January...whew, it's over!...Maybe

I do not consider it an exaggeration to state that January has probably been one of the hardest months Trey and I have endured since we've been married. The majority of hardship came from sickness. It actually started Christmas Eve. Layton was sick, running a high fever, and of course, being Christmas Eve, nothing's open! Luckily, during the month of November, with a little $ problem, we couldn't see our regular doctor and had seen a different doctor in town, who takes phone calls at his house, even on a holiday! So we put in a call to him and wall-a, he called in a Rx to the only open pharmacy in town! Then New Year's rolls around and we find ourselves ringing in the New Year on the pediatric wing of St Michael's hospital with our Ava, our then 2-month old. She had RSV and was quite a trooper, even though her apnea monitor did go off once, making my own heart stop! We go another week and are at the UAMS center her in town with Ava again, seeing a cardiologist for a heart murmur that thankfully we learn is harmless. We make it a couple of weeks with low-grade fevers and few wheezing spells from various children, but nothing serious, until the next big round hit, Friday, January 25. Ava's running fever, still considered mildly serious since she's not yet 3 months of age. We take her to the doctor to get blood samples, chest X-rays, urine samples, etc. only to be told that it's "just a virus." Whew! Sunday, Ainslee wakes up with 102.2 fever, and we assume that it's also "just a virus."...Monday, Tuesday no fever, but no eating, drinking, and almost no tee-teeing. OH and Trey comes home Monday from work with fever, chills, aches, and throwing-up. Wednesday rolls along, Trey's still home sick, and Layton wakes up with a 102.4 temp so we decide enough is enough and take him and Ainslee to the doctor (back at the regular doctor now) and after blood samples, urine samples, and chest X-rays, learn that Layton has the flu and Ainslee has a urinary tract infection, which is considered serious under the ripe ol' age of 2. So we go home with Tamiflu for all and pray that Ainslee starts tee-teeing so that she does not end up in the hospital as well. Thursday we get a call from the nurse saying the urine sample came back yucky and they need to do a catheter on her to make sure it's not actually as bad as they think. They hold her down, put the catheter in, draw some urine and tell me that it's cloudy, probably caused by bacteria; they'll know more after a culture grows on it for 24 hours, but give me a glimmer of hope because sometimes bacteria doesn't grow on the sample and all is well. Phone call comes Friday; bacteria is already starting to grow; they'll know more Monday. That's where we are right now. I THINK that depending on what type of bacteria is growing, we could be facing something serious or not so serious. They said that they'll have to run more tests more-than-likely that will include a sonogram of her kidney to make sure that no permanent damage has been done yet and another catheter to inserts dye so that they can watch what happens when she uses the bathroom. We'll know all that Monday...Today is Saturday and we had a great day! We played outside all morning in the nice weather, with only sniffles. Kids nap well, eat somewhat well, and seem happy. We pick Ava up from her nap and she feels warm...uh oh...here we go again!