Our lives have been full of ups and downs since we moved in December. Here is how life has been (as I remember it, anyway!)...
Ian got an ear infection, so I got him to the doctor quickly to get him on meds before we moved.
We left Florida December 15th, and woke up to a terrible ice storm in NC the 16th. Roger and Franklin had already left to meet the movers at our rental home (they were stuck in NC, too!). My MIL, Frances, and I got on the road in our 15 passenger van with our other four children and me due to have Bethany in a little less than two weeks. The roads were scary! Roger called and told us to get off the road because they were watching cars and semi's slide off the road left and right. After a few hours he called again and told us to go back and find a hotel. Thankfully, we found a great mall with a very nice hotel in the parking lot and stayed for the night. We had fun at the mall walking around and watching a movie. We bought some clothes to go swimming in the hotel pool, too. We had a great time! The next day we hit the road again and couldn't wait to make it to our new/temporary home. Roger called as we were driving and let me know that he was having problems with the movers and that we were going to have to make the family room the master bedroom. Wait! What???...lose connection...ughhh! When we finally arrived at the house Roger was very frustrated with the movers. At one point they threatened to throw everything in the street and drive away. They put almost everything in the basement(the basement is ground level), which put us in a terrible jam. Roger was able to carry the bunk beds and crib upstairs and set them up, but I was too pregnant to help him carry anything else. We called one of our new pastors and asked if someone could come help us carry everything else upstairs. In walks Rusty!!! A BIG man with a caring heart! We could not have done it without him and his two sons!
On Sunday we went to our new church for the first time. It was love at first visit! Ian woke up with a rash on his torso, but we weren't too concerned. Sunday night Ian woke up in the middle of the night vomiting and with a fever. Monday evening we had dinner with the Dys family from our new church, but left Ian home with Frances. On Tuesday Ian's fever was higher and he was vomiting again, so I decided to take him to the doctor. Keep in mind, he had been on antibiotics for 8 days at this point, so it was odd for him to have a fever. Problem...the pediatrician did not want to see him because he was not an established patient. I explained that we had just moved there on Friday, and didn't know what else to do. They decided to go ahead and see him that morning because they were concerned about him. I took him to our new pediatrician who said that he still had an ear infection, and his glands in his neck were swollen. She sent him for bloodwork and ordered a different antibiotic. As I was waiting for his new antibiotic the ped office called and said that his white blood cell count was really high and that I needed to take him to the emergency room to be admitted for testing. There I was...in the middle of Rite Aid...big pregnant...tears streaming down my face...and so many kind, compassionate strangers telling me everything would be okay. We got to the hospital and they did another round of blood work. This is no easy task! Ian has terrible veins!!! His white blood cell count went from 33,000 to 48,000 in a matter of about 4 hours. It should have been no higher than 12,000. Panic set in! They were calling in an infectious disease doctor...and...an oncologist. Oncologist...cancer...one of my greatest fears. Once again, tears were streaming down my face and I was very afraid. I needed Roger to get there! They were running numerous tests and nothing was coming back positive, so they decided they wanted to do a spinal tap. "Wait a second! He doesn't have any symptoms of spinal meningitis. Why would we do a spinal tap?" "Just to rule it out." "But he doesn't have any symptoms! No, let's wait until tomorrow." "Well, I don't recommend waiting, but okay, we'll do it in the morning." When we finally got to our room (after midnight) the nurse told us that there would be no reason to do a spinal tap because they had already started him on IV antibiotics, so the test would not show anything. Hmmmm... And then the next morning... His white blood cell count had come down a little, so they decided not to do a spinal tap. And then the following morning...his white blood cell count was back up, so they wanted to do a spinal tap again. Thankfully, they consulted with the infectious disease doctor who said there was no reason to do a spinal tap. In the end, Ian spent four days in the hospital. It has been assumed that the terrible infection in his throat was causing his white blood cell count to go up, even though it was a viral infection. He was not getting any better in the hospital. The antibiotics were not doing anything because the infection was viral. We were ready to go home! I wanted to be home with my family Christmas morning, so I convinced the doctors to let us leave. We got home Friday night, Christmas Eve, and spent Christmas with a terribly sick little boy.
Sunday night...Ari and Franklin woke up in the night...vomiting. Nooooooo!!! Roger woke up Monday morning feeling very sick. And it all went downhill from there! Lauren and Miles got sick on Tuesday, I got sick Tuesday evening and then Frances and I were both sick on Wednesday...and I was scheduled to be induced on Thursday. Oh my! I went to bed Wednesday night feeling awful and was up all through the night. Roger asked if I would cancel the induction, but I really didn't know what to do. I wanted to get labor over! The hospital called at 4am and told me to be there at 6:30am. I decided I would go ahead and do it. I didn't feel well during labor, but I felt better than I had the day before. Bethany arrived Thursday evening (I still need to write down her birth story!), and we felt like things should get better from there.
Ian got better and then worse, and then better, and then worse...over and over. When Bethany was two weeks old we took Ian to get tubes in his ears. We hoped that would help. It helped his ears, but not his throat. He could not get rid of the infection in his throat completely. Finally, I took him back to the ENT for a check-up and told him we needed to do something else. He had been on four different antibiotics and a steroid in 4 weeks and he was still sick. The only thing left to do was to take out his tonsils. Ian was the youngest patient our doctor had operated on for tonsils and adenoids, but it seemed to be the only thing to do. Ians tonsils were so bad that they were literally falling apart and the ENT had to be very careful while cutting them out. Ian breezed through surgery and mostly through recovery and is finally a healthy little boy!
Our house situation...
We have had a terrible time finding a house we want to buy. We are looking for something very specific and don't want to settle too much. The house we are renting was put back on the market in March, which we agreed to in our lease agreement. In April they got a contract on the house and we were told we needed to be out May 15th. In the meantime, we found a house we want to buy, but cannot move in until July. So, what do we do for 6 weeks? Good question! We found a house to rent for 3 months, but as Roger got to the house to sign the lease agreement the owner was in the backyard shaking hands with another man...he had just sold the house! We had movers ready to come on Wednesday to move us into the house. This was a Saturday! Once again, I was panicked! We wanted to talk to the buyers of the house we are renting to ask if we could rent the house from them until July, but no one would let us speak to them. When the house was inspected they found problems with the foundation. It was up and down for a while, but in the end, the contract fell through. Now, the owners have given us until June 15th, but we cannot move into our new house until July 15th. What now?! We have no idea. Roger is going to talk to our landlords and plead for one more month. As for me...I just cannot wait to get into our new house and finally get settled!!!! Bethany is 5 months old and I have still not been able to nest!
Ian got an ear infection, so I got him to the doctor quickly to get him on meds before we moved.
We left Florida December 15th, and woke up to a terrible ice storm in NC the 16th. Roger and Franklin had already left to meet the movers at our rental home (they were stuck in NC, too!). My MIL, Frances, and I got on the road in our 15 passenger van with our other four children and me due to have Bethany in a little less than two weeks. The roads were scary! Roger called and told us to get off the road because they were watching cars and semi's slide off the road left and right. After a few hours he called again and told us to go back and find a hotel. Thankfully, we found a great mall with a very nice hotel in the parking lot and stayed for the night. We had fun at the mall walking around and watching a movie. We bought some clothes to go swimming in the hotel pool, too. We had a great time! The next day we hit the road again and couldn't wait to make it to our new/temporary home. Roger called as we were driving and let me know that he was having problems with the movers and that we were going to have to make the family room the master bedroom. Wait! What???...lose connection...ughhh! When we finally arrived at the house Roger was very frustrated with the movers. At one point they threatened to throw everything in the street and drive away. They put almost everything in the basement(the basement is ground level), which put us in a terrible jam. Roger was able to carry the bunk beds and crib upstairs and set them up, but I was too pregnant to help him carry anything else. We called one of our new pastors and asked if someone could come help us carry everything else upstairs. In walks Rusty!!! A BIG man with a caring heart! We could not have done it without him and his two sons!
On Sunday we went to our new church for the first time. It was love at first visit! Ian woke up with a rash on his torso, but we weren't too concerned. Sunday night Ian woke up in the middle of the night vomiting and with a fever. Monday evening we had dinner with the Dys family from our new church, but left Ian home with Frances. On Tuesday Ian's fever was higher and he was vomiting again, so I decided to take him to the doctor. Keep in mind, he had been on antibiotics for 8 days at this point, so it was odd for him to have a fever. Problem...the pediatrician did not want to see him because he was not an established patient. I explained that we had just moved there on Friday, and didn't know what else to do. They decided to go ahead and see him that morning because they were concerned about him. I took him to our new pediatrician who said that he still had an ear infection, and his glands in his neck were swollen. She sent him for bloodwork and ordered a different antibiotic. As I was waiting for his new antibiotic the ped office called and said that his white blood cell count was really high and that I needed to take him to the emergency room to be admitted for testing. There I was...in the middle of Rite Aid...big pregnant...tears streaming down my face...and so many kind, compassionate strangers telling me everything would be okay. We got to the hospital and they did another round of blood work. This is no easy task! Ian has terrible veins!!! His white blood cell count went from 33,000 to 48,000 in a matter of about 4 hours. It should have been no higher than 12,000. Panic set in! They were calling in an infectious disease doctor...and...an oncologist. Oncologist...cancer...one of my greatest fears. Once again, tears were streaming down my face and I was very afraid. I needed Roger to get there! They were running numerous tests and nothing was coming back positive, so they decided they wanted to do a spinal tap. "Wait a second! He doesn't have any symptoms of spinal meningitis. Why would we do a spinal tap?" "Just to rule it out." "But he doesn't have any symptoms! No, let's wait until tomorrow." "Well, I don't recommend waiting, but okay, we'll do it in the morning." When we finally got to our room (after midnight) the nurse told us that there would be no reason to do a spinal tap because they had already started him on IV antibiotics, so the test would not show anything. Hmmmm... And then the next morning... His white blood cell count had come down a little, so they decided not to do a spinal tap. And then the following morning...his white blood cell count was back up, so they wanted to do a spinal tap again. Thankfully, they consulted with the infectious disease doctor who said there was no reason to do a spinal tap. In the end, Ian spent four days in the hospital. It has been assumed that the terrible infection in his throat was causing his white blood cell count to go up, even though it was a viral infection. He was not getting any better in the hospital. The antibiotics were not doing anything because the infection was viral. We were ready to go home! I wanted to be home with my family Christmas morning, so I convinced the doctors to let us leave. We got home Friday night, Christmas Eve, and spent Christmas with a terribly sick little boy.
Sunday night...Ari and Franklin woke up in the night...vomiting. Nooooooo!!! Roger woke up Monday morning feeling very sick. And it all went downhill from there! Lauren and Miles got sick on Tuesday, I got sick Tuesday evening and then Frances and I were both sick on Wednesday...and I was scheduled to be induced on Thursday. Oh my! I went to bed Wednesday night feeling awful and was up all through the night. Roger asked if I would cancel the induction, but I really didn't know what to do. I wanted to get labor over! The hospital called at 4am and told me to be there at 6:30am. I decided I would go ahead and do it. I didn't feel well during labor, but I felt better than I had the day before. Bethany arrived Thursday evening (I still need to write down her birth story!), and we felt like things should get better from there.
Ian got better and then worse, and then better, and then worse...over and over. When Bethany was two weeks old we took Ian to get tubes in his ears. We hoped that would help. It helped his ears, but not his throat. He could not get rid of the infection in his throat completely. Finally, I took him back to the ENT for a check-up and told him we needed to do something else. He had been on four different antibiotics and a steroid in 4 weeks and he was still sick. The only thing left to do was to take out his tonsils. Ian was the youngest patient our doctor had operated on for tonsils and adenoids, but it seemed to be the only thing to do. Ians tonsils were so bad that they were literally falling apart and the ENT had to be very careful while cutting them out. Ian breezed through surgery and mostly through recovery and is finally a healthy little boy!
Our house situation...
We have had a terrible time finding a house we want to buy. We are looking for something very specific and don't want to settle too much. The house we are renting was put back on the market in March, which we agreed to in our lease agreement. In April they got a contract on the house and we were told we needed to be out May 15th. In the meantime, we found a house we want to buy, but cannot move in until July. So, what do we do for 6 weeks? Good question! We found a house to rent for 3 months, but as Roger got to the house to sign the lease agreement the owner was in the backyard shaking hands with another man...he had just sold the house! We had movers ready to come on Wednesday to move us into the house. This was a Saturday! Once again, I was panicked! We wanted to talk to the buyers of the house we are renting to ask if we could rent the house from them until July, but no one would let us speak to them. When the house was inspected they found problems with the foundation. It was up and down for a while, but in the end, the contract fell through. Now, the owners have given us until June 15th, but we cannot move into our new house until July 15th. What now?! We have no idea. Roger is going to talk to our landlords and plead for one more month. As for me...I just cannot wait to get into our new house and finally get settled!!!! Bethany is 5 months old and I have still not been able to nest!
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