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.