When it rains it pours!!!

So we have been on and off MIA these past few weeks.... and for very good reason.  Since ET has been born we have had to deal with one sickness and then another.  Most of you have already read my rant post about parents who bring their sick kids around healthy kids in turn getting them sick.  If you haven't read it here is the link:   My Rant :)

Since that post we have yet again been struck with sickness and health issues in our family.  So as you saw on my rant KJ was in the ER with her viral infection (croup) and received breathing treatments.  We then had to purchase her a nebulizer and her cough has gotten much much better.  We had a follow up appointment with our pediatrician and we were pleased by her progress.  While we were there I wanted to show our doctor something that had grown on ET...  

Boys naturally have little 'breast buds' from a week after birth to a few months old, because of the balancing of the mother's hormones after birth.  Well, ET's breast bud became large and red, which I didn't think was normal at that point.  After showing it to the doctor he said ET had mastitis.  This is a bacterial infection mostly seen in nursing mothers, but evidently infants can get it too!  So E was put on an antibiotic and we were sent home.

After a day of antibiotics the spot continued to swell and look very angry.  At E's 1am feeding the spot ruptured and lots of really gross stuff came out of it.  So we let it drain out and then put some first aid bandages on it.  We called the doctor in the morning and after getting a second opinion with a partner doctor, we were told to go to Mary Bridge Children's hospital in Tacoma.  There we were admitted and spent the next three days and two nights.

In the ER... it took them three different sites and four pricks to get his IV set up :(

List of everything they were giving him via IV.

So why did we spend so long at the hospital?  They were waiting for the culture to come back to verify that he didn't have Mercer and do make sure the IV antibiotics were working.  He ended up having a staph infection from the mastitis.  We were told there was nothing we could have done to prevent it since the staph bacteria live on our skin as normal bacteria.  It was a rough ordeal, but our story continues....

On the day we were discharged from the hospital with ET... my friend who was watching KJ sent me a text to let me know KJ had started with a fever.

Ugh... can't catch a break... Ended up taking KJ to urgent care the next day with a fever of 103.  She had an ear infection and throat infection (not strep).  We just had our follow up appointment with our pediatrician and both kids are on the mend!!!  We are all taking vitamin C along with our normal daily vitamins, and both kids are still on their antibiotics.  

So this is why my posts have been lacking these past two weeks.  But hopefully once all the kids in our household become well again, I can resume posting everyday :)  On a positive note (because I try to see the positive in all situations), we have all hit our insurance deductible for the year!!!!! :)