What a month!

 January was rough on us.  I think it was rough on a lot of people.  There was a lot of nasty stuff going around.  It started out with a bang on New Year's Day when Nate came into our room in the morning saying he wasn't feeling well and promptly threw up.  His stomach bug lasted a few days and of course as soon as he was all better the girls both got sick the same night.  That was a rough night, especially because Joe had to be up early in the morning for work so I was trying to let him sleep.  He still took a shift, though, and somehow we made it through.  Elizabeth was throwing up every 15 minutes or so.  Joe ended up giving her a blessing and soon after she was able to sleep.  So, it took a few days to recover from all of that.

Not long after that came the colds and coughs.  Nate got it first.  I tried so hard to keep him from coughing all over the baby but I guess it was a losing battle.  The girls got sick and then Elijah did, too.  For a few days he wasn't too bad.  He was definitely sick but still breathing pretty well and eating alright.  Then, about 4 days into it he had a terrible night followed by a terrible day.  He wasn't eating well at all and really seemed to be retracting.  I ended up taking him in to urgent care on the Saturday of MLK Jr. weekend.  They checked his pulse-ox and it was pretty low.  They told me he needed to go to the hospital.  They wanted to keep him on oxygen until he got there, too, so that had to transport him in an ambulance.  It was kind of frightening but honestly I was just glad by that point that he was getting the help he needed to breathe.  I was much more freaked out at home wondering what to do for him and feeling pretty powerless to help him.  Plus, it helped that I had been through this before when Natalie got RSV when she was just tiny.  I knew what to expect.

We made it to the hospital.  We spent a few hours in the ER:

They decided to admit him and finally got a room for us.  It was a shared room with another sick little 2 year old girl until she went home and we had our own room.  We spent two nights there in the hospital with Elijah on oxygen and getting the gunk suctioned out of him.

So that was how we spent our three day weekend.  That ended up being a blessing, though, since Joe had Monday off so he could be with the kids the whole time.  By the end of it, Eli was sleeping and eating a lot better.  I had to wonder at times if the whole hospital stay was worth it.  I could tell he was so stressed out by all the monitors and the nurses bugging him all the time.  That's just the nature of being in the hospital.  Still, I was glad that he got the help he needed to breathe.  It's just so scary with little newborns. 

By the end of the next week, he was doing a lot better and back to his happy little self.  Unfortunately we weren't out of the woods yet.  After avoiding all the sickness, I finally got hit with the cold.  It wasn't bad at first until January 29th, the day before Elizabeth's birthday.  I felt terrible that night.  Joe was gone for work, so he could  be home the next night for her birthday, and I was passed out on the couch.  Luckily Elizabeth knows how to make mac 'n cheese and the kids fended for themselves until bedtime.  I was feeling so feverish and just felt awful until about midnight when I woke up to feed Elijah and the fever had broken, thankfully.  Then, I had to get up early the next day for birthday festivities and it was just non-stop.  I was definitely blessed with extra strength.  After dealing with all the junk in my system for another week or so, I finally got over it and we've been pretty healthy ever since (knock on wood). 

So, it was a rough month.  But, there were blessings throughout--including a lot of help from family and our ward with meals and things.  The definite high point was celebrating Elizabeth's 8th birthday.  More on that next...