This can end...NOW!

Our 2013 started out okay, much better than 2012.

Around this time last year, my little Sofia was fighting RSV.  She spent 2 nights in the hospital and her wheezing lasted all winter long.   You can read a post from last January here.

Two weekends ago, we made the switch to big kid car seats.  No more infant carriers.  We even did forward facing. We went back and forth on this, but the kiddos' legs were a bit squished.
Big kid car seats...a milestone!

 Boys in the front!

 Girls in the back!

 Carlitos

 Maquitos

 Sofita

  Good thing.  I had the great idea of trying them out prior to me being solo during the week to make sure the straps were on correctly, etc...So we ventured out on Sunday afternoon and not too long after leaving our house, I looked back, and Marcos was quietly throwing up while the car was moving (and all over the new car seat cover!)  Since his seat was facing forward, I was able to get back there quicker.  We thought perhaps he got car sick.  So we cleaned him up as well as the car, and continued with our outing.

Yes, we are brave.

We walked around downtown and decided to try out a sit down restaurant. It was late afternoon, after the lunch rush but before dinner time. We have gone out to eat before but they were much younger and could stay in the car seat/stroller...so having all 3 of them sit in a high chair was another milestone. We ate fast and managed to get out fairly quick. As soon as we got back in the car again... Marcos does it again. Coincidence.... Not! We managed to get home, Dad hung out with Marcos while I did the night routine with the other 2.  My sweet boy threw up who knows how many times. He was completely wiped out and managed to only wake once that night.




This picture was taken after his first episode, notice his shirt is missing? Not sure how my lil guy was still smiling.



Then that Tuesday night right before bed time...Sofia coughs, then throws up.  She does this now and again, if she coughs right after taking a bottle.  I nervously put her to bed not knowing if she caught the bug Marcos had or what.  Sure enough, about 20 minutes later she was still awake screaming and crying. Good thing we went in her room right away.  My Sofie was covered in throw up and so was her crib.

We took her out of the room and held her for a few hours.  The throwing up went on for about 5 hours.  She had nothing left so she dry heaved A LOT!  Sofia was still doing this when we hear screams from their room again.  Good thing I didn't give them the 5 minutes to settle.  I rushed in there to find little Carlos covered in throw up.  My poor babies! I think Carlos was up from midnight to about 5am.  At one point, both of them did it at the same time.  Thank God this happened at night because what would I have done alone?  Daddy was a true rock star, especially because I couldn't tell if the nauseousness I felt was from the awful smell or if I was also getting sick.  When the chills started I knew it was my turn.

We got very little sleep that night, if any at all.  Before we knew it the sun was coming out and it was time to rush Isabella to school.  Can anyone say late pass?!

This sickness caused the trio to miss a dentist appointment and our high risk follow up appointment, which I was very sad to miss. The trio was left with very little appetite and lots of diarrhea, but really we are lucky the vomiting only lasted one night because once I began to feel better it was daddy's turn to get sick.  At least we take turns, right?

So Isabella was the only lucky one to not get it.  I thought we were in the clear...and Sunday she began getting a sore throat.  The babies had their 4th Synagis shot of the season yesterday so since we were already  going to the doctors, I had her checked out as well...fast forward to today....

Strep throat!!! She's been home all week and I've managed to go up and down the stairs numerous times taking turns between the four.  I miss my helper!! and she misses her babies.  She's been quarantined to her room, and I really HATE winter.

Praying no one else gets sick cuz I'm feeling like I can't handle so much sickness especially back to back.  And my mind automatically sees it hitting their preemie lungs, chronic coughing all night and nebulizer treatments, talk about anxiety! Now we know why this post took over a week! And why our house still has some Christmas decorations up.

Another Monday

Our Monday is almost over and I am exhausted!  Just when I think things are looking up health wise...someone new has a fever!!
It's Isabella's turn! I am praying this is a quick 24 hour thing.  We took her to the doctor and she was swabbed for strep throat but hopefully it's just a virus.  She has been quarantined to her room! Who knows if that will make a difference but we can't have the trio get sick again.  Sofia is sounding really good, almost now wheezing whatsoever.  She has been very active these last few days. Lots of rolling, talking, exploring and observing everything.  The boys are happy babies during the day but congestion and coughing are still waking them up.  This morning there was only one baby in our room, so things are slowly getting easier.

It was a tough Monday! I had this great idea to try and change the babies' schedule to see if we can go from 3 short naps to 2 long ones.  This means more awake time and somehow one bottle gets eliminated.  Major changes!  Needless to say, it was an exhausting day.  I think my plan backfired and having Isabella home threw me off.
Oh well, we'll try again tomorrow and if they are not ready for it, we can always go back to the old routine.
Isabella got a hold of mommy's phone last week and snapped a few pics!

Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

Dealing with Chronic Lung Disease

It's been a crazy week at the Sanchez household.  Feeling again like I am drowning in sickness.  The kiddos have been coughing (nothing new) but a week ago, it started interrupting Marco's sleep again.  So there we were again, pulling out the nebulizer and doing late night/early morning treatments.  We finally made it to the doctor on Tuesday morning, and sure enough wheezing, and now his 2nd (or 3rd) round of prednisolone.  He was a little bit happier in the middle of the week but still having lots of wakings at night. He has been sleeping in the swing for part of the night and then ends up on daddy's chest or our bed.  He has also discovered how good it feels to sleep on his tummy, making me very nervous to let him do this in his own room.  He has been very congested as well and just plain mad at times, and lots of crying in his sleep.

On Thursday, we drove an hour to Oakland for Sofia's ENT appointment.  Our pediatrician and pulmonologist both agreed that it was the next step since she does not always respond to steroids and albuterol and continues to wheeze all the time.  She had a laryngoscopy done to check for upper airway blockages.  Not fun to watch at all.  She was swaddled on this board and then had a thin tube (camera) down her nose.  The whole procedure took a little over a minute but I was a nervous wreck and she hated it.  She gave everyone dirty looks afterwards.  The good thing is that everything was normal, and her chronic wheeze continues to be attributed to chronic lung disease from being born at 25 weeks and being on the ventilator for 6 weeks.  That evening I could tell her wheeze and cough were getting a little worse and sure enough on Friday morning her respiratory rate was pretty high.  She threw up the first bottle of the day.  I did albuterol every three hours, she responded in the morning and was able to keep her mid morning bottle down.  She threw up again around 1:30pm and then took a long nap.  Around four o'clock, I had to wake her.  She ate and threw up again.  At that point, I began to panic a little bit.  Her respiratory rate was in the 80's and she was not herself.  All she wanted to do was sleep.  She had a fever of 102 which ibuprofen quickly brought down but after talking to the advise nurse and the on-call pediatrician, we were advised to take her to the ER.  This is ER visit # 2 with Sofia after her admittance in January for RSV.

I stayed home with the boys and Isabella while Daddy and Sofie headed to the hospital.  She was observed for a few hours and her chest x-ray showed early stages of pneumonia.  We are so glad we took her in and caught it early.  She got a shot of steroids (again) and an antibiotic.  She was released and seen again on Saturday.  She improved a bit but still requiring albuterol, and just as her rash was beginning to heal from antibiotics a couple of weeks ago, a new rash is well underway.  The probiotics aren't helping that much and it breaks my heart to have her go through so much.

Marcos and Carlos continue to cough and I won't be surprised if we find ourselves back at the doctors office sometime before their Thursday appointment for their Synagis shot.

Not really sure how we are getting thru each day on such very little sleep, but we are.  It feels like Isabella has been eating pop tarts, pizza and fast food all week.  Somehow she has made it to school every day.  Each night, we hope for a good night, but when you have three with a chronic cough, chances are one or two, or three will be up coughing and wheezing.  We continue to pray for good health, new lung tissue and mostly strength.   I will admit that sometimes I close my eyes and ask God for at least 4 hours of consecutive sleep.  Hopefully tonight is the night, and if not...I know God will continue to watch over me when taking care of the kiddos tomorrow.

Sickness x 3!

It's been a crazy few days! Not too much time for anything...Remember this post

Well we are starting week 3 of sickness.  

I was sick.  

Dad was sick.  

Taking care of babies while having to blow your nose is super hard.  And my hands are so dry from all the hand sanitizer.  I think this is how it went...Isabella, Marcos, Carlos and Sofie, Mom, Dad, still Marcos and now Sofie and Carlos again!!

It hasn't been too too bad now that I'm finally feeling better.  I'm thankful that its only been some coughing and some wheezing because I know it can be worse, much worse on their preemie lungs.  Isabella lasted a week, the week of Thanksgiving.  Luckily she was able to go back to school and her cough is completely gone.

Marcos still has it.  My poor guy! And he is such a trooper!  Look at him during his breathing treatment!

 It totally relaxes him! Could he be having NICU flashbacks?

Sofia and Carlos had a little cough around the same time but nothing major.  I thought we actually got away with them not getting it too bad.  I was wrong.  They've been wheezing since Saturday.  Back to the doctor we all went yesterday.  Can I tell you how much work it is to get these three loaded up and out of the house? I only had a couple of hours notice.  Such a process.  Our pedi would rather be safe than sorry so she wanted to see all three again.  My heart pounds when they measure their oxygen level.  All three were in the high 90's.  Thank God.  All these doctor visits are so exhausting, physically and mentally.  My Mr. Big Guy (aka Marcos) is now on prednisolone for a few days.  All three are on pulmacort for the entire winter and for now it's albuterol every 4 hours until the wheezing and coughing is completely gone, thankfully not at night unless they need it. Umm yeah, just a little overwhelmed because now we have to work this in to the somewhat schedule we have.  All of this is resulting in very little time to do anything else.

Here is Sofie Pots also known as Sofie Pants with Tita.  She is the one that fights it the most.

 Funny how things change. Bella was almost 2 when she started having asthma symptoms.  Back then, I thought it was so much to handle.  You can read about it here. Now, it doesn't phase me too much.  As long as it's not a c-pap, si-pap, nasal canula or a tube down their throat, I'll be okay.  How things have changed, or how I have grown....that's it for now!