Sickie girl

Oh heavens, what a day.  Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

I slept horrendously all night, listening to my daughter cough, shuffle in her crib and moan as the cold she had suddenly developed worsened.  She was obviously uncomfortable much of the night.  Finally, at 6:22am she declared that she was "all done" and shouted, "diaper," indicating that she had pooped.  I couldn't just roll over and let her stay poopy, so I dragged my hefty self out of bed and changed the sick-o diaper awaiting me.  It was about an hour and a half earlier than our normal arousal, which would have been fine, but I was really banking on a typical schedule because I had plans to babysit my friend’s little guy.  It was supposed to be a wonderful day full of giggles, playing and maybe crayons.   I was even going to bake pretzel rolls during nap-time.  Really, it was going to be an excellent day!

So, she woke up too early and was not her typical hit-the-ground-running self.  Rather, she was a little lethargic.  I couldn’t blame her, I was pretty tired too.  wait, if we’re both way tired still, why don’t we go back to bed? So we did.  She clung to me and said “night night, Mommy,” indicating that she wanted to lay with me.  Fine.  We went to my bed and snuggled.  That’s when I realized she wasn’t quite right.  Her breath was shallow and very fast.  It was as though she had previously been worked up and I was holding her to calm her down.  I watched for a minute before texting my mom, concerned.  Mom validated my thought and suggested I take her to the doctor today. 

Um, wouldn’t that disturb my plans for a perfect all day play-date?

I put her in her crib, Carson came over and we played while Molli napped.  I called the doctor and they wanted me to come in asap.  ASAP? That means one thing when it only involves me, but means quite another when it involves a sleeping sickie and a jammie wearing babysitting boy.  I summoned my inner Speedy Gonzales and threw some clothes on myself and Carson, packed up some snacks and toys, woke my girl up and slipped her into clothes.  Impressed with my hustle, I drove to the doctor’s office with toddlers buckled up and happy staring at each other in the back seat.

Toddlers in tow, I loaded the stroller and myself to the max with all the junk they might have needed.  I didn’t know how long we’d have to wait so we came prepared. Once the doctor saw Molli, my concerns were not leveled.  Basically, she didn’t know what was up, but it wasn’t good.  She ordered a chest X-ray, oxygen monitoring, an RSV swab and a breathing treatment at the hospital. 

Keeping hydrated at the doctor's office

Play-date over.

I had to call in for backup because I had used up all my super-mom-ness for the day and couldn’t do all the hospital stuff by myself, with an extra little one.  We got things figured out. Carson went to his grandpa’s and my mom rescued me.  She came along with me to the hospital and I’m so, so grateful.  From the smaller helps like carrying our junk, to the big ones like taking over in the X-ray room when I had to leave (I couldn’t stay in there because of the little guy in me).  Mom helped when I had to basically lie on top of Molli during the RSV swab.  Which, by the way, is no simple swab! She helped listen to what the doctors said and reminded me of what we needed to do next.  Basically, when my mind goes, Mom steps up. Mom rocks!

Long story short(ish):  Molli’s oxygen level was at an 89%.  No one was comfortable with that at all, but she didn’t have a fever so they didn’t hospitalize her.  She had a breathing treatment, which helped some of the crackly gross sounds in her lungs, but she was still breathing poorly.  The RSV results came back later today and were negative.  Unfortunately, her X-ray showed that she has pneumonia.  Her symptoms are indicative of bacterial pneumonia so she’s on antibiotics and has an albuterol inhaler.  She is NOT a fan of the inhaler.  There are a ton of cases of strep around here, with very bizarre, atypical symptoms and it’s possible that strep is the culprit.  We are going back to the doctor tomorrow morning to check up on her lungs and her oxygen levels, hoping for substantial improvement to avoid hospitalization. 

Prior to breathing treatment 

Getting ready for the X-Ray.  No one is too sure about the holding device. 

While we’re at the doctor tomorrow, I’m going to request a throat culture.  I’m really hoping this pre-sickness feeling is more in my head than actually in my throat.