Thursday, July 28, 2016
First peanut butter sandwich
Mason had his first peanut butter sandwich tonight. Well, it was half of a half of a sandwich. He liked it but I think he had more fun making a mess with it. Daddy and I had even more fun cleaning up the mess... NOT!
Bathroom play time
Every morning after we get Mason ready for school he will come and hang out with me in my bathroom while I finish getting ready. It usually consists of me saying "no" a million times, trying to keep the toilet paper on the roll, and nothing getting put in the toilet (especially little hands). He really loves playing with his bath toys. Right now we have them piled into an old trash can. One of his favorite games is "Dump all the toys out and put them back in." So he will sit in the floor and throw all the toys out of the trash can and then put them all back into it. Every now and then he will get distracted with other fun things in the bathroom like a hairbrush (which he will pick up and start brushing his hair) or the shower curtain. What should take 10 minutes to finish getting ready ends up taking half an hour. Getting to work a little later than usual is worth spending the extra time with him and watching him learn.
Baby jail
I walked into daycare last week to find my son in baby jail. He wasn't in trouble or anything. They were playing with big building blocks and the teachers constructed a tall box the kids could fit down into. They were having so much fun getting in and out of it. I think Mason would have been perfectly fine being put in there for an extended period of time. Huh... I may look into purchasing these blocks... :)
Another trip to the ER
Mason started coughing and wheezing on Thursday night so I gave him a breathing treatment before bed. He woke up crying a few times throughout the night but he would role over and go back to sleep so I never went and checked on him. Friday morning he was still coughing and wheezing so I gave him another breathing treatment. When we got to daycare he was breathing fairly well but I told his teacher to call me if he got worse. Mason seemed to be in good spirits and ran off to play with his friends. Of course, that didn't last long. Before lunchtime I got a call from the daycare director saying he was wheezing and had been crying all morning. Luckily no fever but he did not feel good. So I hung up with her and called the pediatrician's office. Once again, that whole "trouble breathing" thing got us in that day. Unfortunately it was at the Annapolis office instead of the one by our house. Anyone in the area knows the LAST place you want to be on a Friday afternoon in the summer is on 50 East. The traffic is horrible from everyone heading over the Bay bridge to the beach for the weekend.
I left work and gave myself an hour to get to the appointment. It took us about 45 mins to drive about 25 miles... But we made it! The nurses got us in a room right away and the doctor came in within minutes. She listened to Mason breathe and measured his blood oxygen levels. They were in the 80's... :( She set us up with a breathing treatment and checked on him after that. She still wasn't happy with his breathing so she ordered a dose of steroids and another breathing treatment. After that one she listened to him some more and got another blood oxygen level reading. We were in the 90's so she was pleased to see that. She also did an overall exam and found a yucky swimmer's ear infection in his right ear (along with a bunch of wax). I guess all that pool action the week before at the beach was just too much fun. Since Mason's breathing was still labored, the doctor ordered a third breathing treatment. She saw progress in his blood oxygen levels and overall breathing but not quite enough to let us go home. So she wrote us a prescription for ear drops and called over to the ER to let them know we were coming.
Thankfully the drive from the pediatrician's office to the hospital was only about 5 minutes. I parked in the right parking garage this time and was in the ER a short time after we arrived. I called Doug before we went in because the hospital has zero cell reception. He was still at work so he was going to leave early and meet us at the hospital. Since I came straight from work I had him swing by the house to get food, drinks, change of clothes, and the diaper bag. The last time we were at the hospital for quite some time so I wanted to make sure we had enough to last in case the stay became extended.
The ER nurses got us back into a room much quicker this time. I am guessing it was a slow night. Mason did really good being patient while I answered all their questions and got us checked in. The steroids were kicking in and I could feel his energy thermometer rising. He did really good with his heart and blood oxygen monitors. Last time he pulled on them constantly but this time his t'shirt and socks helped deter this. I told the nurses I had nothing. No wipes, diapers, food, drinks, toys, etc. So they went and brought me everything. I was so thankful for the toys to keep Mason's attention and help focus his steroid induced "off-the-wall-ness". They even turned on the TV and put cartoons on.
The doctor came in and did a quick evaluation of Mason. He agreed he was still struggling to breathe and was still wheezing a bit. He ordered another breathing treatment with different medicine. As we waited on the respiratory doctors to bring in his treatment, we played with our toys and I tried to get Doug on the phone. Since I had no cell service I had to call the hospital operator and have them dial out for me. It was fun... especially with Doug not answering his phone. At some point Mason got sick on me so I had a little bit of a mess to clean up. I tried to call Doug again to get clean clothes but he didn't answer. I probably left 15 minutes of voicemails on his phone.
After Mason's breathing treatment I decided I could no longer "hold it" for Doug to get there. I carefully got Mason out of the bed and stretched his monitor cords as far as I could towards the bathroom. I was able to get him to the bathroom door. I quickly did my business since I had to leave the door open so Mason could see me and, more importantly, I could see him. He did not like the cords restricting his ability to walk over to me so he started screaming. I just knew one of the nurses or doctor was going to walk in and see no Mason in the bed, monitor cords stretched across the room, screaming kid in the bathroom doorway, and a Mommy with her pants down...
Thankfully Doug chose this perfect moment to arrive! He scooped up Mason and let me finish my business. We got clean clothes on Mason (Doug got the voicemail about me needing clothes after he left the house and headed to the hospital), food in our bellies, and cold drinks. Shortly after the doctor came back in to check on Mason. He was not 100% satisfied with his breathing but thankfully not concerned enough to admit us or keep us in the ER any longer. He wrote us a prescription for more breathing treatment medicine and a steroid.
We gave Mason his medicine as directed over the weekend and into the next week. On Monday he was already doing tremendously better. By Wednesday I was comfortable with his breathing to stop everything. He has his 15 month checkup with his pediatrician coming up so we will be discussing his previous breathing issues. The ER doctor mentioned this may be asthma or something besides an illness that is triggering the breathing problems. Hopefully we will find a cause soon but until then I have about 100-150 tubes of medicine for his breathing treatments. So we are set for awhile. :)
I left work and gave myself an hour to get to the appointment. It took us about 45 mins to drive about 25 miles... But we made it! The nurses got us in a room right away and the doctor came in within minutes. She listened to Mason breathe and measured his blood oxygen levels. They were in the 80's... :( She set us up with a breathing treatment and checked on him after that. She still wasn't happy with his breathing so she ordered a dose of steroids and another breathing treatment. After that one she listened to him some more and got another blood oxygen level reading. We were in the 90's so she was pleased to see that. She also did an overall exam and found a yucky swimmer's ear infection in his right ear (along with a bunch of wax). I guess all that pool action the week before at the beach was just too much fun. Since Mason's breathing was still labored, the doctor ordered a third breathing treatment. She saw progress in his blood oxygen levels and overall breathing but not quite enough to let us go home. So she wrote us a prescription for ear drops and called over to the ER to let them know we were coming.
Thankfully the drive from the pediatrician's office to the hospital was only about 5 minutes. I parked in the right parking garage this time and was in the ER a short time after we arrived. I called Doug before we went in because the hospital has zero cell reception. He was still at work so he was going to leave early and meet us at the hospital. Since I came straight from work I had him swing by the house to get food, drinks, change of clothes, and the diaper bag. The last time we were at the hospital for quite some time so I wanted to make sure we had enough to last in case the stay became extended.
The ER nurses got us back into a room much quicker this time. I am guessing it was a slow night. Mason did really good being patient while I answered all their questions and got us checked in. The steroids were kicking in and I could feel his energy thermometer rising. He did really good with his heart and blood oxygen monitors. Last time he pulled on them constantly but this time his t'shirt and socks helped deter this. I told the nurses I had nothing. No wipes, diapers, food, drinks, toys, etc. So they went and brought me everything. I was so thankful for the toys to keep Mason's attention and help focus his steroid induced "off-the-wall-ness". They even turned on the TV and put cartoons on.
The doctor came in and did a quick evaluation of Mason. He agreed he was still struggling to breathe and was still wheezing a bit. He ordered another breathing treatment with different medicine. As we waited on the respiratory doctors to bring in his treatment, we played with our toys and I tried to get Doug on the phone. Since I had no cell service I had to call the hospital operator and have them dial out for me. It was fun... especially with Doug not answering his phone. At some point Mason got sick on me so I had a little bit of a mess to clean up. I tried to call Doug again to get clean clothes but he didn't answer. I probably left 15 minutes of voicemails on his phone.
After Mason's breathing treatment I decided I could no longer "hold it" for Doug to get there. I carefully got Mason out of the bed and stretched his monitor cords as far as I could towards the bathroom. I was able to get him to the bathroom door. I quickly did my business since I had to leave the door open so Mason could see me and, more importantly, I could see him. He did not like the cords restricting his ability to walk over to me so he started screaming. I just knew one of the nurses or doctor was going to walk in and see no Mason in the bed, monitor cords stretched across the room, screaming kid in the bathroom doorway, and a Mommy with her pants down...
Thankfully Doug chose this perfect moment to arrive! He scooped up Mason and let me finish my business. We got clean clothes on Mason (Doug got the voicemail about me needing clothes after he left the house and headed to the hospital), food in our bellies, and cold drinks. Shortly after the doctor came back in to check on Mason. He was not 100% satisfied with his breathing but thankfully not concerned enough to admit us or keep us in the ER any longer. He wrote us a prescription for more breathing treatment medicine and a steroid.
We gave Mason his medicine as directed over the weekend and into the next week. On Monday he was already doing tremendously better. By Wednesday I was comfortable with his breathing to stop everything. He has his 15 month checkup with his pediatrician coming up so we will be discussing his previous breathing issues. The ER doctor mentioned this may be asthma or something besides an illness that is triggering the breathing problems. Hopefully we will find a cause soon but until then I have about 100-150 tubes of medicine for his breathing treatments. So we are set for awhile. :)
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