Yeah, you know the rest.  This is how the last part of March went down…it ain’t pretty though.

The week after Malachi was born, we noticed Liam limping.  He did this for three days complaining that his left thigh hurt.  We finally took him to the doctor on a Thursday and Dr. B noticed that his range of motion was limited on his left hip. An x-ray later proved that there was no pressing issues.  She diagnosed it as synovitis which is basically an inflammation in the hip that can be caused by overuse or a viral infection, both of which could have very well been Liam’s issue.  The treatment…rest and ibuprofen.  Please think…rest for Liam was like torture.  He got to watch a lot of television that  weekend.  By the middle of the next week, he was all better!

On Sunday, the 25th, Josiah started running a fever in the afternoon.  His temp was 101.  We gave him acetaminophen and Mark took the rest of the crew to church.  An hour later, Josiah looked really bad, so I checked him again.  His temp was 103!  I’ve never seen a temp go up like that so quickly and after meds.  I gave him ibuprofen and then got a text from Mark.  Ceili Rain was running a fever.  They headed home.  We checked everyone else and found that Ace had a low grade temp too and Bryant was starting on one.  Everyone that we could think of was drugged (given fever reducing meds), and then sent to bed.

By the morning, everyone was still running a fever and Ace had thrown up.  Then the ahem, diarrhea started with Bryant and Ceili Rain. 

We had an early appointment for Malachi’s two week and Ceili Rain’s three year check up.  So, we took everyone with us so that, if needed, Dr. B could check out the sickies.  Now, his appointment was before the phone lines opened at the office so I couldn’t call and schedule an appointment…that’s why we just brought all the sick ones.  Josiah had not really complained of stomach upset and we didn’t think much about it so we went through a drive thru for breakfast (yeah, you know where this is headed huh?).

Dr. B did check out two of the four sick ones.  We chose the two that seemed to have it the worse…that was Josiah and Bryant.  We mentioned that the kids had had unpasteurized milk and that was enough for Dr. B to want us to do a stool sample (that was a fun one to collect). 

Later in the week, we found out it came back positive for campylobacter which is a foodborne bacteria which could or could not have been caused by the milk.  There’s no real way to tell and we definitely had other foods that could have caused it.  It doesn’t really matter.  I’m pretty sure if we had nto mentioned the milk, it would have been dismissed as viral.  Most cases of campylobacter resolve on their own and antibiotics can sometimes cause it to linger.  However, Ace continued to fight it through the next week, so we did wind up putting him on an antibiotic which cleared it right up.

Anyway, as we were finishing up the massive appointment, Dr. B was getting ready to go out the door and Josiah decided to empty his stomach contents.  On the floor.  Every where.  Bacon, egg, and cheese.  Our dear, dear nurse M cleaned it up.  Brave woman.

By the time we got home, Zoe was feverish.  We pulled out the sleeper mattress and all the kids crashed for a day of television and recovery.  All, except for Liam.  Liam was peachy keen.  He was rarin’ to go.  And no one really felt like playing with him.  He was slightly pitiful.

By the end of the week, we were mainly dealing with a diaper rash and that was it.  And we praise God for that.

Here’s the positives from that week…
1.  We saved on groceries.
2.  It was bacterial and that means it was very, very hard for Malachi to get so no need to worry about a middle of the night trip to the ER.
3.  Bryant provided us with a good story:  During one of his naps with fever, he had fallen asleep playing with a sticker that he had received from the doctor’s office.  Mark walked into the room where he was napping, and Bryant woke up and looked at Mark, then picked off his sticker and started staring at it.  And then he started laughing hysterically at it.  He did this for a good three minutes if not more.  I heard him laughing and thought Mark had been tickling him.  He then sighed and put it back on and went back to sleep.
4.  Ceili Rain also has a good story for us…although it may prove a bit embarrassing as she gets older:  Towards the end of the week, she was able to keep from having to run to the potty.  However, she had to strain at times to get something out.  I was nursing Malachi in our room and she was using our bathroom when I hear her grunt and then sing out, “Poopy, you need to come ou-t!”  She continued the rest of the day singing and talking to her…ahem…every time she went to the bathroom.
5.  We’re definitely sure that Ceili Rain is super well “poopy” potty trained.  That girl hardly had an accident all week!