You never know how you may be spending your day....

Here is the breakdown of the past 24 hours….

1. Jackson has had a little cold and a runny nose for the past few days. No fever.

2. Yesterday (Wednesday) he started having a dry cough. No fever.

3. After his bath Wednesday night, he started to get congested.

4. Aaron started talking about the whole “Asthma” issue. “You know Kelli, I have asthma, and people in my family have asthma……blaw blaw blaw.”

5. “No Aaron! Jackson doesn’t have asthma. He is fine. Just a cold. Stop freaking out!”

6. We put a vaporizer in his room last night.

7. I checked on him around 11PM and he was breathing rapidly.

8. Continued checking on him…..

9. At 1:00AM, I broke the rule and brought him to our bed. Jackson doesn’t sleep with us….but I couldn’t sleep and I was worried. I didn’t want him to be gasping for air in the middle of the night and me not be there fast enough.

10. He kicked the crap out of us all night.

11. He woke up at 6:30AM wheezing. You could see his ribs with every breath he took. You could see in his stomach how hard he was working to breath. Still no fever though.

12. I called the doctor at 8AM.

13. I told her what symptoms he was having. She stayed very calm, so in the back of my mind I thought she was going to end up saying the normal, “everything is fine, just keep your eye on him….” While on the phone with her, she told us to take off his shirt and count how many breaths he takes in 15 seconds. Luckily, Aaron was here to help out, but he had just got called to go to work.

14. The doctor then tells me that I need to go ahead and bring him in right now. She asked if my husband was going to be going with me….I said no. She said in a round about way that I needed someone to be in the car with me because he could take a turn for the worse pretty fast and we would need to call 911 or go to the nearest hospital. She knew I would have the baby with me as well....

15. So….I’m now in panic mode. This is serious. I should have listened to my husband. The doctor tricked me with her calmness. I start getting teary eyed. I am not supposed to have a “sick” child. Jackson is healthy, always has been, and he is supposed to always be…. I love that when I fill out medical questionnaires about him or the doctor asks "Is he allergic to...." "Has he ever...." "Does he have....," etc. I am able to say no to everything. He is healthy. No problems. I don't want to have to check yes to something. I have never had to check yes on something about myself, and I don't want my son to have to either. I know a lot of people have asthma and it really isn't a big deal, but in my mind that is just one more thing that my little innocent child will have to live with.

16. I call my mom. Kelli: “Where are you at?” Mom: “In the garage about to go to work.” Kelli: “Good, you are coming here.” Mom arrives in 30 minutes and we head to the doctor.

17. We walk into the doctor. I sign in and tell them I am not sure what doctor we are seeing today….They said “Do you have Jackson?” “Yes….” “He can come straight back.”

18. Checked his oxygen level. It was low and he was wheezing.

19. Did a breathing treatment, which is NOT fun or easy with a 2 year old.

20. Mom danced around the room and played with the lights to try to keep Jackson calm. Thank God Mom was with me to help with Jackson and Garrett. Sometimes I try to be “Super Mom” and do it all myself…..but I could have not done this alone.

21. Check oxygen again. Still low….

22. Another breathing treatment…..

23. Oxygen level improved some, but the doctor still didn’t like it. She also didn’t like how you could see his tummy “working” for air.

24. She sent us over to the hospital to have x-rays to make sure she wasn’t missing something. They were worried it was pneumonia.

25. We walked in the x-ray room (which happened to be an x-ray room that looked identical to an x-ray room I had to go into when trying to get pregnant with Jackson….and now here Jackson is having an x-ray in that room…..very odd) He got to sit in my lap while he had his x-ray, so it wasn’t too bad. The waiting room was the hardest part of that trip. The medicine from the breathing treatments make kids hyper….the waiting room at the hospital was filled with older people. Jackson didn’t seem sick at this point. Just kind of crazy…. with a bad cough.

26. The x-rays came back good. It was not pneumonia.

27. Conclusion…….it seems as though it is just a cold and he is having asthma symptoms. Asthma is not diagnosed until kids have had 3 to 4 episodes of that problem. So, most likely he will have asthma….it is heredity and Aaron has it. However, hopefully this will be just a one time thing and it will never happen again…..I am sure that will be the case, right!?

28. We always have to watch him closely when he has a cold to watch his breathing. That is when it is most likely to happen again.

29. Medication – he is on steroids for 5 days and I have to give him a breathing treatment every 4 hours for a few days….then 6 hours for a few days….then 8 hours…etc. The home breathing treatment is not as hard as the one in the doctor’s office. It is pretty fast and easy.

30. He seems to be doing fine right now as long as he doesn't over do it. I have been breaking my “Mommy Rules,” and giving him what he wants. When he gets upsets, his breathing gets worse, the coughing starts, etc….so I am just trying to keep him calm and happy.

31. Garrett is fine! Even if he does catch what Jackson has, it should only be a cold. But, let’s all keep our fingers crossed that Garrett stays healthy.

32. Have you washed your hands lately?! Get in there and wash them!! It is cold, flu, and RSV season for crying out loud! :)

I will keep you all posted….