Where to begin. I know I have been slacking on the blog so I will try to sum up the last few weeks briefly but this is probably going to be a long one.
Alice came down with Croup on Oct 28th. I went in to wake her up that morning for school (John was out of town) and she just did not want to wake up. The fact that she did not immediately sit up and start telling me what to do was the first sign that something was wrong. She sounded raspy and just laid there and whimpered. I would have just let her go back to sleep right then if she didn’t badly need a diaper changed and I could feel that she was extremely hot and sweaty. I picked her up and she started crying – a really heartbreaking sounding cry. I stripped her down, changed her diaper, left her naked and sat down to rock her. I wanted to see if she would cool down before I called an ambulance (she was that hot). Sure enough, she cooled right down but as she did, her breathing got more and more scary sounding. It was so thick but very rapid. She, really, couldn’t even cry because she didn’t even seem to have much of a voice. Once her temp dropped, I called her pediatrician and brought her in an hour later. I tried to put her back to bed but at that point, she just wanted to be in my arms, which I was more than happy to oblige.
The doctor listened long and hard to her lungs and firmly diagnosed her with Croup. He wanted her to have a steroid breathing treatment right then and gave me some additional steroids to give to her in the following hours. Alice did not like the treatment whatsoever but mostly, I think, because it was a little scary (mask over the face, smoke coming out, mom and nurse holding her as she fought it). I think it made her feel better immediately because towards the end of the 10 minute treatment, she stopped fighting and sounded remarkably better when it was over. She and I went home, watched some cartoons and took a long nap.
When Alice woke up that afternoon, she sounded just as bad as she did that morning. I called the doc again and he told me to bring her in for another treatment. We did so and it went much smoother this time around. He was concerned that the initial “massive dose” of steroids did not break it up as much as it should have so he prescribed the necessary equipment and medicine for us to do the breathing treatments at home. The rest of that afternoon and evening were quiet. I got Alice a balloon at the pharmacy and we had macaroni and cheese for dinner – she really was such a good little girl despite obviously feeling so horrible.
Her next scheduled steroid treatment came in the form of a melt away pill due at 10pm that night. I hated the idea of waking her up to give it to her but I didn’t dare skip it. At ten, I went into her room, picked her up and carried her to the rocking chair, slipped her pacifier out and dropped the pill in the side of her cheek. Thank goodness it was a good flavor instead of just medicine. She flinched her cheeks a bit, I put the pacy back in her mouth and put her back to bed. Probably the easiest medicine delivery ever – ha ha.
Friday morning, she was still raspy but significantly better. So good, in fact, that I did not feel it was necessary to give her another breathing treatment but I, obviously kept her home from school. John was scheduled to be home that evening so we just had a quiet day reading books, playing with dolls, and watching cartoons. She continued to get better and better as the day went on and she slept well again Friday night. On Saturday, she really wound herself up. Daddy was home after being gone a whole week, and she knew she felt better so she did a lot of running around and being silly. By the afternoon, that rough-housing had taken its toll and she seemed to be getting sicker again. Another steroid breathing treatment and a good night’s sleep was what she needed to finally get rid of the yuk. Sunday she was left with a very mild cold and a little nasty sounding coughs.
Fast forward a couple of days to Election Day. John had explained voting to her the night before and she was excited to come with us the next morning. When he went to get her up the next day, he found her already standing up exclaiming “I VOTE, I VOTE”. She was not thrilled about standing in line but was super excited about the stickers we all got on the way out. She ran into school telling her teachers that she voted! So funny.
Alice has also decided that she wants two brothers. She and John were talking the other morning about the babies in Mommy's belly. John asked her if she wants the babies to be girls or boys and she said "Boys, two brothers". I firmly believe that is because she does not want to share her dolls. :)
John and I got to see the twins again on the 11th. They are growing so fast and have very strong heartbeats. We found out that they are definitely fraternal, not identical but we still do not know if they are girls or boys. Next month we go in for the Fetal Anatomy Screening when they measure all the organs to be sure they are growing properly, we will find out then. The waiting is killing me....I want to get planning!! Here are a few pics of the Ultrasound.
John and I FINALLY remembered to take the camera out this weekend. Alice just loves going to the park. She is fearless on even the highest slides.
On Sunday, we went to have Alice's 2 year pictures taken. Here are a few of the super cute shots.
