The 3 am virus

Last week, Kiddo woke up on Wednesday morning at 3 am unable to breathe or talk. We managed to prop him up enough with pillows (horizontal apparently caused too much mucus draining) and he slept well the rest of the night, no more episodes like that, though he has been stuffed up and has a cough. Fast forward nearly a week. Kutey woke up Tuesday morning, at 3 am, complaining of her throat. Propped her up, and she went back to sleep. She woke up in the morning with absolutely no sign that she was sick. Not a sniffle, not a cough, no sore throat, nothing. Hmmm. Thought we had gotten off easy.

Until last night, when she woke up again, somewhere near 3 am (I can't say for sure when it was, I was up for what felt like forever with her). She was having a terrible time breathing, that wheezy, honking thing that is called something officially, but I don't know what. I ended up taking her outside twice (thanks to my friend N, the nurse practitioner, for that advice!). It helped so much the first time, that the second time she asked to go outside. It was less than 20 degrees out there, but it helped so much that she didn't care. The moon was beautiful, by the way, made it quite a lovely night to stand outside. I ended up sleeping sitting up holding her (at her request) for the rest of the night. In all cuteness, when I asked her about it this morning, she said she wanted to sleep in my arms because she could breathe there. The way she said it made me happy I could comfort her.

We have dubbed this the 3 am virus. Don't know what it is exactly, but it seems to be at its absolute worst at 3 am. Kutey is coughing today, but much better than last night. Let's hope the kids are the only ones who get this!

Lucky

Kiddo is ill today. He doesn't get sick often, which is great, but he has a sore throat and a honking cough that woke him in the middle of the night (2:33 am to be precise). He slept until nearly 11 am! He has mostly lounged about since then. We played LEGO Hogwarts (my favorite of the LEGO board games we own), but he hasn't done much else.

Kutey, on the other hand, was up at 8:30, snuggled with me, ate her breakfast, and dove right in to her school work. By the time Kiddo got up, she was done with what I wanted her to complete today.

She is also being a very good sister. Kiddo has but to ask and she is on it. Want crackers? She'll get them. Water? Sure! A blanket from your bed? Absolutely. My kids help each other out a lot. They are close. But seeing Kutey so willing to help her brother out, not because I am making her, but because she wants to, makes me feel so lucky. Lucky that my kids actually enjoy each other much of the time. Lucky that they get to spend so much time together. And lucky that it hasn't backfired on me and made them despise each other!

A long Wednesday

Wednesday was one of those days where things just flowed. Kiddo worked through his math and spelling (Explode the Code 6 words while we wait for book 7 to arrive). He read, he did Spanish, we did history, including quite a bit of extra exploration on the computer. Kutey read another book to me, played a game on Starfall, and did Spanish, too! She sat with us while we did history. Around lunch time, Kutey started complaining that her throat was "dry," kid-speak for sore. She went to lay down without eating lunch. I suspected it was a cold, maybe allergies, nothing more.

Kiddo and I continued our day. He participated in CurrClick's Lego club focused on simple machines. I learned that I don't need to order pieces if we don't have them for the build. I did that this time, but they have yet to arrive. Kiddo managed to do all the builds anyway. He modified them on the fly to fit the pieces he had. Yep, that'll teach me. I have pictures, but since the second meeting hasn't happened yet, I can't post them. Once the last one has happened, I'll post the pictures along with some of the other things we did to extend our learning.

I checked in on Kutey at this point. She was still not herself. I let her watch some TV, and Kiddo and I moved on to nature study. That's right, we managed to get in NATURE STUDY! It helps that we have sort of skipped science since we don't have the correct equipment, or even equipment that will work.

Our nature study for the day consisted of going out an sketching leaf buds on three different trees in our yard. We also measured them and recorded the weather conditions. The idea is to do this every couple of days until the leaves have come out fully. The idea is from Journey North. They have some great stuff there! The weather was cool. As we were sketching our final leaf buds, it started to sprinkle! So we dashed back inside to avoid getting too wet.

When we came in, I went to see Kuety again, and she said she was done with TV. I knew something was up then. She never wants me to turn off the TV. But I did. She wanted me, so I was holding her as she complained that her brain hurt--kid-speak for a headache. Then it happened. She told me she needed to throw up, so we beat it to the bathroom. Afterward I took her temp. 101. Again? Sigh. Somewhere in the back of my head, though, I remembered that vomiting and a sore throat are symptoms of strep. So I called my friend, who is a ped. nurse practitioner. Her response was what I suspected. The upside, if it was strep, antibiotics would make her feel much, MUCH better. We had to wait for hubby to get home, and Kutey was ready for a nap, anyway.

I decided the best plan was to try out Target Clinic. They handle strep tests, and it is less than half the cost of going to the clinic. At this point, it was either there or urgent care not at our clinic. Urgent care is more expensive yet. Given I was 90% certain it was strep, Target seemed the best option. Hubby and Kiddo came with, because Kutey was threatening to throw up again. I needed to sit with her. She made it all the way to the clinic, then threw up all over me, all over her, all over the floor. Sigh. Here is where being at Target was helpful. I sent hubby to buy her clothes. Anything that was cheap and would fit. Once we were checked in, they took us to the exam room, where the nurse practitioner diagnosed strep before the test even came back calling her a classic case. The test came back positive before we left the office. She sent the prescription straight to the pharmacy--another benefit to being at Target. Kutey and I went to the car, Hubby and Kiddo waited for the antibiotics.

We gave her antibiotics when we got home (after another vomiting incident, sigh.), and she went right to sleep. By the time Kutey woke up 12 hours later, one dose of antibiotics in, she was a different kid. So much better. Now, if everyone else just stays healthy...

104.4

No, that isn't a radio station. It is a temperature. Specifically, it was Kutey's temperature yesterday on our second trip to the doctor this week. Monday was the first, on day 5 of her fever. She tested positive for influenza, so we were sent home--fluids and rest.

But the fever got worse. It fluctuates greatly. She'll have no fever in the morning, but by mid-afternoon, she is feverish again. Wednesday she started complaining her ear hurt. Wednesday night she didn't sleep. She cried and said "ouchy, ouchy, ouchy," all night long. Thursday morning it was back to the doctor.

And that is where the 104.4 temperature was recorded. And an ear infection (with rupture) was diagnosed.

She is on antibiotics now, which are helping. She had no fever this morning, but she does again now. 9 days of fever and counting.

Why do kids always seem sickest in the middle of the night?

We spent yesterday pondering whether or not Kutey's cough was getting worse and whether or not Kiddo was getting sick. By the time they went to bed, they seemed OK. Kiddo was likely getting a cold, but Kutey seemed no different than she has for the last couple of weeks. She has a lingering cough, but my Pediatric Nurse Practitioner friend didn't seem concerned when she heard it on Thursday. Even when I said it had been around for a few weeks. So we all went to bed.

Kutey woke up at 1 am and called for me. She sounded worse, but I expected to be able to go in and get her to go back to sleep. When I opened the door to her room, however, it became apparent something different was going to happen. She was struggling to breathe, it sounded completely wheezy. I brought her to our room, so she wouldn't wake up Kiddo, and held her for a bit, trying to calm her down, poor miserable thing. Then I tried to lay her down again so we could all go to sleep. No go. I tried propping her up, since being vertical seemed to help. Nope. So I propped myself up with pillows, and laid her on my chest, and tried to relax her, while in my head I am frantically wondering whether we need to be at the ER, whether it is worth waking up my PNP friend, and absolutely not sleeping. Neither was hubby.

Eventually (it felt like HOURS, but really, it was only about an hour), I was able to lay Kutey down and her breathing had eased. She slept the rest of the night (I, on the other hand, woke up several times, just to make sure she was still breathing!). She woke up this morning at about 9, chipper as all get out, ready for breakfast, seeming none the worse for the night. Yes, she has a cough, but no fever, and certainly nothing that is raising any concern.

Why do they only seem terribly sick at night, when I am to tired to be rational? Why?

I guess I should just be grateful it seems to have been brief. Hopefully we will all sleep tonight...