ER

We had a great time celebrating Christmas (more to come on that one day when I get caught up on sleep)

But.... yes this post is titled ER.  And unfortunately we had to finish up the wonderful holiday weekend with our 1st trip to the ER! 

Logan's runny nose from last week turned to 3 colds as the weekend progressed.  (but on a positive note, he did get 2 teeth this week!!!)  I hate colds, but unfortunately, 'tis the season.... & 'tis the age :(  1 year olds have like an eternal cold.  Really, they do!  I just read somewhere that most kids have 8-10 colds between the ages of 1-2!!  If you figure they all last 7-10 days, thats close to 40% of the year with a cold!  Its gonna be a long year!  Little Livi gets SO wheezy every time she gets a cold.  That is nothing new.  Logan always gets a little wheezy with colds too.  And then there is Hayden who rather gets such a deep-awful-croupy sounding cough with even the littlest drop of snot in his nose.  But Livi especially always sounds awful.  I've gotten pretty used to it.  But this time as the evening progressed, it was more.  I wasn't too concerned about the wheezing sound itself, but she hadn't really eaten all day, she was really fussy & her little body was starting to work way too hard to catch her breath.  As we all tried to eat a snack... I would have defined her behavior as lethargic.  I couldn't wait til morning.  So since it was a Sunday, Liv & I found ourselves on the way to the ER.  I had never even been to the ER before!!

The admitting nurse took one listen to her & rushed us to the back for a breathing treatment, before even stopping to get some admission vitals.  Oh, she did check a temp, perfectly normal, no fever.  And her oxygen sats, 92%.  Then we were off to the back.....I know she sounded bad.... but she always does.  Everybody was way more freaked than I was. 

It was an interesting trip.  After we'd been there about an hour, someone came in on one side of us & was having a very severe heart attack.  And someone on the other side was... well, lets just say I learned some new curse words today.  Yikes!  Not real sure what all was going on in that room!?  After 3.5 hours, 2 x-rays, 2 breathing treatments, a screen for RSV (which takes a good hour to process) & then a long trip to the 24 hour Walgreens, we are all home safe & sound.  RSV screen, negative!  (Thank God!)  There was apparently an 8 month old in with a + RSV screen just right before us.  The 1 ER doctor said it was "pediactric night" there.  Then he promised he washed & scrubbed & scrubbed after seeing that patient!  But her X-ray looked questionable.  The ER doctor said he's not sure he can call what he saw Pneumonia, but he couldn't definatively call it not-pneumonia.  Just one little spot on her right lung he wasn't competely happy with.  He even called the radiologist to get a second opinion, because he just wasn't sure if there was anything there.  So he said "I'm just going to say that it is pneumonia, so I can give you some antibiotics just incase."  Plus her ears look a little iffy too.  So I guss Livi has pneumonia.  Merry Freekin' Christmas! 

In addition to the pretty-pink-bubblegum-flavored-medicine, we also got to buy ourselves a home nebulizer & she is getting breathing treatments as needed at home now too (they were actually really shocked that we didn't already have one given her prematurity, especially when I said she sounds like this everytime she gets a cold.)  So.... ER trip & nebulizer.  There goes Jeff & my Christmas $$... and then some :(   Guess we won't have to waste time deciding where to spend it.  (And I guess I'm the one who needs Seth's $50... inside joke!)

All in all, it really was a pretty plesent experience.  Everyone there was wonderful.  We were there a long time, but it was the ER on a holiday weekend, what is one to expect?  And it didn't really seem all that long to me.  Someone always peeked in to check on  us, so I always knew we hadn't been forgotten about.   Livi & I got some good snuggle time, read a book, played Little People.  It was kind of some nice 1-on-1 time.  Livi was scared of everyone who came in the room, but overall she cooperated very well.   They were all so wonderfully sweet to her.  Everyone told her how cute she was.  They talked to her & explained to her everything they were going to do (even though she couldn't understand).  The x-ray guys asked her permission to take her picture & told her to say "Cheese!"  The lady who came in to collect my insurance info even said she heard the cutest patient of the week was in this room!!  They asked me if I was comfortable taking her home tonight & would have admitted her to the hospital for a night had I asked.  (And maybe I should of... with my insurance I think it actually would have been cheaper!)

I really should schedule her a visit with the respiratory doctor we saw way back when she had the wheezing issues as a baby.  We were supposed to re-schedule around 12-15 months & given this incident & the fact that I think everyone in the ER asked me if she had asthma, we should probably head back to the respiratory doctor sooner as opposed to later?

From what I have read, I don't think pneumonia in itself is contagious.  In most cases anyways.  So while my boys have colds too, its not likely that they will get pneumonia.  And I guess now I  at least have a nebulizer & Albuterol at home, should we need something for them. 

Ah... 1st trip to the ER.... I will now gladly check you off my list!  You were not as bad as I thought you would be.