Going Tubing!

Well it is official. After at least 5 ear infections in 4 months with lingering fluid, the girls are getting ear tubes. Abby gets a bonus and is going to have her adnoids out too. That should clear up her loud snoring that she has had since birth. We went with a local ENT and the surgery will be happening on February 12th. Yup all three going in on the same day. Goes with my philosophy of getting it all done at the same time. Yes we will probably have fun 2 or 3 days, but after that it is done. Rather than having a fun 2 or 3 days times 3.

I really hope it will clear up the chronic crankies the girls have had since November when this all started. I am guess the fluid in the ears just isn’t comfortable. I know I hate when my ears are fluid filled, so I can only imagine what it feels like to them.

Richard is off that day and for the next one too, so for the worst of it we will both be home. He will also take the day off on Thursday if we need it, but I am hoping it won’t be an issue.

The winter that wouldn’t go…

Let’s see we have had colds and ear infections times 4, then the RSV and hospitalization. After that the babies all had double ear infections. Eight days into antibotics we start with a stomach bug, most likely rotovirus. That hit everyone over the age of 1 once and the babies had it twice and we are still dealing with the effects of it.

Okay it is official, I REALLY don’t like winter this year. 🙂 On the upside it is just about half over and the days are starting to get longer. I am going to start doing what my German grandmother used to do open up the front and back doors and air the house on a daily basis. Doesn’t matter the temperature it could 80 or -8, every morning she aired the house. She swore it “kept the bad germs out.” I think I am going to try it. Can’t hurt!

Oh that and once again bleach the heck out of the house and all the surfaces, which I will start later on.

We made the news!

During the hoopla of the holidays we had to postpone our interview with the local paper. The reporter, Marissa Richardson and the photographer, Matt Button, came out on Friday, January 4th. Ms. Richardson was very polite and was pleasure to talk to about our family. “Mr. Matt” had blast taking pictures with all the children.

I admit I was very apprehensive about the article being written. I was worried how the family would be portrayed. Overall it was a very positive article. Unfortunately I can’t post a link to the article because it requires a subscription. But I have scanned it in and will post it here. Now for the Copyright info. The article was published in The AEGIS, the local paper for Harford County, Maryland. It was released in the Wednesday, Janaury 9, 2008 edition.

Oh what a Holiday….

Let’s see I last posted on the 19th, you all need to be brought up to date.

The rest of the school week went well. Children survived the “Holiday” theme lessons. You know the Hanukka, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice stuff. Oh and while we are at it let’s throw in a little Christmas. And of course they can’t have Christmas parties, they must be “Winter Festivals.” But that is a topic for another whole post.

While we the school week was winding down, the babies were coming down with the cold that everyone else had earlier in the week. Marian was not sounding very good so I took her to the ER. Turns out she had RSV. This is the dreaded virus former preemies shouldn’t get. It can cause major issues. BUT it is also a very common virus that most people get by age 2. Plus you continue to get it through out your life. It basically becomes a bad cold. Marian was having problems holding her oxygen levels up so they admitted her to the hospital.

I had Richard bring me clothes so I could stay the night. We had a decent night in the hospital. Marian was receiving blow by oxygen and nebulizer treatments and her breathing was easier. Sunday morning Richard came to the hospital. A good friend came up to take me out to lunch. After lunch we came home to visit with the other children for a while. That was when I noticed Maggie was having issues to. So off to the ER we went. Yes she had it too and was admitted. She was actually having more issues than Marian so she was placed on a nasal cannula with oxygen and received nebs every 2 hours round the clock. Luckily we were able to have the cribs in the same room. So now we have had to babies admitted in 48 hours. Are you noticing a trend here…..

Well Monday, Christmas Eve, I am home with the children and I notice Abby have issues. So off to the ER we go…. Yes she has RSV too. That was a total no brainer. The good news was that she was handling it so much better and was holding her oxygen levels so thankfully she was not admitted.

Marian continued to improve and was finally discharged on December 27th. Maggie took a while to start getting better. She was on 3 liters of oxygen through the cannula until Wednesday when they were finally able to start weaning her down. Tuesday she started spiking afternoon fevers. Every afternoon she would spike a 101 fever. I was told that it was just the RSV. To which I promptly said BS! The doctor looked once in her ears on Wednesday and said she was fine. This particular doctor will not prescribe antibiotics for ear infections, unless the ear is close to bursting so I really didn’t believe her. On Friday we had a different doctor from the practice in for the check. I insisted he check her ears since we were one day 4 of what called the afternoon phantom fevers. Lo and behold he said she had a double ear infection (told you!). So antibiotics were started and by Saturday we were able to come home!

Needless to say many prayers were said for the girls and our family. Thank you everyone! I know they were heard and answered. Luckily the RSV while bad wasn’t as horrible as it could have been. And to think this all could have been prevented if the insurance company would have covered a 2nd years worth of Synagis shots. This is a shot that helps protect the former preemies from RSV.

In the past former preemies received these shots for 2 winters. But because of the cost of the shot ($1,000 per dose, given monthly) insurance companies started balking. Now they get it for 1 winter. Well I would say that the cost savings went out the window in my case. I think my next project is to lobby to get this back to the old recommendation. Just keeping 1 baby out of the hospital would be so worth it!

Well now I think you have been caught up. My children head back to school on tomorrow so they will have a very interesting story to tell when the teachers ask: “How was your break?”