Friday, June 13, 2008

a little vacation and a not-so-little spider bite

This is a week of preparation for us...Well, preparation and spider bites.

While up north visiting my parents, Britten was bitten by a spider on her leg. We believe this happened while she was sleeping on the floor of my parents bedroom, but have no definite answer, and really, it doesn't matter when it happened. What matters is that the bite got infected and we had to rush Britten to the doctor on Wednesday, two days after she was bitten, with an oozing bite mark and a swollen leg. The doctor was quite concerned, to say the least, but she immediately started Britten on a round of antibiotics and told us to watch Britten carefully, and if she develops a fever, bring her right back.

When Britten woke up on Thursday, she seemed much better. As the day progressed, she started complaining of a headache, stomachache and kept telling us she was really tired. Britten is our little busy-body-wiggle-worm, so for her to complain of being tired and asking to to go to sleep, was totally out of character and really worried us. We called the doctor, but because Britten didn't have a fever and the bite mark seemed better, there wasn't much need for concern. But by 10:00pm last night, Britten did have a fever and it had spiked to over 104. Back to the ER we went, or more precisely, Daddy and Britten went. I stayed home with sleeping Ella and sleeping Chloe, knowing Chloe would soon not be sleeping and want her Mommy. Long story short, blood tests came back normal (thank God!) and it didn't seem the fever was related to the spider bite. They determined she had a viral infection as her throat was red and a little swollen. This diagnosis made sense as I've been sick with a sore throat and no voice for the last three days. Poor Britty. An infected spider bite and a viral infection to boot. She's doing much, much better today though, and with a good nap and full night sleep tonight, I'm expecting to have my "busy-body-wiggle-worm" back to normal in no time.

So as I mentioned earlier in the post, this is a week of preparation for us. Andy and I are leaving the older girls with Grandma Patty and Grandpa Dave, and taking Chloe (because it certainly wouldn't be fair to leave an almost exclusive-nurser and horrible sleeper with Grandma for 4 days and nights) with us to Boulder, Colorado. We are dropping the girls off with Grandma and Grandpa this Sunday, and Monday morning flying out to Colorado to visit friends and enjoy an almost childless vacation through Thursday. We're totally pumped and are really looking forward to some time away. For as much as I love my little Chloe and know she'll be a little trooper for us, we won't have a REAL vacation until we can get away from all three of our girls at once and have the free time to lay in the sun, read books until our eyes bug out and actually get a full night of sleep. :)

4 comments:

Holmfamily said...

Wow, you had quite a week! Hope you and Andy (and Chloe) have a great vacation!

Anonymous said...

Have so much fun with your ALMOST real vacation!! Wow, Colorado. Awesome!!

And, how CRAZY is this (I didn't blog about it or really tell anyone about it because it never came up, but it is eerily related to what Britten went through): Our little MckNugget got bitten by a spider recently, too. On his head and in quite a few spots. The spots became really swollen and red and much later that day, he spiked a fever of above 104!!! Prince Charming took him to the ER, where they discovered nothing was really "wrong" with him or his blood, and everything checked out okay, except that he had a swollen sore throat that did not appear to be related to the spider bites.

Hmmmm, that seems a pretty odd coincidence now that I read your blog!

Either way, glad both of our kiddos seem to be doing okay now!

And, once again, have fun on your trip!!

Kristi said...

Oh, poor little Britten, is right!! What a traumatic couple of days for everyone! I am so glad that the fever and spider bite weren't related...I bet that was a bit scary!!!

I am so glad to hear that she is doing a bit better today!!!

AND...have a super fun vacation away...that will be SO nice!! I pray that it is relaxing (just having one sweet Chloe with you!) and that you are able to enjoy some quality time with your friends! And, how fun for the girls and Grandma and Grandpa...I hope that goes well too!

Look forward to hearing about your trip when you come home!

Lori said...

That's interesting...our Chloe had some "bites" all over her face...I think it was about the time she turned 1 year old. She had all sorts of health problems with ear infections, tubes, etc...so this ended up being sort of another "thing"...but we always WONDERED if they were spider bites! The doctor never confirmed...and didn't seem too concerned at the time, so who knows?

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences with kids/sleep...it can be so very trying and exhausting! Lukas DOES seem to be making some positive progress in the GOING to bed part - we've been trying a few different approaches, as well (I hope to post about this soon!).

I wanted to say I hope you enjoy your trip to CO...my sister went to school in Boulder (for her Master's degree) and now lives in the Denver area. We keep saying SOMEDAY we will plan a vacation there. I have only flown ONCE with a child (when Madelynne was 9 months old we went to the Czech Republic!)...and that was the LAST time I flew anywhere! :-)

Anyway...I'm so excited for you to meet and run with Kristi...she is such a dear and treasured friend and I know and trust that you two will be blessed by each other's company! :-)

I am NOT a runner...or, unfortunately, really even much of an "exerciser" other than walking (and chasing after 3 kids)...but, I did join Kristi for the last mile of her run on Saturday - it was quite the challenge for me!!! No marathon goals for me...but maybe I'll be able to do a mile or two (without passing out!) by the end of the summer! :-)