The Girl With The Curls: A Short(ish) Story.

Once upon a time, there was a family full of kids who seemed to always get sick, especially in the Fall. The one with the curls, prone to dramatics and tantrums and the sweetest "I love you, mama"s caught a cold one day that gave her coughing fits. The cough was accompanied by an odd wheeze, which grew worse as the night went on. Finally at 1am her mother offered her a sip of cold water, and when the girl threw it up, the doctor was called and they were advised to seek medical attention before the night was through. As with all middle-of-the-night illnesses, there was hemming and hawing between mother and father about whether it was necessary to take the child to the hospital. In the end, the wheeze won out (and thankfully all deductibles had been met for the year), and mother and child set out for the hospital at the early hour of 1:30am.

Teddy got a wristband, which helped the one with the curls accept her own instead of fight to remove it. (She felt about as good as she looks here. Cute, but definitely not happy.)

After an albuterol nebulizer treatment and a dose of steroids, she perked up. That's an understatement. As you can see, it was 3:30am and she was W.I.R.E.D. The nurse told me that can be a side effect of the medicine. I took videos with my phone of her because she was acting so funny - tired but definitely medicated, jittery, and a little bit feisty. And oh so hilarious. I was simply trying to not fall off my chair as I kept falling asleep sitting up with coffee in hand.

We were given prescriptions for a nebulizer, albuterol and steroids and were able to go back home around 4am, which thankfully made this the shortest hospital visit we've ever had. We went straight to bed, and after a nice 2 hours of sleep I was back up for the day with Maddie.

The party's over already?!

The next afternoon, we went to the pediatrician for a follow up visit. The wheezing continued, and since we weren't able to pick up our own nebulizer until later that day (insurance red tape), curls got a treatment right there in the office which again worked its magic on her little airways.

The dinosaur mask was given to us at the hospital, and helped make the process less scary. She claimed it was a Triceratops, and so that's what we've been calling it.

Two very tired girls.

At that follow up appointment, it was discovered that the double ear infection (a nasty one) we had been treating for the last 2 weeks had not completely cleared up. This girl must have been miserable, let me tell you. And so we were sent home with another prescription for stronger antibiotics. Breathing treatments have continued at home as well. The wheezing seems to be gone.

Today we had a follow up visit to double check that her ears had cleared since the last follow up visit (they had).

We are tired of doctors, although we are so thankful for them and are particularly fond of ours.

I had to take all 3 precious ones with me, which was as fun as it sounds and went about as well as you can imagine it would at the nap/lunch hour (not well). Good thing I had 1) gone to yoga and 2) consumed a strong cup of coffee this morning! Both were needed.

These two hung out in the double stroller while Ellie was examined and prescribed a preventative inhaler we will be using twice a day for the next month, as well as another rescue medicine. All I can say is thank goodness I birthed Maddie this year and we met our deductible - I've added up just the prescription costs that have been completely covered by our insurance and it's scary.

Because next year? Not anticipating any births and so we'd better all be healthy. :)

Not a great picture of Maddie but it shows off her brand new pearly whites, which came without a fuss!

The End.

For now.