Wednesday...

I think it was probably one of the worst days of Jonah's life so far. My poor little boy. He and Nathan had doctor appointments to have their much overdue checkups. I wasn't sure if Jonah would need any shots since he's not going into kindergarten until next year. I knew Nathan probably would.

I brought the boys in to the office and we were fairly quickly sent to an exam room. The nurse came in and we started off with a weight and height check. Jonah is 39 lbs and 43 inches tall. Nathan is 30 lbs and 37 inches tall. Jonah had his blood pressure taken and a hearing test and vision test. Technology has changed so much that I wasn't even sure that's what those devices were for until later! The vision test was taken with a device that scanned his eyes (or that's what it looked like to me!) and the hearing test was one of those devices that measures brainwaves or something like that. No wear a headset and raise your hand kind of test! I must say, it did save a lot of time since both of these tests took less than 2 minutes with set up and everything.

Then it was time for Jonah's TB test, (sheesh, even the TB test is different these days!) which the nurse did quickly. Jonah was not pleased but he didn't cry. He held his arm out for a long time, afraid to move it. The doctor came in and was really nice. She is new to this office and we had not met her before. She looked in Jonah's ears and said there was a lot of earwax built up in one of them. She said she was amazed he had passed the hearing test. So she got out a little scraper and started cleaning it out. It is not a comfortable procedure. Jonah winced but was really good for it. Well, even after several attempts, she said there was still too much left and he would need an ear wash. Those are not fun either.

After doing all of the other checks, which thankfully he is very healthy, the nurse came back in to perform the ear wash. I had to hold his head still and he would whine and fuss. I remember having that done myself when I was a kid but I don't remember if it hurt. She finally got it cleaned out. He looked at the gross ball of wax and we talked about how nasty it was.

Nathan had been checked out as well and he met all of the normal developmental milestones. I've got two healthy, normal boys!

Then it was time for the shots. The doctor decided since Jonah will be 5 in just a few months, we might as well go ahead and get all of his shots done. That was fine with me because I knew we shouldn't need anymore after these until he is going into the sixth grade! He was told to lay down as the nurse got the shots ready. At the time, I thought there were 3, but later realized he had had 4 shots. She did them quickly but Jonah started crying and crying. Once we were done, I sat him up and gave him a big hug.

Now Nathan, seeing how traumatized Jonah is, keeps saying, "Not my turn. Not my turn." Unfortunately Nathan, yes it is! :(

He was not happy about that at all, but only needed 1 shot. He cried and cried and looked at the nurse as if she was the most evil person on earth. I picked him up and held him and tried to soothe him. Both of my kids were crying but soon they stopped and were happy to go and pick out a sugar-free lollipop and a seashell.


WARNING: DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE A SENSITIVE STOMACH!! THE REST OF THE STORY IS REALLY GROSS!!


Then we headed off for playgroup at a friend's house. We had a good group gathered there and everyone had a wonderful time. The kids played with homemade play dough and the moms gabbed away. Some of the moms and kids had to leave so our group got smaller and smaller. We ate lunches that we had packed and there were still a few of us left when all of a sudden... :::bleeeh::: Jonah had just thrown up on my friend's couch!

I WAS MORTIFIED!

As I tried to get him to the bathroom, he barfed on the floor (thank God the floor was laminate!) and then one of the kids was using the bathroom. I could have died. My dear friend who was hosting was very understanding and cleaned up the mess while I cleaned up Jonah. She said it was not a big deal and just threw the pillow and couch cushion cover into her washing machine and started filling it up. Thankfully there wasn't a lot of puke on either of those items since it was mostly on Jonah's clothes and then the floor.

I couldn't stop apologizing. Ugh, how awful. I was upset that Jonah had never told me he wasn't feeling well and mad at myself for not having noticed until too late that he had been laying on the couch for a while.

Having my children get sick anywhere but home is one of my worst nightmares. And now it has happened. YUCK! And to make matters worse, out of the 5 of us moms there, 3 of them, including the host mom, are pregnant!!

My friend loaned me a T-shirt for Jonah to wear and I threw his dirty clothes in a plastic bag. I grabbed all of our stuff and the kids and got the heck out of there. The lunch cooler bag I brought had a large plastic container that fits inside the bag to keep it rigid, so I made Jonah hold that on our 30 minute drive home. He got sick once in the car and I was so glad we had that bucket.

He ended up being sick the rest of the day. Raymond thinks maybe it had something to do with the vaccinations, but Jonah has gotten sick like this pretty often. Seriously, about every 6 months since right after he turned 3, we have been dealing with him getting super super sick. I mean like every 15 or 20 minutes, like clock-work, and it can last 24 hours or more. It is just awful. I took him to the ER the first time it happened because he was severely dehydrated. He had an IV for a few hours and was sent home with anti-nausea suppositories.

But what a blessing, he ended up doing much better by Thursday morning, instead of being constantly sick for 2 or 3 days like he has in the past. He got sick right after we put him in bed Wednesday night, since any movement seems to make it worse, and then praise the Lord, he did not get sick during the night so we were all able to get some sleep. He was sick two or three times first thing in the morning but stopped before Raymond even left for work.

He started burning a fever Thursday afternoon but it was gone by Friday morning. The fever I really think was from the vaccinations. The throwing up, I have no idea. He's never been sick before when he got shots.

I am amazed that my friend took it all in stride because honestly, if it had been someone's kid getting sick at MY house, I would have been freaking out. Maybe not outwardly, but inside, I'd be really upset. I don't deal with barf well at all!

And that is why I think Wednesday was one of the worst days of Jonah's life.