Scary day

So today was probably the scariest day I've ever had since being a mom. First, I'll go ahead and say that Addie is fine and was never in any true life-or-death danger. But...

Addie and I both came down with a cold this weekend. My throat was a little scratchy on Friday, but I just wrote it off as allergies. Unfortunately, Addie started sneezing, coughing, and having a runny nose yesterday, so I knew that we either are allergic to the same thing, or both had a cold. Anyway, last night, she coughed a lot, and had a hard time falling/staying asleep at first, but ended up sleeping through the night without a problem (Thank God!). This morning when she woke up, she seemed okay, but a little congested.

Around 10 a.m., I noticed she was wheezing a little bit. I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned it here before, but last November, she had her first episode of wheezing, and the doctors gave her an albuterol inhaler. She has had to take it three times since then; each time it has worked almost immediately and she has gone back to playing like nothing was ever wrong.

Not so much today. I gave her the inhaler around noon (after she took a nap without a problem), and when she was still wheezing after 30 minutes, I decided to call the pediatrician's office. Oh, of course, this is all happening as JM just left to go out of town for the night - argh. ANYWAY, the nurse told me she'd like to play it safe, and for me to go on and bring her in, and that she'd work it out with the receptionist. That made me a little panicked, because in the past, they've just said, "Keep an eye on her, count her respirations, etc."

SO - on we went to the doctor's office. She was fine in the waiting room (a little fussy, but only because I wouldn't let her explore due to the other sick kids in the room). By the time we got back to be seen, she was obviously having more trouble breathing. The nurse took her O2 levels, and they were fine (98), but the look on the nurse's face told me everything wasn't okay. She stepped out and the doctor rushed in. By this time, Addie's chest was heaving like crazy, her nostrils were flaring, and she was freaking out. The doctor had the nurse immediately start her on the breathing treatment nebulizer, and THANK GOD, her breathing calmed down almost at once.

Oddly enough, her O2 levels were lower (95) after the treatment, which makes me think they must have gotten pretty low in the short time between the first reading and the treatment.

Okay, so the doctor told us that it was the time for the official diagnosis of asthma. This isn't a huge shock, since John Michael and his mom both have it, but still an understandable disappointment. He said I'll need to give her the nebulizer treatment every four hours for the next 24 hours, and then twice daily for the rest of the week. Then we'll have a follow-up with our regular pediatrician on Friday (we saw the on-call doctor today - which leads me to have to do a brief sales pitch (or whatever) for our pediatrician's office - Pediatric Associates of Franklin. We LOVE them - every single one of them). He said that she will probably put Addie on a prophylactic treatment to try to prevent another attack.

Geez.

I know asthma is very common. I know millions of people live healthy, active lives with it. But still, it scared the poo out of me to see my baby unable to breathe! I just thank God that we were in the doctor's office when the whole thing happened.

Phew.

Next post - only adorable pictures of the baby, I promise :)