Nightmare on Nineteeth Street

It pretty much started with me falling asleep on the couch reading a book and holding Kortlen...and Ryan falling asleep in Taylor's bed about 8:30 pm...and it all went downhill from there.  Apparently the ward Halloween party wiped us all right out.

I woke up at midnight, woke up Ryan so he could go to bed, and when I laid Kortlen in his crib, the poor baby couldn't breathe, and was barking.  NOT GOOD.

So I resolved to sit up with him on the couch, nurse, and try to comfort him.  I was 99% sure he had croup.  I asked Ryan to put a diaper on Taylor, because he went to bed with underwear instead of a diaper (despite being dry for three days, I was not wanting to wash sheets today...out of detergent, and a trip to the store was not on my to-do list!).  I think Ryan grunted in bed, and rolled over.  I sat down to nurse and read, when a certain two-and-a-half year old waddled into the living room, whining, because he peed the bed.  Uggh!

Without giving you a play-by-play (because I know you all want to read it...sorry), Tanner had an accident an hour later, Kortlen wouldn't nurse...because he couldn't breathe and suck at the same time, and Taylor came out at least four times between wetting the bed and 4 am wanting to watch "Cat in the Hat" and other movies.  I used the snot-sucker (bulb syringe) and saline on Kortlen about every hour, hoping to relieve some congestion, and when Ryan finally did fall asleep, I woke him up five minutes into dreamland so he could give Kortlen a blessing.  I didn't know what else to do.

I was shot. I took the battery out of the clock in the living room, because between the loud ticking and the deep/raspy/congested breathing and barking, I wasn't dozing off.  And I can sleep through ANYTHING!  I attempted to nurse Kortlen one more time, and he got a little bit before he konked out.  Poor little guy.  I laid him in his bed, figuring we'd call the doctor in the morning...if I was ever able to wake from the coma I was sure to fall into.

I went to bed at 4:22 am, and two little boys crawled in bed with me at 5:55 am.  Ryan was a sport and got up to turn on cartoons and I stayed in my comatose sleep until 8 am, when I frantically woke because I hadn't heard Kortlen since I had put him down...at all.

The best part about this whole nightmare, was knowing that I didn't have to get up and go to work the next day, or be a completely functioning parent for that matter.  It was bliss, despite the nightmare.

Today was crazy busy, running errands, going to the doctor's office to confirm what I knew, going to the pharmacy three, THREE! times, and helping dear friends, and trying to keep everyone happy.  I caved and bought dollar hamburgers at Old McDonald's inbetween errands. 

Now that Tanner and Kortlen have had their steroids (Prednisolone-something-or-another) for the night, hopefully we'll all sleep a bit better.  As of 9:00 pm, all three boys are soundly and QUIETLY sleeping, which is a huge improvement upon last night.  Here's to hoping that tonight we'll all have sweet dreams!  The laundry and dishes will still be here when I wake up, so I'm off to get some much needed shut-eye.