Week and a Half from HE**!

Poor Eleanor on the nebulizer machine

Seriously, the last week and a half has been the week from He** for this family! It all started last Tues. (the day of Caroline's Christmas Show) when Caroline and Eleanor woke up miserable. I brought them to the pediatrician and Caroline had a single ear infection and Eleanor had a double ear infection. Two days later, on Thurs., Eleanor seemed worse and Caroline was coughing up a lung. I brought them back to the ped. and it turns out Eleanor had RSV and Caroline most likely had it too since it shows up as cold symptoms in older children and adults. Those of you that do not know what RSV is, it can be very scary and dangerous for babies since the virus cause difficulty breathing and affects the lungs. I was sent home from the ped. with a nebulizer machine to use on Ella 2-3 times a day to help her breathe better. By 4:00pm that afternoon she was getting worse and the ped. office told me to take her to the ER. So with Caroline in tow, we went to the ER and waited for Brett to join us. In the ER I had to hold down my poor little baby while they put a  catheter down her nostrils and the back of her throat to suck out what was preventing her from breathing properly. By Thurs. at about 6:00, she had only ate about 4 oz. and slept for all but 45 minutes of the entire day. After they used the catheter on her, though, she immediately drank a 4 oz. bottle since she was able to breathe again. By 7:00pm we were back on our way home when my right eye started feeling funny. When we got home, I went to take out my contacts only to discover that I had the beginnings of pink eye. Lovely. 

Friday morning we had to bring Ella back to the ped. office to get her checked and where I also asked her Dr. if their was anything she could give me for my eye, which thank goodness, she took care of for me. When we talked to the pediatrician we were also told that Eleanor (and to assume Caroline, too) was very contagious and to keep them both completely away from other children. There went any possiblity of my brother being able to come to our house with my 10 month old niece for Christmas, even though they were here visiting all the way from Angola, Africa. My parents were coming in for Indiana and my aunt and uncle were driving in from Abilene, TX. So now we had to figure out all the logistics of Christmas, now that my two girls were so contagious!

Eleanor seemed to be doing better on Friday, but by Sat. afternoon, after talking to the nurse on call when Eleanor was having trouble breathing again, we were sent back to the ER to have her sucked back out with the catheter.  

Monday we had to go back to the ped. office again to have her checked up on and we were told that she seemed to be improving, although we needed to continue the nebulizer treatments. Tues. afternoon I start coming down with a cold. great, just what I needed right now! Eleanor seemed to be improving though and Caroline didn't seem to be coughing as much. 

Friday afternoon Eleanor is back to not eating as much and acting very fussy. By Friday night she is only eating 2 oz and is inconsolable. Back to the ped. office in the morning (Sat.) only to find out that she has another ear infection, but thank goodness, the RSV has cleared up. I sincerely hope that after all that has happened in the last week and a half that we have cleared our house of germs and we will be healthy for the new year!!!