Sickness...

About 2 weeks ago I was thinking about how lucky we were to have gone several months without any illness in our home. I must have jinxed myself, because 1 week ago Sunday, Malia started complaining of a little sore throat. The next day, that little sore throat turned into a full blown fever, cough and severe sore throat. And how lucky were we that Malia had shared her germs, and Makai started complaining about a sore throat on Tuesday evening before bed. So Wednesday morning was our biggest test of endurance and patience as we woke up to 3 sick kids, Malia, Makai and Maiya. Malia was still running low grade fevers and complaining of sore throat pain, so we kept her home from school. Makai and Maiya presented with fever and cough and hoarseness. (And of course all of this would happen during the week I picked up extra hours at work. Had I known what was going to happen I definitely wouldn't have picked up those hours. Where's a crystal ball when you need one?) Later that day Makai got really bad so we rushed him down to the Drs afterhours clinic to have him swabbed for strep. He was not a cooperative little guy and the very pregnant Dr didn't get a very good swab. She ran the test anyways and it was negative. (Of course it would be if she didn't get back far enough to swab his throat.) So we continued giving motrin around the clock, pushing fluids and rest, and used our humidifiers nonstop. Malia was starting to show improvement by Friday but was still really tired so we kept her home from school for one more day. Makai and Maiya didn't seem to be showing any improvement. By Friday we had run out of Motrin (which had been a full bottle when we started the week) and I desperately needed to get out of the house even if it was just to the store. So my sweet mother-in-law agreed to come sit with the kids for an hour while I ran to do some couponing and to get some needed groceries and medicine. That hour was a nice reprieve from all the whining, crying coughing, and sniffling! By Sunday I was beginning to worry that maybe the illness wasn't just viral since Makai and Maiya were running their 5th day of fever. I called and scheduled an appointment to have them seen first thing Monday morning. Turns out Makai's illness really was just viral and it just hung on a little longer than normal. Maiya on the other hand has an ear infection. Poor baby! It makes me feel bad that I waited so long to have her seen but how else would I know?! Well, after being on antibiotics for 24 hrs, Maiya she has perked up immensely. The coughing has quieted quite a bit for all 3 and it seems like things are starting to return to normal. Now if only I could get the rest of my house that way!