Expect the unexpected

You just never know what life is going to throw at you.

This past Saturday, Beta got sick. Again. She'd already had strep throat earlier in the week. She was on antibiotics for that and was doing fine. Well, Saturday, her temp is 99.6 and she's lying on the couch with her blanket sucking her thumb. She did that pretty much all day until supper time.
Anyway, when we got home with our Sonic supper she didn't even touch the tater tots or the ice cream. She wanted oranges, M&Ms, and lemonade. She also said her stomach was hurting. (Yea, I know. That's exactly what I'd eat if I had a stomach ache.) After supper, her stomach started hurting BAD. She was holding it, writhing in pain, and crying. I was afraid that she was having this stomach virus that I had had Friday morning. (No details.....TMI!) I gave her half an immodium and hoped that would help. She fell asleep for about 45 minutes.

When she woke up, her stomach was much better, but then I realized she was breathing funny. Her breathing was really shallow and labored. I figured it was just from her crying so I just watched her. I got the girls in bed about 9:30. Then (and this was not smart) I decided to stay up late watching TV. I don't get to do that since I get up at 5:30 to get ready for work. Beta came into my room twice between 9:30 and midnight. At midnight, I thought about putting her in my bed so I could watch her during the night. For some reason, her breathing just concerned me.

After about 15 minutes, I was really concerned. So I called the after hours line. It took two calls and about 15 minutes before someone responded, but when this nurse called me back, she asked if Beta's stomach was caving in under her ribs. I looked and sure enough, it was. She then said Beta needed to be seen "immediately". AAACCCKKK! I go and throw on some clothes (I was in pajamas.) Getting Alpha, my VERY deep sleeper, awake and into the car was a chore, but I did it. I told her she was going to have to wake up b/c I could NOT carry her.

On our way to the emergency room, I really thought we'd only be there a couple of hours. Boy was I wrong! We arrived around 1am. They gave Beta two breathing treatments with Albuterol and some steroids. She also had a chest x-ray. All this took until around 5am. By this time, her breathing was still labored. She was breathing around 30 times a minute. They said for a 3 year old, she should be breathing around 20 times a minute. Her oxygen level was also low. Since the medicine hadn't worked, it was recommended that we be admitted.

ADMITTED! TO THE HOSPITAL!!!!! Suddenly, I get very concerned. I really thought they'd just give us some medicine and send us home. The doctor said kids can get better really quick or worse really quick. He had asked how far away we lived.

About this time, 3 trauma patients come in. So it took us about an hour to get into a room. When we did, I put both girls in the bed, one at each end, I took the most uncomfortable bed chair known to man, and we all fell asleep. This was 6:30am Sunday. That was the first time I had been to sleep since 6:45 am Saturday morning when the girls woke me up at their regular time.

Thankfully, I had had a chance to call mom so she got there about 7:30. Beta was SO happy to see "grandmudder". Breakfast was also delivered so we finally got to eat.

Beta had more of the albuterol treatment and the steroids finally kicked in. We were finally discharged around 1pm. TWELVE HOURS after we had arrived! We were sent home with a steroid prescription and an inhaler. Beta takes the inhaler ok as long as SHE gets to squirt the stuff and SHE is ready for it. Everything has to be on her terms.

She did do better last night. I was incredibly worried, though, so we set up our inflatable mattress in her room and I slept there. Her breathing was still faster than normal, but her stomach wasn't contracting as much. This morning she seems nearly well. She's still coughing and sounding horrible occassionally.

Her diagnosis right now is undetermined. The pediatrician said it was probably an allergic reaction that had asthmatic symptoms. He doesn't think it's asthma because she has no risk factors for asthma. He said we may never know what she's allergic to. We just have to wait and see if it happens again. Then we might be able to pin down the culprit. Or maybe I could have more allergy testing done. For now, we are treating her symptoms and they are going away. So we're good. And thankful. And still a little scared. But this morning, before Alpha went to school, they both started fighting over toys again. So maybe we're back to normal.