go away croup, we hate you.

I was hoping by now, I'd be able to report that the babies are healthy and life is back to normal.  Not yet.

Dexter was running a fever last Wednesday and a lower one on Thursday but it was gone by Friday.  Got Theo up, though, and guess what?  He felt hot.  So I took his temperature and it was 100.something.  He had a follow up from his ER visit at 8am so I decided not to give him ibuprofen right then and see what the doctor said.  His fever was still 99.something when we got there and the doctor was confused.  Let me tell you.  For the record, it's a pretty icky feeling when your child's doctor scratches his chin and says he just can't figure out what's wrong. 

He said his fever should not be back.  Croup peaks early and then symptoms go away gradually.  This was not the normal course for croup.  No strep.  No pneumonia.  No clue.  He did say that the steroid he'd received at the hospital should be wearing off, but the croup symptoms should be wearing off too. 

So, the conclusion was that he must have picked up another virus.  How?  Where?  We certainly hadn't been anywhere besides the hospital (I know, they're gross), but he didn't touch anything there.  So all weekend, he continued not eating and coughing his little head off, and being a pain in the rear because he was so grumpy.  Towards the beginning of the week-o-illness, I'd said he could eat whatever he wanted.  Cookies.  Ice cream.  Crackers.  Popsicles.  Whatever...it's calories, right.  I eat whatever sounds good to me when I feel like crap.

Backfire.  About 5 or 6 days in, he's eating crackers.  Lots of them at times.  But that's it.  I know for a fact that he loves pizza.  Meat loaf.  Peas.  Green beans.  Carrots.  But he absolutely refused to eat any of that.  Instead he walks around (or gets carried around as the case may be) and points at the junk food cabinet, saying "key-key?" and "cra-kah?"  So Saturday I put my foot down and said no more sweets.  He's pretty pissed.  It feels extra crappy telling your SICK kid they can't have this, they can't have that.  Especially when you've been letting him have those things all week.  Now he's confused.  And did I mention pissed?

Finally, Sunday afternoon, Theo started eating real food again.  It was touch and go, but I think his energy and appetite are almost back to normal.  He still has a nasty sounding cough (and he is still asking for a cookie every 5.2 seconds).

Poor, poor Deester.  My little baby now has a yucky sounding cough and it might hurt me as much as it hurts him.  I just want to take away all of their pain and discomfort and put it on myself.  It's been hard seeing Theo so sick for the last week, but oh man.  Seeing Dexter so miserable is a whole new ball game.  Babies that little just shouldn't be so sick.  We broke down and used the doctor's cell phone number around 5 on Labor Day and he agreed to call in a steroid for Dexter, in hopes of avoiding another late night at the ER. 

Life has been such a whirlwind these past couple of weeks.  The house is a mess.  The laundry isn't folded.  The dishes are dirty.  The shelves are dusty.  There have been several (more interesting) blog ideas that popped in and out of my head without getting written down.  I have missed lots of photo ops because my hands were full of babies.  There just hasn't been time to do anything in the midst of all the craziness.  And everything being so out of order adds to my own sense of crazy.  Not good. Oh, did I mention that we got a new roof last week?  Throw that into the mix for a little extra stress and excitement.

I'm hoping Dexter will feel better soon.  Mainly because I love that little human more than life itself and I just want my happy, healthy boy back.  But also (selfishly, perhaps) because we are supposed to visit with good friends this weekend and I'd be devastated if we can't get together.  And also because a new little bitty baby starts at the babysitter next Monday and I'd die if he got sick too.  Another thing that adds to my stress is that I have very little time that I can take off from work.  It's so hard being away from the babes, especially at night when croup gets really bad.   

Ok, enough about the sickness.  We are going to get better.  I'm willing it to happen today. 

hopeful,
~C~