at home on Christmas Eve morning and then would head down south a couple of hours to his parents home.
But, in keeping with the spirit of this year, nothing went according to plan.
About 2 weeks before Christmas, Carder caught another cold. This, in itself, wasn't a problem. He was a bit miserable but wasn't running a fever and seemed to be in fairly good spirits. Derek caught the cold and had sinus issues and a sore throat for a few days. I caught the cold and had a sore throat and a terrible cough. But we were prepared to power through it.
On December 23, Carder took a turn for the worse and spiked a fever. He gagged during a coughing fit and threw up. I wasn't too concerned with the fever until it reached over 102 and then he threw up again - this time without the coughing. Since the Pediatrician's office was already closed for the Holiday, I was told to take him to Urgent Care. At Urgent Care, they checked his O2 levels and were concerned that it wasn't over 94%. So, an X-ray ruled out pneumonia and a breathing treatment was given in an effort to increase his O2 level. When it didn't work, they decided to send us to the ER. I was pretty concerned at this point.
At the ER, his O2 stats were fine (which let me breathe a sigh of relief), but they were concerned that his fever wasn't responding. An hour after giving the meds, it had risen to almost 103. So, they gave him an IV and administered fluids and drew blood and got a nasal swab to rule out any really nasty viruses. Everything checked out fine, so they gave us instructions for Tylenol and Motrin dosing for fever reduction (which is apparently higher than that for pain relief). Almost 7 hours after the ordeal began, we returned home. And Carder slept between us for the next several nights - this gave Derek and I both some peace of mind.
So, it was quickly decided that we wouldn't be heading to Derek's parents. They decided to come to our house. We have a 3 bedroom home (meaning we only have 1 extra bed) and we had enough company coming that we needed 3 sleeping spaces. They arrived on Christmas Eve with all of the fixings for Christmas dinner and lots of presents and love for little Carder. Carder helped us open some of his gifts and was generally the cutest little boy in the world - just with really tired eyes and the tendency to cry and cling to Mommy.
Here are a few pictures of Christmas.
They stayed less than 24 hours and it was nice to have his family there for Christmas, but I swear the place was like National Lampoons Christmas Vacation - down to the huge dog (Sarah has a Great Dane/Black Lab mix) that our little Murfy was bound and determined to out-bark. So, as nice as it was to see them arrive, it was nice to have the house quiet again as well. And Carder - even though he felt terrible and kept a fever pretty much the whole time - was a trouper through it all. Although he ate like absolute shit (I was really concerned that we would have to take him back to the hospital for another IV of fluids.)
By the Monday after Christmas, Carder was still running a fever of over 102, so we took him back to his Ped's office. By now, he has acquired 2 nasty ears - one that is irritated and the other that is "really angry". I am not sure if you would consider this a double ear infection, but he is now on an antibiotic and has to follow up with the Ped again on the 16th.
Carder's fever seems to be gone now and he seems to finally be on the mend. I am so glad that my little man is starting to feel better.
As if this wasn't enough Holiday drama, Christmas evening I gained some new symptoms. I began running a fever and began to have stomach issues. Within 24 hours, the worst had passed but I still felt pretty rough through Tuesday evening. And by Tuesday - Derek had the stomach bug.
As if this saga wasn't long enough, my cold symptoms that had eased up have now returned with a vengeance. I have a terrible dry, barky cough and I am so tired of being sick...
I am hoping for a healthy New Year...
2 comments:
he is stinking CUTE!
This sounds like our Thanksgiving. He has the sweetest lips. Hope everyone is better quickly!
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