Headed Back Down the Rabbit Hole

Sigh. The day I've been dreading since early April is here. Colin woke up this morning with a cold. I know, I know, we've been incredibly healthy for FIVE months, which is amazing with two toddlers. But, I DON'T WANNA! I just don't wanna have the asthma mess happening all over again. I am hanging on to the idea that he is now on two preventive drugs, and we have a plan of action in place with the allergist. Perhaps that will be enough to keep the wheezes away. Fortunately, he is quite happy this morning, just snotty and congested. We'll keep you posted....

Ok, so I'll throw in a cute picture to cheer us all up!

Round Three (No, Not the Weather)

Sigh. So, we made it from Christmas until last Thursday without anyone having a cold at our house. That's pretty impressive with two toddlers and a Mommy who spends time with the preschool set. Although, due to the tremendous crappyness that this February delivered, we did spend a large amount of time indoors.

Anyway, last week the kids' noses started running, and I started dreading the inevitable wheezing. We started some prophylactic nebulizer treatments with our Little Man in hopes that we could avoid oral steroids and a trip to the ER. Good try Mommy and Daddy, but no dice. By last Saturday afternoon Colin was only making it about two hours between treatments without wheezes. A call to the (now closed) pediatrician's office lead to the advice that we needed to go to the ER. Sigh. Colin was taking his afternoon nap at the time, so I let him finish it (I firmly believe that a sleeping baby should NEVER be woken). After he woke up at 4:00, he and I headed off to the ER, while Daddy stayed home with Bean.

I will say this, Colin is an angel at the ER. The nurses eat him up; heck, the doctors eat him up. They did an RSV test (negative), a HUGE, LONG breathing treatment, and started him on oral steroids. This is now his THIRD round of oral steroids since Thanksgiving. His eczema looks awesome, but COME ON.

We were at the ER for about 2 1/2 hours, which isn't too bad, all things considered. But, it's now 7:00 which is when Colin usually is headed to bed and he hasn't even had dinner yet. By the time we get home, Daddy has Gillian settled in bed for the night. So, I feed Colin some toast, banana and oatmeal for dinner (all his favorites, really), do TWO separate breathing treatment, diaper, pajamas, brush teeth, and BED. Only an hour and a half late.

Colin is doing much better; he actually never felt really sick, as you can see from the above picture taken at his post-ER meal. He finished his steroid and is done with the round-the-clock breathing treatments....for now. We check back with his regular pediatrician on Tuesday.

Colin's Holiday Adventure (AKA: How to Scare Your Parents)

Twas the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving, and all through the house no one was sleeping, well, Daddy was......

Anyway, I knew Colin and Gillian were getting colds before Thanksgiving. Yet another cold, that is. But, Tuesday night Colin was up about 6 times crying, being stuffy, and generally being miserable. I even had to change the sheets in the middle of the night because they were soaked in snot. So, I had an idea that we would be headed to the pediatrician on Wednesday because I thought he had an ear infection or other such fun thing going on. I finally got him out of bed around 7:00 on Wednesday, and he is just having the hardest time breathing. And he's breathing VERY LOUDLY. He then screamed for the next two hours! I was trying to hold off on a dr's appointment until early afternoon, so that Michael could stay home with Gillian and only take a half a day off. After the two hours of screaming, I knew he couldn't wait that long. At least I had THAT much sense!

So, off the three of us go to see one of our preferred pediatrician's around 11:00 AM.

The nurse immediately says to me, "Oh, he sounds awful, did you give him a treatment?"

Me: "HUH, treatment? For what?"

Nurse: "Oh, he's never had an asthma attack before?"

Me: "ARG. CRY." And I cried for the next three hours. I get weepy when I'm exhausted, ok???

So, the doctor has him take a breathing treatment in the office. Mind you, he is screaming the entire time and Gillian, poor innocent child, is along for the ride. She's sitting, dumbstruck, in her stroller with "The Five Little Pumpkins" in her hand just staring at her screaming brother and her weeping mother. If she knew how to roll her eyes, she would have done it. In reality, she was such, such, such a good girl that day. She could not have been better. Good as gold, and then some.

Anyway, the treatment doesn't make a dent in his wheeze, so the doctor sent us off to the hospital. I chose to be admitted directly to the ped's floor at St. Clair Hospital, as opposed to three hours in the ER at Children's. Michael met us there by noon, and we had the NICEST nurse. The hospital doctor ordered more breathing treatments and an oral steroid, and told us we'd be there over night. That decision made, we had to decide what to do with Gillian.

I was not a fan of my mostly healthy child hanging out in the hospital with us, so, as usual, Uncle D and Aunt Mercedes to the rescue!!! Fortunately, David and Mercedes were just about to head north for the holiday and were quite happy to deliver Lil'Bean to her Grandmas for a day or so. I ran back to our house with them; Aunt Mercedes fed Bean a snack; I frantically packed for our little girl, and Uncle D moved the carseat! After Gillian was safely on her way, I packed a few things for the hospital and headed back to see Daddy and Colin.

Colin was feeling some better when I got back, but was tired since he wouldn't take a nap. Michael and I decided that it would be best if Daddy stayed overnight with C-man, since Daddy can sleep anywhere and through anything. As previously mentioned, I was already exhausted, so I was happy to accept the offer of some sleep. I fed Colin dinner and his bedtime bottle, got him in his jammies, and settled for sleep and headed home. Of course, I am a horrible mother and took pictures and videos of my ill child. In my defense, I took the video so I could remember what this sounded like in case it happened again.



Michael reports that Colin slept well that night and by the time I got back, on Thanksgiving Day, at 6:00 AM, he was looking and sound MUCH better. Here's a video from breakfast on Thursday of a healthier Colin:

When the dr came around that morning, we were set for discharge. Thankfully!! The doctor also cleared us to travel on Friday to see our families! By noon, we were on our way home with our Little Man! We were happy to be at home, and I think Colin was too. It was strange to only have one little monkey around the house! He certainly got to do a few more things around the house than he usually gets to do, like help cook or wander around the dining room.

From all accounts, Gillian did quite well with her adventures as well. She spend Wednesday night and part of Thursday with Grandma RoRo and Grandpa Greg and Thursday to Friday with Grammy Lynn and Grandpa Frank. Michael, Colin, and I joined her on Friday at the Uhls! By that point, her cold was in FULL FORCE and she just wanted to whine and hang on Mommy. I was ok with that!! I missed her so much!!! Her little personality is so important to our family dynamic, it was strange to go without it!

Colin saw the pediatrican for a follow up last Monday, and he is doing just fine. We just have to wait and see if this was a one time deal, or if it will develop into a pattern of asthma. We are hoping for the former, not the later.

It was certainly not the holiday we envisioned, but we have two healthy, happy children, so that's all that matters in the end.