Project 857- June 13

Well, this was an interesting Saturday.

Neal had plans with a friend to make a lot of repairs to our house to get it ready to put on the market, and since the repairs involved tools and plaster and all that stuff, the boys and I went down to my Mom's to be out of the house and out of their way.

The day started off ok.. Owen was coughing a bit but nothing too terrible.

Austin got to watch a movie (Frozen, naturally) on the way down so he would be quiet and let Owen nap.

It was first things first when we got to Gramma's... having a snack!!

Strawberries and cheese... kind of a baby version of a cheese plate, no??

Then we headed over to Gramma Darlene's to say hi and take advantage of her glorious raspberry bushes!

Owen and I supervised the berry picking and just ate and ate. He is my fruit kid for sure... he can't ever get enough berries!!

In the afternoon Owen went down for a nap and Austin I enjoyed a treat in the sun.

His favorite popsicle is the sour lime one... same as me!!! It's nice to see bits of me in my little Neal-clone!

I also got some quiet time and read in the sun with two big furry companions.

Oh and Daphne and Hattie... they are just big jumpy slobbery loves...

As I was reading I had to take a picture of my Dad being my Dad... being busy outside, building something, working with his tools...

The man always has about ten projects in the works. :-)

After Owen woke up the boys got to enjoy and play in their new room that Gramma set up for them! This is my old room and she updated it with bunk beds, boy decor, toy bins.. it's such a cozy perfect little place for them  now!

Then around 4pm things started taking a nosedive... Gramma Darlene came over again to visit and she was holding Owen on her lap and he was coughing. A lot. And it was very hoarse, and very wheezy sounding.

I looked over at him and saw that the hollow of his throat was being sucked in really hard with every breath.

Ok, that's not good.

I went outside and called his pediatrician's office to talk to the advice nurse. It was the answering service since it was the weekend so I left my number and they said a nurse would call me back in about 20 mins.

I went back in the house and took off Owen's shirt. When Austin had croup a year ago I remember reading about "stridor"... when the skin in between their ribs are being sucked in with each breath.. .and how it's a sign they are in distress.

Sure enough, Owen had stridor. Shit.

The nurse called back and I told her that, and the coughing.. and she said he needed to be seen immediately. Either Urgent Care or the ER, it was our call... but he needed to see a doctor.

I got off the phone, told my Mom and Grandma and my Mom suggested the Urgent Care because it was close. My Grandma stayed to help watch Austin and my Mom and I headed to Urgent Care.

I cried while driving there.. it's my biggest nightmare to have something happen to the kids when Neal isn't around.. and feel like I have to be the one to know what to do, and I make the wrong decision. This is HUGE fear of mine. I have nightmares about it, to be honest.

So thank God my Mom was with me and told me it would be ok. I am so so glad I didn't have to do this completely alone.

We got in a room quickly and they checked Owen's blood oxygen and it was 99. So even though he was struggling to breathe, he was getting oxygen, so that was a huge relief.

They set us up to do a nebulizer treatment while we were there and at first Owen was like "oh this is kinda cool!!! Let me chew on this!"

Please excuse my large sunburned thighs

He was over it pretty quickly when he realized this mask needed to be on his face and he couldn't play with it.

My Mom had to finally hold him, while I pinned his arms down with one hand and put the mask on his face with the other.

Babies are so uncooperative.

The nebulizer helped and he immediately stopped wheezing and could breathe better. So we were sent home and Owen went to bed soon after... just to be up all night coughing. The wheezing came back and I tried everything I could to help him.... including turning on the shower full blast at 3am and sitting in the steam with him.

It was a very rough night... and a Saturday I don't wish to repeat anytime soon.