A Night in the ER...

Yes, morning came way too soon and I am exhausted, but thankful.

Jonas has had a sinus infection for the past couple of weeks. He was almost completely better when the congestion came back this past Monday. I didn't know if it was the infection or a new cold started but since he still had 2 days worth of medicine to take I decided to call the doctor if he wasn't better by Wednesday. Monday night he started coughing a bit and by Tuesday morning the congestion sounded like it was in his chest. I called his doctor on Tuesday morning and they suggested bringing him in on Wednesday.

Tuesday evening around 7:30 Rex noticed a high pitched sound coming from Jonas every time he breathed. It only lasted a few seconds and was so faint that everything else had to be completely quiet in order to hear it. I heard it a couple of times too and thought that he may need to go in that night. I went ahead and got him ready for bed and by the time he was in his pajamas the wheezing was much more constant. I called the after-hours exchange that our pediatrician has and described his sound to the nurse. She had me hold the phone up to his face and told me that the sound was definitely wheezing. She also had me check his chest to see if he was having to work harder to breath. I could see the space under his ribs drawing in which is what she was looking for. She told me to hold him in the bathroom with the hot shower running for 10 minutes and then to take him in to the ER.

I could tell that Rex was worried about me taking Jonas in myself. He offered to take him or for all of us to go, or to find someone to keep Isaac so that I didn't have to be the only parent there with Jonas. Isaac was pretty upset about Jonas having to go to the hospital so we decided it would be best for Rex to stay home with him. It wound up working out well that way since by the time we got into the hospital and called Rex, Isaac was asleep.

We didn't have to wait very long at the hospital since the nurse had called ahead. After the doctor examined him she said that she thought he had bronchiolitis which is caused by the RSV virus or a similar virus. She suggested a breathing treatment which works for about 50% of children. We went ahead and did the treatment (Jonas didn't like not being able to play with the mask) and afterwards he wasn't wheezing at all. They sent some of the medicine home with us and I am going to be giving him the treatments for a few days. The treatments are to help him not have to work so hard to breath while the virus runs its course, which should take a few days to a week.

The entire time we were at the hospital, Mr. Smiley Pants was charming anyone who looked our way. ;-)

While any trip with your child to the hospital is scary, I am so very thankful that Jonas's illness turned out to be something mild and that the treatment worked and that Jonas was able to come home last night.