How come no one told me...

that having kids sucks the life out of you? How come no one told me that they would be sick A.L.L. T.H.E. T.I.M.E.????? I would have thought that since Nora was born prematurely that she would have been the one with the health issues out of the three of them. Nope. Its Ryann. She is sick all the time.

Lets recap:
December 2005 - bronchiolitus & ear infection
March 2006 - pneumonia & ear infection
May 2006 - some kind of combo of bronchitus & pneumonia - whatever - it involved breathing treatments & ear infection
June 2006 - Strep throat

Aghhh! She felt warm last night so I took her temperature - 101.7. This afternoon it was 103 after I had given her tylenol. I put on my make up (because when you go to visit Dr. Hottie, you need make up on, duh) and brought her to see Dr. Beautiful this afternoon. Her ears were fine - I was expecting another ear infection. He looked in her mouth and told the nurse, "Don't go away. Stay right here." That sounded real good. So he did a throat culture and it turned out positive for strep. She is a miserable soul right now. You know how it is when you have a high fever - achy, can't get comfortable, etc. I feel so bad for her and Nora keeps saying, "I'm sorry that Ryann is sick" in the sweetest, most caring voice ever. As much as they fight, she really does love her sis and feels bad that she's so sick.

In addition, Dr. Beautiful noted again that Ryann's tonsils are unusually large. He asked me if she is a heavy breather or has problems sleeping. I had never noticed that Ryann is a heavy breather until Dave started talking about her Darth Vader breathing. She does sound like that and I mentioned it to Dr. Beautiful. He asked if she has problems sleeping - like sleep apnea problems, which she doesn't. She is a mouth breather and is really loud, but I haven't ever heard her gasp for breath. He said to just pay attention to it because she very obviously has an obstruction back there. He also made it sound like eventually she will need to have her tonsils and adenoids removed (the adenoids are probably large as well).

Finally, I have to mention that I think there is a certain pediatrician that reads this blog and now I am extra paranoid about how I describe the girls' symptoms and the conversations I have with the doctor - is he going to correct me and tell me that there is no way the doctor could have told me what I thought he told me? Is he going to think to himself that I'm just another one of those dumb moms that get overly worried about every little thing (maybe not in this particular instance, but in general). Or will he kindly give me additional advice on the things that ail my kids (um, hint)? Its very intimidating to have a pediatrician read your blog when you're discussing your children's developmental milestones.

And to you Dr. Bierma... I've never met you, but if you have mothers coming in with their children in the middle of the afternoon and their hair and makeup are done, you can safely assume that you are Dr. Beautiful in their world;)

It promises to be a fun holiday weekend in our corner of the world.