Living In A Perti Dish

Do you see this ridiculousness??  This is a result of what has been going on in my house over the past month.  My job title these days is pediatric nurse.  What are all those medicines for??  You ask.  Well, they are a direct result of me challenging the universe by having this thought run through my head two months ago,


"Huh-the girls haven't had a bad sickness all together in a long time."


Two weeks later, Lana got a fever, Sonya got a sore throat and by the end of the week they were both on antibiotics for strep throat.  Georgia, thankfully, never got it.  That time.  Yes, I said that time.  Because last week, Lana got ANOTHER fever and complained of her throat being sore.  I mean, it couldn't be that her strep throat came back right?  She had ALL of the antibiotics she was supposed to have.  Except that she could indeed have the strep back, as my sister Megan, who is a real nurse, informed me.  I was planning on waiting to see how she was feeling the next day before I rushed back to see the pediatrician.  She ate her breakfast of scrambled eggs the next morning, but only after the motrin kicked in and her throat didn't hurt so bad.  She seemed fine until 20 minutes later I heard her throwing up in the living room.  Lucky for me it was on the hardwood and not the rug.  So back to the pediatrician we went.  I couldn't figure where the throwing up fit in to her symptoms.  Maybe she did just have some virus.  However....


I gave the nurse the story of her symptoms and how she had strep two weeks before.  She said-


"Well, sounds like it could be strep again.  All you would need is for her to vomit and it definitely would be strep."


"Oohh, yeah, well she did that this morning too," I informed her.  I had NO idea throwing up was another symptom of that disease, but apparently it is.


The doctor came in, took one look in Lana's throat and confirmed, that along with all of her other symptoms, it was back.  This time she prescribed stronger antibiotics.


Now I was paranoid and constantly asking the other two,


"How is your throat?  Is it sore?  Do you have a headache??"


They claimed to be fine each time I asked.  That is until Sunday, when Sonya started to say her throat was a little sore.  GREAT!  The last thing I needed was for her to be sick this week, the last week of school.  The week where they do nothing but fun stuff.  The week that she had been talking about for TWO WEEKS!  Except when she walked into my room Monday morning I knew she was going to at least miss that day of school.  Not only was her throat still sore, but her left eye was swollen and pink, and what I was 100% positive was-you guess it-pink eye.  It was then I flash backed to the last time we went through all the girls being sick like this.  That's when I became certain she did have strep again and that for Georgia it was not a matter of if, but when.


I called the Pediatrician's office as soon as they opened and when I got the receptionist on the phone I said,


"Hey Rebecca!  It's Kristi Dadekian calling again.  It looks like Sonya has pink eye and she's complaining of a sore throat so I'm pretty sure her strep is back too..."


"SERIOUSLY?!"  Was her response.  I love that Doctor's office.


So back in we went where all my suspicions were confirmed.  Sonya was more than a little unhappy to be kept home from pajama day at school. If I'm being completely honest, I would have said "screw it" and sent her had it not looked like she went a few rounds in the boxing ring.  Instead she had pajama day at home and caught up on some episodes of Glee while eating creamsicles.  I felt bad, so she got a little spoiled.


By the next day all medicines had kicked in and she was good to go.  That's when Georgia started to tell me it "hurt in her mouf".  Here's the thing, I wasn't sure she really did have a sore throat or she thought it was just the thing to say.  Everyone else in the family was getting medicine, why shouldn't she?  Especially with her being the youngest, and wanting to do everything her sisters do.  So I waited.  The next day on the way to pick Lana up from school, Georgia was eating a granola bar and said to me,


"Mommy, it hurts when I swallow."


So...


"Hi Rebecca!  It's Kristi again..."


"Can you come at 4:15?"


"Yup."


Three of a kind my friends! THREE OF A KIND! They all got it.  So all those medicines you are looking at break down like this-


Sonya-antibiotics twice a day, eye drops 4 times a day


Lana-antibiotics three times a day


Georgia-antibiotics twice a day,  in addition to the two medicines (one twice a day, one once) she takes to prevent her migraines-which by the way, I don't think are working.


Soooo....Yeeeaahhhhh....Good times at my house!  On the plus side, I am ALL SET when Andy and I get older and have to take a million pills a day for various reasons.  I've kept everyone's medication straight.  Well, so far anyway.

Trouble?

Sonya, Lucy, Vivian, Lana and Georgia

I should be able to handle all of them for four days, right?  I mean they LOOK harmless enough.  As long as nobody gets sick we'll be fine!  Just as long as nobody ends up with a fever and throwing up in the middle of the night it will be ALL GOOD!  Yup-healthy kids are easier to take care of, so this should be no problem....

....to be continued....  

Vying For Attention

This week has been crazy for me.  First Sonya had a fever last weekend, and all this week Georgia has had it.  My kids love to get high fevers for long periods of time.  It makes going places and doing things so much more enjoyable.  Not to mention that since it's the end of the school year, we've had every kind of assembly, pot luck or meeting to attend.  As a result, Lana has been a bit neglected.  The attention hasn't been on her, and she showed it by attracting negative attention ALL DAY on Thursday.


I think it was around time out number five that I realized maybe that was why she was acting out.  Still, it's hard to give attention to the non-sick kid when the sick one needs you constantly.  It culminated to Mommy getting a tiny bit angry and yelling just a bit on Thursday night. It was directed at her and Sonya, who had developed quite a 13 year old attitude since getting over her fever.  Not sure what THAT is all about.


After I took a shot of vodka deep breath and calmed down, I talked to each of the girls about their behavior and how we could all better handle ourselves the next day.  At the end of my chat with Lana she asked if we could paint her fingernails the next day.  I told her that of course we could, figuring it would be perfect one on one time with her, and something fun and easy to do.  She was excited for her mani/pedi, and I told her the sooner she went to sleep the sooner we could wake up and do it.  


Thursday night was a terrible nights sleep for me, like the past few nights had been. Since the girls have been sick it's like I have a newborn again.  I've been up every two hours or so to calm feverish children or put them in the bathtub for a bit when it got to high.  Needless to say, it's been a bit hard to get up in the morning.  Thankfully, I didn't have anything pressing to do Friday morning besides getting Sonya and Andy out of the house.   I decided not to get up to work out that morning and sleep in a bit.  Around 7:15 I heard footsteps heading toward my room.  Then I felt someone climb onto the bed and on top of me.  I opened my eyes to Lana staring me in the face.


"Good morning mommy!" She said all smiles.  At least she was in a good mood.


"Good morning, Lana," I answered yawning.


"Can we go paint my nails now?"


Really?  Right now? I'm in bed, still half asleep, and not moving and she really thinks I'm going to get up and paint her nails? Even though I did say the next day, I didn't really mean the moment she got out of bed.  Next time I will have to be more specific.