Now a bit of history to tell you why I was so worried about the possibilities...When Collin was just under 2 months old, he developed a fever. Tristan had just gotten over foot and mouth disease and I was sure that was what Collin now had. However, the doctors wanted him taken to the Emergency room because a fever in a small baby can be meningitis. We took him to Durham Regional where they tried several times to get an IV in him while he screamed. Because they didn't have a pediatric care center, he had to be taken to Duke by ambulance. The whole weekend was very scary for Jim and I. The doctors wanted to do a spinal tap on Collin to make certain he did not have meningitis. The thought of Drs. touching our young son's spinal cord was very scary to us. I worried about paralyzation. They basically told us that if he had meningitis and was not treated properly, he could die within 24 hours so we needed to decide quickly to do this. My instincts were saying it was just the foot and mouth and not to put him through this, but I was scared that I might be wrong and could not risk losing our son. We finally agreed to the procedure and he did fine. We spent the weekend at Duke and after testing, they decided it was indeed foot and mouth. We were very relieved.
So, when Collin's neck began aching this time out of the blue, I immediately went to look up the symptoms of meningitis on Google. Of course they talked about your neck ache coming on quickly (which his did) and nausea, headache, a rash, and a multidude of other symptoms. That morning he also started to say that his stomach hurt and he was literally holding his head to one side and crying. In addition, he developed some bumps on his hand. I became scared that maybe our earlier scare was now a reality. I prayed all the way to Durham. Jim was out of town (something always seems to happen when he is) and he was worried as well. Luckily, Collin does not have meningitis now either. His lymph node is infected in his neck which caused it to swell and press on his muscle and cause neck pain. The Dr. said that it is pretty painful but should subside once the antibiotics kick in. Collin and I spent the day together Wednesday and I was so thankful to know that he was going to be ok. It is so hard to watch your child suffer and not be able to do much to help them. The poor little guy has poison ivy on top of the lymph node infection. They put him on antibiotics and prescription Zyrtec for the poison ivy. He took Motrin regularly and I gave him a hot washcloth to put on his neck. By Friday he was acting more like himself so I know the antibiotics are working. I did take one cute picture of him on Tuesday night. He fell asleep on the couch and the kitty curled up with him:
By Friday night we were all back to normal. We then received another surprise. When Annette and Caylee came to drop off Tristan after Caylee's basketball game, they found a puppy in our doghouse. He obviously came from Momma dog. The kids immediately fell in love and he has been getting a good dose of spoiling this weekend (including from the big boy of the house) who is holding him for this picture:
He has attached himself to Collin and follows him everywhere. So, I guess we have yet another animal to take care of. Oh well, it keeps life interesting I guess!
Saturday we went to Annette's for Sarah's birthday party. She asked for a particular spongebob cake for her birthday. I couldn't order the topper from the company I usually do and get it in time, so I opted to try to make a replica by making the pinneapple house out of cake. I did that Friday night. On Saturday morning I took Nathan with me to town for some one on one time. We went to the coffee shop (for mommy of course :) where he got his favorite, a pack of gum all to himself! We then went to the library to pick up Nicholas Sparks' newest book that they were holding for me and I had him pick out a couple of books for himself which he loved. We then went to Walmart. I had called their bakery earlier and they had some spongebob figurines I could buy for my cake. Lo and behold, they had the exact kit that was on the cake Sarah wanted. I bought it and used the characters, but not the pinneapple since that was already on the cake. Here are a couple of photos:
She really liked it and that's all that matters. Sarah is such a sweet girl. She has spent the past few months caring for the boys in the afternoons when Annette has gone to College. She is very good with the boys and has taken good care of them. On the rare occasion Jim and I go out on a date, we usually ask her and her sister Charlotte to take care of the boys. The boys see them every day and know them well and they take good care of the boys. We're lucky to have them. I'm glad she had a great birthday.
Not much else is new. We're still having some cold temperatures and the kids have been stuck inside. It is suppose to warm up toward the middle of the week and I'm looking forward to it.
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