A One-Legged Man in an Ass Kickin' Contest

I returned to work on Thursday, June 11. The babies did okay at daycare, we had no major concerns and really wanted Todd's to work out. Hailey and Mason were to be in a class made up of only 4 infants, so 50% of the class would be Turners. We figured those were pretty good ratios, and their morning teacher had been with Todd's for 18 years. The big downside was cost...we only need daycare 5-10 days a month, if that. No one offers part time infant care so we were stuck with a $1,000 a month child care bill (regardless of how often the babies went...nice, right).

Mason had started vomiting the following Sunday and we were watching him carefully and treating him with Pedialyte, as needed. He seemed to be doing better later that night was taking his bottles much better and never ran fever. I however noticed around 3 am Monday morning that I had a sore throat, my lower back ached on both sides and I felt like I had been hit by a truck. I figured it was just extreme fatigue and I'd hopefully feel better later.

I took the babies to daycare on Monday and told the teacher that if Mason threw up twice to call us and we'd get him. Of course the teacher I was giving these instructions to was not his regular teacher. They weren't sure where she was or if she was even coming in that day. To top it off they were placing the infants in the classroom the next age level up. There were toddlers racing around the room, and I was concrned the babies would be in there and would not have adequate attention. We had picked the babies up from that same room once or twice before and they were stuck in a bouncy seat placed inside a pack-n-play. Reminded me of baby jail...so sad.

So I finally get to work Monday and feel even worse, I decide to try out the new clinic they opened up at my office. The nurse practitioner said I had blisters on my throat from a virus and it was not strep. She gave me two prescriptions and sent me on my way.

Around noon the daycare called and said Mason was throwing up. I was unable to leave right then, so Daddy had to leave work and go take Mason to the doctor. We decided to leave Hailey at school for the rest of the day so Daddy could focus on Mason and get him settled.

In getting Mason dressed to go the doctor, Casey said Mason had a dirty diaper that had been on him for so long that the poop had actually dried and hardened to my little guy's hiney. Daddy was NOT happy, but did what he needed to do and headed to the doctor's office.

After Dr. Leass saw Mason getting sick in his office he ordered an ultrasound for that day to rule out pyloric stenosis at Texas Childrens Hospital, so Casey called me to let me know the scary news. I immediately left work and went to meet Casey and Mason. By the time I got there Dr. Leass' office was able to pull some strings and get us in at The Woodlands Hospital - fabulous!!! Casey's mom and dad went to pick up Hailey and we waited for Mason's test.

Mason was so good and charmed all the nurses with his flirting. The pediatric radiologist came in to do part of the u/s himself and said he definitely did not have pyloric stenosis. This meant we were just dealing with a horrific virus. Dr. Leass had warned us that if that were the case, more than likely Hailey would wind up with it, too. We were relieved that we only had a virus on our hands!

When Casey's mom and dad went to pick Hailey up at day care she was back in a corner again, all by herself locked away in a pack-n-play. My poor girl had a big cut that went from inside her nostril and down part of her face. It had been bleeding and was partially scabbed over and no one had tended to the cut or even mentioned it to Casey's parents. Of course how could the teachers tell them of something they had no idea about. Maybe if they had checked on her they would have seen the cut. Instead she had clawed her face open because she was so hungry. When my sweet girl is hungry she often pulls at her face rather than cry - NOT the way to get attention in a ridiculous daycare!

Once we heard about Hailey's face and put that together with Mason's dried poopy diaper and the babies not being in an infant class we were done with Todd's. Only problem was we didn't have time to focus on that because now both babies were sick and to top it of Mommy got it, too!

My Casey spent 3 days caring for Hailey, Mason and Mommy. We all had vomiting and diarrhea. I was the only one running a fever so I got quarantined to the bedroom and Casey called in his mom for back-up help. The babies got bad enough one night that they weren't keeping anything down and the doctor on call had us take them to the ER at St. Luke's for dehydration. I had never felt so helpless than I did as Casey and Grammie loaded the babies up at 11 pm and I couldn't go due to being so sick. It was the worst!!! When I asked Casey how he was doing the day after the ER visit he said he "felt like a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest".

I was off work for 3 and half days. Nothing better than coming back from maternity leave for two days and then having to be out again due to being sick and having sick babies. Gotta love parenthood!

The good news is after about 5 days we were all over the dreaded virus. It only took 2 doctors appointments, one ER visit, several bottles of pedialyte and multiple changes of clothes everyday. And even better....we found a nanny!!! Granny Goo has been fantastic and it looks like she loves the babies as much as they love her!