My poor baby...

To say the least...our weekend was NOT a fun one. Friday morning, Kendall woke up with a small fever (100.9 degrees). However...she didn't have any other symptoms at all...so I gave her some Tylenol and sent her off to school (Mother's guilt kicking in...). She acted just fine when I picked her up from school...and took her nap great. BUT...when she got up from her nap...her temperature was 103.2. But...again no symptoms. We dosed her up with some more Tylenol and some Motrin and she was fine. Saturday morning she woke up with 102.4 and started to sound raspy and had a bit of a cough. So...we called the doctor and got her in (assuming that it was an ear infection). At the time...the doctor (who wasn't our normal pediatrician...just one of the doctors in the office) said that it was just a virus and had to run its course. Well...by Saturday evening she was coughing a lot more...and was very slightly croupy in her cough. So we put her humidifier in her room...Jeff was a trooper and was in and out of her room a lot that night...because she kept waking herself up coughing. The next day she continued to get even "croupier"...and by the time I posted my blog that day...sounded really rough. Jeff and I were trying to decide when to take her to the doctor - on Monday when she could see her regular pediatrician...or that day at the Peds After Hours clinic (which we have had bad experiences with before). Well...once I actually posted my blog...I went into her room to check on her as she was napping...and I noticed that her whole body was moving and working very hard each breath she took. So...that solved it for me...and I called the clinic at 3pm and we were told to bring her in right away. By 3:45 we were in an examination room with her first of 3 breathing treatments being administered. (Jeff had to run back home after we got there...because on the way she threw up all over herself and the car seat...). Well...after a steroid shot and the 3 breathing treatments...she was still struggling to breathe. So they decided that she needed to be admitted to the hospital for further treatments and monitoring. So at about 6:30pm an ambulance came and whisked Kendall and Mommy away (she was sitting on my lap for the ride) to the hospital and she was admitted to Shands Hospital at UF at about 6:45/7pm.

Here she is getting a "direct" dose of a cool mist humidifier. She also has an IV attached (it is protected by the brown tape and splint so that she couldn't take it off) to give her fluids since she hadn't been eating or drinking hardly anything for a few days. The yellow bear - named "Chelly" by Kendall - is what the paramedics gave her on the ambulance ride.

One of several breathing treatments of rescimic epinephrine (sp?) - which is supposed to last 4 hours between each treatment...but which only lasted 45 minutes to an hour for her.

Up in the Pediatric ICU - they have her hooked up to monitors, and of course, her IV. She is also "wearing" a mask which was giving her HeliOx (a helium and oxygen mixture). Unfortunately - she didn't wear the mask well - because every time she rolled over or half-way woke up - she was pushing at the mask...so Mommy was holding the mask up to her face from 2am when we got to the ICU until 7am...when they determined that since the mask didn't have a good seal - it really wasn't giving her any benefit.

My little baby sleeping somewhat soundly...

Kendall sitting on Daddy's lap on Monday morning - still miserable but feeling tons better!

Kendall sitting on Mommy's lap on Tuesday morning. They had moved her out of ICU and onto a regular floor at about 10:30pm. Here...we are just waiting for them to tell us that we could go home.

So around 11:15am on Tuesday morning - final paperwork signed - Jeff, Kendall and myself were walking out of the hospital and going home. What an exhausting few days... Yesterday we went to see her regular doctor for her follow-up and he said that from now on - the minute she sounds croupy - we need to get her either oral or injection steroids to try to head off her going into the hospital again. And Carson (who had started to sound croupy himself) received a steroid shot to try to keep any problems for him at bay.

Oh - and you probably think all of that is enough right?? Apparently not...because on Tuesday morning as I was letting Rally inside from going potty...I managed to kick the door with my little toe...and broke it! I haven't seen a doctor - because besides taping it...there is really nothing they can do. So...Jeff "taped" it with some band aids Tuesday night...but before he did - I took a picture to show you how beautiful a bruise a broken toe makes:

Yesterday Kendall was feeling pretty much back to her normal self. In fact...she was fun enough that I HAVE to tell this story in this blog (although it would be a good blog in and of itself...). We were outside playing in the yard (me, the kids and the dogs). Kendall had gotten some flowers from her Memo (Jeff's mom) when she was in the hospital. The flowers were the kind where you actually want to plant them in a pot and everything. Anyway - the flowers were on the porch - and Carson and I were out in the yard - with Kendall floating between us...carrying a new flower in her hand each time that she had plucked from her pot. I told her that the flowers would die if she kept plucking them...but oh well...now all that stands is some pitiful looking green stems with no flowers attached... Anyway - during all this...at one point I'm tickling and kissing Carson, not watching Kendall and I hear her say "Poo poo". When I look up...Kendall is ankle deep in pooh...in sandals...with an armful of white flowers in her arms. So I go inside, put Carson in his play-pen, grab the wipes and have Kendall sit on a pooh-free zone, then take off her sandals and clean off her feet and ankles with the wipes. Then I have her stand up and tell her to walk back in the house...when I notice that her bottom is covered in pooh too... She had managed to not only sit in pooh...but stomp in it too... all while holding her pretty white flowers in her arms. My only regret...is that I didn't think to grab my camera to take a picture... it was so funny...such a contrast - flowers and smiles and beautiful girl from the waist up...pooh and stink from the waist down!!!