Still battling with germs

Sigh...if I never stepped foot into a doctors office again, I'd be thrilled. Friday I took Addison in for his fever and he had an ear infection. He was put on antibiotics. Saturday was a pretty easy going day, the boys seemed to be showing improvement, Skylar went with a friend to some farm in Lancaster, and Ian put together the kids swing set.
Sunday, I had to take Skylar to the doctor because he had a huge red ring in the middle of his back. He's now on 20 days of antibiotics for Lyme disease. Yesterday, I had to take him to a minor emergency place to get an x-ray of his ankle because he wasn't able to walk on it for 2 days. Luckily, it's just a bad sprain and he just has to take it easy for a week.
The past 2 nights, the boys have had a tough time sleeping, even being upright in their car seats. They're still getting Xopenex and Pulmicort, although, I have to admit that I eased up on the breathing treatments since they seemed to be doing better.
Today, they both had coughing fits so bad that they turned red and couldn't take a breath. I cancelled their therapy for a second time in a row, and hauled them to the doctor.
Riley now has an ear infection and Addison's ear infection looks worse. They were prescribed a stronger antibiotic and some more Ora-pred just to help them get all of the gunk out of their lungs. The pediatrician wasn't worried about pneumonia because she could hear the phlegm moving when they breathe. This has been going on for about 3 weeks so hopefully they're fully recovered before their birthday. Their last round of RSV had them sick for about 5 weeks.
It will be very nice when Skylar is finished school for the summer so that we can take a break from sharing kid germs.

Blogging from bed

The boys are both sleeping soundly in the co-sleeper and Ian is downstairs so I finally have a few quiet minutes to focus my thoughts. Ian and a neighbor spent 8 hours today putting together a swing set for the kids. He's sunburned and tired and I'm exhausted from trying to keep the kids happy inside while this cool new toy was being built outside.

The twins both still have colds. We made 2 more trips to the pediatrician this week. Both boys went on Monday because they both spiked fevers Sunday night. Friday, Addison still had a fever of 102.5 so after Leah's end of the year preschool picnic, I hauled the crew to the pediatrician again only to discover that Addison has an ear infection. They're both slowly getting better but we're still doing nebulizer treatments every 3 hours with an additional breathing treatment of Pulmicort, twice a day. Riley had to take Ora-pred for 3 days because he was very wheezy but thankfully, he's just got a nagging cough now. They have their 1 year well visit in about 3 weeks and I'm really hoping to not go back before then. The receptionist joked with me about going broke paying co-pays.

I cancelled their therapy this week because they were both so sick. I just didn't want to stress them out any more than needed. Their therapist will be back on Tuesday and I'm going to bring up some concerns I have about their development. I kind of feel like we're at a standstill and I'm wondering if I'm just getting impatient or if there's more that could be done to help them.

Today, I had Addison sitting pretty well. He had trouble staying balanced anytime he coughed but in between coughing fits, he was sitting on his own.

I'm starting to fall asleep so I better shut down for the night. You learn to take sleep when you can get it. If I fore myself to stay up, I'll get so tired that I can't keep my eyes open and then the babies will both wake up to nurse.

11 months old tomorrow

I finally have a few minutes to write. As you can see, I've changed the blog a little bit. I'm still playing with it a little bit but ultimately, I want it to have a more personal look.

It's hard to believe that in one short month, we'll have 1 year olds. The time seems to be flying by. We're gearing up for their big birthday party. We've had such a big year and we can't wait to spend the day with all of our friends and family who have helped our family.

Riley is sick again. He has a cold and a cough. Luckily, he hasn't had a fever or trouble breathing. I started giving him Xopenex because he was a little wheezy and yesterday, I added in the Pulmicort. Today he started to have a wet cough so I took him to the pediatrician who said to do what I've been doing. It's not in his lungs and as long as he's acting fine, the nebulizer treatments are fine. She called in a prescription for Prednisolone but it tastes horrible and Riley vomited instantly both times that I tried to get him to take it. Hopefully, a week of constant nebulizer treatments will help it pass without any additional problems.

Both boys are still slowly making progress with their physical therapy. We're still working on sitting. I'm still holding out hope that they'll be sitting, unassisted, before their birthday. I try to work with them daily and they seem to love the stretches and different exercises.

They've recently taken a huge interest in toys. They grab them, put them right into their mouths, and shake them.

Well, Riley just woke up to eat so I've got to end this.

Back from another opthamologist appointment

I was so excited back in January when I didn't have to come back until May. Of course, in the back of my mind, I worried that if we weren't going monthly (or bi-monthly or weekly as it was for a little while) that something would go wrong and it would be months before it would be noticed. Our original appointment was the same day as our settlement on the house so I had to reschedule. It made me nervous because it was just that much longer until they would find something wrong.
So, today I got the boys their baths and got them ready for their appointment. When I got there, I was thrilled to find out that they didn't have to have their eyes dilated. They hate getting the drops in their eyes. The nurses all know the boys and come visit and they were shocked at how big the twins were. We got right into a room and Dr. Klombers came in pretty much right away. He examined both of them and just kept saying "They beat the odds". He also called them "carbon copies" lol. He asked me their birth weights again and when I told him 1lb 5oz. and 1lb 3oz., he was amazed. They have NO lasting problems from being on oxygen for 2.5 months. They have perfect vision. We were pretty much guaranteed that they would need glasses and Addison was at the absolute limit with his ROP where he almost needed laser surgery. And, they're fine. As I was talking to Dr. Klombers, I had tears in my eyes. Just another hurdle that we've jumped and an odd that they've beaten.
We go back in 1 year for another check-up and if everything is still ok at that appointment, we won't need to go back for 2-3 years!!!
Just when I start to get discouraged that they're not "more like normal babies", I get reminded at how incredible and lucky my boys are.