Cooper, Our Little Trooper

So everyone in our little family has been sick with one form of illness or another for about the past week now.  I'm pretty sure all the stress and pressure of moving lowered every one's immune system and we all became super susceptible. 

First of, I wrote in my last blog that Cooper had come down with a cold and I thought Chloe was getting one too because she had a fever.  Well Cooper DID in fact have a cold, but Chloe's fever actually turned into a stomach virus and she had diarrhea for two days.  It was really no biggy.  The fever was gone the first day, she only had a few diarrhea poos (my favorite thing as you all know) and she was acting fine and was her usual happy, crazy, spunky self.  So of course I didn't think anything of it and maybe thought it was something she ate.

Well then I too came down with the cold that Cooper had (Still has I should say.  And me too actually...) which was again no biggy.  THEN Cooper started throwing up early Saturday morning, about 3am.  He continued to throw up a couple times on Saturday, but was still drinking and acting like he felt okay.  He ate dinner Saturday night and about 10 min after eating he threw up his entire dinner all over the kitchen floor.  After that it was terrible.  I put a big bucket next to our bed and let him sleep on the outside next to it (he usually sleeps in the middle).  Throughout the night he continued to throw up about every 1-2 hours.  It got to the point where he would wake up, know he was going to puke, roll out of bed and lean over the bucket.  :(

At first he would throw up and feel better, like most of us do, and he'd tell me, "Mommy, Booper barf in that" and point to the bucket.  Well by 3 am I too was throwing up (most of caught the bug too) and by 6am Sunday he wasn't doing so well anymore.  We tried giving him water throughout the night, but he couldn't keep anything down, not even a sip of water.  Like I said, by 6am he looked awful.  He was really fatigued, tired, lethargic.  He had a fever and his cheeks were flush, but the rest of his face was pale, and his little heart was beating really, really fast.  I had kept my hand on his chest/stomach throughout the night to make him more comfortable and by morning I noticed how quickly his heart was beating, which is a sign of dehydration...

Josh had gone to work because I told him I could try to tough it out even though I was throwing up too, so at 6 o'clock I called my mom and told her how Cooper was doing and she said we should take him to be evaluated at the hospital, so I called Josh home from work and we packed up the kids and headed to Children's.  Cooper was refusing to eat or drink anything at this point and slept all the way there. 

When we got there they were really busy.  We checked in and the nurse gave me barf bowls and towels for both of us.  We went to the waiting room, which, if any of you have ever been there is full of toys and stuff, and most the time even sick kids will come around a little when the see all the toys.  Well not Cooper.  He stood with Chloe by some toys for a few minutes, then climbed up on the bench that my purse was on, laid his head on my purse, I covered him with a blanket and there we stayed until they had a room ready.

The doc came in and looked him over and said that she thought he may be a little dehydrated, but not awful, but she said she just wanted him to be able to keep fluids down, so she had the nurse give him an anti nausea pill and said we could try some fluids after that took effect.  So we started by giving him a teaspoon of Powerade (which they'd given us) at a time every five minutes to see how he took it.  At first he was kind of interested and took about 6 teaspoons full, but then started refusing it and saying his tummy was sick again and laid his head down on the chair.  After that he climbed back into the bed and went back to sleep.  When the doc came back in she said at this point (we'd been there three hours now) she would suggest starting him on an IV.  She said we should get some fluids in him so that if he wanted to sleep then we'd at least know he was hydrated.

The nurses came in to start the IV and it was awful.  I was still running to the bathroom down the hall every hour to try and throw up, but I obviously wanted to stay by his side while they did the IV, so I held his hand and Josh continued to wrangle Brodie and Chloe.  I held his hand and me and one other nurse had to hold him down while a second nurse tried to insert the IV.  It took those damn nurses THREE tries to get the damn thing in.  The poked him in THREE different spots.  The first one she worked on for several minutes before giving up on it and the second one seemed like it took, but the second nurse moved her finger away from the IV needle before she was supposed to and messed it up.  At this point I feel like I'm going to throw up/faint, so I run to the bathroom thinking they have it in, and I come back to find them poking a third spot!  Of course our poor baby is screaming and crying the whole time and Josh and I were completely torn up.  They FINALLY got the damn thing in and taped everything up and practically put a cast on his arm so he wouldn't mess with it.  He hated it at first, but they had a bunch of children's movies on the TV, so we put on one of his favorite movies and he was finally able to rest.

The IV brought his fever down and the nurses brought in a recliner for me to lay back in after I almost passed out a second time.  I felt like a big baby being sick right next to me son, but I didn't know what else to do.  Josh helped me get the recliner right next to Cooper's bed and I held his hand while he feel asleep.  Josh sat next to me in one of the regular chairs, Chloe sat in the stroller and fell asleep watching the movie and Brodie fell asleep with his bottle in his carrier. 

After that things were pretty quiet and all the kids rested for awhile.  I felt better after being able to lay down and Josh and I watched a movie while the kids sleep and Cooper's IV finished up.  He had the IV in for over three hours and finally started to come around.  He woke up, started drinking and keeping it down, and was even chatting with the nurses LOL  He kept asking for them to take the "cast" of his arm and saying he was "stuck", and we finally got the IV removed at about 4pm and we got to go home.  Cooper slept all they way home and then layed in the recliner with me and slept the rest of the afternoon, and all night Sunday night.

Monday morning he was still tired, but wanted breakfast and was eating and drinking and keeping everything down again.  He rested most of the day yesterday and we're hoping that Chloe's diarrhea was a version of this stomach thing and that she doesn't get what Coop had.  They said Brodie is old enough that even he might get it, so the hospital sent us home with a prescription of the anti nausea meds they gave Coop, so if any of the other kids get it we can give it to them too.

Things have calmed down a little bit now.  Cooper and I are still recovering from the cold and Brodie's little nose is running now, but that's it, and Chloe thankfully is NOT sick (knock on wood).

Other than sickness, we're still just getting settled in.  It's Josh's day off, so I'm off running errands and getting some "mommy time" then hopefully we can all just rest up and relax the rest of the day.

Well thanks for checking in everyone.  I'll be back for more update of course and hopefully they won't have to do with anyone in our family being sick. *fingers crossed*