Sunday, January 16, 2011

The Week of Snow, Ice and a Nasty Bug

The last 10 days have been interesting and full of surprises. Here is a recap of the fun and not so fun stories ...

Friday Jan 7th:
Ryland got sick right as he was going to sleep for the night. Luckily we needed to cut his fingernails so we decided to let him fall asleep in our bed so that I could cut them and then we could move him to his bed. Well, I never got to cut his fingernails. He threw up in our bed and when we got it all cleaned up and changed his clothes we put him down in his crib hoping that it was a one time thing. 10 minutes later he threw up in his crib and it was at that point that we knew something was wrong. So I ran out to Publix to get pedialyte and we made a big palate at the foot of our bed for us to all sleep on. We were up every hour with Ryland throwing up and at 3am I decided to call the Children's nurseline because we were getting worried about him becoming dehydrated. We made it through the night and after 4 loads of laundry completed during the night (we went through an entire cabinet of sheets, towels and blankets) Ryland woke up at 7am with a smile on his face. Tab and I were EXHAUSTED but happy that Ryland seemed to be feeling better.

Saturday Jan 8th:
Ryland was definitely feeling better but did not have his regular appetite back. We stayed around the house most of the day and played with toys and relaxed. Ryland and I had to cancel our plans for the neighborhood chili dinner that night but Tab was able to go over for a little bit.

Sunday Jan 9th:
Atlanta had been preparing for a big snow and ice storm that was scheduled to hit the area that night. We had already gone to the grocery store to stock up on food and prepared to be stuck in the house for a couple of days. My mom came out Sunday afternoon so that she could help us watch Ryland on Monday since we were anticipating that his school would be closed but Tab and I would still need to work from home.
After dinner Tab complained of not feeling good and decided to go to bed early. Right after he got in bed the "bug" hit him and he spent the night throwing up. It was confirmed ... Ryland's "bug" from Friday night was definitely contagious and Tab had caught it.

Monday Jan 10th:
We woke up to 5 inches of snow! It was beautiful. Ryland's school was closed. So we were all snowed in together. Tab spent most of the day recuperating from the "bug" but we were able to all go outside and play in the snow for a few minutes.
That night after dinner I started feeling the ick and what I was afraid of came true .... I had now caught the "bug". So Monday night was a long night for me.

Tuesday Jan 11th and Wednesday Jan 12th.
Schools were closed again on Tuesday and Wednesday and the snow was now covered with a thick layer of ice. We had a lot of fun quality family time in the house.

Thursday Jan 13th:
Schools were closed AGAIN! And we were all going a little stir crazy from being stuck in the house all week. The roads were getting a little bit better so we decided to get out of the house to grab lunch and my mom decided to drive back to Douglasville that afternoon.

Friday Jan 14th:
The Goddard School was finally open! So we took Ryland into school that morning and I went into the office and Tab was back to his normal routine of working from home (with no interruptions). My dad (who was back in Douglasville after being stuck in Highlands, NC all week) called to say that my mom had officially caught the "bug" and had been in bed all day. Both Tab and I went to pick up Ryland from school and he was as happy as he could be when we got there. I think he enjoyed the day out of the house and around all of his friends at school.

Saturday Jan 15th:
The day started out great. Ryland had a good night's sleep. Took a 2 hour nap and had a good lunch. We got ready to drive to Alpharetta for Jackson Conboy's 1st birthday party. As I was taking Ryland out of his car seat when we got to Charlie and Liz's house I noticed that he felt really hot. We only stayed at the birthday party for a little bit because we knew that Ryland had a fever. And when we got home and checked his temp the thermometer said ... "103.5". So we canceled our dinner plans to go over to Chuck and Lindy's and started Ryland on ibuprofen. During dinner we could tell that Ryland was not acting like himself and when we checked his temp again the thermometer now said .... "105". We called the Childrens nurseline and were able to get his temp back down to 101 and he started acting like his normal playful self again. We did check on him a few times during the night and ended up waking him up for another dosage of ibuprofen in the middle of the night.

Today ... Sunday Jan 16th:
When Ryland woke up this morning he was happy and only had a low grade fever. He had a good breakfast but within an hour his temp went back up and he was really sleepy. We let him take a nap and when he woke up from his nap his temp was back up to 105! So we all jumped in the car and went to the Childrens Hospital Immediate Care location. After 3 1/2 hours there and a lot of tests (strep throat, flu, blood work, x-rays for pneumonia, etc) we left feeling a little (and I stress ... little) bit better. They were able to rule out a lot of stuff but were not able to determine exactly what was causing the high fever. They think that he might have a "viral" infection which means that it would just need to run it's course. Ryland was exhausted when we got home and slept for a while in Tab's arms. I hope that whatever "bug" is in his little body gets out soon because it breaks my heart seeing him like this. We are going to keep him out of school tomorrow and I think my mom and/or dad might come out to visit and watch Ryland while Tab and I work.

So .... needless to say it has been a long 10 days. We hope for a good night's sleep tonight and a new and better day tomorrow!

1 comment:

  1. I wish that for you, too. So sad for that little boy:( Tell him Stephie and Jack want him to feel better!!

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