Update Schlupdate

Hello kids, I'm going to take a break from my courtship/engagement/wedding stories - I've tried really hard to continue to write on the topic but each time I do it winds up being lame and strained. Like I'm trying too hard. I need my writing to flow, or it just winds up being lame and strained, like I'm trying too hard. :)

It's been a tough couple of weeks here on the Almosta Ranch, as the kids and I have all been sick. It started two weeks ago, with the three little ones. I thought they were getting strep, so we took them to the doctor, and he diagnosed a virus that he said had affected hundreds of kids in the area. He told us it would be a tough one, and that the kids would be sick at least seven days. I prepared for a rough week, stocked up on OTC cold/cough medications - then proceeded to get sick myself along with our two oldest children. By the weekend we were all a coughing, hacking, feverish pile of misery.

Then came the blizzard.

Monday night Kyle stocked up on groceries and we hunkered down, preparing for what was predicted to be a nasty storm. We had plenty of PT, Tylenol and Kleenex. I even made a huge pot of chicken soup, which no one would eat. We had lots of beverages - different types of teas, Sprite, gatorade - and I encouraged the kids to drink whatever they wanted.

That night, during the first part of the blizzard, Thing Two spiked a 105 degree fever. Yes, you read that right. One Hundred and Five Degrees. I'm talking fever - not a minus wind chill, although it probably felt like that outside with that awful blizzard raging. Anyway, the only thing I could do with Thing Two was get him into the tub to bring his fever down, as by this point he was vomiting up anything that entered into his stomach. We got through the night, his fever came down a bit, but the next morning Thing Four came to me and said, "Mama, my legs are really big." I had only had a couple of restless hours of sleep at this point, and so I sat up in bed, checked her over, and then she said, "Mama, look at my fingers, they are really swollen." She was staring at her fingers with this dazed look, and I realized she felt like a little oven. Sure enough, she was sharing her brother's 105 degree fever. Thankfully she was able to keep some Advil down and so I put her back to bed. Even though she was very sick too, that was the highest her fever got and it did not go back up that high. I wonder now if her oxygen levels were low at that point - initially I thought she was dreaming but I suppose she was actually hallucinating, or at the very least, her vision was distorted.

Thing Two was holding his own, but was starting to get a little worse. Throughout the day, as the blizzard raged, I became quite anxious and was getting scared for him. When his fever would start to rise (It went up to 105 at least a half-dozen times) I would get a little panicky. I paced and prayed and prayed and paced. I gave our thermometer a workout - all the kids had fevers, coughs, and some were vomiting. I felt trapped, and I knew if Thing Two worsened I would need to get some help. I'm very thankful Kyle was home with us or I would have called in the National Guard. I'm not kidding either.

Throughout all this I was talking to an Angel in the form of a nurse on the nurse help line. She kept giving me guidelines and helpful suggestions to keep fluids in Thing Two and keep his fever down. She encouraged me that he was going to be okay and that I was doing all the right things.

The scary blizzard raged on as we entered another long night. At one point Thing Two asked me to just sit with him, as he was so very miserable. It's amazing how a big, strong teenage boy can still need his Mom when he's sick or hurting. By morning he was in pain, severe pain in his chest, and so I once again got him into the tub and waited out the morning until I could get him to the clinic. Kyle shoveled out the car and made a path through the highest drifts we'd ever had, and when the clinic here in town opened at 10:00 I showed up, I didn't even make an appointment.

I need to back up here a bit and say that I did seriously consider calling an ambulance throughout all this. I'd never seen fevers of 105 in any of my kids, and I'd never seen any of my kids so sick, especially all at one time. However, if I had called an ambulance, they would have sent the Emergency Response Team from town, but if Thing Two had needed to be transported they would have needed to send out another ambulance from Fargo, along with a snowplow. Highway Ten was treacherous and deadly during that storm and it would probably have been more dangerous to be out, especially considering how sick he was.

Anyway, the roads opened later that morning, but the clinics in Fargo weren't opening until noon. I knew that the ER would be packed - so the local clinic was our first course of action. It turned out to be the best course of action as well. The doc checked him over, took an X-Ray and sure enough - he had pneumonia. We talked seriously about taking him to the hospital for fluids but the doc thought that with some anti-nausea meds and a strong antibiotic, he would do okay at home. I was needed at home too, with the other children still so sick. Bless that doctor's heart - he even called me at home a couple times to check on us.

By that evening Thing Two was resting comfortably, he was responding to the medications, and was keeping down fluids. He even ate a couple bites later that evening. The rest of the kids were slowly improving - except for Thing Four. Her fever was gone but she was still very, for lack of a better term, "punky". She didn't want to eat, she was feeling miserable - so I took her to the Children's walk-in clinic. Sure enough, she has pneumonia too. She has responded well on antibiotics. All the kids are on the mend. So am I, thankfully.

God saw us through this terrible illness and the blizzard. He answered my prayer to take care of my children and gave me strength when I'd had no rest. Things Two and Four were dangerously ill - especially Thing Two - but God kept me from panicking and gave me help over the phone, and He kept the kids from getting any worse. I really did not want to venture out into that blizzard. I don't even know how an ambulance crew would have reached our door, the drifts were so high. I suppose they would have brought over a snowplow but I'm thankful I did not have to find out!

Yesterday I had an extra measure of thankfulness for kids who are gaining back their health, their appetites, and their spunk. It was so quiet in the house for so many days, that I rejoiced the first time I heard a couple of them giggling together over something. I was even (somewhat) glad when a couple of them started arguing over something. (Shhh - don't tell them I said that!) And I was especially thankful for the bright sunshine we had yesterday, and the melting snow. I'm thankful that Thing 3 (who has Down syndrome and is a little weaker than the other kids) and Thing 5, who is still so little, did not get as sick as Two and Four. Their bodies would not have handled this illness as well. I'm also very thankful I'm not a young, inexperienced mom - because this would have just been too scary for me to manage. I don't think I'd have known what to do.

I have a lot to be thankful for!