7QT: Mid-Plague/Post-Plague Edition

--1--

So I wrote last week that we were in the middle of a respiratory epidemic and all the kids were down with it.  Given Piglet and Birdie's underlying respiratory conditions, I wasn't too hopeful that we were going to avoid an ER visit with Birdie, after Piglet had one mid-week.  Last Friday, I put her down for a nap, and neglected to give her the usual mid-day tylenol (we were alternating anti-fever meds throughout the day to keep her crazy high fever reasonable).  She woke up mid-afternoon hot, and just sat on my lap like a lump.  As anyone who knows her will say, this is highly unusual.  She just sat there a long time, not really saying anything, or moving.  She wouldn't walk around, cried every time I put her down, was very listless and super hot.  Around 4:00, I thought I should probably get her some ibuprofen sooner rather than waiting until closer to bedtime.  Almost as soon as that thought crossed my mind, Birdie started seizing from the fever.

This isn't our first go-round with febrile seizure with her (she's probably had about four by now), but this one took years off my life.  My husband had come home early and I hollered at him to call the doctor.  Her arm was twitching weirdly, she was drooling and completely unresponsive.  Then she started turning gray and stopped breathing momentarily.  At this point, we called 911 and got an ambulance.  After about 3 minutes, she finally stopped twitching, coughed a bunch and started breathing normally again (she stopped breathing only for a moment, but was breathing very shallowly during the rest of the seizure).  The dispatcher told us to undress her and lay her on her side to prevent her from choking and wait for the EMTs.

--2--

All I can say is that I'm glad she kept breathing on her own after that momentary stop because the EMTs took f-o-r-e-v-e-r.  I do know CPR, but still.  Scary.  They took her right into the ambulance and my husband hopped in with her.  I was so glad he'd come home early (a rare and unusual occurrence!) otherwise I don't know what I would have done with the other kids.  Her fever was 105.  They gave her more anti-fever medicine at the ER (we'd given her a bit at home before the EMTs got there) and ran some tests to see what might be ailing her.  Negative chest x-ray, negative for UTI.  So they sent her home with instructions to dose around the clock to keep her fever down.  

By Saturday night, however, she was coughing non-stop, her fever was 103 with constant dosing and our pediatrician decided it was time to start an antibiotic for bronchitis.  She has improved steadily since, although her cough is still fierce.  

--3--

Boo complained of ear pain on Saturday, and by Monday was completely miserable, so we kept him home and the pediatrician diagnosed a double ear infection that was bad enough to treat.  So as of right now, my three older kids are on oral antibiotics.  As if keeping up with that dosing schedule weren't enough, we were still dosing for fever, for cough, plus their normal medications.  I felt like my head was going to explode.  

The view in my fridge.  Cue exploding brain now.

Added to that was keeping up with my own dosing schedule, as my illness really blossomed over the weekend and settled into my chest.  I'm taking Robitussin CF around the clock and trying to conserve energy where I can.  Ponchik has been sicker this week too, with goopy eyes, nasal and sinus congestion, and nursing more often, so that has been an additional layer of complication.

--4--

On the whole, however, I can say I've felt pretty even keel mentally.  I credit starting Focus T25 on Saturday and sticking with an early morning workout schedule this week.  (I wrote about it briefly on the other blog on Wednesday).  Despite coughing my lungs up and generally feeling unwell, those 25 minutes seem to set my day off on a good pattern.  I'm participating in a challenge group on FB and it helps me so much to be accountable and stick with it.

--5--

1943 clothing edition from the UK

I got this little book in the mail yesterday and it is so great.  I bought it for the WWII historian in me, but there are lots of great tips and tricks too--I hope to use some of them in the future!

Ways to fix or size up a dress.

Clever ways to save a worn shirt.

--6--

Got it! *Fist pump*

I spent a bunch of time yesterday afternoon puzzling over my blouse pattern.  I'm making a blouse out of the top part of Simplicity 1880 and having a go at a butterfly collar.  The collar attachment was driving me bonkers.  It seemed like there was twice the amount of material there should be on the edge of the front parts, and it just did not want to attach properly and lay right.  I was really getting discouraged and ready to throw in the sewing towel after getting so much energy and excitement about it, and then I put down the muslin and walked away for a little while.  I looked at a similar blouse in my closet to understand the construction and then suddenly it occurred to me that I had made a mistake with the facing that was messing up the collar now.  Suddenly, it all worked after I fixed that piece!  Amazing.  Now I have to do a sleeve mock and make sure that works, but I'm hoping to sew the real blouse next week.

--7--

Birdie has just figured out the zipper on a Hefty ziploc bag.  She spent--no joke--30 minutes zipping and unzipping that bag one day this week.  It.was.fabulous.

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