Our Christmas week got off to a rather rough start. Kate started running a fever on Sunday that continued for SEVEN DAYS! On Tuesday, we decided to go ahead and get her checked out. Dr. Chip (our pediatrician) said she looked fine and that she likely had a stomach bug that was hitting the area pretty hard. She had only had a couple of relatively minor tummy troubles, but it was enough to explain what was likely going on. He told us that the fever would likely last 24-48 more hours, but by the weekend she should be fine. Well, Friday came around and she was still feeling lousy and running a fever. We went on as planned and left for Bladenboro mid-morning on Friday for Christmas with Nana and Pa-Jack and then Nana's side of the family Friday evening.
She may looks like she feels good, and as long as the fever was under control w/ ibuprofen she was, but you can see in her eyes that she just wasn't herself.
Jackson totally knew what was in store for the next couple of days and he could hardly contain his excitement!
The first present he opened was the one that he had been talking about for a while, but never actually seen in a store as far as I know. An 'army car' complete with 'army men' and lots of guns! Sadly one of his men has already suffered a casualty that is currently being treated w/ super glue. Hopefully he'll recover.
Kate got her first Cabbage Patch doll and a sweet new stroller for her babies. The stroller has a buckle that she insists be unbuckled every time she puts a baby in and a storage basket underneath for whatever else she can cram in there. She even pushes it around with a little bag hanging on the handle -- just like a little mommy. :-)
Look at Kate waiting so patiently on Pa-Jack to retrieve a toy from vicious packaging! He did get the stroller assembled in no time at all -- and under pressure from us all to get it done quick!
After the kiddos tore open their loot, us adults joined in on the fun.
Sean got some hedgetrimmers....
Pa-Jack got some new shoes...
Nana got a new pair of slippers. (And promptly disposed of her old ones in the trash.)
Jackson AND Sean got Nerf guns! Oh the fun we've been having with those!
The kids gave a Nana a framed picture of her and them that said, 'Nana - another name for love'. Aww...
By mid-afternoon the crowd began arriving and noise level increased. ;-) It was so good to see my family and those that couldn't make it were missed. Everyone had a great time catching up and Jackson, Easton and Maddie had lots of fun together. Except this one time when the boys hurt Maddie's feelings. :-( My cousin Brooks was chosen as the honored one to read the Christmas story. It's my favorite tradition from our gathering every year.
After dinner, Jackson (once again) could hardly wait to see if there were any presents for him. Oh that boy! He stayed up wayyyy past his bedtime and couldn't have been anymore thrilled.
Jackson's late bedtime is about where our night took a slight turn. As I said earlier, Kate's fever had still been going strong throughout the day and she felt especially lousy that evening. When she woke up around 10:30, I checked her temp and it was 105.1. Admittedly, I panicked and called the doctor's office which forwarded to WakeMed triage answering service. When a nurse called back and I explained the situation, she said that with a fever that high, they wanted to check the child out. I was already beginning to be more concerned, since the fever had lasted longer than expected, so we didn't hesitate to take her in. We did discuss for a minute on where to take her, but eventually agreed to come back to Raleigh to take her to the pediatric ED at WakeMed. At least there we wouldn't have to wait in a waiting room filled with all kinds of folks.
After a couple of hours hanging out in the hospital, with one wide awake Kate, the doctor said her urine was clear, her lungs sounded fine, and that the high fever was the virus our pediatrician had suspected earlier in the week. Only she said the fever could last 7-10 days! But all in all that was the best news we could have gotten. Just a nasty virus and nothing more serious. But it's Christmas and when the fever went up, my sweet girl crashed.
