Not so Merry Christmas

Sick and resting with Grandpa, notice he is covered up with a towel...we had to always be ready :-(

Carson got lots of love from Auntie as well! She took wonderful care of all of us and ended up getting sick last.

Finally back at home wearing his new Raccoon hat that Santa brought him! We actually returned to some snow which Carson got to explore in the video. I think he feels the same about snow as his mommy and daddy do if you notice his face when he touches it :-)

Chilling on the couch with the book Grandma Brang gave him, all by himself, because he's so independent apparently :-)

Christmas brought some unexpected struggles for us this year! Carson made the long trip up to Michigan to spend Christmas with our families like a champ! The portable dvd player and some Barney and Seasame Street dvd's turned out to be some of the best purchases ever! Our first day up in Michigan we were getting ready to head over to visit little Luke when Carson started throwing up out of no where. He hadn't even had a runny nose up to this point! I was hoping it was a fluke but unfortunately I would be proven wrong.

Carson continued getting sick every 20-30 minutes for a couple of hours and became very congested immediately. We were so lucky to get into my old pediatricians office right at closing time the night before Christmas Eve. The doctor and nurse stayed late past closing for us, the lights were off and the building was closing down. What doctor would do that today? And especially for a patient that wasn't even his own! We were incredibaly blessed and surprised by their kindness. Grateful to have the opportunity to see the doctor we found out Carson seemed to have a Strep strain that also gave him flu like symptoms. We got an antibiotic for him (which the pharmacist downstairs filled for us afterhours again, waiting on only us), but the challenge to come was going to get him to keep the medicine down.

For 24 hours straight Carson threw up every 30 minutes, all day and all night. It was awful to watch and impossible to make it better for him, all I could do was hold him. At this point Patrick came down with the flu bug as well, leaving my Dad and sister to help me clean up Carson every 30 minutes and hold him long enough for me to get changed every time he got sick on me as well. Grandpa must have done 18 loads of laundry, as you can't really get a baby to get sick in a trashcan, it just comes when it comes.

Christmas Eve Carson seemed to be turning a corner and held down some medicine, just in time for me and Grandpa to come down with the flu bug as well. And by Christmas morning Carson was getting sick again and hadn't urinated in 11 hours...he was getting dehydrated. So Patrick and I spent Christmas morning in the Emergency Room with little Carson (both of us sick as well). After getting some medicine to settle his stomach and holding down some popsicles we got to go back to Grandpa's again.

It has been seven days since Carson got sick and he is doing much better but still feeling the effects of this virus. We made a break for home yesterday, 3 days after Christmas, and Carson made it all the way home only to get sick (through the other end) 5 minutes after we got home from the 11 hour car ride. Thank God for that!

This Christmas was a Christmas with no tree (my Dad and sister were supposed to be in Maryland with my Mom so we didn't put a tree up), no gift exchanges, no desserts, big meals, or family gatherings. We couldn't admire the pretty snow falling outside or even let Carson try out his new snow boots and work on his first snowman like we imagined. We slept, comforted Carson and each other, did more laundry, and tried to hold down any liquids that we could. (oh we also did skype with the Maryland crew, although I think we looked pretty scary on camera) Not the Christmas I had imagined for Carson, but we are so grateful we had Grandpa and Auntie to help us through. We didn't get to spend any of Christmas with the Brang side of the family at all because of how sick we all were, and we didn't get to visit with friends. What's important though is that Carson is on the mend and we have made it back home safe and sound. Our hope is for Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie, and Nana to make it down for New Year's and a Christmas 2010 re-do...now that we are all feeling better. And we know there will be a gift of hospital bills to follow as all of this occurred out of state :-)

We hope you and your families were safe and healthy this Christmas...and we are already looking forward to a healthy and relaxing Christmas 2011 :-)