Sickness and Asthma

Back in mid-March Graham got pretty sick with a cold and his breathing got so bad we ended up in the ER and then staying at the hospital overnight. I hated that he had to stay overnight because he is so phobic of doctors and nurses and therefore is miserable in the hospital. But the doctors convinced us to stay and they agreed to not give him an IV. Graham's breathing has always been kind of labored and whenever he gets a little bit sick he has a really hard time breathing. They put him on an oral steroid and did frequent Albuterol treatments with a nebulizer. The steroid makes Graham VERY fussy and he takes it for 5 days.

Rare smile while in the hospital.

I was 6 weeks pregnant and the nausea was setting in big time. The night in the hospital and the following fussy days were rough because I wasn't feeling good at all. But we hadn't announced the pregnancy yet and so nobody but my husband knew just how hard those days were! Thankfully my mom came to help for a couple of days. We came home from the hospital with a nebulizer and after about a week Graham was better.

When we went in for Graham's 18 month well check the pediatrician finally diagnosed him with Asthma. He started daily nebulizer treatments of Pulmicort.

But then a week later he was sick again and we spent 3 hours at the pediatrician on a Sunday morning. I finally convinced the doctor to let us go home with the steroid, Albuterol, and antibiotics. We went back to the pediatrician many times over the next week. He ended up getting antibiotic shots. There was a threat of tubes for the ears because he had fluid in his ears for so long but it finally cleared up!

Poor guy. Sick and sleepy.

Currently Graham is doing the Pulmicort nebulizer treatments twice a day and taking Zyrtec daily to keep him from getting snotty. He has been doing well for a few weeks now and tolerating the nebulizer treatments as long as he has adequate entertainment. I need to get a picture of him using the nebulizer.

A few non-sicky pics!

This kid loves his doggie!

and the doggie crate.

Easter basket!

Easter family pics.

We're Expecting!

I apologize for the lack of blog updates in the last couple of months, but I have a good excuse... I'm pregnant! We are expecting TWINS in October! We have had a very busy couple of months with some serious sicknesses for Graham and lots of nausea for me. 

I found out I was pregnant in early March and had some early bleeding but blood work by the OB confirmed the pregnancy was progressing. Matt, Graham, and I went in for an ultrasound at 7 weeks. The picture had barely come up on the screen when the doctor blurts out "Well, there's two!" I turned and said, "That's a joke." Dr. said, "I don't joke about that." Then he just carries on with the ultrasound, measuring each baby like this was normal everyday stuff. Matt and I just starred at each other with our mouths hanging open trying to process what was happening. We don't have any twins in the family and I was not on fertility drugs. It never crossed my mind that we would have twins. We were ready for another baby, but we weren't prepared for two babies! The babies are in separate sacs but we don't know yet if they are fraternal or identical. My 40-week due date is November 10, but they will induce at 38 weeks if I make it that far (the majority of twins are born at 36 weeks).

We are still trying to move from shocked to excited. We know that every child is a blessing from the Lord so we are thankful. However, twin pregnancies bring added risks and unknowns and we will also have a 2 year old to care for. We are praying for two healthy babies! I have been quite nauseous all day long until just recently. I was not nearly this nauseous with Graham. I have been on prescription medication (which may or may not have been helping), eating constantly, and still throwing up about once a day or every other day. I am very excited to have some relief recently. I cooked dinner last night for the first time in 2 months! 

My sister-in-law (Matt's brother's wife), Joy, is also expecting in October. So Matt's parents will get 3 new grandbabies in October, doubling the number of grandchildren!

Here are a couple ultrasound pics. One from the 7 week ultrasound and one from a recent 13 week ultrasound. If we didn't have these pictures, I'm not sure our family would have believed we are having twins!

I plan to post soon about Graham's recent health issues and developmental progress and lots of pictures!