Goodness gracious, we have had quite the week in this household. As Koby said, what a way to begin our 8th year of marriage!
It started Thursday. Paige went on a nursing strike, which stressed me out. I could not force her to eat! And I had no idea why - nothing appeared to be wrong with her - until Saturday when she got sick with a fever. Ah ha, I thought. We just have to get through this and everything will go back to normal, she'll nurse again, just in time for her ear procedure on Friday. (She had her ear drum drained and tubes put in.) I can still nurse her through the pain. By Sunday night, her fever had pretty much gone away, but then Charlotte popped up Monday with the same fever. There went Monday and Tuesday. And Paige was still on her nursing strike - arg! My supply had already dropped quite a bit, and I was really beginning to worry about how I was going to comfort her on Friday after the mini-operation. She's never taken a bottle, but I always figured she would if she ever got hungry enough. Erroneous! Six days in, and she still refused a bottle, stubborn girl. Maybe it wouldn't stress anyone else out, but it was sending my anxiety levels through the roof. Not to mention, she was trying to make up for the lack of eating at night, so I was up multiple times each night. Anxiety and sleeplessness don't mix well!
We had a pre-op consultation for Paige's ear thing Wednesday, then I got sick that night. No fun! Luckily, I burned through mine overnight. Charlotte got sick again Thursday, and we thought it might be an ear infection, so we visited the pediatrician, who checked her out and said it was probably just some virus picked up in the way that only kids seem to know how to do. She did have a sore on the tip of her tongue, but it didn't seem related. I breathed a sigh of relief, drove home, and played with Paige. Now remember, Paige smiles and laughs so rarely, and when she does, it's not normally with a wide open mouth. But this afternoon, it was. She had her mouth gaping open as she laughed, and I happened to hold her just right, to where I saw as clear as day THRUSH all over the inside of her cheek! (For those that don't know, thrush is a fungal infection that can be very painful and affect nursing.)
All the puzzle pieces came together at once - relief at now knowing why she wasn't nursing, worry about it affecting all the ear stuff scheduled for two days away, and annoyance at ONE MORE THING happening. Luckily, the pediatrician didn't make me come back in, she just called in a prescription for Paige and instructed me to call my doctor and get the same prescription for myself. I called, but it turns out that my doc doesn't like prescribing that particular medicine to nursing mothers. I explained why we needed the strong stuff - an operation in two days - and the nurse hunted the doc down and got her to o.k. the meds. Whew, got that stumbling block taken care of. And hopefully she would start to nurse again and I would start to sleep again once the thrush was gone.
She didn't nurse any better, but luckily it didn't matter, because Paige's ear procedure went super well. Amazingly, she didn't cry with all the strangers. Everyone was so nice and we were in and out in about an hour. She cried so hard coming out of the anesthesia. It was a very odd feeling, not being able to console her. But she perked up once it fully wore off, then conked out in the car on the way home. Once we got home, Charlotte was grouchy and feverish, but Paige was happy. She never appeared to be in any pain, and she even took a couple of ounces out of a bottle, hallelujah! I sat back and thought to myself, what a week. But I've made it through it. We're in the clear. Maybe one more day for Charlotte's fever and then we're done.
Wrong. Turns out Charlotte's repeat fever was not the playground virus again. It was chicken pox. She woke up Saturday with three little pox around her mouth and chin. Well no wonder she's been grouchy, we all said. Saturday progressed and no more little red dots popped up. But she started refusing to eat, and when I shone a flashlight in her mouth, I could see pox all along the inside of her cheeks and the back of her throat and roof of her mouth. Poor girl! She basically ate nothing for the next few days, and I don't blame her one little bit. Even her gums were dark red and swollen in places. Owww! Obviously we couldn't brush her teeth. Let me tell you, her breath was STINKY!!
Thank goodness it was the weekend and Gigi was visiting, so there was lots of help for the two poor girls. But Monday came, Koby went back to work, and Gigi went home. We managed to make it, but I realized a week stuck in the house while Charlotte was still contagious sounded horrible, especially after having already spent a week sick and housebound. So we went to Opa and Oma's house, where there was no one to infect and we could run around outside. (Pictures to follow)
Charlotte's all better now. She's back to eating. Unfortunately, the grouchyness has stuck around, but hopefully it's just lingering and not staying for an extended visit through toddlerhood. Now we're just waiting to see if/when Paige will pop up with chicken pox!
