November was BUSY!
We got invited to a BSU game with Codi, Austin, Mike, and Jourdan, it was a late and cold game but ended up being a REALLY good one so we couldn't leave early! I think we left the stadium about midnight? It was so fun but really wore us out to stay up that late! Ha!
First, Spencer turned 5! I was hoping to skip a birthday party this year but he begged and begged to have friends over for a dragon party so at the last minute we went for it. I made each kid an individual pinata "dragon egg" that I was actually pretty proud of! Inside we put some treats and a Toothless mask.
His actual birthday was on a Friday and he requested Costa Vida for dinner so we met Oma and Opa there and then came back to our house for cupcakes. He really wanted a stuffed orca and Oma came through big time!
he kept asking for an orca and Oma came through!
The minute his birthday party was over we hopped in the car and started our 17 hour drive to Tucson to spend Thanksgiving with Nate's family. This time we loaded the kids up on dramamine and thankfully it was a pretty good drive! It was a full house with all his siblings and kids there; 14 adults and 14 grandkids (and counting).
We kept busy while in Tucson, started with a trip to Build a Bear which was a highlight for Spencer and he keeps asking if we can go back.
We made it to the new Tucson temple with almost the whole clan! It was right after this that Kade went downhill and the rest of the trip was so stressful. Once we got back from the temple, Spencer stayed at grandmas to play with cousins and Nate and I were taking Kade to give him a nap after we filled up on gas. As we pulled into the gas station he puked everywhere. It smelled terrible and looked like pure chocolate (Ella later told us he ate A LOT of M&Ms). We got him cleaned up and he had a little fever so Nate stayed with him while Spencer and I went to the Desert Museum and checked out all sorts of animals and creatures. Spencer was in heaven there as well.
all Spencer wanted to do in Tucson was see a gila monster so the desert museum was a hit for this creature loving boy!
The next few days are still kind of a blur with Kade not sleeping, screaming in pain, having a crazy high fever and just being all around uncomfortable. We ended up taking him to the ER the day before Thanksgiving because there was just definitely something wrong with him and neither Tylenol or Ibuprofen were really helping his fever or his pain.
this is how he arched his back and screamed when these painful episodes hit
We stayed with him in the ER for 8 hours and it was an incredibly frustrating experience. The resident doctor was not taking us seriously as of course Kade was in between painful spells when he observed him. He just said, its a fever just give him tylenol. But there was definitely something else going on. Finally as they were discharging us Kade had another fit of pain that the nurse saw and asked if he was ok. I said no this is why we came in! So she went and got the doctor who sent us for an ultrasound.
Of course that came back negative for whatever they were looking for and by that point we realized the hospital wasn't going to help so we just wanted out of there. We finally left about 11pm. Thankfully, Spencer got to stay at grandmas the whole time and play and have smores and we appreciate everyone for taking such good care of him!
The next day was Thanksgiving and Kade wasn't any better. We debated driving home then, flying home, I talked to the nurses at his doctors office multiple times, and eventually we decided to stay another day in hopes Kade would improve a little more so nothing terrible would happen on our drive.
That afternoon/evening Kade actually perked up a bit and ate a few bites of food and just let Nate snuggle him without screaming in pain so Nate finally got to enjoy a little time with his family. We decided we would leave the next day and spend that night in St. George.
Both boys did remarkably well driving in the car, Kade especially. He mostly just slept and we made it to St. George without incident which was great. We got ready for bed and for some reason I just could not get comfortable. Every time I'd lay down my back would ache and I just kept needing to go to the bathroom. I slept terribly so when Kade woke up crying at 5am we decided to just get up and get going.
this was actually a stop on our way into town before all the madness.
That was the best brownie sundae I've ever had!
We left St. George about 6:30am and I was actually able to sleep in the car for a few uninterrupted and pain free hours which was great! Kade again did super awesome for how crappy he was feeling.
About the time we got to Provo I was having some pretty bad back pain that I'd never had before. It was off to one side and just so achy and almost tender to the touch I also just had the urge to go pee over and over. We stopped probably 6-8 times just between Provo and Ogden. And then it got way worse. Between Ogden and Burley we were stopping at almost every exit for I could go to the bathroom.
I of course was googling my symptoms the whole time because I'd never experienced anything like this. I was pretty sure I had a UTI at this point. I called my midwife about half hour outside Burley to ask her what to do, should I go to an urgent care? She told me to just keep driving and she'd have a prescription waiting for me. She agreed that based off my back pain (later determined it was kidney pain) and frequent urination, I indeed had a UTI.
We stopped for lunch in Burley and I was so uncomfortable I could not even sit down so we made another stop at Walmart to get some OTC relief. Thank. Goodness! It was miserable. Luckily the medicine kicked in pretty quick so we were able to make fewer bathroom stops, though it was still every 30 min to an hour. I think we determined it took us something like 8 hours to get from Provo to Boise.
Our first stop once getting to town was at the pharmacy! And in just a day or two I was feeling so much better! Nate and I decided we are never traveling again :)
The Monday after we got back Kade had a follow up appointment with his doctor to discuss the episodes he was having in Arizona (he had one once we got home too). And of course that day he broke out with hand foot and mouth disease. Poor guy just could not catch a break. The doctor wasn't super helpful since all his symptoms from Arizona were gone and it was just the HFM presenting.
After a few days of that he was finally back to his usual, happy self. For a little bit at least! November was a month we were glad to be done with!
