Amara at Children's

This is one of those posts I certainly hope there aren't more of, though, I figure in the life of a child:

A) we're VERY LUCKY to be 10 minutes away from Children's hospital, and

B) SO VERY LUCKY that we got to leave there 3 days after we entered, unlike the thousands of families there every year.  I can't even imagine. 

I want to capture this event for posterity, but also because I want Amara to know that if she has kids, it's ok to be scared, but I can say without a doubt this is the scariest thing in my life.

I had picked Amara up from Primrose Tuesday afternoon and she was actually lying on the rug with her blanket.  Her teachers told me she wasn't feeling well, so I picked her up and carried her out and we went home.  She took some ibuprofen and in about a half hour, seemed much better. She didn't eat a lot, but seemed in good spirits and I hoped a good night's sleep would fix it.  I was wrong.  

The next morning she was sleeping in, so we let it go, then she kept sleeping and sleeping.  Finally, I took Cora to Mrs. Sarah's house and came back and she was still asleep.  Eric went and got her up, but she was so groggy and not herself. I went to carry her and she was hot and breathing shallow.  While Eric was on a work call, I called Dr. DiCarlo.  

We got her over there within the hour and he got us right in.  Amara was a trooper for the vitals, which were quick, because after only a few minutes, he curtly directed us to "take her to the ER."  That  moment is etched on my brain.

I heard him say "viral pneumonia" and that she "needed supported"  meaning oxygen and fluids. 

Eric and I got her right in the car and to Children's ER.  Luckily, they weren't busy, and because of the severity of her situation, Dr. Dicarlo had faxed her admittance sheet over, so they were waiting on us.  With a blood oxygen level dipping into the 80s (healthy is 95-100), they weren't playing around with us.

She was given oxygen immediately and nebulizer treatments of bronchiodialators and sterroids, in attempts to get her body to take in more oxygen.  She also had a chest xray, which ruled out the pneumonia.  After 5 hours in the ER, we were told they were admitting her.

Eric and I agonized over what to do--do I stay with Cora, does he? Who stays with Amara?  Let grandparents or Mrs. Sarah keep Cora?  How do you decide what to do?

Amara stayed in Children's for 3 days before she was released.  She had reactive airway disease--and the cold she got went to her airway, taking oxygen from her blood and making it hard to breathe.  The quilt she went home with was not only comforting during her stay, but was the inspiration for me to get busy giving back.  

We are so happy to have left, but thankful for our time at Children's hospital, and for bringing our little girl back home.