When it rains it pours

This is not a weather forecast but rather what happens when Jason leaves town. It seems when Jason heads out of the country the kids are sick or watson gets sick or both. This time was no different. As I have already blogged about, Ali had hives when Jason was heading out of town. We thought we were on the mend the day he flew out but no such luck and we ended up with Ali getting a cortisone shot. I thought everything was in the clear after that and I had our days planned out for the week. The girls had a class trip to the pumpkin patch (which I will post about later), we had our swim lesson and they were both in school and happy. Then things really came to a screeching halt on Wednesday afternoon. The school nurse called me and told me that Ali had woken up from her nap and was screaming and crying uncontrollably saying her leg hurt and she couldn't walk on it. Now, Ali had been complaining about her leg during her bought with hives but I just assumed it was because she had hives on the back of her knee. Apparently it wasn't the hives that was hurting her knee so I immediately brought her to the doctor. We went to one hospital and had it checked. They checked it and wrote out a slip for us to go to the children's emergency room at another hospital (Luckily the two hospitals are right next to each other). We go to the hospital and very quickly we find out that Ali is going to have to stay overnight. They originally thought it was inflammation of the knee caused by the bacteria from her ear infection. They put a needle in Ali's knee to withdraw some of the fluid. This was very painful for Ali and they weren't able to take out any fluid. They admitted her into the pediatric unit and we waited for other doctors to come. The staff was very nice and there was at least one doctor around who spoke English. The nurses were nice and since they couldn't tell me things in English they would just bring me to wherever I had to go. It was unexpected to have such help but very nice. We shared a room with another mom and daughter. The mother was very nice and also spoke English and she often translated for me with the nurses. She had been in the hospital for 7 days with her daughter. In our room there were two cribs, one bed and a chair. I slept in the chair. It was not very comfortable but I wasn't going to sleep away from Ali. Anyway, as it turns out, Ali didn't have fluid in her knee she just has swelling around her knee. They believe the swelling is caused by the allergic reaction to the augmentin. We will keep her on antihistamine and motrin for the next week. We were released from the hospital tonight which I am very grateful for. I'm happy that there is not major problem with Ali and I'm also happy that I don't have to sleep in the chair again. It was a pretty stressful time for me, especially with Jason away but we managed to get through it. I'm not sure how I would have done it with out some pretty great friends. Our friends Emily and Radek watched Sofia for me last night and took her to school this morning. They brought clothes for Ali and me as well as food and drinks and books and toiletries. Our friends Phil and Shanna are taking care of Sofia tonight (since we didn't get home until late and we weren't sure if we would even be home tonight) and they also brought us books and food and a much needed phone charger so I could stay in contact with everyone. Our babysitter picked up keys from our landlord so that she could come to our apartment and pick up Watson and take care of him. In addition to that there were so many friends who texted me to make sure I was doing ok and to see if they could help in any way. Even friends who are traveling have unknowingly helped us by letting us borrow their car while they are away. I had no idea how much mayhem would ensue with a stay in a hospital. Now I know and I'm so grateful to all of our friends who love us and take care of us. It has been a whirlwind week and I can't wait for Jason to get home.