Rollin' With the Punches . . . and Rolling, and Rolling, and Rolling . . .

Happy New Year to you all! I hope you were able to ring in the new year with a little more fun and relaxation than we were. Our Christmas and New Year were less than ideal, to say the least. Don't get me wrong, there was definitely wonderful time spent with family, but it was heavily seasoned with sickness and hospital bills . . .

Here's a quick break-down (or as quick as I can make it because my stories are usually looooong . . . just ask Dusty)

Dec. 22 - We headed back to my parents' house, Aiden had a cough.
Dec. 23 - Aiden's cough was worse, and he was breathing pretty hard while being active
Dec. 24 (Christmas Eve) - Aiden was up at 3 a.m. crying, with no shot of getting back to sleep. Dusty left at 3:30 a.m. to drive 3 hours back to Cedar Rapids to bring him to Urgent Care . . . That's the glory of our less than stellar health insurance: ER visits out of town are not covered unless deemed "life threatening." Aiden was diagnosed with croup, and Dusty picked up a prescription then drove back to my parents' house in time for the Christmas Eve service at 5:30 p.m.
Dec. 25-27 - Healthy and happy, and headed to Dusty's parents' on the 27th and spent a wonderful evening there . . .
Dec. 28 - Dusty's mom woke up with a horrible headache and went to rest in her room. Soon, she was throwing up. Not being sure if it was due to a migraine or possible stomach flu, we debated, then decided to head home to avoid getting the stomach flu. Aiden threw up an hour after we got home, and about every 15 minutes for 2 hours. We put him to bed early and he made it through the night with no vomiting.
Dec. 29 - We gave Aiden formula, Pedialyte, and food as he would take it, as directed by the nurse, but he threw up shortly after each.
Dec. 30 - Asher woke up crying at 1:30 a.m., and we knew why. Despite my frantic cleaning and disinfecting, he got sick. I spent the rest of that night laying on the floor with him in his room, while Dusty kept an eye on Aiden, who was still throwing up occasionally. Asher threw up 5 times in one hour, and then had a little reprieve, although neither of us got much sleep - Asher because he couldn't get comfortable, and I because I was paranoid every time he moved that he was going to vomit again. I brought Aiden to see his pediatrician, and we were told he was on the edge of dehydration. She prescribed an anti-nausea medication, and said if he couldn't keep anything down he would have to be hospitalized for 1-2 days and receive IV fluids.
Dec. 31 - Aiden was able to keep down fluids and was feeling somewhat better (prayer of thanks!), Asher was slowly mending, but Dusty secluded himself at about 4 p.m. feeling ill. He came down later that evening feeling somewhat better, but with a lingering feeling of nausea.
Jan. 1 - Everyone was feeling better in the morning, and the day looked promising. Dusty secluded himself again in the evening, feeling worse than the day before, positive that the flu was coming this time.
Jan. 2 - I got up with Aiden at 6 a.m., Asher was up at 6:15, and Dusty came down to say he had had no relief and was feeling worse than ever. We went to the ER at 6:30 a.m., and discovered Dusty had appendicitis and would have surgery later that day. Surgery went well and Dusty came home that night.
Jan. 3 - Recovery for Dusty
Jan. 4 - Aiden started running a fever that wouldn't go away. He was really fussy and inconsolable.
Jan. 6 - Fever hadn't quit so I took him to the doctor again . . . just a virus, but noticed all 4(!) of his top teeth were coming in. We prepared for lots of fussiness, and were not disappointed.
Jan 16 - Two weeks after Dusty's surgery and he was given the okay to lift more than 10 lbs. HALLELUJAH!! Doing all the holding, bed times, grocery carrying, garbage, and early morning wake-ups starts to wear on me, apparently. :)
Although both boys have colds right now, I'm hoping for some fair weather for a few weeks here . . .

Things I Learned:
* I am so, so, thankful for our families - without their support and help in driving down spur-of-the-moment, I might have had a mental breakdown (okay, I may have had a few tearful phone conversations with my mom, but I could have been worse!)
* Trying to keep an almost 1-yr-old from crawling around on the ER floor is nearly impossible and incredibly frustrating
* It is possible to function on little to no sleep (at least for a period of time), no matter how daunting it seems at the time . . . but it's really crappy
* To "power through" times like that, I found that my technique is to literally not think about how bad it is (financially, emotionally, physically). I can't dwell on it, or I won't make it through and keep my sanity.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers during all of our illness - they were much appreciated, and won't be forgotten! I fervently hope all of you are having a healthy, happy, new year thus far.

Christmas Eve