Is it Spring yet???

At the Allen house, we are SOO READY for Spring to come!!  It has been a LONG and COLD winter.  It doesn't help that the last 2 months have felt like an eternity from morning sickness.  We have had a lot of sicknesses come and go and we are just ready to be feeling well around here.

This last week Jacob got Strep Throat.  Joy.  It was super bad too, poor guy.  This was my first encounter with Strep.  He got a fever that even with ibuprofen and tylenol together would stay at 101*.  It spiked several times each day up to the 103's!  I don't handle those situations very well.  I start to panic and then I can't think clearly.  Luckily I married someone who can think clearly in those stressful times.  One night we checked on Jacob and the thermometer said 104*.  My heart starts pounding and I just look at John.  Please fix it!  We got some washcloths cold and put them on his neck and upper leg to cool him down.  It took a little bit, but it worked.  That night we checked on him several times.  It was a really long night.

I figured the next day would be better because after a couple doses of anti-biotics the fever usually comes down.  He just kept spiking up into the 103's though.  After a particularly high spike we put Jacob in the bathtub in lightly warm water.  John left me there with Jacob to go call our home teachers to come help give him a blessing.  He was gone for about 5 minutes.  In that time, Jacob started shivering.  It broke my heart to see my little boy so cold, although he was really still hot.  I lost it and started crying.  Jacob looked at me and said "Mom, your face is leaking."  That made me cry even more!  After some particularly violent shivering I couldn't take it anymore.  I got Jacob out of the tub and wrapped him up.  John came back to see my red puffy eyes and was wondering what happened.  I told him he just left me alone and I couldn't do it anymore!  Well, the home teacher came and gave him a blessing and he did better for the rest of the day.

On Sunday, we all stayed home from church.  Jacob tonsils were so swollen at this point we were having a hard time understanding him talk.  It sounded like he had plugged his nose when he was talking.  On one side, his tonsil was taking up HALF of his throat!  His fever went up and down all day, but not as bad as the previous.  I never thought I would say that a fever of 102.7* is not so bad...  Finally on Monday he hardly had a fever at all.  And we can understand him a lot better too.  He was such a trooper through it all!  He never really complained and was so good, even though he was super sick.

Anyways, we are really looking forward to Spring time and a LOT less sickness!!!