Do you want to know what happens to little colds?

Around here they turn into big colds!!!

I'm going to try to make this short. I'm exhausted- absolutely exhausted. I had no idea my body could go on 3 nights of only 4 or so hours of sleep. Well, Tuesday night LJ had a bad night- he was up all night long screaming. I don't think he has woken up in the night since March. He was all snotty with a high fever. When he finally got up for good around 5am, he was breathing so hard his rib cage was caving in. His breaths were so short and loud. We knew he was getting really sick again. We had just been to the doctor Tuesday morning and he was getting that sick that fast. So we called up our Doc and he told us to come in right away and they would treat him with a nebulizer to try and open up his airways. A nurse met us over there before they opened, which was soooo nice. After the breathing treatment was over, the nurse and I decided it would be best if he went to the hospital. He didn't seem to be getting much better and he hadn't had a wet diaper for about 20 hours. My doctor prefers us go to St. Francis, so we thought we'd give the pediatric unit a shot. Since we have such a bad taste in our mouth about St. Francis hospital from our last experience, I just wanted to go straight to Riley. However, St. Francis is in our backyard and we were getting admitted straight on to the floor, so we went. Well after 3 hours and 4 needle sticks to start an IV, I stormed out with my mom and LJ- headed to Riley I thought. I talked to my Doc and he thought I should let the NICU try. We let them try and
wa-la! They did it. They did it just like Riley- they used a dark room with a light that helps find good veins. It was such a blessing. I was sobbing knowing that LJ was going to start getting fluids. After being there for a few hours and him still not progressing, we started breathing treatments regularly, suctioning, steroids, and an antibiotic. It was a pretty miserable day and night. The next morning he turned a small corner. He started to drink from his cup and he was quite a bit more perkier- clapping, waving, etc. We took him off fluids and continued breathing treatments till noon. The Doc rolled in and suggested we go home since little ones typically do better in their own environment and we're right around the corner. It was another long day, but we did have a better night. We are using the nebulizer at home with lots of suctioning still, but LJ seems to be improving more and more.

My diagnosis is that he'll probably be asthmatic and once he gets sick it typically turns into a respiratory problem. All we can do is pray, keep the nebulizer close by and stay away from sick people. Ah, the joys of parenting. Who knew it would be this hard sometimes?? Good night.