An accidental sleepover and some Albuterol

.this.

.silly.










.little.

 .boy.

::gave us quite a scare Wednesday night::

He normally gets a croupy cough with a cold, but this time he had a cold and no cough and I knew something was wrong.  His belly and neck were moving when he breathed, but not his chest and he was making whimpering noises on each breath.

I got the pediatrician to squeeze us in, it was late by the time he saw us, around 5.  I had left Alec and Ava at a friends house because I didn't want my well children to be sitting in a germ-filled waiting room for hours.  The ped.sort of freaked out when he saw Benji, didn't explain anything to me, and brought in a nebulizer to give Benji some breathing treatments.

Benji ended up with two breathing treatments in the doc's office and a dose of steroids, and then we had orders to take him to our local children's hospital for more breathing treatments and further evaluation.  After a terribly long night of going to one ER and leaving because it was wall to wall with vomit and fevers, driving 50 min. to another ER and waiting for another breathing treatment, we decided that Alec and Ava were better off staying where they were.

So, it came about that Ava had her very first sleep over!  The family that kept her and Alec for us was the family we went to Lakeside with this summer, and their girls love Ava.  Ava had a great time (so did Alec, but it's less remarkable 'cause he's 8!), shed not one tear, and went to be with no complaints, sharing a mattress with one of the girls.

I'm glad she had a nice time, but a little sad that her very first sleepover occurred at such a young tender age and was the result of a somewhat traumatic medical incident!

Benji is fine today and now we're looking into a maintenance routine to prevent this from happening again.  We were told by the ER doc that he has Reactive Airway Disease.  The only difference between that and asthma is that RAD happens once in a while and is triggered by a virus or allergy (both of which Benji had/has)

While I agree with the majority of the acute, rescue treatment that our ped. (Dr.R) gave Benji, I am not at all happy with the way it was done.  I was given orders, not suggestions or opinions.  I'm sure not every parent comes into his office with 80 million questions like I did, but I would expect the respect of an answer for every single one, and a suggestion of treatment, not a demand.  What I believe Dr.R. failed to recognize was that all he can do is offer his professional opinion but it's ultimately up to me, after having been presented with a complete set of information, to make the final decision.

While we respect the educated opinion of any medical doctor, it's just that, an educated opinion.  I would never blindly trust anyone to make a decision regarding my health or that of my children.

We won't be following the advice of Dr.R regarding maintenance treatment for Benji's possible condition (I'm sure he'll be horrified), instead we are doing research on our own and consulting with our holistic chiropractor, Dr.J.  We will most likely be doing some sort of herbal or homeopath daily dosage.  We believe in the natural ability of the body to heal and correct imbalances, when provided with pure, natural resources. And, of course, in the ability of our Creator to heal!

So....I was looking forward to a sound sleep last night for all of us. 

Unfortunately, Alec (who has an occasional bout of allergy-induced asthma) had an asthma attack mid afternoon.  Fortunately we were in our chiropractor's office when it happened and she gave him some remedies right away.  We put him to bed very early, but he woke in the night with a tight, painful chest and dry cough.  So, I was in the kitchen at 3am making hot onion poultices for his chest and spicy chicken broth for him to drink.

That, combined with some homeopathic drops, worked well, and he fell back asleep at around 4:30.  After being up till 1am Wed. night, and then up for a couple hours in the middle of last night,

MOMMY IS TIRED!!

{I am, however, praising my Heavenly Father that I have healthy children that are able to be cared for in our home, and not hooked up to tubes in the hospital.  Every time we have an ER episode (which is rare) my heart goes out to parents who have to tend to their children laying in hospital beds, and I say a little prayer.}

Sunday is Marvin and my 12 year anniversary, and we're heading out tonight and all day tomorrow for some R & R alone!  My goal today is to do a whole lot of nothing, so that tomorrow I can do a whole lot with my best friend!