Missing Seattle

I've never been to Seattle. I hear it's a beautiful city, and a fun place to visit. Justin has a dental CE course in Seattle this week, and invited me to tag along just for fun. For the past several weeks, I have been looking forward to spending a few quiet days alone with my husband, away from housework, laundry and kid duty. My in-laws even drove in from Texas to watch the kids so that Justin and I could get away. I have been so, so, SO excited for our trip to Seattle!!!

Monday afternoon, two days before we were scheduled to leave, Eden woke up from her nap sounding a bit raspy, and was wheezing a little. She tends to be a bit raspy all the time anyway . . . so without too much concern, I gave her a quick breathing treatment and then dropped her off at Nancy's house while I took the boys to their gymnastics classes. While at gymnastics, Nancy called and said that she was concerned about Eden's breathing, and suggested that I schedule an appointment with the pediatrician. I called the doctor and set up an appointment for 1:00 the next afternoon.

As the evening progressed, Eden's breathing sounded worse and worse, and by 6:00p.m., she was asking to go "nigh-night". Eden woke up several times that night, and ran a low grade fever. By 1:00 on Tuesday, I was very anxious to see the doctor. I was pretty certain that Eden had RSV. As it turned out, she did test positive for RSV . . . . and pneumonia . . . AND had raging ear infections in both ears. Her oxygen level was at 95%, which was good, but the doctor was concerned that her breathing was so labored, and recommended that we admit her to the hospital for monitoring. Dr. Bernabe then mentioned that the only hospital that she was authorized to admit us to did not have a pediatric unit, or equipment, or staff trained to work with pediatrics. She suggested that we might want to drive to Jefferson City and sit in the E.R. in hopes that they admit her to their pediatric ward. Knowing that we had gotten through a worse case of pneumonia last winter without spending any time in the hospital, I felt that spending the evening in the E.R., risking no admittance, and then if admitted spending the night with I.V.'s and oxygen tanks on a restless baby who surely couldn't get much sleep in that environment, sounded miserable and unnecessary. So, I told the doctor I'd rather just treat my baby at home. Eden got two shots in her bum: one antibiotic and one steroid. I came home with four different prescriptions, and a plan to get my baby healthy by 5:00 the next morning . . . just in time to leave with my husband on our romantic getaway vacation to Seattle . . . . NOT.

Okay, so I probably would have been willing to leave my sick baby in the care of my very capable in-laws, but I couldn't shake this nagging fear that if she did take a turn for the worse, and if she did end up being hospitalized, I would no doubt be labeled the hands-down worst mother of the year. So . . . . this morning, Justin left for Seattle . . . and I continued administering breathing treatments every four hours.

Eden is feeling much better today. She has more energy, and actually got off my lap to play with her brothers for a good part of the day. Her breathing still sounds horrible, and she won't eat much, but when we went back to the doctor this morning, she was satisfied that we were on the right track. This afternoon, Justin called me from the top of the space needle. He assured me that he's having a terrible time without me there, and that I'll get another chance to go with him in April when he attends part 2 of his CE course. Meanwhile, he'll be scoping things out and finding the best that Seattle has to offer so that we can have a truly awesome romantic getaway in the spring. Plus, it'll be much warmer in April, so I'm even more excited. Here are a few photos Justin sent me from his iPhone to make me jealous and give me something to look forward to...