WE LIVE!!

Wow, this was an illness for the ages.

Nina started to spike a fever on Friday, but generally she was still in good spirits, so I was (naively) hopeful that this one wouldn't be as bad for her as it was for me.

No such luck.

She was burning up all night Friday night and woke up Saturday morning with a fever of 104.7. This is high, and had me especially worried because generally fevers are naturally lower in the morning. She's actually hit 104.7 before, but that was in the evening, when fevers usually begin to climb again. Fortunately, her pediatric practice has hours on Saturday, so we scooted off to Damariscotta and saw one of the pediatricians. She prescribed antibiotics because, she said, with such a high fever she didn't want to lose any time fighting it while we waited for the cultures to grow.

Saturday the advil brought her fever down to 101 or 102, but then it was back to 104 by the time she was able to have another dose. I gave her one, she fell asleep, and she woke up totally delirious. Seeing things, talking incoherently about something she saw, then afraid, then back to mumbling and confused. I took her outside for some fresh air and she still wouldn't come out of it. Finally I put her in a warm bath and she came to. Very scary.

She was at 104 again around 11 pm and we talked to the pediatrician over the phone. She was worried about the height and persistence of the fever, and we debated bringing her into the hospital for bloodwork, but finally decided that since she was resting so comfortably, we'd watch her carefully throughout the night and bring her in if she wasn't better in the morning.

Fortunately, she did start to turn the corner. Fever was only making it up to nearly 103 between doses of advil, but she was much more alert. It was such a relief when she started talking and laughing again. And walking, on Saturday we had to carry her. She could barely make it to the bathroom on her own.

Just as soon as Nina turned the corner, Maggie started to tank. Fortunately Maggie doesn't suffer as badly as Nina, but she has still been pretty sick. Her fevers have been nearly as high as Nina's, though I've been too exhausted to take them overnight. There's no point really, it just disturbs them and makes me worried. She's sneezing and coughing too, and generally more tired than usual, but again nowhere near as bad of as Nina was over the weekend.

Ugh, good riddance to this virus. I'm still just totally beat and still dealing with a cough and runny nose. Smack in the middle of the summer, too. What a ripoff!!