The Curse

Since Ryan is an accountant, every January his "busy season" begins. Long hours, sometimes travel, and 6 or 7 work days that are at least 14 hours each are all pretty standard. Every one always says "oh, tax season right?" Well he's actually an auditor, and instead of being in a hurry to meet the tax deadline, he's in a hurry to file financial statements (I pretend like I know what I'm talking about but I'm probably just as clueless as the next person). Anyway, every January since he's had his job (for the past 3 Januarys) one of us winds up in the hospital. It's usually me, and it usually has something to do with babies, but it's also usually unexpected and crazy.

Well, this year January came and went and everyone was perfectly healthy and normal. But just as we were letting out a huge sigh of relief, RSV hit our household as if to say "NOT SO FAST..." I thought I had just caught a cold, but then Carver and Elsie started a cough that was really wet and chesty. Pretty soon Ava caught on, and being the bigger twin I thought she would brave it better than Elsie, but she was actually worse. She came down with a huge fever (104) and it would not break even with Tylenol or Motrin. When she started grunting with every breath, I knew we had to take her in. Being a Sunday night, we had no choice but to take her to the dreaded ER so we headed to Cooks Children's Hospital in Ft. Worth. As soon as we entered the ER, I felt like I suddenly knew what everyone has been blabbing about as far as the whole healthcare debate goes. I think we were the only English speakers in the bunch, and in a normal situation I might have shown some compassion, but call it motherly instinct I just wanted to scream "HELLO, we are paying customers over here...now tell me what's wrong with my baby!" Soon enough, we learned that she tested positive for RSV and that the oxygen level in her blood was way too low to go home. She had to be on oxygen and have breathing treatments for 3 days and 3 nights until she was well enough to breathe on her own.

Here she is in the beginning, looking pretty sad and confused...I think both girls were absolutely bored and miserable without each other. They were a little happier when we brought Elsie up for a visit (we didn't have to worry about her catching anything because she already had it, minus the breathing trouble). They were trading pacifiers before we knew it, a favorite pastime for them...Ava loved the prayer bear she got in the hospital...The last day, she was breathing fine on her own, but they still wanted to watch her for 12 hours before sending us home. She was so ready to break out of that joint...Usually, my mom comes to the rescue when something like this happens. But because she was getting ready to go help my sister with her newborn baby (Linkin), she couldn't risk catching the virus and passing it to the baby. So luckily, Ryan was able to work from his laptop throughout most of the ordeal. We both decided he'd get more work done from the hospital watching after a subdued Ava rather then working from home with the 3 somewhat healthy crazy kiddos. So he stayed at Ava's side during the day, and we switched off at night so I could be with her too. On the last day, Ryan had to get back to work and catch up, so my brother Bryan came up to help out. I am so grateful that he was around to help, I don't know what we would've done otherwise. Thanks Bryan!

After three times I might have called it coincidence, but after our 4th year in a row at the hospital I think it's safe to say we're cursed. Oh well, at least we met our deductible, right?