When it rains…it pours…

Well well. I mentioned before that the quads got sick and that Blade had escaped it. Apparently I spoke too soon. Just when I thought we were over it, our little Blade caught it. Coughing, congestion, loss of appetite & fever landed him in the emergency room Saturday night and he ended up being admitted until Tuesday.

I had no idea just how serious just a little fever could be in a newborn. We were told he needed to be taken in if he did 100.4 or greater. I made the call to the on call nurse once he hit 100.5 and we headed to Children’s Medical Center. Upon arrival the doctors quickly started blood work, took urine samples and performed a spinal tap on our little man. My big, fat, full term baby now going through just a tiny bit of what the quads went through at birth No fun! Someone must have told him the quads had some major hospital time at birth so he needed to see what it was all about. The upside, I got to spend some one on one time with my lil man!

We finally were put into a room at about 2am where the doctors informed us they wanted to keep him a minimum of 48hours to watch cultures to make sure he had nothing serious going on including meningitis. After several hours of observation the were able to rule out RSV/Bronchiolitis. He did however test positive for Parainfluenza type 3 (I was told different than the flu). Although not too serious, they were concerned because of his age. I had to convince them he was only 23 days – they thought for sure he had to be 6-7 weeks based on his size! They said Parainfluenza 3 can easily lead to Bronchiolitis which wouldn’t be good at all which was another reason for the extended stay. After continuous IV  fluids and antibiotics our little man finally started to perk up.

After much improvement, our little big man and his VERY sleep deprived Mama were released. Blade is feeling mucccchhh better and the follow up with the ped today confirmed clear lungs, thank goodness.

Special thanks to all who helped out with the quads while we were down and out. Randell & Collette, Nana & Aunt Beth, Papaw & Linda, Chris & Bethany – THANK YOU! We are so blessed to have friends and family there to step in when needed.

Here’s to hoping for a clean bill of health for the rest of this nasty season! If you are not familiar with RSV please please click here and learn how to protect the little ones in your life!

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!