Himself, again!

Our Brody boy is back!!

I noticed a big difference on Thursday morning- those meds sure helped! He started to eat and play again throughout the day and has only been getting better since! He still has a light cough, but it usually only comes when he's running around playing his sports (asthma). We still have to do breathing treatments 2 or 3 times a day, but last night he stayed at 90% oxygen level without any oxygen! I keep the monitor on him when he sleeps and an alarm sounds if it gets below 87%. I can then put on his oxygen if he needs it.

We're so glad he's feeling better! I talked to his Dr on Friday and asked him when I could take Brody out again. The Dr told me that I could take him out and let him be around other kids as soon as his fever was gone (he only had a fever of 99.7 for one night on Tuesday), his coughing was improved (check!), and he was active and feeling well (check, check!).

Park, stores, friends - here we come!!

And I considered canceling this appointment??

Brody got a cough on Sunday morning but I thought it was from the ice cream he ate the night before (He gets a cough anytime he has any dairy). By Tuesday evening he was much worse than usual, I scheduled an appointment on Wednesday morning and took him in at 11:50. I was planning on getting a prescription of Prednisone (sp?) a steroid to help his lungs. He was on this steroid when he had RSV at ten months because of his asthma.

The Dr. came in and listened to him, said he was wheezing and that he wanted us to do a breathing treatment of albuterol. I did the treatment and when the Dr. came in to listen again he said "now he has crackling". I didn't know what the "crackling" meant, but by the look on the Dr's face I could tell it wasn't good. I asked him if that meant it wasn't asthma and what it could mean. He told me "possible pneumonia" and sent us to get x-rays of Brody's lungs.

Brody did great while getting the x-rays done! I was able to be in there and help him which made a huge difference (his last x-ray -on his hip- was done while I was pregnant with little Gavin so I wasn't able to be in there with him. It broke my heart). He got 2 x-rays done and we had to re-do one so a total of 3! He was so brave! He got 2 stickers for being so good!

When we went back to the room the Dr had us start another breathing treatment while we waited for the x-ray results. He came back and told me that it wasn't a bacterial pneumonia (which is the worse kind) but it was a viral pneumonia. From the x-rays, the Dr could see that the pneumonia was spread out all through his lungs... scattered. Brody fell asleep during his 2ND breathing treatment so the Dr had me stop it and let him sleep for about 20 minutes.

Dr came back in and listened to Brody again. He checked his oxygen levels while he was asleep and they were at 86 (not good). He had me start the breathing treatment again and then wake him up to see if his levels would go up again. They went to 90 once he woke up. The Dr said " I hope you didn't have someplace to be!" I told him I was going to meet up with Bobby for lunch, but we'll do whatever we need to for Brody. He then said "I'm just trying to do everything I can to not have to send you to the hospital". I was shocked!

We ended up getting a prescription for an antibiotic and the steroid. We also had oxygen and a monitor (to check his oxygen levels) delivered to our house that evening. We have a nebulizer and have had to give him breathing treatments every 3 hours, although after the first day on his meds he has been doing much better and only gets a breathing treatment when needed- usually morning, afternoon, and before bed.

The first night with the oxygen was pretty hard. I was up most of the night and slept very lightly. His levels wouldn't go about 86 and the Dr wanted them at 90. I wasn't sure what to do, so I prayed. A lot. I felt so much better and was able to go to bed. Bobby and his dad gave him a priesthood blessing on Wednesday night and I had comfort in that. I am so thankful for this amazing gift in our lives.

The next morning I went upstairs to turn off the oxygen and found that it wasn't even on. I could have screamed!!! I was actually a little relieved once a few hours passed :) I began to think that even though his levels were low, they weren't too low WITH oxygen. They could have actually gone up! It made me realize that he wasn't as bad as I started to think the night before! (The reason it was off is that the oxygen was still in the chamber and showed a green=full level on the bottle... meaning "on". Turns out it can still show a little oxygen in there even if it's off. My bad! and, a good lesson!)

Last night was his REAL first night with oxygen and he stayed at 91! It was awesome! He's been doing great with all of this medicine and tubing stuff- a lot better than I expected! He had no problem putting his monitor on either- he just wants to make sure it won't hurt so he has to touch it first. He hated the "stickers" the first night- the things that stick on his cheeks to hold the tubes in place. He didn't like me taking them off and they left a nice red mark all day. I resorted to using band-aids which work quite well! While I'm putting everything on him he'll say "I sick?" (in a sad, concerned voice) After I put everything on him last night I turned on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and went out of the room. He tried to get out of bed about 3 minutes later but was stopped by everything attached to him. I heard him start to cry and ran in there. He was standing by the side of the bed and I felt so bad. I put him back in bed and he held up a wire while crying "monitor, monitor" Poor little guy. I don't' leave him unless he is ASLEEP now!

I should be talking to the Dr sometime today to give a report, but Brody has been doing much better (to me, anyway!). He still looks a little sick and has his cough, but the meds are helping a ton! He is eating like normal and playing sports as always! You can't stop a sick kid. We have to keep telling him to be calm and to not play too rough. Thank goodness I didn't cancel this appointment and just wait it out. Turns out he was more sick than I even imagined. We're glad he's feeling better and hopes he's completely better soon!! We love him!

Sick baby

Gavin just got his FIRST illness (he's had 1 or 2 very minor colds). Thursday morning he woke up and was very clingy- I couldn't put him down all day. He's not a big snuggler, so I enjoyed every minute of him! He was fussy at times, but mainly lethargic. He had a fever Thursday and Friday- the highest it got was 101.9 :(
Friday was a little worse. He was still feverish and lethargic, but VERY fussy. Sometimes he would just toss and turn in my arms and cry like he was in pain. I started to cry because it broke my heart, when Brody saw me crying he about started to cry too. I took him into the Dr on Friday night and the Dr said he had "para-influenza" which means "near-flu". I told him he was immunized against both flu's this year and he told me that they don't have immunizations against this germ because it's not as serious- which was nice to hear.
Gav had a raspy voice and a red throat. The Dr said it causes a headache and muscle aches as well, which is why he is so irritable and acting like he's in pain... plus, he's teething! So, poor kid, he's had quite the week. He got his first tooth (bottom left) on Valentine's Day. This morning, he is my happy little boy again!! I feel so bad that he got sick, but am glad he's feeling better! We love him!

once again...

Our baby's sick :(

Luckily it's not the Stomach flu like last month, but there was some vomiting involved. WARNING: TMI about to be shared!

Last weekend Brody wouldn't eat much. We didn't think anything of it because he didn't have any symptoms of being sick- no fever, he was running and playing... etc. Monday morning (around 5:00) he came into our room (like usual) and he asked for his bottle (usual). He was laying in between us drinking while we tried to get a little more sleep. He then coughed (I was thinking he just got a little too much milk) and all of a sudden... he threw up and it went straight on my face, into my mouth. I got up- spitting- and wiped him off. (Funny how you don't mind getting puke on you when it's your own kid.) While I was cleaning him up with a towel, he looked at me and said "mommy, oh no, nose" I replied with "yeah, mommy's nose, it's ok" thinking I had a little white stuff at the tip of it. Little did I know, I was COVERED! I took him into the bathroom so we could get into the bath and I looked in the mirror to see throw up across my nose underneath my right eye. It covered about 1/4 of my face! I started laughing sooo hard! We got in the bath, cleaned off, and went back into our stripped down bed. Just then, Brody coughed again and out it came! Luckily, we had a towel underneath him! For the remainder of the day he was fine. He threw up 2 more times on Tuesday, and was fine Wednesday and most of Thursday when he threw up before bed. I took him into the Dr today and found out he has an ear infection. Poor baby! This explains why he was throwing up and not eating. Needless to say... without any food for the past week, he is weighing in at 24.5 pounds and is 33 inches tall! (I measured him as we were walking out!)

At his appointment this afternoon, he also had his hips x-rayed. He had his left foot x-rayed in October due to some complaining that it hurt. He has continued to say "owie" and pull at his foot since then. His Dr told me to let him know if Brody complained any more, so 3 months later (it hasn't been too much complaining!) I told his Dr about it and he wanted to just make sure that there weren't any hip problems going on. He checked his legs and looked at the arches in his feet... and everything looks great! The x-ray came back perfect! Bobby gave him a blessing last night, and I am so thankful for that! I'm glad he's doing so well and is an active little boy! We just love him!!

On the other hand, I picked Bobby up from work to help hold Brody while he got the x-ray done since I can't be in there because I'm pregnant. I heard him screaming in the room, and the lady came out saying " I'm going to find a nurse to help us out... he's out of control!" They had bobby and another lady holding him down for one x-ray. He DID NOT like it! Poor baby! He was up and running about 5 minutes after the x-ray!! We started his medication today, so hopefully he will start feeling normal again soon!