I CAN'T SHAKE THE FEELING THAT MY HOUSE STILL SMELLS LIKE THIS!

Yep, now it is the Ringroses' turn for this stomach virus that is going around. It started off this morning when Scott told me that he had been up all night in the bathroom. He had the nerve to blame me because I went to see Dillon last night. Uh. . . I don't think so. I am sure that it takes a little longer then 6 hours to start showing symptoms. He begged me to take him to the ED at about 9am. I told him they wouldn't be able to do anything for him, what is he point? I then told him to call his dr. first and find out what they suggest. He called the dr at about 9:40 but he was told that he would have to make an appt. The receptionist wouldn't let him speak to a nurse or the doctor over the phone! So he had an appt scheduled for 11:30 am. Meanwhile I could tell he really wanted to talk to a real person so I suggested he reach out to the nurse helpline with my insurance company. He called and the nurse on the other end suggested that if the intense pain that he is feeling does not go away in an hour then he should go to the ED. Wow, an insurance company suggesting you go to the ED. By 11 am, his breathing became labored and I began to worry for the first time. I remembered back to when I had the most awful stomach bug ever when I was about 5 months pregnant with Penny when I couldn't keep anything down for about 36 hours and I actually lost weight! I felt some cramping then too, but I attributed it to when it went out the other end. (i know, tmi) I felt that Scott could handle a little pain. But I forgot, he is a man and we all know they are such babies. At least, that was how I honestly felt at about 11:15 when I was driving him to the hospital. We were seen to almost right away and the doctor was wicked nice. Dr. B really listened to him and took his concerns seriously. Scott was scheduled for a CT Scan so Penny and I decided to leave at this point and come back when Scott was ready to be discharged.

While Scott was feeling miserable upstairs, this morning was kind of normal with Penny, I made her some eggs and fed her breakfast while getting Nathaniel ready for school. She was clingy afterwards and whiny which is really unlike her, especially so soon after getting up. I figured she must have woken up earlier then I thought and decided she must be tired so I gave her a bottle of milk and prune juice just like she prefers it. :) I even warmed up the bottle because it was really frigid in our house and I decided that I like my hot tea or coffee in the morning, she would certainly enjoy some warm milk. Within twenty minutes or so she projectile vomited the milk and her breakfast of eggs. She was coughing a little before she got sick and I though maybe she gagged on herself and it was not related to Scott being sick. (me, ever the optimist!!) Well, about thirty minutes after that she threw up again! This time I was able to run her to the bathroom and most of it got in the toilet. What was strange was that she was just so darn happy in between bouts that again, I thought this must have been a coincidence. I changed Penny and we brought Scott to the ED. While we waited for triage Penny was sitting on my lap and began to cough and then. . . you guessed it. She threw up on me! She was not happy about this but after I cleaned her up she was happy again.

When Penny and I left Scott to his CT scan, I decided to meet my mother for lunch at Friendly's because I was still not convinced that Penny was actually truly sick. Five instances of vomiting within 1/2 day is not enough for me. She did not exhibit a fever and she was happy and playful, not lethargic or cranky. I gave her some apple juice while she waited for her lunch of mac and cheese. Well, after only 2 bites of the lunch, she lost it again. We finished out our meals because as long as she wasn't upset, I decided to stick around. I let her have some ice cream and she tolerated that well. At home I put her down for a nap and she went right to sleep. I was feeling bad at that point since she did not eat too much, but she showed no indications of being hungry, so I tried to push those guilty feelings aside.

Penelope was sleeping when I got the call from Scott at 4:30 that I could pick him up. I had to wake her up, but she didn't get too mad at me. This is about the time that she usually would wake up from her nap anyway. Nathaniel, Penny, and I drove to get Scott and on the way home he told me that they diagnosed him with diverticulitis that was probably provoked by the stomach bug. Diverticulitis can cause vomiting and diarrhea on it's on, but it would be too much of a coincidence that Penny was sick too. I think it is more likely that he was sick with a bug first.

At home, Scott went right to bed and I spent some time downstairs with my happy little girl. She had a dinner fit for champions : Saltines and Pedialyte. I guess I am very blessed that she will eat Saltines on her own. She did spread some crushed saltines ALL OVER MY LIVING ROOM. Who know that 5 saltines could cover such a large diameter of area? About one hour into play, her bottom made so much noise and there was a very large mess for spread everywhere for me to clean up. I feel like I am still trying to get the stench out of the air. I just put her down to bed and I she hasn't made a peep. Nathaniel is out at McDonald's night with my brother Joey. His treat no less; what a guy!

I just hope that all of my babies wake up all healthy tomorrow. Good night!!

Update on Dr.'s appt.

Penny had her 18 month check up:

weight: 23 lbs 6.5 oz - 40% on the typical chart
height: 33" - 60% on the typical chart
and her head circumfrence is still in the 4th percentile.

But, she now has an ear infection. I knew something was brewing by the way she always was rubbing her ear, but when she was checked last Wednesday, Dr. S said that her ears looked great. I was so happy that she made it to 18 months without one single ear infection. I should have knocked on some wood! So I was wondering how one has an ear infection on day 6 of antibiotics. hmmmm. She is getting changed over to oral ancef (whatever that is called these days) and she will be on that for 7 days. She just can't catch a break. At least she hasn't had a fever since Saturday. Ok, I need to find a forest to knock on now!

Day 2

Well, today we go to Penny's 18-month well baby check up. I will update later on how that goes. I just feel so bad for her because she is certainly not well. She hasn't had a bowel movement since Saturday (and that was a little one), and she still has a crackel in her chest. POOR BABY!!! I hope she gets back to her normal soon.

did I mention

I took her to the doctor Wed afternoon because of a fever on that day and she was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. She has been on antibiotics since Wednesday evening so I hope she will start to feel better soon.

And not so I sound like a horrible mother, I did ask the Dr. if it would be ok to take her to OSV on Thanksgiving, because if he said no, I would have stayed home for sure. He said that the fresh air might do her good and that it really is up to how miserable she is.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Nathaniel told me he is thankful for God, because if it wasn't for God, none of us would exist! lol.

We were able to make it to Old Sturbride Village for a Thanksgiving banquet. We got there early since we wanted to look around the living museum, but Penny was just so miserable. I felt so bad but we paid a lot for these dinner tickets so we tried it out and Penny made it through dinner ok with the help of some Tylenol. Then I took Penny back to the car so Scott and Nathaniel could enjoy another hour or so of the museum and she slept the entire hour and a half as well as the 45 minute ride back home. Then she slept until 5 or 6 when we realized that she was burning up. Scott took her temp and it was 104.1!!! I called the pediatrician's office first and left a message with the answering service to make sure that a 104 temp doesn't mean she should go the hospital. 40 minutes and a 2nd phone call to the answering service to make sure I had given them the right number for the doctor to call, and we just gave her more Tylenol. By the time we did get a call back at about 8 pm, she was feeling well enough to have dinner and terrorize our living room as usual. Since she was playing the dr. wasn't too concerned.

But we did have a lovely dinner. There was ham, turkey, apricot glazed carrots, broccoli and cheese Au gratin, mashed potatoes, a crudites table with home made pounded cheese, mac and cheese, and homemade cranberry sauce that was out of this world. Not to mention butternut squash bisque and salad fixin's. The desert table was wonderful too. There was this Indian bread pudding that was delicious. Their coffee was so wonderful too that I swear I thought there was alcohol in it. lol. I just wish Penny could have enjoyed it more.

Well, good night!!! I will post pix this weekend when I have more time I am sure.

Prayerss for Dillon

My friend Mel is having her heart broken tonight because Dillon is not feeling well. Please pray that he had a mild bug and that he will be getting better soon.

My Penny was doing better during the day, but I am very concerned what tomorrow morning is going to be like. I hope that it is not worse or as bad as this morning. I don't like to see her so upset!

Poor Penelope!

Yesterday morning Penny was up at 6:30 screaming because she couldn't breathe comforatbly. She had stridor (Does your child make a harsh, high-pitched sound when he or she breathes in (stridor)? and had that croupy cough that makes you worried. She seemed to calm down quickly so I went to work and left her with Scott.

Well, this morning, she woke up alarmed about at 5 am. Not only was she breathing funny due to the stidor and the croup, but she got her self so upset she would go into these fits where she made herself really stiff and with her clenched hands she would rub and hit herself all over her ear-temple region on the head. This was accompanied by an even more shrill scream. Her poor throat must have been on fire. She wouldn't take liquids and there was nothing we could do to calm her down. She didn't seem to be turning blue and because she was crying loudly we knew she was breathing somewhat, but no parent wants to see their child in so much pain. At 5:40, yes, forty minutes, I was starting to think we should take her to the ED because I was so concerned that she was not going to be able to calm herself and breathe right. Instead I called the pediatrician and was told by the answering service that I would be getting a call back from a nurse first. Now, I have a lot of respect for nurses, but if I wanted to talk to a nurse I could have called my insurance company's 24-hour helpline. I told the answering service about her heart defect and that I would really rather have the doctor call me, but she said that this is how it is done now. Does this seem wrong to anyone else or am I over reacting? I don't know. The nurse called back within 5 minutes and suggested we run the shower. The steam did help and after the 15 minutes or so Penny seemed happier. She stopped crying and even smiled a bit when I played our "Peeyew stinkie feet!" game. We were called back by the nurse and she listened to Penny's breathing over the phone to tell us that we could bring her in during office hours if we wanted to. (Our pediatrician has 9am to 12 pm hours on Saturday.) I decided not to because, they aren't going to be able to do anything for her. Croup just has to run its course. I just feel bad because it is clear she isn't moving that phlemgh that she is trying to hard to get out.

Does anyone else have any suggestions out there? She has been playing fine since we got back up at 8am (yes! she went back to sleep thank God), and she ate a pretty hefty lunch, but I am worried for tomorrow morning.