Another ambulance ride

A lot has been going on for us in the past few days. I'll start with the bad and save the good for another post. We got home from a weekend in Iowa yesterday afternoon. We were all exhausted, so we took a 2-hour nap. The rest of the afternoon/evening went normally and we put Elijah to bed a little bit early because of some sleep he had missed over the weekend. I noticed throughout the day that he had been sneezing a bit more than usual and that his nose seemed slightly congested. Other than that, nothing had seemed out of the ordinary.

About two hours after Elijah went to bed, we heard him struggling to breathe over the baby monitor. We both immediately recognized the sound because this same thing happened a few months ago. Dan got Elijah out of bed while I got the nebulizer ready and turned on the shower. After giving him the neb and sitting in the steamy bathroom for a while, we realized that he was really having a hard time breathing. I asked Dan if I should call 911 and he said yes. When Dan says yes to that question without hesitating, there is a concern. The paramedics came and assessed the situation and said, "We need to take him in!" His heart rate was super high and he still wasn't breathing normally. I got into the ambulance with him while they got an IV line started in his arm. Dan followed us in the car to Childrens. That was our first ambulance trip where they actually drove fast and used sirens. They were worried, so that made me extra worried.

Once we got there they gave Elijah steroids through his IV line which helped to open up his airway. His croupey breathing started to sound a bit better almost immediately. His heart rate came back down. His sats hovered around 95-96%, which is a bit low for him, but nobody seemed too concerned. After a clear chest xray, it was decided that he was not holding onto any excess fluid, which has actually been a concern of ours for the past couple days. He has had slightly puffy eyelids in the mornings, so I've been worrying about fluid retention, which would most likely mean heart failure. So this news was a relief. We sat in the ER for quite a while as they monitored him. He threw up once all over himself and me, but other than that he was in pretty good spirits. He stayed awake and watched cartoons for a long time. In the wee morning hours they decided to let us go home. Of course Elijah had JUST fallen asleep so he was a mad baby when they started messing with him.

We got home and put him to sleep. I didn't get much sleep because I kept checking on him to make sure he was breathing normally. He did fine and, amazingly, even after missing most of the night's sleep, still woke up at his usual 6:00 time. His internal clock is amazing! It's the most sophisticated system I've ever seen in my life.

Dan watched Elijah while I got a nap this morning. Dan is walking around like a zombie so I'm going to watch Elijah while he sleeps for a bit and then I'll head into work (yes, missing more work time that I DON'T have). Our little man could use some prayers. Last night was a scary night. Sickness is very bad for him and it's so hard on his little body. Thanks for checking in on us. A more positive post to follow, with really cute pics...