The Never Ending Day

Showing off his stickers while we were waiting for discharge papers

Today started at 12:30 am, when I was abruptly woke from my sleep by the strangest barking noise.  I jumped out of bed after shoving Mark and asking, "What was that?"  Knowing full well he had no clue as to what I was talking about.  He could sleep through a tornado.  I immediately figured out it was Hayden but I was following him back to his room and could only hear this horrible wheezing sound coming from him.   He was terribly upset because of a bad dream, but at the same time could not catch his breath.  I brought him back into my room and tried to get him to calm down.  He was not and could not cry, he could only get out between wheezes, "I can't breathe!"  I studied him for a while trying to decide if he would calm down enough if this would subside or if we did in fact need to head to the ER. Hayden does not have asthma or any other breathing issues so I decided to head in as this was making us a bit nervous.  The drive to the hospital was a much calmer situation which caused me to pull over and ask him again if he could breathe.  He still shook his head no and continued to wheeze.  I told him we were heading to the hospital and asked if he wanted to see the doctor.  He immediately shook his head, "Yes!"  I decided that we needed to continue on especially if my 5 year old son was asking to see the doctor.

It is amazing to me how quickly you get back in the ER when you can't breathe.  There was no pause, no admittance papers, no paying $200 before passing GO.  It was a seamless entrance to an exam room.  I was thankful for that.  They thought he was having a serious asthma attack because of the rattling and tightness of his breathing.  Hayden was a champ though and remained very calm through all the exams and chest x-rays.  They gave him an albuterol treatment and that seemed to calm everything down.  He finally came around after that and seemed more himself.  Such a strange night. They sent us home saying they thought is was quick onset of croup.  Funny, he isn't really coughing or acting ill.  I'm clueless, however all 3 kids have well visits tomorrow so I'll discuss it more with the doctor then.  The kid is never sick but when he is, he gets serious about it.  The only other time we have had any health concerns was from when he was born.  I thought at that point, with having to be on a vent and the surfactant doses, I would always have a sick kiddo with respiratory issues, but he has been so resilient.  He has only had a bug bite on his ear that concerned me when he was 2 and strep throat once.  That's a pretty good record for a 5 year old!

We were home and back in bed by 4 am and we were all back up right before 7 am.  I contemplated not going into work, but he was acting completely fine except that he was extremely hyper.  I believe it was due to the albuterol.  I figured none of us would be getting rest so, it would be better for me to just go in to work and finish early so that we could all get in bed early.  As far as lunch for today, I know you are just dying to know.  I picked up this yummy tuna salad kit and a cup of mixed fruit.  I had some mixed veggies to gnaw on, but didn't really have an appetite.  This Sobe LifeWater is good!!! I'm drinking the Fuji Apple Pear one right now and it is tasty too.  A little too sweet, but still refreshing.

The two big kids after meet the teacher!  

This evening we made our rounds at meet the teacher.  Before we headed out the door I got a quick 30 minute ride in on the trainer and did some sandbag work and burpees for core strength.  I'm glad I got it in, but since I'm soooooo tired, I did as much effort as I could give. As for documenting the event of the evening, I had such great plans for taking the kids pictures with their teachers, etc.   Never happened.  (Does it count that I got a picture of the two school kids after we got home and Ella already switched into her pjs?)  We kept running into our friends and were the last ones in to meet Ella's teacher.  I believe it will be a great year and just ready for us to be settled into our new schedule.


Have you ever had to rush one of your kiddos to the ER in the middle of the night?

What do you think caused Hayden's onset of breathing issues?  Jennifer, you're a doc, what do you think?  :)

Are you ready for the new school year to start?