ER

We have had a couple of minor medical "emergencies" this month that have kept us on our toes. The first was a couple of weeks ago. Eden wasn't quite acting right so I should have used my mother's intuition, but I didn't act soon enough. First she was not staying dry at night at all and she seemed to be waking up in pain sometimes. Then we went to Walmart to do some Christmas shopping she had to use the potty twice in a row. I saw the red flags for sure. Then she was even holding her tummy in pain. Poor little thing. I kept telling Peter that I thought it was a bladder infection. Sure enough, on about the third day she woke up with a fever and was totally lethargic. I just put a diaper on her because she was having a really hard time. I rushed her over to the doctor and she was a really good girl. Sure enough she had a pretty severe infection. I was so mad at myself for not plugging her full of cranberry juice and water when I first suspected. She was miserable all that day and the next. She would just lay on the couch and watch Dora or whatever all day. Then the antibiotics finally kicked in and she was very suddenly all better. Gotta love those things.

Then this week most of the kids got colds with a lot of coughing. Tanner and Carter got it the worst and coughed all day the other day. But then in the night at about 11pm, Tanner woke up making the weirdest high pitched coughing and breathing sounds I have ever heard! I recognized it as croup from when Dallin had it as a baby and knew that it was usually not a serious thing. Peter was so good with him, he just took a shower and held him for a while to try to get him some moisture. Then we put him in between us and of course couldn't go to sleep because he was coughing so much and I was scared to death of how much he was struggling to breathe. He couldn't even talk and wouldn't drink because it was hard enough to breathe. Finally, Peter gave him a blessing and he immediately fell asleep, totally calm and breathing easier. We were so relieved, but because of the words of the blessing I kind of knew it wasn't over. Then at 2 am it started up again. I thought that maybe we should take him outside to let the cold air open his airways a little. But it was so bad and we had been watching him struggle long enough that Peter just decided to take him to the ER so he could get some breathing treatments. After a couple of hours with the treatment he was doing a lot better. They gave him an oral steroid too, but he threw it up. When they got back home we put him in his bed because he sleeps better in his crib and he went right to sleep and after checking on him a few times, we all tried to get some sleep. The next day he was doing much better. I am still scared that Carter will have this happen, but he isn't coughing anymore, just really congested so I am crossing my fingers.

Thankfully Peter and I have managed to stay healthy so far. I have been taking Vitamin C like crazy because it has been shown to boost your immune system and help you to fight things off. I have also been exercising a lot and a study shows that that also helps you to not get sick as much. Another amazing benefit of exercise! Peter is usually pretty healthy anyway. I am crossing my fingers that everyone will be doing much better before we leave for our trip and that Peter and I can keep on resisting the plague.