Our entire family has decided to pass around the wonderful sick bug! Jon had it first and even though its been about 3 weeks, he's still not 100%.. I've had it for about 2 weeks now (not loving it), Kristian coughed about 1 day and that is it. He hasn't complained too much of being sick (thank goodness).
Then there's our precious little Addison. On Wednesday, February 4th, Addison got a pretty good fever, but I figured she was picking up on all the gunk the family has had. That night was a LONG one. Starting at about 10:30 I spent the majority of my evening (maybe all but 1 hour) holding my precious little girl. It didn't occur to me that the strain I heard in her cry and the harshness of her breathing could be anything more than the virus we all shared... DUH MOM!! (ok, so now I feel bad). There was one point in the middle of the night, as I'm sure many Moms have done, where I sat and analyzed everything: What if she stops breathing? What if she has a febrile seizure? What if she has pneumonia? Did I get up and make Jon listen to her, NO... as long as I sat holding her she calmed her breathing down and seemed a little better..so that's what I did: I sat in a chair and held her all night!!
At 6:30am Jon listened to her and together we agreed she needed to be seen. So, I packed the kids up, Jon was headed to class, and I took the kids to the ER. Thankfully Grandma Cindy met me at the hospital to take Kristian so that I only had Addie to worry about...
(sorry, these pics were taken with my phone and this is as big as I could get them)
Upon arrival her oxygen saturation level was at about 76, and it needs to be at 95, so they quickly started her on some oxygen, then the respiratory therapists came in to evaluate her and did a breathing treatment with epinephrine and some steriods. Following this she started to calm down a bit and was able to sleep for a while. They kept us there for a few hours to monitor her status. They also did a chest x-ray to make sure Addison's lungs were clear (checking for pneumonia and such) and they were.. Chest x-rays on little kids are so sad to watch by the way.. they have to sit in this plastic tube thing with their hands strapped above their heads...its so sad, but Addie was a trooper!!
Final diagnosis: Addison had croup... the crazy people at the ER did not send me home with any medicines which frustrated me, and once I actually got home Addison's breathing started to get bad again. So I called the pediatricians office and they called me in a prescription which made all the difference. Without it I'm sure we'd have made another trip back to the ER. Poor Little Angel.
She is doing great now, still not 100%, but looking great! Thanks to all my friends and family for your love and support! We so appreciate it!
Thanks to Mom for coming down and helping with the kids so that I could go to work on Friday. I know that they love you so much and really loved being able to spend that time with you! Thanks again!!
