Sleepin' in the King Bed

I know that I am way overdue for updating the blog with the multitude of birthday pics but, I promise, I am working on it. We just hit a little bump in the road the past few days.

For all the g-parents who want the play-by-play....

Yesterday I hauled Noah to the doctor after a night filled with temperatures ranging from 103 to 104. He was diagnosed with double ear infections. Took him home and loaded him up with Amoxicillin (I used to love that bubble gum pink goo as a kid!) and put him down for the nap that he never took. He would only sleep if I rocked him persistently. After we gave him his bath and got him ready to go to bed early, we noticed that his skin was a bit splotchy and his color looked a little strange. I started giving him dose number two of Amoxicillin, and he responded by throwing up and sounding as though something was caught in his windpipe. As I was starting to panic a little about his purple lips, Jeremy told me to call the after-hours service for his pediatrician. The Doc on call instructed us to give him a dose of Benadryl and head to the ER because he might be having an allergic reaction. We flew. Hazard lights and all.

Everyone at the hospital noticed how bad his color was and kept remarking about how "dusky" he looked. His oxygen levels were fine but his fever shot up over 103 as soon as we arrived. To make a long story shorter, we went through a nice cocktail of drugs (more Benadryl, Tylenol suppository, Motrin, new antibiotic), a steroid shot, chest x-rays, and a breathing treatment, all while Noah howled and wanted desparately to go to bed and have people stop poking and prodding him! (We were spared the IV and blood draw, thank you Lord!) His color returned soon after we arrived and our pediatrician (who insisted he wouldn't have been able to sleep if he didn't come to the hospital and lay eyes on Noah) gave us the option of spending the night for observation or going home and checking on Noah every one to two hours through the night. We opted to have him sleep with us, and were once again thankful for our king-sized bed. The thought that your child might stop breathing during the night is unsettling, to say the least.

Thankfully, we were only in the ER for about 2 hours and were able to go to sleep with Noah around 11:00. He slept like a rock, although I think I caught him snuggling with Daddy just a little bit during the night. I am still giving him Benadryl every 6 hours, even while sleeping, plus antibiotic, steroids, and Tylenol/Motrin as needed. Poor guy is getting pretty resistant to the medicine syringe! We re-visited his pediatrician this morning and the general consensus is, I believe, possible allergy to penicillin. Or some related type of reasction. But we won't know for sure anytime soon, seeing as we won't be giving him anymore of that stuff for a while!

So, now we really know the blood, sweat, and tears of parenthood. Brian & Stacie, couldn't help thinking about you guys and how you'll soon be joining us on this heart-wrenching journey! :)

Thanks for your prayers, thoughts, and well wishes! Good thing Daddy opened up that brand spankin' new ER a few weeks ago! He wanted to wager on long it would be before Noah was admitted and I am glad we did not bet anything on that one. ;)