Flu Shots...

Tuesday, the date of my previous post, we took all four girls into the doctors for their flu shots. I had mine the previous Thursday. As you may have noticed, I haven't posted since. The shots themselves went smoothly, and the girls were just a little fussy that day. That day there was a very sick little man in the office waiting to be seen who was vomiting all over the place. We steered as clear as possible. On Thursday morning Ella woke up vomiting, and she continued to do so every 30 to 45 minutes ALL DAY LONG (unless she was sleeping). It was awful and yucky, and I can't help but wonder if she caught whatever bug the little guy in the doctor's office had, or perhaps it was the flu shot?

By Thursday afternoon we had experienced one baby falling from the wagon, one baby with fingers slammed in the closet door, and one or two were running low grade fevers... plus Ella was still requiring constant attention. Finally around 5pm there was no more throw up, at 6:30pm the little ones were asleep, and at about 8pm Ella fell asleep for the night. Fast forward to 3am... Scott and I were sitting on the couch in the living room holding crying Maggie and Sarah. At the exact moment that I heard Kate begin to scream in her room, I also heard the pitter patter of little feet. Ella was up too. So there we all were in the living room from around 3 to 3:30am. Fortunately, Ella was just up to tell us that she was feeling much better and was starving! So Scott helped her find a bland snack and some juice and they went back to her room to sleep. I took all 3 fussy babies into their room and made a little bed of sorts on the floor. After I got it all fixed up they each managed to lie still for about 0.5 seconds... thereafter, they took turns crawling all over each other and me! It was terrible, so I changed diapers, administered more Tylenol, and put them each in their own beds around 4am. At that point Sarah blessedly fell asleep, and I was down to only two night owl babies. From 4 to 6am is really a blur because I was so tired, but I think that mostly Maggie and Kate alternated playing with whining and crying in the living room. At 6am I put them back in their own beds and went to my room... I figured I had done everything I could. They both cried for a minute and then fell asleep. Ella was up at 6am ready to start the day, but I made her go to the bathroom and back to bed. By 7:30 the babies were all up so our day started.... against my wishes!

All day Friday I was watching Kate become increasingly fussy and feverish. She didn't show any other symptoms until Saturday morning when she started tugging on one ear. I took her to the doctor, and she has an ear infection in that one ear. The NP we saw couldn't believe that Kate is the first of all four of these kiddos to ever have an antibiotic.... guess that is pretty good. But I can't help but wonder if the sickness that started all this has something to do with that flu shot, or at the very least the doctor's visit that was required to get it!!

Today Kate seems much better. Her fever is gone. Sarah woke up with a high temperature this morning, so I'll probably be carting her to the doctor tomorrow. Maybe Maggie won't get any bug, but if she does I hope it comes in time to just take them both into the doc's in one trip.

Ella was completely recovered from her stomach bug by Friday. In fact, she was very excited to feel better again and had not gotten in her quota of words for the day Thursday, so she made up for it on Friday. She talked our ears off!! By Saturday she realized that she got more attention when she was sick, so she began carrying around her trash can saying she thought she might just need to throw up. Boy, did I feel the same way.

Maybe next year we'll only take flu shots if we can find someone to bring them to us here in the safety of our own home.... unless, of course, we get the flu this year sometime. In that case, we're definitely opting out next year!!