A Night at the ER

We’ve had something NASTY going through our house. It’s some kind of virus and it’s hit everyone differently. Ken, Caity and I are the only ones that have (so far) been spared. Mary has been hit the worst.

I’ve told everyone before that Mary had to be hospitalized at 6 weeks because she had RSV. Well, since then every year around February or March—in other words now—she develops croup and this year’s case was very very bad.

Tuesday Mary woke up feeling fine. She ate, played and in all other ways was normal. Around 6ish she started to get a bit droopy. We put her to bed around 9 and at 11 I hear the tell tale barking cough. The cough was so bad she started throwing up a lot. Ken and I went upstairs to see what was going on and I could see her stomach going in with every breath. I’ve seen Mary pull when she breathes, but I’d never seen it this bad. That combined with the fact that she got so sick so quickly really worried me. I looked at Ken and told him that we needed to get her to the hospital right now.

We set Caity up in our bed so she could listen for Rachel and Mom was downstairs in her apartment. Then we left. I thought briefly about going to our local hospital but one pediatrician that I had taken the kids to, had told me that if it’s not a “seconds count” kind of emergency, which thanks be to God this wasn’t, go into Atlanta to the children’s hospital—and that’s what we did.

Breathing problems always get treated right away so when we got there we got to go right back. They took x-rays, gave Mary medicine and by about 5am, we were able to go home. Poor Ken at that point had been up for 24 hours straight. When we got home we took Mary (who’d been up all night with us) and climbed into bed. What a night!

We’re still fighting this virus here so any prayers would be greatly appreciated!

Ave Maria
C.