Looking back, everything turned out just fine, but we had a few hurdles to get to this point...and it all started with a little cough.
As a mother, I've found that I can deal pretty well with stomach flu, daily cuts and abrasions that come with boys playing, and other similar things. But, I've also found that I experience my greatest stresses with respiratory illnesses. When these little guys struggle breathing is when I really get nervous. I will never forget the three nights in a row that I sat up with D as he struggled with Croup. So many prayers offered from my mother's heart in his behalf. I've truly learned the power of prayer--especially when given in behalf of someone you love. Well, Monday was not like those nights. But there was that little cough. And in addition to the cough, our littlest had been incredibly irritable all day! The Big Guy Lowe and I had fun things planned for our family, because we were getting ready to leave for Maui the next day, and Grammy HB would be watching the boys while we were away. After finishing all our fun activities, we arrived back home. The Big Guy Lowe asked if J felt warm to me. I didn't think he did, but with how grumpy he had been we decided to give him some Ibuprofin. It was about that time that we took off our little guy's shirt and grew concerned. Something just looked wrong.
At closer observation, we recognized that as he was breathing, his tummy would balloon out and his sternum area would plunge pretty deep into his chest. It was when I saw this that I asked for the phone. I immediately called our pediatrician's office and to my great relief they were still open--it was about 6:55PM. After explaining to the nurse what I was observing in our son, she calmly asked a few more questions and then instructed us to take our son to the Emergency Room as he was showing the beginning signs of respiratory distress and he needed to be evaluated and treated. Tears immediately came to my eyes as I realized that what I was trying to push away as "mother fears" were indeed worthy of concern. I hate it when that happens. Calls were quickly made to Grammy HB and I headed to the hospital with J as The Big Guy Lowe waited for Grammy to arrive before joining us in the ER.
It's amazing how fast you can be seen in the ER when you have a 2 year old that is having problems with his breathing--that's how it should be. It is also a good thing that our hospital has a Pediatric ER completely seperate from the general ER. Before we knew it we were back in our room and The Big Guy Lowe was with us. Now came all the doctors, x-rays, treatments and waiting.
We were all pretty scared at first.
It seems that our little guy did have a fever of 101 degrees, not out of control, but still a fever. We had many doctors, nurses, and other therapists come in a listen to his lungs. He actually grew somewhat accustomed to having people use a stethoscope on him--he learned to sit quietly when they were listening to his breathing. Our doctor said that their main concern was pneumonia, but x-rays would let us know. Getting the x-rays taken wasn't fun at all, but we did accomplish it in a reasonable amount of time for a two year old. Then we waited...
and waited...
yep, and waited some more. Gratefully I happened to have two Hotwheels in my purse. As the mother of three boys I never leave home without a car or two...for this very reason! You just never know when they will be needed. A Respiratory therapist came in and gave J his first Nebulizer treatment. He responded very well and his breathing seemed to come a bit easier. We all experienced a measure of relief at that point.
(Have you ever seen anthing cuter in a hospital gown?? Not that I want to repeat this situation ever again!)
As we were waiting, The Big Guy Lowe and I had a pretty casual conversation about our trip to Hawaii. We both agreed that neither of us had any problem cancelling our trip--we just wanted to make sure our little guy was okay.
After waiting a while longer, our doctor returned with the diagnosis that our son had complications from a household virus--NOT pneumonia. We were so relieved! Another breathing treatment was given and we were instructed in how to give him additional treatments at home. Our J looked like he was feeling much better and even smiled and said "thank you" to his doctors.
It was with great relief and gratitude that we left the hospital that night.
After much discussion and soul-searching, The Big Guy Lowe and I decided that all would be well and we would continue with our plans to leave for Hawaii in the morning. Grammy HB, my mom, is an amazing person, someone that I have no doubt loves our boys and would do whatever was required to take care of them. I am so grateful for her love of the boys...and her love of The Big Guy Lowe and I. She reassured us over and over that all would be well and there was no reason for us not to leave on our scheduled vacation. As I finally went to sleep late that night, I felt a peace that all would be fine.
I'll just add a little follow-up to this post. Grammy HB was able to take J into the pediatrician's office for a follow-up appointment on Wednesday morning. They determined that he did indeed have pneumonia and needed to be put on a strong antibiotic. My mom assured us that he was doing well in spite of being sick and was taking his medicine, eating, sleeping and playing without a problem. She reassured us that all was well and we should continue to enjoy our vacation. Both The Big Guy Lowe and I looked at each other while we were sitting in our room in Maui, because while sitting in the ER, we had agreed that we wouldn't go on our trip if J had Pneumonia. Hmmm. We're extremely grateful that all ended well and he is doing fine. I cannot share enough of my gratitude for my Mom and how lovingly she took care of our boys in our absence...even a two-year-old with pneumonia. We love our family greatly--both immediate and extended, and consider ourselves extremely blessed.
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