I don't believe in luck. I really don't.
That said, the '13 in 2013 is holding true to its terrible reputation for me so far. Started off with the flu, then got that terrible phone call that John's dad had to stop cancer treatment, experienced the awful loss of my father-in-law, and this weekend we made our first ER visit with Arie.
I am ready for January to be over.
John and I were downstairs around 11:30 on Friday night when we heard Arie over the monitor. It sounded like he was crying so I ran up to comfort him and when I got there I discovered he wasn't crying but coughing and struggling to breathe. I immediately brought him downstairs where John and I briefly considered whether this was a 9-1-1 emergency or whether we could drive him to the ER ourselves. His breathing didn't seem to be getting any worse so we got him in the car and drove there ourselves.
Thankfully the cold air calmed his bark-ish coughing down so we already felt better about the situation by the time we got to the ER.
After an x-ray and a steroid dose to open up his airway he was diagnosed with plain old croup which was a huge relief. I still can't believe how quickly things got so bad! When he went to bed at 8pm he didn't have as much as a cold and at midnight we were in the ER.
Mixed in with the concern we had for our little guy, was a bit of humor: Just minutes before Arie woke up coughing, John took a melatonin sleeping aid pill with a cup of Yogi night time tea. As soon as the adrenaline of the hospital trip wore off and we were waiting in the ER for Arie's x-rays John started to look terrible. His eyes got all bloodshot and his head started flopping forward.
I was all, "How can you be sleepy right now?"
And he was all, "sleeping... aid. Plus tea. Took it. Uuuggghhhh. So. Tired."
Which made me laugh so hard and startle my poor son who was laying sick and drowsy in my arms.
We're good parents I swear. I think those little funny moments are just pure divine grace to relieve the stressful tension of these types of situations.
In the end, we were sent home with instructions to come back if his breathing becomes labored again, but other than that we just have to wait it out. Hopefully we are now on the mend.
So although we had big plans for a fun family time, our weekend has just been pajamas and lying on the couch.
Poor Arie.
And thank goodness for Elmo.
xo
That said, the '13 in 2013 is holding true to its terrible reputation for me so far. Started off with the flu, then got that terrible phone call that John's dad had to stop cancer treatment, experienced the awful loss of my father-in-law, and this weekend we made our first ER visit with Arie.
I am ready for January to be over.
John and I were downstairs around 11:30 on Friday night when we heard Arie over the monitor. It sounded like he was crying so I ran up to comfort him and when I got there I discovered he wasn't crying but coughing and struggling to breathe. I immediately brought him downstairs where John and I briefly considered whether this was a 9-1-1 emergency or whether we could drive him to the ER ourselves. His breathing didn't seem to be getting any worse so we got him in the car and drove there ourselves.
Thankfully the cold air calmed his bark-ish coughing down so we already felt better about the situation by the time we got to the ER.
After an x-ray and a steroid dose to open up his airway he was diagnosed with plain old croup which was a huge relief. I still can't believe how quickly things got so bad! When he went to bed at 8pm he didn't have as much as a cold and at midnight we were in the ER.
Mixed in with the concern we had for our little guy, was a bit of humor: Just minutes before Arie woke up coughing, John took a melatonin sleeping aid pill with a cup of Yogi night time tea. As soon as the adrenaline of the hospital trip wore off and we were waiting in the ER for Arie's x-rays John started to look terrible. His eyes got all bloodshot and his head started flopping forward.
I was all, "How can you be sleepy right now?"
And he was all, "sleeping... aid. Plus tea. Took it. Uuuggghhhh. So. Tired."
Which made me laugh so hard and startle my poor son who was laying sick and drowsy in my arms.
We're good parents I swear. I think those little funny moments are just pure divine grace to relieve the stressful tension of these types of situations.
In the end, we were sent home with instructions to come back if his breathing becomes labored again, but other than that we just have to wait it out. Hopefully we are now on the mend.
So although we had big plans for a fun family time, our weekend has just been pajamas and lying on the couch.
Poor Arie.
And thank goodness for Elmo.
xo
Oh, Jill! I hope Arie feels better soon. I've had 3 little ones with croup. The Drs. told me they would outgrow it eventually and although they did, it still tore this Momma's heart out to see them laboring to breathe. We spent a lot of time bundled up in a rocking chair out on the front porch snuggling. Looking back, I'll always look on those snuggle times with fondness, but the croup was always scary.
ReplyDelete((((hugs)))) & Blessings,
Regina
It is scary! Did the three ever have it at the same time? We got the front porch instructions too although we don't have an attached garage and our front porch has a foot of snow on it right now so finding a place to be outside with him is tricky! Might have to pull out a lawn chair ;-) Thanks for the comment!
DeleteI remember having them get it in succession, one right after the other, but fortunately none of them had it all at the same time. Needless to say we took lots of naps during that time. :) A couple other suggestions they had given me was to use a humidifier and give them a bath. We ran through the list with each of them before taking them to the ER. We did go a couple times for breathing treatments and steroid shots, but fortunately our neighbor was on duty and she loved on them during their breathing treatments.
DeleteI hope he feels better soon! And you know what, light humor during a hard time, I believe is God's way of telling us it is going to be okay. That there is light at the end of the tunnel.
ReplyDeleteI remember when my mom was sick in the hospital with Cancer, and soon passed away, my brother, Dad, and I would play cards. We would deal in a hand for my Mom, and play her hand like she was able to make decisions. We had so many good laughs over Rummy, and you know what, it made the scarey hospital room not so scarey anymore.
Love your blog, love your parenting, hope you have a better weekend!
We had similar moments when my mom was in the hospital and they still make me smile. Laughter is good medicine for us, isn't it? Thank you for the comment!
DeleteArie is so darn cute. Feel better little guy...
ReplyDeleteThank you!!
DeleteJill, just thought I would check up on you. Sounds like January has been rough. Sorry for the loss of your FIL and I hope Arie gets over the croupe soon.
ReplyDeleteIRR
So good to hear from you! Thank you for your condolences and hopes for Arie's quick return to health! I agree :-)
DeleteOh man. Rough month! Praying for you all!
ReplyDeleteYour story of John taking the melatonin/tea had me laughing. Did we ever tell you about the night I went into labor with Annabelle? It was a Sunday and Ken had a horrible case of poison ivy. We called the doc and he told ken to take a double dose of Benadryl and come see him in the morning. My contractions started at 1:30am....and I tried to wake Ken up. He fell back asleep between EVERY contraction. We get to the hospital, check in, and I get an epidural after some time. When I am resting comfortably, Ken says, "I am exhausted, would you mind if I just laid on the couch and took a nap until its time?" What a night. :-)
LOL Kristi! What a story! I hope you told him no way. ;-)
Delete