Close Call

I noticed last week that Lucas was starting to get sick. He was throwing up here and there throughout the week, got a cough, and started to become increasingly fussy. I thought it was just a cold since Stephen had, had one I figured it was only a matter of time before everyone else caught it.

Last Friday I laid Lucas down for an afternoon nap. He awoke a few hours later and I could hear him laughing to himself through the monitor. It was pretty cute. So I went upstairs to unload the dishwasher because I wasn't in any hurry to get Lucas out of his crib if he wasn't crying. As I unloaded the dishwasher I noticed that it was quiet again--I hadn't heard Lucas make any noise for a few minutes, and thought that was strange because I knew he wouldn't go back to sleep. I opened his bedroom door to check on him to see if he had, in fact, gone back to sleep.

When I entered his room my heart sank into the pit of my stomach. For a split second I thought the worst had happened. As I opened the door Lucas was laying on his belly, his eyes were open, but he didn't respond when I opened the door. No noise, no movement, his eyes didn't even move to acknowledge my presence. I leaped across the room to pick him up to see if he was all right. His face was wet and sticky from laying in a puddle of snot. He moved! I cannot even express how relieved I was, but I knew something was wrong. He was limp, and hot, and struggling to breathe. He was trying really hard to push air through his mouth--long hard breaths. I quickly called the pediatrician to see if I should take him to the ER or if I could bring him into the office. They immediately made room for me, so I scooped both boys up and put them in the car. 

The office was packed with sick children, but they let me through the moment I got there. Lucas had seemed to "wake up" a little bit by the time I got there too. They gave him a breathing treatment of albuterol to help open his airways since his oxygen levels were low. It seemed to help, and they had the hospital bring me a nebulizer to continue his treatments at home. 

The next day Lucas hadn't made an progress, in fact, that afternoon his fever spiked at 103 so I took him back to the doctor to be reevaluated. They didn't tell me anything different, so we went home. Finally, the next day he looked and sounded better; he even ate! I hate it when the kids get sick, I'm just glad I didn't catch it. Everyone is doing well, and we are all anxious for our trip this week!