Mills' first {and hopefully only} trip to the ER...

{wishful thinking...he's a boy, right?!?}

So I mentioned in the last post that we were a little under the weather...well I got better and Mills seemed to just get worse.  He had an all-day-PJ-wearing week, pretty much.

 {just some randoms I snapped on my phone while we were playing}

We talked to the pediatrician a couple of times last week and he called in some allergy medicine and an antibiotic - we were thinking his cold would just clear up.  On Thursday I had to work at the Merry Marketplace for Junior League, so a sweet girl in town, Erin, kept Mills all afternoon.  She said he just watched TV with her and fell asleep in her arms (not my usual active boy!), but after his nap he was running around and acting normal again.  Nicholas and I were planning to go to a family wedding in D.C. this weekend, but after finding out that Mills still had a fever Thursday afternoon (and my mom was sick and they were supposed to keep him) we decided I would stay with Mills, and Nicholas would make the trip with the rest of the fam....as long as Mills wasn't worse Friday morning...

Then came Thursday late night/Friday at 3:00 am...

I woke up to hear Mills screaming "Mommy, Mommy!!!" and crying in his crib.  Our child rarely wakes up in the middle of the night...like once every three months or so...that's like four times a year.

Something was wrong with the little guy.

I picked him up and he was radiating heat!!!  After monitoring his temperature pretty frequently over the last week, I knew that he had to be close to 105!  I sat Mills in bed with me and Nicholas ran downstairs to get the thermometer and Tylenol.  I yelled down for him to get some juice, too.  Mills was crying still, unconsolable, but was also shaking a little (chilled from the fever, I think), and he started nodding off a little, like he was sleepy, but that wasn't it.  Thinking of my friends' kids who had had seizures with a high fever before, I started freaking out and yelled down to Nicholas, "FORGET THE JUICE - GET UP HERE NOW!"  Mills refused the Tylenol so we had to force it down his throat while he screamed. Not fun.  His temp under the arm was over 104, and he could barely breathe - he was wheezing like crazy, and we were worried.  Even Nicholas, mr. doctor man, said, "I think we should take him to the ER."

So we got downstairs and I was sitting on the couch trying to calm Mills down and just cuddling with him while he tried to breathe.  Nicholas - thankfully - was on call, and got a call from the ER about that time.  The ER doc could hear Mills in the background and said we should bring him up there.  When we got there his temp rectally was 104 (and he had had Tylenol in his system for close to 45 mins), so they gave him motrin and something else to bring his fever down.  The the respiratory therapist came in and started his breathing treatment...which he HATED...screamed the whole time.  During that time he also got a steroid shot.  I was in charge of holding him and his hands down the whole time...poor guy.  But after the treatment was over it was AMAZING how much better he could breathe!  He had a chest x-ray, too, just to rule out pneumonia.  The doctor said we made a good choice to bring him when we did, that he needed to be there (which I'll remind myself of whenever we get the bill in the mail...yikes).  Between every shot and test he would just cuddle up under my neck and lay there, sweet little body sweating and curls all wet on his little head...sad but sweet.  He was really pitiful and we were worried.  Nicholas thought they may even have to admit him because of his O2 stats, but thankfully they went up just enough.  We left with prescriptions for a stronger antibiotic, stronger cough medicine, and steroids...and thankfully he's doing SO much better!

By the time we got home from the hospital, around 5 or so, he was back to talking and said, "CARS" right as we walked in and wanted to play, ha!  We put him in bed with us and he slept until about 8:15 or so.

This was Friday morning...you can tell he was not feeling too great, cuddling with his doggy and watching TV.  Obviously, Nicholas decided to stay with us (which I was thankful for...to have both his daddy-ness and his medical expertise for the weekend, just in case!).  And of course Mills was a little cranky and needy - as to be expected - and it was nice to have Nicholas home to help!  I think Mills has been catching up on sleep from Thursday night because he's been going to bed early and sleeping in LATE, which is good, because we need to catch up, too!  Today is the first day he has been back to his usual self, as far as playing and personality goes - and we are so glad to see it!  He still has a nasty cough, but we're so glad he is so much better.  We're so thankful for the many thoughts, prayers, and messages sent our way over the past couple of days.  We had a low-key and lazy weekend (full of football, of course...Go Tigers!), which was just what we needed!

Hoping for no more croup around here.

Oh how we love our precious boy!!!