Dengue again!??

Posted on June 30, 2008

Dengue has attacked our family once again. This time, it attacked Aidan.

It all started from his fever on Sunday, 27 June 2008. We were quite casual about it. We gave him fever meds. His fever subsided. That’s it. Nevertheless, I brought him to the paed on Monday and doc prescribed fever meds. Standard la….

During the day, he was fine and dandy. His fever came at nights.

On Wed night, I woke up in the middle of the night cause Ashley was moving about (blessing in disguise) and I noticed Aidan shivering in his sleep. I felt his hands and feet and they were unusually cold. I immediately switched off the aircon. He began to calm down in my arms and dozed off. I placed him on the bed and after a few minutes, I could feel that his head was burning hot! and so we gave him his fever meds. When he slept, I placed a wet towel on his forehead to cool his temperature.

On thursday night, his fever came again. This time, no shivers. Just fever. We gave him his fever medicine and his fever subsided after a while. By 7am, he was all fine and dandy.

On Friday evening, when we picked him up from MIL’s, he already had a bit of fever and he had a rash similar to heat rash on his body, back and forehead. MIL dismissed it as merely a heat rash and nothing to worry about. Bleh! Nevertheless, we brought Aidan to the paed and doc reckons the viral fever will be over since the rashes have appeared (similar to Roseola). On Saturday morning at 1.30am, Ashley was moving about again in bed and woke me up (another blessing in disguise). I noticed Aidan shivering and he laid on his front, all curled up. He wasn’t crying. He was just shivering. I turned him over, held his hands, and he dazed at me while shivering. I felt his forehead and it was HOT! I carried him and he started to cry. His cries was different. It was the type of cry as though he couldn’t stand what was happening to him. I panicked. Hubs was coooool like cucumber only. We gave him fever meds and I told Hubs to get ready cause I sure as hell was not going to stay home and watch the poor lil boy shiver in pain. We rushed to the hospital and was immediately attended by the doctor on duty. They put him on the nebulizer (cause he had a really bad blocked nose), gave him a suppository and took his blood and put my poor Aidan on drips (which I thought it was unnecessary seeing that he wasn’t dehydrated or anything…)

It was so heartbreaking to see Aidan with his bandaged arm and hooked to drips!

They took his temperature and he was a freaking 41C! By then Aidan was very traumatised. He didn’t like the doctor and nurses proding at him… Anyway, the doctor decided that Aidan needed to be admitted to the hospital and we had the unfortunate luck of having to share a room with another patient since the single bedded rooms were full! So all that separated us and the other patient (baby) and his parents was a curtain.

That night, I stayed in the hospital with Aidan while Hubs went back with Ashley. After all the commotion and a shot of anti biotics, Aidan soon slept, leaving me to face 2 snoring adults in the room. I hardly slept that night cause the parents of the other patient were snoring like there was no tomorrow! Seriously…!

It was only the next morning that the results of the blood test came back where the IGM antibody was tested positive - which means he has Dengue Fever! At that moment, I felt my heart sank.

I felt sooo bad.

Bad because all this while, my poor baby had Dengue Fever and we had no clue!

His appetite was a-ok. He didn’t vomit. His rash was not like what I got from Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever. But the shivers and the high fever should have prompted me to think that it was Dengue! The whole weekend went by and I was numb by the event. By Monday, it hit me. I was so overwhelmed by what happened over the weekend. So many what-ifs and should-haves.

Saturday morning - Aidan trying to discover what was hooked to him.

Adoi!!!! Look at that hand! They had to bandage his hand and place a card board so that he won’t bend him hand since the needle for the drips was inserted on the back of his palm.

On Saturday, I requested for home leave and the doctor allowed it since another blood test that evening showed that his platelet was 197 - which was ok. So we got to go home that night with Aidan. That night, I had set my alarm to ring every hour so that I could check on his temperature. That night, his fever didn’t strike.

On Sunday morning, we headed back to the hospital again for another round of blood check. This time, Aidan’s platelet levels was 300. So confirmed - Aidan was discharged from the hospital by Sunday evening. We still need to bring Aidan back to the hospital for regular checkups to ensure that he is really cleared from any danger because although the fever has been broken, the platelet levels may drop.

This is one of the thing all parents would not want their child to go through…

Filed Under Aidan, Aidan's First... | 23 Comments

Lil Taukeh Doctor

Posted on June 27, 2008

We got Ashley a doctor set from Toys R Us for her 3rd birthday. In the doctor’s briefcase, it came with a pair of spectacles and we like to put them on Aidan cause he looks sooooo cute in it…..and on top of that, he enjoys wearing it and does not immediately take it off unlike when we place a cap on his head.

(18 June 08) - Mommy & Aidan.

So what do you think? Can pass off as a Lil Taukeh Doctor?

Filed Under Aidan | 9 Comments

so what does she do while I am working?

Posted on June 26, 2008

The lil missy was pottering about in my bedroom. She seemed pretty quiet and so I went into the room to check on her. I found this…

She was behind the curtain. That’s her ‘changing room’. I tried to open the curtain but she didn’t allow me to. So I had to do this.

Luckily my P&S camera had one of those LCD screens where you can open up and turn so I could take pictures from odd angles.

I slowly coaxed her to come out of her ‘changing room’ and she finally did.

….with 2 layers of clothes, her sandals and skirt which she has long outgrown and a hat!

and to top it off…she had coloured palms!

Then…..when I called Hubs, she insisted on talking to him too…so she stood on her chair next to me like this…

..and used my headset to speak with her daddy for a good 2-3 minutes.

Viral Fever

Ashley hasn’t been to school for the last 2 days because she too got the viral fever from Aidan. She had fever the last 2 nights but it soon subsided after I gave her fever medication. She has a cough and a blocked nose. She said to me this afternoon,

“Mom! My nose cannot come out” (Referring to her blocked nose).

Aidan on the other hand - poor Aidan….he didn’t have fever initially last night but I woke up cause he was moving around in the middle of the night. I noticed he was behaving a bit weird so I observed him and the poor baby was shivering! (but he had no fever at that time). His hands and feet were cold. I immediately switched the AC off and carried him in my arms until he stopped shivering and fell asleep. I then placed him down on the bed and covered him with a blankie. After awhile, his fever came back! So I had to give him his fever meds and this was like at 4ish am. By 7am - he was fine. Let’s hope he will be ok tonight!

Filed Under Aidan, Ashley, work from home | 9 Comments

our lil termite

Posted on June 25, 2008

For months now, Aidan still find bookends really appealing in taste. He has slowly (but surely) bitten off edges of many books at home…….

Here’s one of his fav…maybe because it is smaller than the rest…

*yummy*…

Flipping the book around to gauge which part is tastier…

When Aidan is not busy eating his books, he enjoys playing with Ashley…Unfortunately, that is not ALWAYS the case with the Lil Missy. Let’s just say that she has her moods…..

Aidan wanted to reach for the toy Ashley was playing with but she didn’t want him to get a hold of it and so she pushed the toy out of Aidan’s reach…instead..the Lil Taukeh attempted to climb up the table!

The Kiddos…(P/S - I still can’t get a good shot of the both of them!!)

(pictures taken on 18 June 08)

Filed Under Aidan | 6 Comments

work for me, fun for ashley

Posted on June 24, 2008

On Monday afternoon, we decided to go over to my sis’s place so that Ashley & Aaron could play together.

We had lunch at the balcony which overlooked the pool….

Ashley & Aaron

…and while the kids played at the balcony….

..I worked…

…and had a great view when I looked above my notebook screen…

My not-so-little nephew - Aaron (1y 7mo)

After I finished my work, we all went into the pool for a dip.

And while we were at my sis’s place, Aidan was at MIL’s. Aidan had fever on Sunday night and woke up with fever on Mnday morning as well. I brought him to the paed and doctor said that he has a viral fever. Pooooooor Dan Dan boy…and to make things a tad more complicated, the doctor asked us to take a urine sample…how in the world are we going to do that esp from a 13-mo toddler?…hmmmm..

Aidan had fever again last night - it seems as though the fever meds did not take effect at all…..I tried to put the Koolfever patch on him when he was in deep sleep but funny thing was - the moment i placed it on his forehead, he woke up with a start and immediately sat on bed in like 2 secs! *funny*…

Despite his fever, he managed to sleep through the night (I didn’t) and his fever only subsided at 7am this morning….Hopefully he will be ok tonight.

Filed Under General, work from home | 10 Comments

Terence & Amy

Posted on June 23, 2008

I had to miss a day of training while I was at Houston so that I could come back in time to attend my brother’s wedding. However, things didn’t work out as it should have and I missed the registration and tea ceremony and arrived in time for ‘chow’ time instead because my flight was delayed. As soon as I landed at KLIA, I headed home, took a shower and got dressed and drove myself to Amy’s parents house as the wedding party was a garden party.

I was knackered by the time I arrived.

Abit pissed that I missed the most important parts and to top it off, Aidan didn’t really exactly greet me with open arms….

Anyhow, taking photos was the last thing on my mind that day as I was absolutely exhausted but the fab pictures was taken by an old Sabahan friend of mine - who happens to be a self-taught photographer - turned pro. Way to go Anna!

You can read all about the unconventional wedding and see the fab photos here.

Filed Under Special Occasions, Festivals | 2 Comments

last weekend…

Posted on June 22, 2008

..we attended Elil’s 1st birthday party at a poolside at Pantai Panorama. It was really nice as it was at the poolside which was overlooking the city and it was nice and breezy on that Saturday evening…

There were balloons everywhere and the theme was polka dots.

Each child received their own goody bucket with their names attached to it.

Ashley’s goody bucket - picture taken after she emptied it

Aidan’s goodie bucket - left untouched (but not for long)

There was a table for kids to colour and stuff….Aidan was busy holding on to the colour pencils. He kept placing them on the chair and he’d pick them up and then place it back on the table and so on and so forth…He had a kick out of doing that …

Ashley was busy colouring while Aidan kept collecting colour pencils!

Aidan - chilling…He was standing in one spot for quite sometime and afterall, he just squatted and chilled.

Look at that ’sombong’ (Malay for ‘proud’) look of his….that was the kinda look he gave me when he first saw me when I came back from my 2-week trip at Houston.

My Lil Taukeh and I…

Filed Under General | 14 Comments

back, alive.

Posted on June 20, 2008

It has been a whirlwind month.

The 2-week trip to Houston was fab! Stressful (work-wise) but fun (non-work related!:)) Enough about me. I missed a few special occasions when I was away….

For starters, Aidan took his first step when I was away!

Overjoyed as I may have been, I was also sad to hear it over a long distance call. But yeap! My lil taukeh is now walking like a humpty dumpty and he looks really cute when he’s walking. He looks absolutely clumsy - which I so dig!

(14 June 08) - This picture was taken at Lil Elil’s 1st birthday pool party

Second of all…..I missed Ashley’s actual 3rd birthday. Although we celebrated it earlier, I felt abit melancholy that I was away. Nevertheless, I bought her a lil doctor set from Toys R Us before I left for the trip and instructed hubs to pass it to her on her birthday. She was ecstatic. By the time I got back home, that set was already not on her top toys list. *slaps forehead*

The lil missy - as usual, not wanting to show her face for the camera. The pretty dress is from the Mercado (Mexican Market) we visited at San Antonio, Texas.

An attempted shot of the two kiddos. (I have not succeeded to take a perfect shot of the 2 of them - with both of them smiling at the camera)

Filed Under Aidan's First..., Ashley | 8 Comments

Dan is 13 months and Blog Breakie….

Posted on June 11, 2008

Work as been chaotic….I feel like I have ‘Super Woman’ status with no super powers at all….Help! *sigh*…the things I have to go through so that I can work from home….

I’ll be on a blog break until I can surface and breathe abit.

Aidan just turned 13 months old 2 days ago….

He weighs a ton! (11.9KG)

Have taken his first steps and I wasn’t around to witness it cause I was in Houston!?!!! Bummer!

He can walk a few steps and each time he does that, he’d flash his victory grin.

He didn’t want me when he first saw me after my trip. He gave me a really “TL” look…scarryyyyyy

He drinks 8oz of milk 3 times a day and have solids twice a day.

He has started to drink more water.

He can say - da da da deeee! mum mum mum, ta-ta (for goodbye) - no actual words yet….

When we scold Ashley, he’d follow suit by raising his index finger and say,”oh!oh!oh!”

He loves to hold my hair. Or Ashley’s or even the dolly’s hair!

He loves FOOD! His tummy seems to be like a bottomless pit.

Whenever he sees stacked blocks (toys) or a moving toy, he’d want to intercept it.

This 13-month post doesn’t do justice to Aidan. I will do a better one once I get back from a blog break. Sorry Dan and happy 13 months Dan Dan boy!

Filed Under Aidan, Monthly Milestones, mommy, work from home | 11 Comments

weekend at san antonio

Posted on June 5, 2008

This is a scheduled post. At this time, I should be on my way back home….

Last weekend, my colleagues and I decided to check out from the hotel we stayed at Houston and stay at San Antonio for the weekend. San Antonio is north west of Houston and it took us about 3 odd hours to drive there. On the way to San Antonio, we stopped by at a restaurant in one of the towns we passed through.

The restaurant is called 2 Sisters.

Now doesn’t this look like a scene from the movies? At the back of this restaurant, there was a band playing country music and there were old couples dancing on the dance floor.

The next morning, we met up with Jerry and his family. He and his family were VERY hospitable. They basically hosted us for the weekend! Thanks Jerry, Brenda, Justine and Brandon!

On Saturday, we went for a hike up the Enchanted Rock.

I wasn’t prepared for a hike but my faithful birkies have served me well during the hike.

It was so freaking hot that weekend. It was about 107F (about 38.5C)!

The view was spectacular from the top.

We stopped by at a town called Fredericksburg.

We stopped by Rustlin Rob’s. The sell gourmet foods were you can test every one of them.

Inside Rustlin Rob’s.

We headed to an Amish Market but then discovered that the place was closed. They made wooden furniture and were placed outside of the store and so we decided to hang around for awhile.