The Joys of Parenting: Sick Kids

It was bound to happen sooner or later. After 2 1/2 years, my oldest got his first round of antibiotics. He had an ear infection a week ago and was given some antibiotics. Sunday, my wife took him to the walk-in clinic because of a 102* temperature. It turns out he had/still had an ear infection and possibly strep throat. They gave him a prescription for augmentin. It said on the bottle to take with food. Unfortunately, he had only had milk and not much more than that. We found out why it says to take with food: without food in your stomach, it will make you throw up. He threw up a couple of times that afternoon.

Gwen took him to our pediatrician yesterday and she took him off of the augmentin (after a dose and a half) because it had less than productive results. That led us to last night, which was not a good night.

After we got him ready for bed (at most 20 minutes), he threw up in bed. This prompted a changing of the sheets. Not only did he have vomiting, he also had diarrhea. Because of this, his little bottom is blood red; so red, he doesn’t even want you to wipe it.  Around 3 this morning, he threw up again. By this point, we had run out of sheets and he had to sleep with us. During this time, there were more diapers that needed to be changed.

5:30 this morning and he woke up screaming/crying. After changing his diaper again, the only way to get him to settle down and go to sleep was for him to lay on me. This lasted until 8 or so, which meant I got little sleep. I made it into work close to 9:45. I think I was there for around 3 hours before my wife said she needed me to pick up some stuff for Wesley. That little trip cost close to $60!

If that wasn’t bad enough, Gwen said that Bryce was sounding pretty funny, especially when he coughed. She scheduled an appointment with the pediatrician again, this time for Bryce. It turns out that he has croup. 

So, to sum it all up, we have one kid with an ear infection and diarrhea (which hopefully is clearing up). Kid 2 has croup.

For Gwen and I, that means that we are fully exercising our vocation of parent, care giver, and all-around “make the boys feel better” people.

We can’t wait to see what fun lies in store for tonight!