Take A Deep Breath...

At Dad's party, I noticed that Sophie was fussy and a little stuffy, but nothing seemed really out of the ordinary. I associated most of those symptoms to trying to finally cut through her last eye tooth. As a result, we were the first to leave the party. She crashed on the way home. We got everyone home, and she seemed really congested, so I started getting concerned. And by midnight, even though she slept, she slept fitfully and her breathing seemed to be worse... so much so that you could count her ribs when she breathed in... I think they call it distended or something like that. So we called the nurse hot line and they advised us to bring her in... so at in the morning, I loaded up Itty Bitty and she and I headed to Children's downtown. Hank stayed at home with the boys since they both needed to go to school the next day. I had enough forethought to throw three outfits in her diaper bag and a book for me to read, as well as a few toys for her to play with. She was okay on the way, but I was one nervous driver, I tell you. I kept looking at her in the backseat.So they took us back at the ER almost immediately and listened to her breathing, her cough (did I mention she had a cough), and took her temp. Once they did all of that, they put a monitor on her big toe to give them her oxygen level. They wanted it to be above 92. 92 or anything below that is not enough oxygen and considered dangerous. Her oxygen level was hovering at 86 and 87.So we did the first of three treatments in the ER that early morning. She also got a dose of oral steroids in between treatments. All of these efforts made her oxygen level rise for a short time, then it would drop right back down. By the time Daddy got there, they were getting a room ready for her and had a tiny little oxygen tube in her nose to keep her level up between treatments. By the time we got up to the room, we already had a get well present from Aunt Jackie and all the cousins! And thank God for that, cause she would have been some kind of bored if it hadn't been for that gift (and Mom would have starved if not for the snacks cause they didn't feed me).At the end of the first full day at the hospital, they gave her another dose of oral steroids and combined with the breathing treatments... she was BOUNCING OFF OF THE WALL!! I asked the nurse if we could unhook her long enough to give her a bath.She took advantage of being unhooked and decided to touch, pull on, tear up, and climb on everything she could! I swear I burnt off more calories chasing her around that night that walking the track at the park ever could! We were there for one more day... she had to be off of oxygen for 24 hours before they would release her. Her appetite picked up the next day, so Dad went and got her a Happy Meal and she was really a Happy camper!We now have to keep an asthma inhaler in her diaper bag. The doctor said that since she has been hospitalized twice in her short lifetime for breathing issues that it could be a precurser to asthma... we're just praying it's severe allergies and nothing more.