Here we go again?

wow...it's been quite the few days.


Lillian had croup last week. So that makes me feel a little better about that video that I posted. That very same night she woke up with a fever of 103 and that horrible barking cough I have learned to HATE over the last few years.


And of course Josiah picked it up too.


And then Brielle!


Now, if you have never had a child with croup, I will say that it's one of the cutest sicknesses your kids can have. Thier voices get all scratchy and thier cry is much softer (thankfully). And when you know they aren't in a lot of pain, they sound so stinking cute!


anyway, so Brielle picks up the croup from all the kisses and hugs we tried so desperately to keep away from her. And her fever was up at about 102 on one of the days (they are all running together for me now). and then it was down at about 100 for a while, and then on Friday morning, really early, it was up again past 102. So I called the phone nurse just to ask how bad it was that her fever was NOT going away and it was so high.


After telling about 3 people all Brielle's and my information (why do they ask that so many times?) and many many questions that I could not answer (I never thought I'd be one of the mom's who doesn't know how much her kids weighs just because she has three kids. I am.), I was talking about her symptoms. I said she was breathing a little faster than usual. So she had me count her breaths.


"We're going to count for 30 seconds, so it will feel like a long time."


*Lillian has asthma, so I am very familiar with all this breath counting busines.


"are you ready? go."


1....2....3....


25...26....27....say stop. please say stop. I know from Lillian that we're getting too high....28...29...30...31.


"stop."


As I say 31 I know I should grab the carseat. I know that 60 breaths per minute is way too fast for Lillian. I have to bring her in. And it turns out that for babies, even 50 breaths is too fast. So I feel a little urgency in her voice as she basically tells me to hang up and get her to Children's. Luckily, (luckily?) I have been told this many times before and I'm able to keep my cool.


I throw on some dirty jeans, grab a piece of gum, tell Steve to enjoy his extra few hours of sleep (he's usually getting up for work at this time. it's 5:00), and head to the ER. And this time it takes only like 8 minutes to get there, as opposed to the 28 from Bellevue.



Warm steamy air and also cold air are great for lungs when battling croup, so by the time we get there, Brielle sounds pretty good. But her temp is still way too high and her breathing a little too fast. but her oxygen is okay. so we wait for the doctor. and wait. and wait. and wait.


I'm getting really sleepy by this point, but the events go something like this....

he comes, checks her out, tells us to get a chest xray. we do that, go back to our room, and wait some more. he comes back. The xray is better than he thought. he was expecting pneumonia. it's bronchitis. he'll get our discharge papers and write up a perscription.


yay! let's go home.


I get her in her carseat. buckled up. ready to run as soon as those papers come. she's finally sleeping. I need to get home before the big kids wake up.


different man walks in. says he needs one more temp check. what?


I undo her buckles, get her out, take her clothes off, spread her cheeks. poor thing. she was finally sleeping, and then all this. but we finally got the papers. and ran...to Amigos, of course, for a couple sausage and egg burritos!


Brielle screamed the whole way home, which was only wonderful because it made the pharmacist hurry. :) we got home, ate our burritos, and put Brielle down to sleep.


and the kids woke up. :) yep. they did. I knew they would, so it was okay. I gave them sugar cereal because I wanted to be on thier good side.


Will you please go downstairs and watch tv so Mommy can sleep while Brielle is sleeping? Will you please come up to quietly tell me if you need something instead of yelling?

thank you.


and they do. and I slept til 11:30. I have good kids. :) and they like tv.

*please don't turn me in for child neglect.

Brielle is doing a little better now. she had a TERRIBLE night (anyone familiar with Augmentin? does it cause restlessness?), but Steve and I took turns sleeping and cleaning today. Let's just hope that this whole ER business is done with her...but isn't she a trooper?




I think I made a promise in an earlier post about not making them so long. sorry, this one is long. no more promises.