Celebrations and Sickness

We celebrated Sam's birthday on Monday with a trip to the movies to see Rango.  Cade was out of school for a workday, so Mama and I took all six kids to lunch at Chick-fil-a and on then to the movies.  Sam and Jack had seen the movie over the weekend with Robin and Kay and Sam really wanted Cade and Cannon to see it.  After a few problems with the seating arrangements (Sam and Jack both wanted to sit between Cade and Cannon), they were finally all in a seat, booster seats in place, snacks in their lap.  Popeye made an appearance...

Will was overly tired and insisted on crawling all over the nasty floor.  Ten minutes into the movie, I was pretty sure we'd made a mistake.

I left with Will and actually had to drive him around the parking lot to get him to fall asleep.  When I returned to the theater, I saw things spiraling out of control.  Sam was narrating the movie.  Loudly.  Landry was bouncing from seat to seat, flipping the booster seats over to make a boat to sit in.  Jack told me he was ready to leave.  Cannon, Cade and Sam moved to sit on the steps and continually moved down five steps, back up three steps, down four steps, back up to the top...repeat the process.  Landry was using the handrail to practice ballet and gymnastics.  One of the characters in the movie burped loudly and scared the %^$# out of a sleeping Will.  Landry forgot her popcorn was in her lap and stood up quickly, dumping it all over the floor and down the steps.  The three older boys began to carry on a conversation, talking as loud as they possibly could.  It was time to go.  And we did.
Sam was thrilled to have his best buds come back to our house to play.  Actually, they would have been just as happy to be here all day, together, doing nothing more than dressing up in costumes, running laps around the house and deciding whose turn it was to be "the bad guy."  Sam enjoyed the chance to finally open a few gifts...

The Lees stayed for dinner and cupcakes, making my five year old the happiest boy around.  He opened gifts from us before bed and thanked me for everything as he hugged me goodnight.  It was a terrific beginning to the week.

Monday was a wonderful day.  Unfortunately, a few days later I was back at the doctor with this sweetie...

Will went down for a nap Tuesday a sleepy, but happy baby.  He woke up twenty minutes later screaming. I picked him up from his crib and noticed the side of his face and the hair over his left ear was wet.  I thought it was sweat or even drool and didn't give it much thought.  I tried to soothe Will but could not get him to stop crying.  Her was screaming uncontrollably, and began beating his hand on the left side of his head.  Fluid began running out of his ear and down his neck.  I could not get him to stop crying.  He was in terrible pain and inconsolable.  I called Jody and asked him to please come home.  I called my Mom and asked her to please come drive Will and me to the doctor's office.  Jody and Mama pulled up with in minutes and off we went to the doctor, my child screaming the entire way.  I though his eardrum had ruptured after seeing the amount of fluid running out of his ear.  But I knew that if the drum had ruptured, he would have been relieved, not still in pain.  My mind began to race.  I was overcome with worry and felt like something was really wrong with the amount of fluid that was coming out of his ear and the pain he was in.  He literally screamed for an hour and a half, only calming down on the ride home from the pediatrician.  It turns out his ear is full of fluid and his tubes are actually working.  I also learned that a drum can't rupture if you have tubes.  The tube prevents that by allowing the fluid to drain instead of building up in the drum.  It makes since now, and had I thought it through more clearly, I should have known the RSV had left a very large amount of fluid in his sinus cavity and Eustachian tubes, that had tuned unto infection and that the tubes were actually working.  The doctor even said most children don't  experience the kind of pain through their tubes draining like Will was experiencing.  And if the amount of fluid is any indication of how much it should hurt, he was definitely in pain.  I am amazed by how much fluid this poor boy had in his sweet little head.  I can't imagine how bad he must have felt and how uncomfortable he must have been.  He is on oral antibiotics and ear drops for ten days.  He is improving by the hour, but the fluid continues to drain from his ear in unbelievable amounts.  I am so ready for the end of cold season.  I anxiously await warmer weather and a healthy, happy baby.  It can't come soon enough.