On Friday morning it became obvious that R was NOT a happy bunny. Her temperature was well over 38 degrees and she felt boiling hot to touch. She was diagnosed with tonsilitis, prescribed antibiotics and we breathed a sigh of relief that G seemed fine.
A couple of hours later....
I telephoned the surgery and asked for an emergency appointment for G. Friday lunchtime. No can do. I explained that her sister had seen a doctor that morning, had tonsilitis and was concerned that G was going down with it as well. 'Ruth?' the receptionish exclaimed. Er, yes. Luckily our girls are quite well-known to the receptionists at the surgery and magically an appointment was found for 2pm.
Yup, you've guess it. Tonsilitis-ridden twins.
The girls were prescribed antibiotics to deal with the infection, to be administered every four hours and we were advised to give them calpol to bring their temperatures down every six hours. If the temps refused to come down, we could give them Nurofen. It became so complicated that I ended up writing out and filling in charts so that I could keep track of who had had their meds and who hadn't.
The girls adopted very different approaches to being ill. R decided that she just wanted to sleep until she felt better and kept drifting off. G decided that she was going to fight on through the pain and carry on as normal. On Friday and Saturday we had to wake R up for her antibiotics and to give her some water as she was refusing food. G was more willing to try food, but barely ate a thing.
Dh was supposed to work Friday and Saturday evening but it became clear that I couldn't deal with the girls' wildly differing needs very well on my own so he took some leave to help me out, for which I was extremely grateful, as R decided that only Daddy would do and refused to let me even hold her.
R also decided that we were trying to poison her with a lethal cocktail of strange coloured liquids and started refusing her meds. The anti-b's seemed to cause her particular alarm. G, on the other hand, has all the makings of a junkie (worringly) as she hoovers up syringes of medicine and cries if she thinks that R is getting more than her!
So far, so normal. Dh and I were tired but at least the girls were sleeping. By last night they seemed to be on the mend. The girls woke at 7.30am this morning and dh got R out of her cot. She was covered from head to toe in a blotchy, spotty red rash. It looked absolutely terrifying.
She didn't have a temperature and seemed reasonably happy in herself - ironically, happier than she had been for the last few days - but the rash looked awful. Dh took R to casualty and I stayed at home with G. Initially, the nurse thought that R was having an allergic reaction to penicillin but the doctor decided that was unlikely as she wasn't itching the rash or in pain. They decided that she had a non-specific viral rash (aren't they all? I don't remember getting them when I was young yet children seem to get them all the time now), swapped her antibiotics for a non-penicillin variety and advised dh to give her Piriton in case the rash was an allergic reaction.
Dh and I, feeling a little cabin-feverish, decided to take the girls out for tea. R was reluctant at first but after a restoratative bowl of ice cream she underwent a transformation and became much perkier. She still has the rash, but it has faded.
They should be ok to go to nursery tomorrow. I'll take the antibiotics in and get their carers to administer them - they might have more luck with R than we've had.
Although dh and I have had a relatively quiet weekend (aside from the whingeing and screaming), we both feel absolutely exhausted. It's at times like this that I'm glad we share the role of primary carer. I couldn't have looked after the girls on my own this weekend and am incredibly grateful that dh and I make such an effective childcare team.
