Too much for Mommy......

So here it goes. About 2 am Wednesday morning. Nate wakes up coughing & weezing pretty bad. He's had a bit of a cold for a day or so, so I'm thinking great, it's getting worse. So we try to get him to go back to bed. He wakes up every 20 minutes so I take him to bed with us. He's breathing super hard & still doesn't sleep. Since Jared has to be to work at 6 am, I take Nate out & rock him in the family room. He finally falls asleep around 5:30. But that doesn't last long. He cries, doesn't want to eat or drink anything. And I even tried bribing him with some soda or candy, he wouldn't take it. All he wanted was to be held. 

This was my day. Hold me hold me & lots of screaming. He was still breathing super hard & hadn't peed all day, so I called the advice nurse. She tells me how to test his respiration, & it comes out to a 60 . For a 20 month old, it should be more around 25. He is breathing more than twice as fast as he should be, so she makes me an appointment at 3:45. We go in, the docs look at him & call for an x-ray, give him some steroids & an albuterol breathing treatment. (Oh the memories of years of sitting in the hospital with a mask on my face breathing in yucky vapor come flooding back to me.) The x-ray was mostly clear, but pnemonia was ruled out, there was also no fever. Just a cold that has settled in his lungs & he's not able to control his breathing. 

They (about 5 different docs that came in to see him. Either cause he was cute or to check his breathing) said he was working too hard for his little body and needed to be observed until he calmed down. They gave him another breathing treatment, at this point he thinks it's still fun. But since it's 5 pm at the Rancho facility, they don't have the staff to help him. He needs to be transferred over to Morse. Sure, not a problem. Apparently, they think there is. They don't want us to drive him because we might get stuck in traffic or he might get worse or might have a bad reaction to the steroids. An ambulance it must be. Jared tried to call shot gun, but I said NO, he's my baby, I'm sick & can't drive, I get to go with. I won of course. 

I can't get my pics off my phone of him being strapped in his car seat on the gurney. He had 5 different wires hooked to him. But it was a sight to behold. Jared & I hadn't really taken any of it so seriously yet, until we asked the EMT if the doctors were overreacting. He said, "well, normally the human body can calm itself down or sleep to rest from working so hard. But the problem with a little guy so young is that his body doesn't have the reserves. So he will work super hard to breathe, then when he runs out of energy, he'll just stop." Oh. We started worrying a little at that point. 

So Jared goes & drops Grant off at Grandma's, & Nate & I go on our little trip. No lights or high speeds, but it was interesting. When we get in the emergency room, people are looking at smiling at Nate. They say things like, "oh that's so sad. He's so little." But Nate start seeing all the cute nurses & calls up his flirting talent. Then people start wondering what is wrong with him cause he's so happy. He even made the teenager from the car accident shut up. 

There were TONS of crazy people admitted there. Another set of EMT's were trying to trade their crazy woman for Nate. But Brian & Patrick (the EMT guys) were very overprotective the whole time to make sure Nate was taken care of. We were finally admitted, but it was soooo cold. A nurse brought me some warmed blankets & Jared showed up. They put us in a room where I could lay down, I wasn't feeling good, hadn't eaten anything, & was so tired. Nate was getting more breathing treatments sitting on my lap. So when people would walk by, they would ask who was the patient?? The whining woman all bundled up or the happy toddler with vapor being pushed into his face??

Around 10 pm, Laurie & Perry came & took me home. Grant slept with me. At the point to finally kneel down to end the day, I lost it. The whole crying & begging kind of prayer. I kept waking up at night thinking Jared & Nate were home, but never got that reponse. Around 5 am I couldn't sleep anymore. I hadn't heard any news so I called like 7 numbers to find where my boys were at. Finally I got a nurse. They had been admitted to the pediatrics ward about 2:30 am & were asleep. Nate's stats hadn't changed at all. So I get dressed, drop off Grant (he had been so good with all the waiting around) & go see my baby. The Nurses had to poke him 4 times to get a vein for the IV. He had bruises everywhere. So they gave him a bear. He finally drinks 4 juice boxes but still nothing to eat. Jared goes home to sleep. Poor guy hadn't been able to sleep more than 3 hours. & we sit & wait. Nate's pulse gets better, & breathing goes down. We wait & play all day (Grant goes to his first dentist appointment & does GREAT!!) Get some visitors to help me entertain Nate. He's so bored. 

They finally let us go about 6 pm. Yeah, we have a brand spanking new machine for treatments & a prescription for steroids. Then we get a call, we don't feel comfortable sending him home, please bring him back in. UGH. I take him back in, they wait to give him another treatment at 9:15 then check his stats. I ask if I just take him & leave, can I get in trouble?? Legally, no. So they let me go after I promise to check his stats & give him treatments every 2 hours. We get home about 11:30 pm. By Friday morning, his breathing is about a 35, & is eating & drinking a little more. We take him to a check up. What happened you ask?? They say it could have just been a bad reaction to his cold, or if it happens 2 more times, it's asthma. Great. My mom tells me stories of hearing me weeze & cough allll night long. What fun we have to look forward to. So we are good, finally recovered from the stress & sleeplessness. Nate is still a little fussy/agressive  & not eating enough, but generally happy. 

Thank you for all your prayers & calls & cookies!! We very much appreciate them.