My Sick Little Quadlings

Yep, you read that right, the babies have been sick. A few days ago the clear runny noses started, no big deal right? Before we knew the attitudes started and moods changed, everyone became clingy and irritable. After multiple doses of Tylenol and Pediatex the Broman seemed to only get worse and his diapers (even the morning ones) were not as wet as normal. I bought an ice cream thing at sonic the other day on our way back from an appointment and the babies loved it, except Brody, he put his head down on the floor and moaned. I knew at this point it was time to call the doc. I took him in and he checked out OK. Throat looked good, no fluid in the ears, no fever etc. Our plan was to go home, continue our meds and expect him to feel better soon.

Yesterday Bret and I took them all on a diaper run to Sams. Usually the babies smile and wave at all of the onlookers, but this time Brody had a blank stare and by the time we got to the check out line, he had his head resting on the side of his choo choo wagon. I could tell the little dude was not feeling well AT ALL. I told Bret we need to hurry and get him home ASAP. Of course all eyes are on us, people are ooing and ahhing "wow 4 babies. oh my gosh 4 babies. you had 4 babies?!...." in the middle of us being the main attraction Brody started to puke... and puke more and more and more. Everyone's oohs and ahhs quickly turned to looks of shock as this one baby starts to randomly vomit all over himself. I try not to panic, turn, see the sign for the bathroom and start running pulling the choo choo behind me with Brody puking away - now people are really looking. Nice. Thankfully the other babies cooperated and sat quietly (besides Baxlyn saying "Uh-Oh!" very 4 seconds) while I undressed Brody and cleaned him up.

At this point Brody is pale, OK he's always pale, but he was even more pale than normal and could barely hold his eyes open to look at me. Dr. Honeycutt, his neurosurgeon, has always said sickly symptoms without fever (as well as other things) is a sign of shunt failure. After talking to Honeycutt and the pediatrician we decided to take Brody to the Children's ER to have him evaluated. There was a good chance it was nothing, but if it was a shunt malfunction and we ignored it, it could be fatal. They started by taking blood, then did a CT scan, head chest and ab xrays, another CT, followed by an IV drip. I think the worst part of the whole thing was that he couldn't hold his Mickey during the procedures :( He cried and cried and clung on to that Mickey like there was no tomorrow! After several hours the doc came in and told us his shunt looked great and was working properly. He said his white blood cell count was up which meant he is probably developing (or has) a viral infection, but nothing major to worry about.

As bad as he felt, the INSTANT he saw the camera he flashed me a smile!

This morning Brody is feeling much better, not back to his normal self, but better! The other babies are fussy and still dealing with their runny noses but nothing we can't handle. Just hoping they're on the mend soon!