House of the Sick

This last week has been pretty miserable.

It started last Sunday with Jewel being extra fussy. She cried a lot and didn't want to take her naps. That night she came down with a high fever. She spent a good part of the night crying and pulling at her ears. So, I assumed that she had another double ear infection. Since she had just overcome some ear infections, and I had given her antibiotics for it, I was loathe to give her any more drugs. The fact that I had just finished treating both her and I for thrush added weight to my reluctance.
Here is baby Jewel with a purple mouth from being treated with Gentian Violet for treating the thrush.

So I decided to wait another 24hrs before taking her to the doctor. I tried some herbal and homeopathic remedies. None of it seemed to help. That night she was worse with more fever and hours of inconsolable crying. I was really worried about her, and decided I had to take her into the Doctor to make sure it really was her ears, because what if it were something worse?

I left all the kids with my sister and got Jewel checked out. My pediatrician gave me good news and bad news. The good news was that her ears were fine. No sign of an infection. The bad news is that she definitely was sick with a virus which meant there was not much any of us could do about it. We'd just have to wait it out.

That very night, Angel got a really high fever. No matter how hot her head burned, she said she felt cold and was shivering. The next morning she began complaining of ear pain. We thought she probably caught the cold Jewel has and maybe we could treat her earache with natural remedies instead of making another long trip to the doctor. Since we knew a virus was the main cause, antibiotics might not have done anything anyway.
Here is Angel feeling sick with a fever, happily snuggling down under her favorite blankies.

The day after Angel got sick, Duckie began wilting. Little happy, bouncy Duckie who is usually bouncing off the walls and getting into mischief, sat drooping on the couch. I could tell just by looking at her eyes that she had a fever. Her fever lasted 3 days, with occasional stomache pain. I'm assuming that Duckie got the same cold that Jewel and Angel had, but that their symptoms manifested themselves differently.

The worst part of Jewel's illness was her congestion. She was so congested she could eat hardly anything. It was very frustrating for both her and me. She'd try to eat, and then choke, and then cry and cry in frustration and rage. After a few days, she stopped trying to nurse at all, and would just cry because she was hungry. I had to pump breastmilk to keep myself from getting an infection. Jewel could drink from a bottle and eat baby food, but she couldn't nurse. Even when her congestion started to break up, it took a while to convince her to nurse again because she had developed such a negative experience around it. Heartbreaking!

Thankfully, that only lasted a day or two. I'm not sure I could handle much more of it. Nobody in the house was getting any rest. We used a lot of steam (warm moisture) and baby vicks vapour rub to give her as much comfort as we possibly could. Baby Jewel could only sleep if she was mostly upright. By Thursday, her severe congestion began to break up. I am so grateful to see her getting better now after a week of illness. It's so nice to sleep at night again instead of spending hours walking the house with a screaming baby. It's so nice to see her being happy and smiling again! She's finally letting me put her down to play instead of demanding to be held 24/7.

So far, Einstein and Louisa are the only ones who haven't gotten ill. Manly and I have both felt under the weather during this week, but we feel like we've fought the cold off. Having 3 kids sick at once was pretty crazy. Nothing in the house got done, and even dinner fell by the wayside. Everyone had to fend for themselves part of the time.

I'm so happy that everyone seems to be on the mend. Angel's ear is still bothering her a little bit, but she doesn't have a fever anymore, and I think it is making progress. I'm crossing my fingers that it stays that way! There's nothing like a little opposition to make you appreciate your own health and that of your family's! Good health it truly one of the greatest blessings that anyone can have!

Just today, however, Jewel has been crying again and pulling at her ears. I'm hoping it's just teething and not another earache!

I'm wishing and hoping for a very healthy 2009!