The past few weeks have been a big….well, nightmare. I hate to
sound so negative, but it has. We went from all night sleepers to never wanting
to sleep. It all started with the first ear infection in October. About every other
week, someone had an ear infection. We tried all antibiotics and then we got
the “T-Rex” as our pediatrician called it. Yes it helped, but it killed their
tummies and we had to deal with the worst diaper rashes and upset tummies. It
was November when the boys got RSV, and that lasted a few weeks. It was AWFUL!!
Did I mention we had ear infections then too? However, we did get some sleep
between the ear infections. Then Christmas hit and it was all downhill from
there. Right before Christmas we had nonstop ear infections. They would go away
with the strong antibiotic, but then come back 4 days later. By Christmas, I
was begging for tubes. I had heard good and bad about tubes, but at this point
we were willing to do whatever it took to get them to not be in pain and get
some sleep. If you have never experience a child with an ear infection, it is
the worst. We tried elevating their mattresses because the pressure hurts when
laying down flat. That didn’t work. We tried sleeping in their swings. It
worked sometimes but they would still cry in pain in the middle of the night.
It just broke our hearts to not be able to do anything to help. We gave Tylenol
and Motrin so often, I felt like we were going to overdose them! (Not really,
but it felt like it.)
Then, just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, the
worst happened. I was driving home from the Vet’s office with my dog in the back,
when a woman pulled out in front of me at an intersection. I was going 45 mph,
so you can imagine the impact. I braced my steering wheel when I saw her come in
front of me, and the impact broke my left hand. At first I didn’t feel a thing,
but when I tried to take my hand off the steering wheel, I couldn’t move it. I
started crying because I was scared and then the pain hit. A very nice man came
up to me and called my husband for me. I was so hysterical that I could not
talk. He was so kind and told me I needed to take off my wedding rings immediately
or my hand would swell and might have to have them cut off. I couldn’t take
them off so he ran inside and grabbed some lotion and lotioned up my rings and
he pulled them off for me, trying not to hurt my hand. It was all such a blur. I
couldn’t believe what had just happened. I knew my car had to be totaled because
the whole left front was bent in. The ambulance came and took care of my hand
and I had to go to the emergency room for x-rays. My hand was definitely broken.
GREAT.
My car after the wreck...I hated losing that car!
Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse. My mom immediately drove her
2 and a half hour drive to come to my rescue. I knew it was going to be impossible
to take care of 9 month olds with a broken hand. As the days went on, I became
hysterical because I couldn’t pick my babies up, couldn’t change their diapers,
dress them, make their bottle, bathe them, etc. The worse was that they wanted
me to pick them up and would cry when I didn’t. That hurt the worst. My mom
stayed the next 3 weeks with us and went home on the weekends. The only problem
was that the ear infections continued during this time and I could no longer
help my husband take care of them in the middle of the night. I couldn’t rock them back to sleep because I
was not allowed to put pressure on my arm or hand. My hand swelled for weeks in
my cast and it was so painful. I struggled to get ready for work each day and
just do everyday tasks. I never realized how much I appreciated the gift of
having hands. Finally, after weeks of ear infections, we were getting tubes!
Yay! By the time we got tubes, we had gone through 11 ear infections between the
two of them, sometimes they were even double ear infections. They would just not
drain. The morning we went for the procedure, Jacob had a temperature of 103.6
from a horrible ear infection. Thankfully they were still able to put the tubes
in anyway. Both boys did great and were happy by the next day. But, Jacob was
not any better. Turned out he had some bacterial infection because his white
blood cell count was high. Poor baby! It was pitiful. He moaned and groaned and
cried. He would not sleep at all and I just cried right along with him. It
broke our hearts into a million pieces. It was the worst we had ever seen him. 5
days later Josiah struck a temperature of 104. He was moaning and groaning and
I was tempted to take him to the emergency room. My wonderful aunt came over
and told me to get into the bath tub with him at a luke warm temperature to get
his fever to go down. He would not even open his eyes he was in so much pain.
We prayed over him. He was even more pitiful than Jacob got. I was a nervous
wreck. My aunt helped get his fever down and we had to once again, pump the
drugs. On Monday, my husband stayed home with Josiah and took him back to the
doctor. Josiah had also developed this awful cough, but tested negative for
RSV. Josiah would not eat a thing. That is when we knew something was wrong.
Our doctor admitted him to the Children’s Hospital and I immediately left work
to go be with him. They ran all kinds of tests and gave him an IV. He was such
a trooper. He did scream during this time, but after, he was so sweet about all
the cords attached to him. He didn’t want to play or do anything. He just
wanted to be held and to sleep. My mom watched Jacob for us as Jonathan and I
spent the night in the hospital. It was one very long night with hardly any
sleep. We found out that Josiah had the Rota Virus, a virus that you get from feces.
We have no clue where that would have come from. They released us the next
night and we went home.
Josiah was such a big boy. This was when he was feeling better.
We decided to take the day off and sleep because we
were exhausted. But by that night, I was as sick as could be. If I drank
anything at all, I threw it up. I had caught Josiah’s virus. I then had to go
to the Med Stop and get an IV. They told me I was very dehydrated and I spent 5
hours on a drip. I had no energy and felt miserable. That whole weekend I began
to get better, but I could not get out of bed because I was so weak and had no
appetite. Once again my wonderful mother and father took care of the boys for
us. We were ALL wearing masks to keep from catching the virus or spreading it. I
have never used so many Lysol wipes! Then the virus struck Jonathan. He did not
have it near as bad, but he was very sick. I thank the Lord Jacob never caught
it. We tried so hard not to spread it. By this time, Josiah’s horrible cough
was gone, but Jacob caught the cough. He had it for almost 2 weeks and it was
just not getting better. Then pink eye hit Josiah!!! What? When will it end?
Then I caught it as well. Good grief, I think we are magnets for sickness. I
will take pink eye over anything, though. The boys are now much better and we
are all on the upside of things, now we just have to retrain the boys to sleep
through the night again. From being sick for so long and all of the ear
infections, they got into the habit of waking up at night. We are currently
using the Ferber Method thanks to advice from another twin mama. It is working
so far, but it is still hard to lose sleep and hear your baby cry. I will post
about that later when we see how it comes out. Thankfully I am off work this
week. I need it after the past few weeks we have had. The boys are better and I
pray, pray, pray they stay that way for a long time. I am ready for warm
weather and cold season to be gone!!! Looking on the upside of things now and I
no longer have my cast. I am wearing a “buddy band” and going to therapy for my
hand. I am still not able to make a fist or push or pull objects, but hopefully
I will be there in the next two weeks. I can now change their diapers and
clothes, I just have to be really careful not to apply to much pressure to my
hand. My wonderful mother stayed with us for 6 weeks to help with my hand and
when the boys were sick. I really don’t know what we would have done without
her help. Thank you mama for your sacrifices for us and daddy for sacrificing mama
to help us. I am looking forward to GOOD months ahead. The boys are now 10
months and will be 1 soon. I am still in disbelief. I just want to say thank
you all for your prayers, dinners brought, goodies brought, visits and calls
during our hard times these past few weeks. We appreciate them more than you
know.
Our first time out of the house in 2 weeks. (Not in sickness)
We love having happy and healthy babies!
Our first Valentine's
