The week didn't start off so well with the passing of our beloved Katie Pumpkin Pie. Then Iris became sick. She had a fever that she just could not kick. After two trips to the doctors, Wednesday night, I had to bring her to the emergency room. She had an unexplained high fever, almost 103 degrees. She was checked over by the ER doc and then was subjected to numerous tests. She was stuck with a needle to draw blood three times before it was successful. She had to have a small catheter placed into her bladder to get a clean urine sample, which took two tries and about 40 minutes. She had two chest x-rays. Five hours later the diagnosis - pneumonia. At midnight that night, the nurse shot her in the leg with an antibiotic (her 4th needle poke of the night) that she had never had before. The doc came in and told us she had pneumonia and wrote us a script for the antibiotic, and then sent us home. HOME. I was not at all comfortable with this. Iris was intubated at birth. Not for long, but long enough to make me nervous, as she had already experienced some lung trauma. Pneumonia seems very serious for a preemie baby with her history. Plus she was just shot with an antibiotic. I couldn't stop thinking about what I would do if she had a reaction to the medicine. But home went. Miss Iris spent the rest of the night snoozing right next to me in her car seat so I would hear if she started to have an issue. I did not get much sleep that night.
The rest of the week was very much the same. There were trips to the doctor’s office and medicine to dose. Both girls were fussy and Eli was a handful! Eli is starting to outgrow his nap time. Most days he no longer sleeps. He will play in his room for some quiet time, but he has started getting into mischief during this time. This week was no exception. By Friday morning I was spent. I was hoping for an easy day and it didn't look like it was going to be too bad when Jesse left. But about five minutes after he walked out the door both girls started crying and didn't stop for hours. Eli was asking over and over again for us to do something but I couldn't get the girls settled down. It was cold and rainy for most of the week. Everyone was just sick of being cooped up inside, tired, and not feeling well. And every time I turned around, Eli had taken all of his clothes and his diaper off and was running around the house naked. By 11:00 that morning, I found myself sitting on my dining room floor balling, calling Jesse telling him he had to come home, that it was too much, that I needed backup.
After the call, I picked myself up off the floor, gathered my strength, and tried once again to settle the girls. Finally they would eat. Finally, I was able to get them to stop crying. I felt my strength start to return. I called Jesse back and told him I thought we were going to be ok. I got the girls down for a nap. I sat down on the sofa and Eli came and cuddled up next to me. Then he made me laugh. I don't remember what it was that he said or did, but I remember we were both sitting on the sofa cuddling and laughing and laughing. It was just what I needed to get through the day.
Who Could Stay Mad at this Face?
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