The Drapela Family: March 2015

Last Spring Break we had a fun time with the girls. I took P to Build-a-Bear and let her pick out and build a stuffed animal to commemorate her being potty trained. She pumped Breckyn up for this same fun adventure while we were potty-training her and so her time finally came a few weeks ago. We set out early in the morning for a fun day with just the girls to spend some fun time with them before we are house-bound with the new baby.

We started out at Stomping Grounds to run and play then headed to the mall to Build-a-Bear. She picked her bear and we did all the fun stuff with it. I have to give poor P props. She was there the whole time with us and just had to watch B build her bear and did not get to make one but she handled it really well. She had her turn when she became potty trained last year and this tip was about Breckyn.

We then headed to Chick-fil-a for lunch and some more fun. A fun filled morning it was and the girls had fun.

Heading out....

….I am so over this winter! We have been down and out (well mostly my poor Paislyn) and I am so ready to shoo these winter nasties out the door and welcome in some Spring. Along with a new baby, I am tired of washing and cleaning and need this mess to be gone before we bring our little one home!

They were completely healthy from the summer through December. I never had to take off for sick babies and we were rocking and rolling along! Starting around mid-December we took both girls in and they were diagnosed with sinus infections. While on meds for that, the school called me a few days later that Pais could not stop coughing. I ran to Walgreens bought some stuff to take over there for her and when I got there discovered she had a fever. Took her back to the Dr. and she had a respiratory virus. We switched RX and started breathing treatments again and she eventually got well.

During the Christmas holidays Paislyn had a bout with pink eye. Since flu was running so rampant, they did not want her in the clinic for that so she would not get exposed to the flu so luckily they just called in the RX for her and saved us a trip to Sugar Land. She so graciously ended up sharing her pink eye with Breck who we then had to also treat with the drops. Holy moly…talk about raising your blood pressure trying to wrestle a 2 & 3 year old 2 X/day to get eye drops in their eyes…ahhhhh!

B ended up going into the Dr. anyways with the pink eye because she too had developed an ear infection. Only her second one in her life…yay!

Right after New Years, me and both girls ended up sick. I was tested for flu and strep and they were both negative…just some kind of virus but I was miserable. N had taken both girls in the same day because they were both sick. B, too, just had some kind of virus and P was diagnosed with the flu…poor baby!! We all had the shot but with the crazy strand mutations this year she was lucky and got it anyways. L

While N and I tried to tag-team to keep the “well” child out of the doctors office to avoid them from catching something we didn’t need….we ended up taking the other child in the next day for the same thing…every.single.time. UGH!!!!!!!! Soooo frustrating!!!!!!!!

The very next week Pais was back at the Dr. and diagnosed with Pneumonia. Really no surprise here since she was a baby with RSV and persistent bronchial problems, she usually gets Pneumonia (without fail) in November & May….we made it through Nov. but ended up with it in January.

We sailed through the next 2 weeks and she got better. She had her 2 week check-up (on a Friday) to check her lungs to make sure no pneumonia persisted and she was given a clean bill of health. WOOHOO!

That Sunday she got sick again….it was crazy! I was at my wits end with all of this sickness. I was 34 weeks pregnant, exhausted, and sick and tired of cleaning, disinfecting, washing everything in sight, etc. to try and keep all of these illnesses at bay!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I took her back in on Monday morning and the nurse could not believe her eyes. They had just cleared her on Friday and here it was Monday morning and she was just as bad as the first time. We were not letting them outside in the cold or windy weather. At school, she was only allowed to sit in the office while her class had play-time or she had to sit and read books, play play-doh, etc. She was not allowed to run and play at all!

They were baffled and right away ran a strep test and the Flu A test. Our Dr. said she had a few cases where kids had Flu B and then a few weeks later got the Flu A….both tests were negative. We were sent on to have chest x-rays done to check and see if a pocket of pneumonia was lingering that they could not hear. Although she was coughing a TON, she was not wheezing this time (which was ironic). After waiting around it was determined that her lungs were looking good. We were diagnosed with a repeat respiratory virus, given a different form of an inhaler this time for 2 weeks to protect the lungs, and are hopefully on the mend!!!!!!!! This poor baby has not been able to catch a break!!!!

The last few weeks have been full of poop…literally! J P would get tummy aches and then have to go potty and then all would be good. Something in her little body just ran its course. My ever resilient B then ended up catching it and even worse! We went to N’s grand-parents on Valentine’s Day. We fixed the girls plates and the minute we sat B at the table, she puked ALL over her plate of food! UGH! She acted fine other than going potty a lot (and we had an hour and 15 minute drive to get back home..yay!) Throughout the weekend we spent lots of potty time comforting her (she seemed to freak out if a lot came out of her at one time…lol!) She laid around and we limited her food intake to things that would sit ok with her tummy and she was back to normal by the time the work week rolled around!

Between all of this N and I have luckily been able to tag team and switch out taking turns taking off. SO thankful for a wonderful husband who is so hands-on that will clean puke, take kids to the dr, talk to the pharmacy, hold sick babies, get up with them at night, etc. I have used ALL Of my days already this year between sick kids and all of my appts. for the baby…

PHEW………all of that sickness within a month and a half time frame! Good-bye, adios, don’t let the door hit you on the way out BUT we are sooo over this crazy mess! We have cleaned, disinfected, washed, etc. more times than I can count and we have a baby that will be arriving ANY DAY NOW so I need this mess to stay away!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am thankful that the baby was not born before or during this mess and hope we can remain sick-free for a while….I think we did our fair share!

How P swole up with her pneumonia...poor baby had to get EPI injection to combat swelling. :(

Pink eyes

If they are resting they feel BAD...this is not normal for my 2 little ACTIVE loves!

Well….I wrote this a while back but haven’t posted it….we lasted a whole week….UGH!

Another norther blew in, the kids played outside in the wind, and BAM…2 trips to the Dr. in 2 days. P on Friday & of course, B on Saturday.

A combo of allergies & asthma for P and a case of Croup for B. REALLY!?!? I am having a baby ANY DAY and my kids are sick again. Since B was contagious and we were expecting any day the Dr. went ahead and put her on a high one day dose of steroids to get the contagious part over with quickly and we just have to ride out the cough/mucus for approx. 2 more weeks. P was put on some preventative allergy meds and her inhaler again and she will go for a follow-up when we take the baby to his/her first appt. If she continues to get sick (in the chest/lungs) we will be referred to a Pulmonologist so they can run some tests on her to evaluate her immunity, lungs, antibodies, etc. to see why the sicknesses are lingering in her chest. She gets this stuff because she had RSV as a baby but they always told us she would be growing out of it around

The Drapela Family

Monday, March 9, 2015

Baby Updates

A “B” Day…..

Little Love-Bugs

Over it!