Sick Sick Sick

The babes are sick. Both of them. At the same time. Phew. Once again, I'm so very thankful that my parents live five miles away...

Lincoln's alleged illness is strange. He's been running a low-grade fever for months now. It hovers between 99.4 and 99.7, all the time. Everyone says, "Don't worry. That's just his 'normal' temperature." While that might be the case I still decided to keep a close eye on him and I probably became overly paranoid, as any good Mom should, right? I noticed a rash that would appear on the back of his legs when he's exposed to heat (bathtub, outside - remember, it's summer in VA) and he intermittently complained about bright lights. And I do mean intermittently. He could go five days without out one complaint and then wake up from a nap covering his eyes, squinting and crying, "Eye, Mama, eye!" I brought him to the pediatrician last week to have him checked.  His physical examination checked out great but the doctor agreed that his symptoms were strange and needed to be pursued.  We agreed that if he didn't show improvement over the next week then we would do blood work.  I was instructed to follow-up with him this week.

Here he is patently waiting in the doctor's office last week.  Such a big boy.  

Sure enough, he didn't show any signs of improvement.  At about this same time Ava slowly started coming down with something.  Her illness appeared to be a cold except that it was getting worse.  Despite her ailing health she was still up for baking a Blueberry Blackberry pie :-)

I had to take a picture of this because as soon as she started stirring the flour/sugar in with the berries she said, "This looks just like fresh snow on a bunch of penguins!"  I love her imagination.  

Here she is practicing squeezing a lemon...

The pastry chef with her finished product!  

(Disclaimer: pies intimidate me so I don't make them often.  Therefore, I have yet to master the "pinching" technique and I obviously made the 'A' too big.  It was still delicious!)

Anyway, back to the illnesses.  I planned on following up with the pediatrician about Lincoln on Wednesday.  Conveniently, both kids woke up sick sick sick on Wednesday morning.  Ava was miserable with her congested head and smoker's cough and Lincoln had a fever and was utterly miserable.  Honey tagged along to the doctor's office with me which was great seeing as how we were there for two hours.  I gave Lincoln Ibuprofen before we went to the doctor's office because he was so miserable.  His temperature still registered at 103.6!!  He had awful chills and he was tired beyond tired.  I was so thankful we were sitting in the doctor's office during all this rather than at home.  Poor baby fell asleep on my shoulder while waiting and he was whimpering and shaking in his sleep.

The pediatrician examined Ava first and she was such a good girl.  She climbed onto the examining table all by herself and did everything he asked.  She giggled and chatted.  He diagnosed her with some bronchial something or other that's accompanied by a sinus this and that.  Apparently it has been going around.  He fixed her up with some cough syrup and an antibiotic.  By now Lincoln was awake...and not happy.  The pediatrician examined him.  While Lincoln was crying on the examining table Ava climbed up on the attached foot-stool and gently reassured Lincoln.  She is such an awesome person!  Linc's throat was REALLY red and raw but he tested negative for strep.  The doc said he has some sort of tonsillitis.  He didn't diagnose him beyond that but he took good notes and did a thorough physical exam.  He sent us downstairs to have blood work done.  He said we'll know more once he's had a chance to review his blood results.  In the meantime, he gave Linc the same medicine he gave Ava.  Linc didn't like having his blood taken but who does?  Sure enough, his sister stood by his side during the whole ordeal and she even teared up on his behalf.

It was lunchtime by the time we were heading home and Lincoln kept asking for pizza.  Ha, he loves pizza.  He ate a little then requested to watch "Cars."  He positioned himself on the couch and tuned into his favorite movie.  I finished eating my lunch then checked on him.

I had to take a picture for obvious reasons...    

Poor baby passed out like this.  We had to wake him up to give him his medicine and then he was so thankful to see his bed.  Honey was kind enough to hang out at the house with Ava while Linc napped so I could run to the grocery store to stock up on sick kids provisions.  I got plenty of frozen pizzas for Linc and all the ingredients to make my Grandma's vegetable soup.  He hasn't been interested in eating anything :-(    

Unfortunately, Linc didn't nap for long.  Also, he woke up at 4 a.m. (which is when his Motrin wore off).  After another dose of medicine and some cuddles he was back in bed by 5 a.m.  

Now it's 11 a.m. and he's still sleeping...which is why I've been able to write all this.  I haven't heard from the doctor's office yet about his lab results.  Hopefully we'll hear today and not tomorrow.  Hopefully it turns out to be nothing more than your run-of-the-mill virus.  

Ava is feeling much better today and she slept well last night.  That's a relief.  

Poor Chris has had to prepare for a final exam through all of this.  Hopefully he pulls it off tonight. 

I'm tired and I think I'm more emotionally drained than I am physically tired.  It truly breaks my heart when my babies are this sick.  I just want to make it better and I can't.  It's stressful and frustrating and draining.   

I'll update once I have more information on Lincoln.  I can't believe I just wrote all this and in such detail, too...