Hello......is anyone there??

{tap tap tap}.......is this thing on? Ahem.  

Well hello there! Remember us? I know....I know. It's been a long time, right? And I must say it's been an insanely busy past couple of months.....and unfortunately my itty bitty piece of the internet has been neglected. What better way to get re-started than with some bullets about our crazy life.

• We've moved! That should be enough said to cover the craziness, right?! We (um. well someone else) packed up our house and headed just a little north to a bigger city.....

•  We spent a whole weekend unpacking boxes.....

• We're pretty much unpacked now....just a few stragglers here and there. And now I have a huge urge to paint. Since our house was a new construction, the walls are so.....sterile! Eggshell, eggshell everywhere. We initially planned on using the first weekend to have someone come in and paint all the common areas (family room, kitchen, foyer, hallways) -- I'm so glad we didn't. At some point in time during the construction process, a nail went through a bundle of wires within the wall and we didn't have cable or telephone to places on one wall of the house. I came home from work one afternoon to find holes cut all in the walls and ceiling on all floors of the house. It's all fixed now.....but it would have been a harder fix had they been cutting in to my nice new painted walls!

•  The weekend after we moved in, the big girls turned 4. FOUR. I can't believe it. We drove back home and celebrated with family and Cinderella! I'll have to do a separate post on that once I've loaded the pictures from our "big" camera. Pictures these days seems to be primarily on the iPhone / iPad. 

• We're loving where we live. Love the house. Love the neighborhood. Love the area. We've been making an effort to get out and try new things.....

• I still find myself looking around our house not believing that we actually moved and are in a different state. It feels like home and I certainly see all of our things - but sometimes I look around and it still feels so new. It has only a month and a half that we've been here! 

• Funny story. The first night we spent in our new house, Bella woke up crying in the middle of the night. She rarely does that so when it happens (and D would argue when I actually hear it), I usually jump out of bed quickly - usually because I've been startled out of sleep. So in our old house, our bed was against the wall and on the wall across and to the right was the doorway to the hallway. So that first night when Bella started crying, I jumped out of bed, ran around the foot of the bed and straight out the door on the wall across and to the right. I stopped suddenly.....because I was now in my closet - haha!

• We're also loving our sidewalks! We didn't have sidewalks in our old neighborhood so it's been nice to have a safer place to walk and ride!

• Of course now that it's a million degrees outside, there's not much by way of outdoor activity - but the sidewalks will still be there when it cools off! (Can concrete melt?)

• Our neighborhood pool is awesome. A.W.E.S.O.M.E. It's like a mini-water park. There are 2 pools -- one for swimming laps and other free swim, and another that has a side with zero-depth entry, a big mushroom that pours water over it, another contraption that has flowing water filling up buckets -- and when the buckets get full, they tip over and pour the water out into the pool. The other side of this pool has 2 waterslides. Seriously. Waterslides in a neighborhood pool. It's crazy! There's also full time lifeguards and a snack bar. We love it and I can see many afternoons spent here!

• The girls are doing great......growing like weeds. They're full of smiles and tears and giggles and drama and laughter and sass. We're also getting more and more questions about our triplets.........

•  D keeps talking about Bella's first haircut. So far I've managed to put him off. I know once we cut off those sweet baby waves, she'll be looking more like a toddler. And I'm not ready for that!

• Miss Sofia is currently battling a round of pneumonia. You may remember when she was sick before and we spent a few days in the hospital with them trying to figure out if it was pneumonia or not. They've determined it is pneumonia this time and thankfully she's been responding to medicine from the pediatrician's office and we've not had to deal with the hospital. I wonder if she's just always going to be susceptible to being that sick. I sure hope not. She's quite pitiful. We went to our new pediatrician for their 4-year wellness visit and walk out with one unhappy kid from 4-yr vaccinations....and another kid with a pneumonia diagnosis. We've been back 2 more times and Sofia's received 4 shots. We're hoping she's starting to turn a bit of a corner and get her appetite back. For now there's been a lot of laying around on the couch for her while Olivia and Bella have been taking over the house.

• For their 4-year appointment, Olivia weighed 32.6lbs and was 39 1/2" tall. Sofia weighed 28.8lbs and was 39" tall. Sofia isn't usually that far behind but she's not been eating well for most of a week so she's lost some weight. I was so tempted to ask them to weigh and measure Bella just to see how close she is!

• Speaking of Miss Bella-Bella. She's getting so big! And has an equally big personality.  She has that baby giggle that I love and she breaks it out often. But she can also be quite moody! And oh my goodness is she talking up a storm!! I know it's because she has 4 people to learn from (and trust me. There is no shortage of talking in this house!!) but we're constantly amazed at what comes out of her mouth. She follows Olivia and Sofia everywhere and repeats everything they say. She's using quite a few complete sentences. Funny story......we were at the pool and an older gentleman came down the waterslide. Bella was watching him as he walked across the pool and she was going "Hi Papa!" and waving. Over and over. I finally said "Bella - that's not Papa" and she goes "Yes it is!!" so loud and clear --- it was hilarious. She's as cute as can be -- don't you think?????

• I won't say to consider yourself caught up because I've got several posts in my head about the past couple of months....and I'll get to them......but it's a good start, no?! We're in a new place......getting all settled. Oh. And we've found comfort food!

Family fieldtrip

Now before you go and get all excited about where we've been during my (unintentional) blog hiatus..........let me tell you that our fieldtrip was today........to the pediatrician's office. And when we weren't at the pediatrician's office, we were here............
Turns out there's a virus that brings cold symptoms....you know......fever, runny nose....an occasional vomit here and there. Oh. And I saved the best for last. Pink eye. Did you get that? Pink eye? Who knew. It all started last Sunday --- Olivia woke up with gunk in her eye. I found what is probably the only detriment to having such long eye lashes.......eye gunk. It wasn't until Sunday evening when Mom and I were giving the girls a bath that it hit me. D walked in and goes "Oh wow. Olivia's eye looks pink." [BAM]. Like a ton of bricks.

So I head out of town for the week and D calls the pediatrician on Monday to get some drops. By Wednesday we think we're in the clear.....pink eye has been contained to one kid. Success! Um. Not so much.

By Thursday, Livie's eye was no longer pink....but she was running a fever and vomiting every now and then. Sofia woke up with pink eye. And Bella was running a more-than-low-grade fever. Which is how today's fieldtrip came to be. It was funny.....we started out by making an appointment for Livie.....last night she was talking about how her tongue hurt and we finally figured out she was talking about her throat. (Note to Mommy......practice that body part.....) I looked in her mouth and she had white spots on her tonsils. Strep? So I called for an appointment and about 20 mins before we were leaving I realized just how warm Bella was. So we called and added her on to our appointment. Then -- I was getting ready to put Livie and Bella in the car and I looked at Sofia with her one eye all swollen and both eyes streaming tears. So we all get in the car and head to the pediatrician's office. Family fieldrip!

So yes......that's where we got the fantabulous news about this virus that has taken over my sweet baby girls. Oh. I forgot to mention. I think I have it too. Minus the pink eye, so far.......

Low key

It's been a really low key weekend around our house. Earlier in the week we thought all 3 girls were coming down with colds.....and they've all had runny noses, but Olivia and Bella seem to be fine. They've been playing really well together. Well. Except for the occasional "Mommy.....Bella hurt my arm!"

I know what you're thinking. This face says it all, doesn't it?

Who. Me?
Bella has even been sharing her seat with Olivia...........
I used to try to get the girls to not sit in Bella's chair because I was afraid they would break it. Then I reminded myself that Olivia & Sofia are only about 5lbs heavier than Bella - haha!

And then there's my poor Pia. She's not been feeling well for a few days now. She's been running a fever off and on and she's been telling us her tummy has a boo boo. She felt a little better last night after we put a band-aid on her tummy, but this morning she slept until almost 10am and she's been sleeping off and on throughout the day........sometimes in more unusual places........

She's moved to the couch and is still sleeping. And we know she's really not feeling well because Grandma and Papa stopped by for a visit and she barely opened her eyes. And even then she only opened them after we were a little too noisy when the women's US World Cup soccer team scored in the very last minute of stoppage time play to tie the game with Brazil and send the game to penalty kicks. The US won, btw, but Sofia could really care less.......poor thing!

And now Miss Bella is calling me from her room so I must run.........a low key weekend for sure - a quiet way to start the new week.

What a weekend

It's been a rough weekend around our house. It very well could have been that just today was rough......but if it was.....it was really rough. So much that I've forgotten about the rest of the weekend. Poor Sofia. Her fever has finally gone away but I can imagine the pain she's in from her little mouth.

Usually Olivia is our dramatic one, but we can only guess that her mouth hurts so much that Sofia isn't quite sure how to handle it....so it comes out in her behavior. Today, everything has caused a meltdown. Big meltdowns. Uncontrollable meltdowns. The kind where you can just look at her wrong and it sends her into a tailspin. It breaks my heart because I know she doesn't feel good.......but it's also a true test of patience. A test, I'm ashamed to say, I didn't always pass. Let's just say Sofia wasn't the only one in tears this weekend and leave it at that. Ahem.

I called the pediatrician on Friday because Sofia was basically refusing to eat and was getting close to refusing to drink. At our visit on Wednesday, the doctor told me not to worry about her eating but that staying hydrated was imperative. I knew then I should have asked her to go ahead and call in the pain prescription, but I didn't. So Friday I made the call because the ibuprofen / acetaminophen rotation just wasn't cutting it. (As an aside....it felt really odd to me to be calling the pediatrician and requesting hydrocodone for my toddler. 'Um yes. We were in on Wednesday. My daughter had sores on and in her mouth. I need to get a strong pain medicine for her.' You know.....like the nurse on the other end was covering the receiver with her hand and rolling her eyes at the parent calling for RX pain meds.....you know....for her kid). Our plan was to give it to Sofia about 45 mins or so before it was time to eat, in the hopes that she would be able to get something down --- because we think she really wanted to eat. Even now that we've had the pain meds, eating hasn't been that great --- and I was getting really worried today about hydration, but fun curly straws and some sweet tea seems to have helped.

She's also been spending a lot of time in her room. We've been waking them up from naps, or opening the gate to their room in the morning and Olivia has been coming down but Sofia has stayed upstairs. She definitely needs rest. But then.....possibly when the meds have kicked in......she gets a burst of energy and gets up to play for a while..........

But only for a short while before it's back to lay down.........

As if that weren't enough......we can't keep her from picking at her lips. When she does finally get up from a nap or from sleeping overnight, her face and her fingers are caked with blood. What do we do about that??

We are so hoping we have turned a corner with her and that she's on the mend. I know D is wary about tomorrow seeing how much attention Sofia needed today.

My poor, poor baby.

Poor Sofia

Remember back in October, a little more than a week before Bella arrived, when Olivia was under the weather? When she had boo boos in her mouth? How long ago that seems, but really just 6 mos ago. We are re-visiting that illness again only this time it's Sofia........
Monday night we thought she was a little warm when she went to bed, but she slept fine that night. Tuesday, her fever creeped up during the day.....it would break with medicine and then it would come back a little higher than the time before until around midnight, Sofia had a fever of 104.7 degrees. I freaked just a little and then I remembered how her gums were swollen and bleeding when I brushed her teeth.......and I knew. We called the night nursing line for our pediatrician's office and the nurse told us that if her fever hit 105, we needed to take her to the ER. Thankfully, after about 45 mins after a dose of ibuprofen, it came down to 103. And boy 103 never looked so good. Her little body was just radiating heat.

She didn't have a fever when she woke up, but by the time we arrived at the pedi's office, she was shivering. Bless her little heart.

The pediatrician confirmed my fears. And there's nothing we can do but manage her fever and the pain from all the sores in her mouth. And most importantly, keep her hydrated to keep her out of the hospital.

So far she's been a trooper and has spent the day laying on the couch or floor with an occasional burst of energy every now and again. As I was telling D what the doctor said, he goes "Well......at least we know what to expect and I'm glad it wasn't so bad with Olivia." Um. What????? Do you not remember? No really. What part of that horrible week do you really not remember? So after I brought up a few points he quickly remembered and joined me in dread. We're crossing our fingers, though, because Sofia had a decent day today.

My poor sweet baby!

Tell me what you think........

Does this face........
look like it belongs to a sick baby? I didn't think so either! But alas.........our sweet baby girl has croup. I woke up early this morning to Bella coughing and I knew we needed to take her to the doctor. The only way I could describe it was that her cough sounded like she was......barking. I knew it couldn't be good, but for the life of me I couldn't remember what illness that kind of cough went with. So while I was driving to work, D was getting an appointment with the pediatrician this morning. And that's where the above picture was taken. At the doctor's office. And she's still happy!

Then I did remember. And I broke my very own rule for medical issues. I googled. And then I promptly had a mini freak-out. First my googling confirmed that I wasn't crazy when I thought our sweet little (um...well...big!) girl had been replaced by a barking seal, but they actually say that on the site I found. Then my googling informed me that croup was caused by a virus........and could possibly be RSV. That was all I needed to see to bring on the mini freak-out. I realize now that RSV is never good, but it doesn't have to be as severe as I assume it would be. I'm so sensitive to RSV because that's what we were warned about with the girls......that's what led us to keep the girls homebound until they were almost one.

Thankfully, while she does have croup, Bella doesn't have RSV. We have steroids for her and instructions on what to do if the coughing gets bad or if she has minor trouble breathing. And for all of that, Bella is still such a happy baby!!

Oh. Even better. It's contagious. And it would be best if we could keep her in a room separate from the big girls. And we can.....when they're all sleeping. Other than that......not so much!!

Mommy is down....I repeat....Mommy is down.

Ugh. Sickness sucks. I'm glad I made it past Christmas before being knocked down by a yucky cold. The name of the game these days......keep Bella healthy! [knock on wood]....and keep Mommy away (that part really sucks!)

We had a fantastic Christmas with the girls and with family and a bonus......SNOW!! The best kind of snow where it's all pretty on the houses and yards and it melts when it hits the streets. Santa was good to everyone and the girls had a blast opening presents. Or if you're Olivia, you opened "cresents". Way too cute to correct. We spent Christmas eve with both of our families and then had my extended family over for Christmas day dinner. Are you sitting down? I cooked the turkey. And it was good! Ha!

Here are a few pictures from Christmas morning. And I'm going back to bed and willing this cold to leave my body. I'll beg if I have to!

Sofia....I think both girls were more into the act of opening than playing with what was inside.

Olivia and her "crescent". She was hilarious - after a few gifts on Christmas eve, she started saying "Wow!" "Oh cool!" "Whoa!" as she was opening gifts because that's what we were doing as they were opening - haha!

Sofia and her Dora slippers. We have a hard time getting the girls to wear socks in the house so we.....ahem Santa.....thought these slippers would help. They call them shoes. I'm dreading the outburst when we don't let them wear these to MMO - ha!

Olivia

Sofia

"Mommy.....I have more cresents?"

Lunch at the new table...........ahem.....yes they're still in their pajamas!
Even Miss Bella was enjoying the fun..........
It's hard work being this cute........

So there you have it - a glimpse of the Christmas festivities!

Turning the corner

It's been a rough week around here, but I think we're finally turning the corner. On a good day, this is how we've spent our days...........
Although most days we've not been so lucky. Olivia has not had a fever since Monday but her poor little mouth has been quite painful all week. A couple of times we decided to use the "last resort" pain medicine (instead of alternating between over-the-counter meds) just to make sure she had some relief and hoping she would be able to eat something. Yesterday was the first day she ate a decent meal and today was her very first day medicine free.

I think this week qualifies as the most trying week we've ever had with the girls. I can imagine how much pain Olivia has been in and we've had periods (sometime hours) where she was absolutely inconsolable........neither D nor I could do anything to calm her down. It's heartbreaking and frustrating at the same time. She cried. I cried. D, who has the patience of a saint, was out of patience.......and I think Sofia also realized this because several times she tried to take advantage. There were times when, once we managed to get Olivia quiet and comfortable, we found ourselves walking on eggshells around her.....and with any noise or wrong step we would freeze and look at eachother.......not even daring to breathe until we knew we had not upset her. It sounds dramatic, I know, but I'm not even kidding!

But! I think we're finally getting past everything. Today was filled with playing and giggling girls, some time outside in the fresh air, at least two good meals for Olivia and only a few tears. Olivia's mouth isn't completely healed but there wasn't a single mention of boo-boos today. It was a good day.....and I am so glad!!

On a positive note, we took Sofia to MMO by herself both days this week......and both days she went straight into the classroom without so much as a glance back at her Daddy and was fine for the entire time. Although he was hoping for at least a little wave goodbye, I had to remind D this is what we've been hoping for!

"Mommy I have boo-boo in mouf"

Poor Olivia. D took her to the doctor this morning to have her checked out. I knew he was waiting to see the doctor so when he called me and said "Hey - I want you to talk to the doctor so she can explain what Olivia has" I had no clue what to think!

Turns out she has a virus - the same virus that causes cold sores on your mouth, but for young children instead of having cold sores on the outside of the mouth, they can get them inside the mouth. Her poor little mouth has several blisters inside and her gums are also swollen. Apparently this virus is very common and very contagious -- she could have gotten it anywhere. And since it's so contagious, the doctor told us to expect Sofia will get it, too. Ugh. We've been trying so hard to make sure they don't share cups, but it's next to impossible.

So. We're home......resting.............
Unfortunately there's nothing we can give her to make it go away faster -- it just has to run its course. We can treat the fever and then just make sure she stays hydrated. We have a prescription for a pretty strong pain medicine to use as a last resort if she refuses to drink anything, but so far we've not had to resort to that. I hope we don't.

Under the weather.........

and only Grandma can make it better.
No really. Olivia only wanted Grandma all day today. She finally had to settle for Daddy when Grandma had to leave. We're not sure what's wrong -- she's been running a fever off and on since last night and her lymph nodes around her jaw are noticeably swollen. I can see a little blister on her tongue, but she won't open her mouth for me to see further back into her throat. I'm afraid her throat is sore because she keeps pointing to her mouth saying "I have boo-boo".....but then again she's been drinking all day without complaint.

D's taking her to the doctor tomorrow so we'll hopefully get an answer so we can know what to do to make her better. Poor thing......I hate seeing my little ones sick.

Home sweet home!!

Look at this sweet face.....
A far cry from Sunday and Monday, I have to tell you. This little face was waiting to go home today and shortly after, that's exactly what we did!! See.......

We finally got the great news this morning that the final blood culture came back negative for bacterial pneumonia. What, exactly, did she have you may ask? Yeah - we don't know.....and by day 3 in the hospital and having a baby who was back to normal and a clear chest x-ray from Tuesday, I was exhausted and finished asking questions. Having her better was good enough for me. We do have a follow-up visit on Tuesday with her pediatrician and I'll ask questions then, but for now - we're just happy to be home!!

Still here

I was hoping to be writing from home today, but instead I'm sitting in the same chair from yesterday watching my sweet Sofia sleeping in her crib in her too-big hospital gown and her little arm in a splint for the IV. She's definitely feeling better today -- the ran fluids all night and she was definitely re-hydrated this morning and she was finally able to get some really good sleep.

We were up most of the night as she would cough and cough and cough which would wake her up and then she would want to be held. She would go back to sleep in my arms, but would wake easily and every time I had to move. At one point, I lowered the side on her crib and climbed into her bed to hold her to see if I could get her to sleep there, but she woke up when I tried to get out. Finally, around 6am, she had enough of me and was glad to lay in her bed. She slept so soundly until 11am that she barely even changed positions. She usually cries when anyone other than family comes in the room....but this morning it was a revolving door of doctors and nurses and she didn't even flinch. She was out. And she took another great nap this afternoon. She definitely needed the sleep.

We're still in the hospital because we're waiting on the final blood culture results to come back which will possibly confirm bacterial pneumonia. I saw the same doctor as yesterday (the one who wasn't impressed) and I think he was surprised at the initial positive blood culture for bacteria and did decide that Sofia did, indeed, have pneumonia. They did another xray this morning around 11 but we've not yet heard about that either. Apparently, though, the doctor is expecting this xray to look worse than the one from Sunday if she does have this kind of pneumonia. Even though she may be feeling better, her lungs may not be clear for a while.

He told me that if it is bacterial pneumonia, that will change the course of treatment -- she'll go to a stronger antibiotic that will probably have to be administered by IV. I asked him what that meant for our hospital stay and he said "Well - we probably won't keep you for the full 10 to 14 days - I think we can arrange to do IV meds at home." Oh wow. Not what I was expecting.

So. That's where we are. D is staying with Sofia tonight while I sleep at home and then we'll change up in the morning. There's still a chance it's not bacterial pneumonia, but I'm trying to not have any expectations either way.

Here's hoping for a trip home tomorrow.....

Admitted

I was going to title this post "jinx" because that would have been fitting. We got home from the ER and gave Sofia her medicine and were excited because she ate a fruit cup and drank some Gatorade. We were excited until we saw it again the next hour and that was definitely not enough time to get the antibiotics in her system. You know. In my expert medical opinion, right?! Ahem.

I knew I wasn't up for putting her to sleep in her bed last night so I let her lay on the couch next to me so I could watch her. Around midnight it was time for her next round of ibuprofen for her fever and she didn't even keep that down for five minutes. With the earlier vomiting and now this, we felt like she didn't have much in her system for meds and I was getting more worried because her breathing seemed more labored as the evening had passed. We called the emergency nursing line just to make sure we weren't overreacting. After all - her color was good so we knew she was still getting enough oxygen but we were worried because it was going to be a long time before her next round of meds and the thought of her going another night mostly untreated wasn't a good idea to me.

Maybe it's just me, but as D and I were talking about what to do, I kept thinking "Am I overreacting?" Afterall - we had been in the ER and heard about everything we were supposed to watch for and, for the life of me, I couldn't remember......"Was she like this before our visit.....am I thinking too much about it......maybe I'm making it up? Surely I'm not making it up, right?" Maybe most people would have packed their little one up without a second thought and went right back. I guess I was looking for some kind of validation that it wasn't in my head. After all - I knew that going back could, most likely, result in her being admitted and with that would come pokes and prods and IV's, etc. etc.

But. We did decide to take her back and we were, indeed, admitted. She was poked and prodded and there have been a gazillion stethoscopes passed over her little body. We finally got settled into her room after 4am. I went home and grabbed about 3 hours of sleep while D stayed here with Sofia. My mom was home with Olivia who has been oblivious to everything. I mean - she knows Sofia is sick -- she's offered Sofia her juice and tried to share her snacks. It's been interesting to see how they both act. I'm thinking back, and I don't think they've ever been apart overnight and by the time we get home, this will be the longest they've been separated. They have both been asking for eachother....Olivia walks around the house saying "Pia! Come 'ere Pia!" and when I walked in the room this morning Sofia mumbled something that ended in "see Sissy" (yes - still not a big fan of the sissy thing but it appears to be sticking for the moment. I think "Olivia" or "Livie" is more of a mouth full than sissy. Although - she does call Livie "Pia" sometimes, too, so we work a little harder to correct that - ha!) So young but so aware!

The doctor came by today and his thought is that maybe she doesn't have pneumonia. He kept saying her pneumonia wasn't "impressive" and he may not have called it pneumonia had he diagnosed last night. I'll be the first to tell you .... this is one area where I'm happy to not excel and will be glad to take something that's much less than impressive! He did say that, because she was dehydrated, the xray may not have been a good shot of what's going on -- in either direction -- so he's keeping us here overnight and he's loading Sofia up on fluids to get her hydrated again and they'll do another xray in the morning. It sounds like, if she keeps doing well like she is, pending the results of the xray, we could be going home tomorrow. Let's all hope so!

So. That's that. I'm sitting here watching Sofia sleep and looking at the view out the window. Parking lot and the helipad. Hopefully my next post will be from home.......

Ending Easter Sunday with a trip to the ER

What a beautiful day for a great church service and time with family. Well....most of the family. Sofia has been feeling under the weather for a couple of days and she started running a fever last night so D and I decided he would stay home with Sofia while Olivia and I enjoyed the festivities.

Olivia and I picked up Nana (my grandmother) and met my parents at church. The service was great and Olivia was so good. The funniest part was how, when the music and singing would stop (and of course it was totally silent), she said "Yay!!!" and clapped. I'm glad the people around us found her really cute and got quite a chuckle.

Then it was on to Aunt Ra-Ra's house for lunch with the fam and an Easter egg hunt. We definitely missed Sofia and Daddy, though.

When I got home, Sofia and Daddy were in our bed and Sofia wasn't very happy.....although she was pretty happy to see Olivia. Olivia walked in the room and said "Hi Pia!" and Sofia (quite pitifully) said "Hi Sissy!" We were sitting downstairs and I noticed that she looked like she was breathing a little heavy. She also sneezed and it just seemed....."funny"....almost shallow. D and I talked about it and decided we should have her checked out. It was after 5pm on Easter Sunday - we decided the ER was the best place to go. And I'm so glad we did.

I must say....you always hear horror stories about sitting for hours and hours in the ER. While I was waiting for my mom to get to my house, I was getting my fleece....a change of clothes for Sofia....quarters for the vending machine -- you know - because I expected to be there all night. Much to my surprise.....we were in the waiting room for less than 5 minutes before they called us back. There's a special part of the ER for children and once we were in a triage room, I don't think we sat in a room alone for more than a couple of minutes before someone else came in. There wasn't even a stop in the billing office for insurance, etc before we were taken back. Maybe I just haven't been in an ER in a long time and this is how it's done now -- and maybe having a child as the patient makes all the difference, but it was a very good experience.

Several people listened to her breathing and they said they couldn't hear wheezing, but then again - she wasn't a happy camper so I'm not sure what they could hear over her crying. They decided to x-ray her and while we were waiting on the results, a respiratory therapist came in for a breathing treatment. Once the breathing treatment was complete, we waited for a couple of minutes and the pediatrician came in and said something about the breathing treatment not mattering and that she had pneumonia. I'm sorry.......what? Really? They even showed us the x-rays and she has it in both lungs. My heart skipped a beat when I heard the official diagnosis. As a preemie, even though they're almost 2, they're still at a higher risk for respiratory infections, RSV, etc. so needless to say I'm pretty worried.

They said her oxygen saturation was pretty good despite the pneumonia so they decided the best course of treatment was to let her go home with antibiotics. So we watch her to make sure she doesn't start working harder to breathe and wait for the antibiotics to kick in. Bless her heart - she's laying next to me sleeping as I type and I can hear her having trouble breathing. I won't be sleeping much tonight.............

So! How's that for an Easter Sunday, right? All in all a day that started out great and ended a little scary, but we'll get through it! Below are some pictures from today. Olivia's in the dress and pink top - Sofia's in the white shirt.