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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Oh So Croupy

it has been a super rough 24 hours in our house. really, really rough. the only reason i'm blogging about this, when i have so much other stuff to post, is that even though this day has been hard, i am thankful for my children. and i know how blessed i am to have them. plus, the hard days make the sweet days so much sweeter! =)

yesterday, we had to go to Jackson, TN for a funeral. Ben's great Aunt Jenny passed away the day after Christmas. the funeral was at 2pm which meant we had to leave home at 10 am, meet family for lunch & then go to the funeral. after the burial, we had to go to see some family. so we made 2 stops, one in Greenfield & then back in Jackson. we didn't get back home until 8:30 pm. Jack & Jovie had to go the ENTIRE day without naps. that's a total of 3 missed naps & it was not easy. Jovie was running a fever the whole day with a terrible cough & Jack just wasn't himself.

we got home, gave the kids some tylenol, put them in bed & then crashed into bed ourselves. at about 11:30pm Jovie woke up, sounding terrible. her voice was so hoarse & her cough was so dry. we changed her diaper, took her temp, gave her ibuprofen & made her a bottle. she drank a couple ounces of her formula & then started fussing. we could not get her back to sleep. we tried giving her a warm bath, rocking her, singing to her & giving her meds at the appropriate times. but it was to no avail. i have never seen her so miserable. at 1:30 am i finally decided to load her up in the car & drive her around. i figured the motion of the car would lull her to sleep & maybe she could rest for just a bit. i drove around town until 3:10 am. at that point, she had slept for about an hour, off and on. but i was so exhausted that i was scared i would begin to doze off unless i went home.

got home at 3:10 am. once we got inside, she woke up and began fussing. we did the bath, bottle, medicine routine. we were finally able to get her to sleep at 5am. and she slept until 8:30. she woke up with a fever, of course. Jack woke up 15 minutes later with a nasty cough & temp of 101.5: i was able to get them into one of the doctors in our Peds group. Dr Bubba is out on vacation, so we had to see Dr Senter. i've seen him before & he was great but today he was a little short with me & impatient with my kids. really made me miss Dr Bubba! ha!

he diagnosed both kids with Croup. but, i think Jack has strep. (and if he does, it would be the 4th time. ugh.) he prescribed Prednisone & sent us on our way. when we left the doctor, it was pouring down rain & i had to go into Target, with both kids, to fill the Rx and get some diapers & more meds. lovely.

both kids were so fussy & cranky in Target. i felt terrible for them. the pharmacist told me that the Prednisone (a steroid) might make them anxious, hyper, super hungry & thirsty & give them insomnia. perfect. we rushed out to the car in the rain & i gave them the medicine before we even left the parking lot. we got home & i tried to lay them both down for naps. Jovie slept an hour & woke up with fever & cough. big shocker. Jack slept 2 hours & woke up sweating with fever, red eyes & the chills. at this point, my nerves were shot & exhaustion was kicking in. Ben had to leave to finalize some paperwork for Revision, so i had both kids for a few hours. they took 2 baths (Jack pooped in the tub, yay! not.) had some frozen lemonade to soothe their throats & plenty to drink.

my house is a complete disaster. seriously. clutter, laundry, toys, diapers & pacis are everywhere. i can't pick up or cook b/c both kids want to be held, by mommy. i was able to get Jovie to sleep at 8:15. Ben got home at 8:30 & we put Jack down at 8:45. WHEW. and GOOD GRIEF.

the kids have been asleep for a little over 2 hours and i am praying, oh so very hard, that they stay that way. i have never seen 2 more exhausted little ones. and it breaks my heart to see them this sick.

tomorrow, ben & i will celebrate 4 years of marriage. we planned, over a month ago, to have my mom keep our kids. we were going to go to dinner & then stay overnight at Peabody Hotel. we were looking forward to getting lots of sleep! we planned on sleeping in & then going to a matinee movie before picking up our kids. but, since both J & J are so sick, we decided to cancel. we just can't ask my mom to keep 2 sick babies & we wouldn't be able to enjoy ourselves knowing our kids are so sick. as soon as they get back to sleeping through the night then we will reschedule. we are a little bummed out but our kids are way more important than a night out.

i'll be honest. the past 2 days have been so stressful. and at times, i've even found myself pitying my situation. however, the Lord has used this time to humble me. a couple days ago, i came across a girl's blog, she is struggling heavily with infertility. but her faith is strong & she is really encouraging. the Lord reminded me, several times today, that i am blessed to have 2 sick kids to care for right now. even in the yuckiest, most feverish, croupiest, sleepiest days, i am blessed to a mother. i need to be humbled in this way so that i never feel obligated in my responsibility of caring for my kids.

if you read this, bless you. i know it its terribly long. i just ask that you would please pray for my children. their little bodies are so exhausted & they feel terrible. they need rest & so do we!

so thankful for my children and my very helpful, attentive hubby. hoping we all rest well tonight!


2 comments:

Kayla said...

Hey girlie! So sorry to hear about your kids being so sick. I am not a mom so I don't have a whole lot of advice about sick children. Audrey if you need any help cleaning, cooking, or need someone to watch the kids so you can take a nap. I am more than willing to help. You and Ben deserve any help that Terry and I could ever offer. I know you are a great mom, but I also know that a really great friend of mine is stressed and needs a BREAK. Auds if you need anything just call. Love you guys. I am praying for you guys.
-Kayla:)

Ben and Audrey said...

thanks sweet friend! we love you & wish we got to see you more than once a week! y'all need to come up to cordova & visit us sometime! we can hang out & watch a movie! love you!

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