Tripletville Adventures : First trip to the E.R.

**WARNING - LONG BLOG - YOU CAN SKIP THE MEDICAL STUFF IF YOU WANT :) **

Yep, you read it right, we had to go to the E.R. this week with the boys for the first time. You may remember I talked about Jacob being sick last week and we were hoping that Zachary and Samuel were going to bypass it. We spoke too soon as they not only caught it but theirs was exacerbated... Monday I started noticing that Zachary was starting to show some labored breathing so I called their pediatrician and as he was out on vacation, his amazing secretary (she's always there to answer my questions even when the doctor is not) just said that I should go to the clinic. She even suggested a specific clinic as she knew that most of the doctors there were E.R. doctors. So off my mom and I go to the clinic with both Zachary and Samuel. I didn't want to take the chance that Samuel was going to get worse. Jacob stayed home with my in-laws. We didn't have to wait long which was great. After examining the boys, the doctor (who was actually going to be working the E.R. that same night) sent us straight to the hospital on orders to have a breathing technician come take nose mucus samples from the boys and also give them some medication through a puffer. Do you think I was panicked much? I'm glad that my mother's intuition was on full force that morning! We went straight to the hospital calling Gabe on the way for him to come meet us there when he could. Of course, even if we had doctor's orders, the E.R. is the E.R. and we still had to go through triage and registration but thankfully BECAUSE we had already seen a doctor, we went straight through to see the breathing tech. It still took about a half hour before he actually got to us. Once he finally did (my babies weren't breathing right why the hell was he chatting with his buddies?!?), he took some mucus samples and told us it would take about 24 to 48 hours to get the results back (WHAT?!?). He then gave them their puffer medication and left to go about his business and here we were wondering what we were going to do for the next 2 days without knowing what was wrong with my babies? Thankfully the nice nurse we had seen at triage (who was amazed and happy that she was looking after TWO babies... I was happy there weren't THREE!) came and told us that we would get the results in about 30 minutes... ok?!? Far cry from 48 hours!! She also said that the doctor was in the building and he was going to come talk to us once we got the results. As annoying as it was waiting all that time, we were pleased that the E.R. doctor we were going to see was the same great doctor we saw at the clinic. It's nice to keep the same doctor as we don't have to repeat our story over and over again! Once we got the results back, we got the good news that the boys were cleared of RSV (as the boys had been preemies and in the NICU, they had been "lucky" enough to have had the RSV immunization shots all winter so hurray for that!!). They were, however, as the doctor had initially thought, diagnosed with bronchiolitis.

So their little bronchial tubes were filled with mucus which prevented them from breathing properly. He said that the puffers don't work on many babies and if that was the case, the babies would have to be admitted and hooked up to some sort of breathing apparatus. My boys, being the strong little men they are, took to the medication and we were sent home with the puffers on orders to administer them every four hours and keep an eye on the boys' breathing. It worked really well on Zachary and he got better almost immediately and I thought that it had worked on Samuel as well but by 3 o'clock Tuesday, Samuel started sounding more and more like Zachary did the day before and I decided that we should probably bring him back to the hospital just in case the puffers weren't working on him. So as soon as Gabe walked in the door at 4, I turned him right back around and we left with our little guy. My mom and my in laws stayed with the other two. Again, as we had been there the previous day and the babies are young and because they were preemies we got in straight away after triage and registration. We were put into the trauma side as the triage nurse thought that Samuel might need to be hooked up to the breathing apparatus. He thankfully didn't need to be and we were just told to wait for the doctor. We were super happy to hear that it was AGAIN the SAME doctor!! He recognized us almost right away and immediately asked us how Zachary was doing. I was so impressed that he remembered his name that I almost asked him if he was taking new patients!! He also compared Samuel's breathing to Zachary's of the day before and prescribed 4 puffs of medication to see what more meds would do. We were moved to a more private room as there was an actual trauma that came in while we were waiting. We had to wait about 3 hours before we saw the doctor again as he wanted to see what the increase in meds would do. When we saw him again he was pleased with the change in Samuel's breathing. Although we still heard some wheezing, he told us that it wasn't in the lungs but all in the sinus area so that was a good thing. He told us to wait another hour just to be sure and then he thought we'd be safe to go home without having to admit him. We were finally released about 1.5 hours later and got to put our baby boy in his own bed. They weren't big fans of me this week as not only did I have to cover their mouths with an annoying mask but I had to put a saline solution in their nostrils and then suck it all out... yep, you read correctly... SUCK IT OUT!!!! With this:

Gabe said "I like how that kid is smiling like he's actually enjoying it...". It's true, my kids looked like I was sucking out their brains! haha...

It was the only thing that actually got most of it out. I know, it's gross and Gabe can't stand the noise it makes but it's efficient. It doesn't actually go in my mouth people! There's a filter and there's no way I could suction hard enough to get it up that tube.

So the doctor had given us some documentation on bronchiolitis and one of the first things we read was that bronchiolitis was more common in males, children who have not been breastfed, and those who live in crowded conditions and those who were born prematurely... well don't we fit the bill??

The latest on my sick little men is that they are doing much better. They are still coughing (mostly Sam), Zachary is off the puffers, and they are acting like my little men again. Papa got sick (pretty bad cold), Maman got sick (as sick as mom gets which isn't much), my mom got sick, my sister got sick and now my father in law is sick... we all took our turns! Oh, I got super red eyes for some reason... I think it was due to the no sleep/sickness/crying... it's still not completely gone but it's slowly disappearing with the help of visine and sleep! Everyone kept asking if I was ok... I looked like I was constantly crying or high.

Tuesday we thought the boys felt good enough to go to their physio and ergo appointment (little did I know Sam wasn't feeling all that well but we do what we think is best right?). Samuel surprised the heck out of our physiotherapist by doing things that she didn't expect him to do. He's only 3 weeks behind his actual age in development!! Go SAM!!! My Jacob decided to be a little bugger and do none of the things he does at home. He's such a little social player that all he wanted to do was stare at all the new people around him. We actually had to put him on a mat far away from everyone so that he couldn't see anyone for him to do what I knew he could do. Of course, the physio lady believed me but she has to see it with her own eyes to see HOW he actually moves. It took him about 10 minutes but he finally started rolling and doing all the things he does the moment I put him down at home. He tested at about 5 weeks behind his actual age (I think he's closer than that because she didn't see him do everything as he was being a little bugger haha). Zachary, my ever chill guy, is following his corrected age, so he's 8 weeks behind his actual age. Funny enough, that same afternoon, he started rolling over (he had been rolling in his crib so I knew that the rolling on the floor was coming soon). He had been busy growing teeth so now he's catching up to his brothers. I'm really pleased with how well they are doing and as difficult as it once was to not compare them to one another, I am now letting them develop as they will as they are individuals and will do what they must when they're ready.

I was so happy when Friday came around because it was finally the day where we would surprise one of my very best friends with a baby shower! She already has a boy but she's expecting two little girls so we thought she deserved another even though she didn't. So while my in laws came to spend time with my babies in the afternoon, I got to go help Mel set up for the party. She was soooooo surprised, shocked and touched by what he had done. I was so happy it all went off without a hitch! We have such an amazing group of friends that I knew that we could pull it off and she would love it. It was nice spending a few hours with my friends having a few glasses of wine and be able to relax after the week I had with the boys...

After spending all week getting the boys to feel better, we thought they felt good enough to spend a day out on Saturday. First, we had Seb's 1st birthday party. It was the first time we had to feed the babies solids away from home and I gotta say, it didn't go too too bad. We had brought the Bumbos for them to sit in and I sat on the floor in the playroom. We were able to stay just long enough to sing happy birthday to the birthday boy and off we were to our second outing of the day all the way in Cocagne. We set up our big shelter and entertained the boys while the crew got ready for the beach. I changed them all in their matching swimwear (we stupidly forgot to take pictures all day... ), gave them their bottle and went down to the beach. Samuel and Zachary fell asleep on the short walk over so I took Jacob with me in the big floating tube and left him with a friend while I went for a wild ride on Big Mable!!

Obviously that's not me but that's Big Mable! It was such a fun ride and Julien went pretty hard core, hard core enough that we flipped over. Marie-Christine, who was on with me, actually flipped over me and I got hit in the mouth with the clip of my life jacket... fun times! I was holding on so tight that my biceps hurt like a biotch today... I can hardly strengthen my arms! haha...

We took it easy today trying to get the boys back into a normal routine. Sam took another step in his development today: he got up on all fours!!! Little guy is going to be crawling all over the place soon! I really need to get on getting their playroom organized!

On to our next adventures... LOTS OF PICS COMING UP!!!

First trip to the E.R.. Don't ask me why we're smiling... it felt weird not to..

Poor little Sam...

This was for Sam's solo trip to the hospital

In the trauma room waiting

Samuel tried a piece of pineapple... he LOVED it... of course he was just suppose to suck on the juice but a piece fell off and he sucked it right into his throat and of course choked on it... he spit it out after coughing a few times but how glad do you think I was that we were already in the trauma room??? haha

The wetness on his face is a mixture of drool, pineapple and snot...

Selfie with Sam to show off my blood shot eyes

My poor little Sam... I felt so sad and helpless... I can't even imagine how he must have felt...

My poor little sick Zachary

Zachary feeling better... Jacob trying to photobomb in the back!

Cuddling Pépère

Jacob trying out his new bath... He loved the toys!

This is how much I love my new tub mommy!!

My boys are growing up too fast...

Started a new feeding method as the boys are getting too wiggly to feed on the boppy pillows

Having a picnic with Mémère & Pépère Arsenault and Oncle Joël

Is this how we spoon mommy?

Yummy

Ummm... nope

Brothers bonding

Batman #1 and #2

I want to go camping!

Mommy I'm stuck

So happy to be feeling better!!

I think Sam is trying to fly

Mommy needed her fix so the boys watched Big Brother with me

They are LOVING Sophie

My little self feeders!!

They can do this for about half their bottles then I need to take over

The boys are loving sucking on watermelon through their little nubs

It's a little mesh bag you put fruit or something into and they can just suck on the juices without having to swallow big pieces.

It was a great way to get the boys some fluid into them as they weren't feeling their bottles much this week.

Well this looks like a comfy place to lay my head

What do you know? It IS!! This is also where Jacob started sucking on Zachary's toes... haha

Playing after our meal. Staying upright to make sure we digest and not spit up all over the floor like usual... Why didn't mommy think of this before?!?

Hanging with Mamie

My little Sam on all fours! He's also started rocking back and forth, it's so cute!

Finally got my wedding ring!!! Isn't it great? Of course, I gave it to Julien to hold on to while I rode Mable and forgot to get it back from him so now it's in my friend Mel's purse... booooo.... I got to wear it for 2 days :(

The table setup for Alicia's surprise shower. Her husband is British and her nursery colours are grey, pink and white so we had to throw a bit of British flare in there. Thanks to my fellow triplet British mom Sam who helped me figure out some treats! Notice the cucumber sandwiches :) (Good job Sarah)