And it Keeps on Going...

We've had a LONG string of bad luck around here, and we're hoping that it moves on elsewhere because it's been a rough week!

It started last Thursday when Bryson began a bout of diarrhea. Diarrhea is just not fun with a toddler who is not potty-trained yet. (Both my other boys were potty-trained at this age--I'm not sure if it's my lack of motivation this time around or Bryson's disinterest.) Lots of laundry, lots of diaper-changing.

It was bound to go through the family. It hit me Sunday and fortunately for me it was only a 24-hour bug. It hit Carter on Monday, and again, fortunately it was only a 24-hour bug. Caleb and Matt had a few symptoms, but not like the rest of us. Carter's bout was accompanied by throwing up as well. Extra fun. Bryson's lasted 5 1/2 days--the poor boy hardly ate at all and lost a lot of weight. I lost 4 pounds just from my day of eating next to nothing, so I'm sure he lost at least that.

On Monday morning, I was keeping on top of 3 batches of laundry as well as making some cinnamon rolls to surprise Caleb when he got home from school. Cinnamon rolls are his favorite treat; because they're a little more time-consuming, I don't make them too often so it's an extra special treat when I do. Bryson "helped" me make the dough, then I put the metal kitchen aid bowl in the microwave with a towel covering it to let it rise for an hour.

I left my boys watching a TV show while I went to another room where my computer was charging to "take a break" and eat my breakfast while looking at FB. 2 mistakes which cost me big time. Carter yelled out 10 minutes later that he just threw up all over our nice white rug in our family room. As I came rushing into the room, I smelled smoke and glanced up at the microwave to see the towel over the roll dough on fire. Bryson had climbed his chair that was still pushed over to the counter from where he helped me make the dough and pressed a button on the microwave. He's watched me many a time put something in the microwave and turn it on. He must have thought that I forgot to turn it on and took care of it for me.

The fire had burned long enough that the towel was completely black and the plastic top of the microwave was quite scorched and a part had melted and fallen off. I made quick work with some water to put out the fire. As I was cleaning up the water mess, I looked over at the trash can to see it was on fire--the items I had thrown away still had enough heat to restart a fire. More water, more panicking. My kitchen aid bowl was ruined, the dough wasted, and the microwave oven was a goner.

After I finally got the mess under control, I cleaned up Carter's mess and called Matt while I blubbered about my expensive mistake. When I told Matt through my tears, "You need to buy a new microwave," he thought that I said, "You need to find a new wife." Ha! It was quite the morning.

It came as no surprise that Matt was an absolute sweetheart about it all. Knowing that I was very upset about the whole situation, he left work early to come home and help. (Matt's hours can be flexible as long as he gets the work done that he needs to do--so he worked longer days on Tues. and Wed. to make up for the work that he didn't get done on Monday.) He came home, gave me a hug, assessed the damage, and then started doing research on a new microwave oven. 3 hours later, a new one was bought, installed, and working nicely. He also came home with a fire extinguisher for the kitchen (which we should have had anyway)!

But again, this was only the beginning of the troubles. Wednesday morning, Bryson woke up with really red cheeks that I thought might be a rash. I immediately was concerned about fifth disease as I know this can be harmful in a pregnancy. (I'm 15 1/2 weeks along.) The research that I did said the rash would be all over his arms and legs as well as accompanied by a fever and cold-like symptoms. Bryson had not had a low-grade fever or cold-like symptoms and the rash was only on his face. I thought it was just a manifestation from his body of finally being done with his bout of diarrhea.

Caleb stayed home from school on Wednesday because he had not eaten since lunch on Tuesday, and we thought he was coming down with the diarrhea bug. He usually comes home from school famished and Tuesday he did not eat a snack or dinner because he said like he felt he would throw up. He said the same thing Wednesday morning when I asked if he wanted to eat breakfast. Caleb is a very honest kid, so it's just ironic that an hour later he felt like eating, and then did fine the rest of the day. These calls as parents can be so tough sometimes!

Carter was recovered on Wednesday as well, but that afternoon around 3:30, he started complaining that his tummy hurt. I told him to lay down on my bed with a bowl in case he needed to throw up. The pain intensified to the point that he started screaming and writhing. I started freaking out! I made some phone calls to my sister-in-law and brother who are both nurses. I was very concerned about appendicitis, which I know is pretty serious. Carter is also one to kind of ham up a situation though, so I couldn't really tell just how much pain he was in. I gave him some pain medication and then we said a prayer together. Fortunately the pain subsided 20 minutes later, and he was completely normal the rest of the night besides the fact that he didn't eat as much for dinner.

Thursday morning, Bryson woke up with bright red cheeks again and a rosy looking rash all over his arms and legs. He was itching his arms like crazy. I was teaching preschool that morning, so I started freaking out if I needed to cancel preschool. Again, I did some research on fifth disease and every website confirmed that once the rash appears, the disease is not contagious. I took comfort in the fact that Bryson did not go to nursery on Sunday and that I had cancelled preschool on Tuesday. So even if it was fifth disease, at least he hadn't been around other children. Again I was slightly concerned about my pregnancy, but convinced myself it couldn't be fifth disease because he had never had a fever or cold-like symptoms.

Preschool went well on Thursday and Carter's tummy problem--whatever it was--seemed to be a weird one-time occurrence. I was mistaken.

Thursday afternoon at 4pm, he screamed and writhed in pain again saying his tummy hurt so bad. He just screamed "Ow" over and over and over again. Torture for a mommy. After 30 minutes of trying to soothe and comfort and talking to Matt, the kids and I went to an Urgent Care. Urgent Care turned us away saying we needed to go to the ER because they don't have the ultrasound/x-ray equipment for abdomen pain. I hope this doesn't make me a bad mom, but with our recent insurance change, our ER co-pay is $500, so I hesitated. We sat in the car while I called my sister-in-law again. She gave me lots of ideas of what could be going on, but both she and my brother assured me that it was highly unlikely that it was appendicitis since the pain would never subside but only get worse. Plus there is usually a fever and sweating and you wouldn't be able to push on the tummy without tears. By that point, Carter was not screaming in pain anymore, but said that his tummy still hurt. I did my best to talk to him about the severity of the situation and that he needed to be absolutely honest with me about how badly it hurt. I called the nurse hotline and tried to schedule an appointment the next day to see the doctor. After I explained everything that was going on, she said I needed to go to the ER immediately. Ugh!

By that time, it was 5:30 and Carter was beginning to act normal again--jumping around, opening an Amazon package for me to see what was inside (a new kitchen aid bowl), etc. I made the decision, again, not to go to the ER. Carter continued to act fine for the rest of the night, though he ate very little for dinner. My brother Jared and Matt gave Carter a priesthood blessing that night.

The next morning (Friday), I called and scheduled an appointment for Carter to see a doctor. I was teaching preschool that morning to make up for missing Tuesday. I probably should have cancelled preschool in order to get an earlier time to the doctor, but the three times they had available were 11:40, 1:40 and 3:00. Preschool ends at 12:15, and Carter said his tummy didn't hurt that morning, so we set up the 1:40 time. Carter ate very little for breakfast again, saying that he was afraid eating too much would make his tummy hurt. Preschool went fine except for a period of 15 minutes where Carter said he needed to go lay down on his bed because his tummy was starting to hurt. I was very worried, but he felt better after 15 minutes. He ate a little bit of the snack.

Preschool ended, I fed Bryson and myself lunch (Carter didn't feel like eating), then we went to our appointment to hopefully find some answers! The doctor did an examination, listened to my story, and pronounced that he was 99% sure that the problem was that Carter was constipated. Because of Carter's diarrhea bug on Monday, his system seemed to go to the other extreme. I hadn't paid attention to Carter's BM over the past several days, except that he had had a BM right before our doctor's appointment. The doctor gave me some instructions with MiraLAX and what to do to comfort Carter if he had another "episode" of pain (warm cloth on his belly).

I also asked about Bryson's rash quickly at the end of the appointment. The doctor didn't hesitate at all when he said it was fifth disease. I told him I was pregnant--he said the fact that I was in my 2nd trimester was a good thing and to talk to my OB. Lovely.

I tried to catch a picture of Bryson's rash; it's more pronounced if he touches or itches, but you can kind of see that his right cheek is red as well as his arms. Poor boy.

Carter had another BM when we came home from the doctor's office, so it seems like the problem was already taking care of itself finally. He ate because he was starving, drank the MiraLAX mix, and has been completely fine so far.

So, in summary, our week for the record books: 6 days of diarrhea diaper changes, throw-up, lots of laundry, a fire, big expense for a new microwave, intense abdominal pain, a trip to Urgent Care, a trip to the doctors, fifth disease and concern for baby in utero. But we survived! (Still have a concern over the fifth disease/pregnancy thing--but can't change anything at this point.) I'm hopeful that things will start looking up for next week. :)