That was so scary

Since Dorothy has been born, Cooper has had 3 separate viruses (and went to bed tonight with a fever!) and an ear infection.  Harry has had strep TWICE and currently has a nasty virus.  Jack ate Cooper's leftover pudding out of his pudding cup tonight and will surely spike a fever any second.

But that's not all.

Today, Harry complained of the same chest pain he has been complaining about since he started his new antibiotic, which he hates and swallows really strangely.  We assumed that he was simply swallowing too much air and had gas, but for the last couple of days, he said his chest hurt when he laid down. He stayed home sick from school today, and by noon, I was a little freaked out because his voice sounded weak, and he was white as a sheet except for the giant purple circles under his eyes, and his breathing was shallow. I called Ben, who was on his way home from work so Dorothy and I could hit campus, and suggested he make an after-nap appointment with our back up doctor (doctor out of town) for after nap, mostly because I wanted him to feel the joy of taking multiple kids to the germy doctors office, but also because I was concerned about Harry.  I mean, mostly that second one.

Ben texted me this picture during my meeting:

That's Harry getting an EKG.  He also had a chest X-Ray. Apparently, pediatricians don't fuck around with shallow breathing and chest pains.

His X-Ray was fine.  His pulse ox was OK.  One of his EKGs was normal, but the second one was not, and he couldn't take a deep breath.  The pediatrician sent him straight to the ER at the children's hospital, where a pediatric cardiologist was waiting to give him an echocardiogram.  Um.  Shit.

Dorothy and I left my meeting, obvs, and met Ben near the hospital to exchange car seats and switch cars, so I could take the 3 little kids home.

Ben texted me this picture, and I got worried.

Because it is never a good sign when the actual doctor does the procedure.  Where are the techs?

Thank God his echocardiogram was fine, and he got to come home. His antibiotic seems to give him terrible gas/reflux, and his pericardial sac is a little inflamed-- maybe from his latest round of strep.  He is supposed to take lots of ibuprofen and follow up with the pediatric cardiologist later in the week if he doesn't feel better.

He was happy to leave for home.

Tomorrow, H is home sick again.  Cooper is also sick.  Jack is staying home because I have to take everyone (all 4) to see another pediatrician to check Cooper's ears and the appointment is during pick-up.  And Ben has in-service ALL DAY LONG.  Magical and special for sure.