Friday Night at the ER

I told you I'd share the story of Friday night... so here it is for your reading pleasure.

Tornado's been sick for a couple weeks (eh, months?). Wednesday and Thursday this turned into a pretty high fever and then calmed down Friday. Unfortunately I noticed some wheezing beginning at the same time as he seemed to be getting better. By Friday night the wheezing and coughing had continued. His nap was poor Friday afternoon and he just wouldn't sleep Friday evening.

My Beloved and I enjoy playing computer games together and had been doing that an hour or so when Tornado started fussing and crying, intermittently with resting quietly. By 11 (4 hours after bed time) we decided we should see if we could help him get to sleep. I checked on him and rubbed his head for a while. He was cheerful and content, smiling and "talking" to us. We noticed that he was really wheezing and working to breath, but now that he was calmed down decided to give him another chance to get some sleep.

Our departure upset him again and after a few minutes we went back in. Wondering if the "wheezing" we heard was really in the chest, we dug out my stethoscope from nursing school and I listened to his chest. Yep... actual wheezing. :( The problem was we had no idea what to do now. His coughing was a struggle and not producing anything. The wheezing was rough, and after searching the internet noticed that, yes indeed, he had retractions between his collar bones and under his ribs. Now we were more concerned.

We finally made the decision to take Tornado to the ER. My Beloved was wonderful! I couldn't have done it myself. There was never any question in his mind that he would go. He would never send me out at night by myself. He took Tornado to the ER (leaving around 12:30) and took care of everything.

Apparently they didn't have to wait long. They gave Tornado a nebulizer treatment to help his breathing and ran some tests. He had an x-ray which showed early stage pneumonia. They came in a while later with an inhaler and antibiotic. My Beloved said he had fun playing with a rubber glove blown up like a balloon but HATED the tongue depressor. Poor kid.

They arrived home around 3 am and we put Tornado down in the Pack n Play in our room... moving Sweet Pea for the night to the baby room.

Things are going better now... though he sounds terrible at this moment. Time to get him up from his nap and try a tablespoon of honey for that cough.

Labels: As it happens...

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 3:36 PM