Asthma

We noticed Emmy coughing and having a lot of runny nose and sneezing on Sunday night but didn’t think much of it. When she woke up yesterday morning she was snotty and crabby but seemed to feel better after breakfast so we went ahead and sent her to Jamey's so she could play-- all morning she had been saying "Dee Dee!" (Jamey's son) so we knew she wanted to go over there. We gave her a breathing treatment before we sent her and then took her over. Paul and I were at lunch when we got a call from Jamey saying Emily was very fussy and seemed to be breathing hard. As soon as we could we went back to her house- her sister in law was there (Jamey had an OB appointment) and Emily was having a SUPER hard time breathing- tugging, grunting, pulling, breathing really fast (over 60x/min) and felt hot like she had a fever. We called the pediatrician and begged them to get us in, which they did. We took her over and they wanted to watch her and give her breathing treatments and also oral steroids. Her pulse/ox was 80 (good is 100) but we were having a hard time getting a good reading so we weren’t sure about whether to believe that. Her temp was 100.1. They watched her there for 2 hours and weren’t satisfied with how she looked so they sent us on to the ER.

When we go to the ER they checked her pulse/ox again and it was 89. Her heart rate was close to the 200s but albuterol can increase it so they weren't super concerned about that. She had to be strapped down to the board again for a chest Xray which later came back clear. They put her on 1L of oxygen but later cut it back to 1/2 a liter and then turned it off completely. We got the "official diagnosis" that she is most likely asthmatic and we will need to have an inhaler with us, or readily available, at all times (like, we don't have to take it every single place we go but we should always have the prescription filled and have it in a place where we can find it or get to it easily, and take it with us if we are traveling out of town or something). She was treated and released from the ER last night and I stayed home with her today. I already took her to the pediatrician for her follow up and saw a different doc than yesterday who said she looks much better but to stay the course and do the albuterol every 4 hours until this evening and also to finish out the 4 days of steroids they had us get.


I don't really know how I feel about all this- I am disappointed to have the 'sick kid' but I'm hopeful that asthma meds have gotten so much better now that she will be able to live a normal life. I hate to see her in the hospital but I hate even more that we will have to be vigilant with her and exposure to allergens, etc. . Most of all, I just hope she gets completely better. The doctor today said most kids have a 50/50 chance of outgrowing the wheezing and airway issues by age 5 but when I told him Paul is asthmatic and Emmy already has excema he seemed less confident that Emily would outgrow it. I guess we will have to see!! For now I am just relieved that she was able to be treated and released and that she is her same wild self today.

15 Months Old!

I say it every month so why make this one any different-- I can’t believe she’s growing up so fast! Emily is now 15 months old and is getting bigger, wilder, and more energetic (if that was even possible!) every day. Sit back and relax for a moments folks, while I fill you in on 15 Month Old Emily Claire!

---She has new words!! I think she knew I was secretly getting nervous about the lack of vocabulary expansion between months 12-15 so this week she really stepped it up and started using new ones! Here’s what she says so far:

1.apple
2.uh-oh (in response to falling down or dropping something)
3.doggie (FINALLY!)
4.Mama
5.Dada/Daddy/Dadadadadadad
6.more
7.more please (this one makes me *extra* proud!)
8.uh huh (yes)
9.uh-uh (no)
10.no (getting quite good at this one....ugh!)
11.Booker (sounds like “ocker”)
12.bite
13.ouchie
14.bye bye
15.baby (sounds like bee bee)
16.hi
17.hello (heyo)
18.poo poo
19.DeeDee (Jamey’s son’s name)


--- She is a walking machine now!! A lot of her time is spent on her feet, walking around our house. She will tell us “bye bye”, walk into the next room, and come back in a say “hi”. It is so funny! She plays it constantly.


---She is understanding SO much of what we say now. I read that she is probably in a stage of Language Acquisition known as the “passive phase” in which she is absorbing all of what we say and deriving meaning from it, but not necessarily saying all of what we are saying. (Did that make sense?!) So, we’re trying to help her associate different things with the words to describe them. For instance, while I was drying my hair the other day she turned the faucet on in our bathroom and, before I could get to her, she put her hand under the hot water. Right when I got to her I said “ouchie! ouchie!” and now when she sees that bathtub she says “ouchie!” and will not touch it! Not too shabby, if you ask me!


---Related to the language/talking, she has simple vocabulary flash cards a friend of mine gave to her-- they say things like cat, dog, car, corn, apple, shoes, etc. and each one has a different part of it that is texturized (like the dog and cat each have a patch of fur). About 2 weeks ago Paul and I were AMAZED when, out of curiosity, I held up the cards 2 at a time, and asked her to show me what each one was. I changed the hand I was holding the correct card in and she correctly guessed every single one!! We were blown away. It just further shows that she’s in the passive phase...but she is obviously understanding so much!


--- She is learning to take off her clothes! Ok, so we’re not thrilled about this one, but she is learning how to help us get her dressed and undressed. Just the other morning we were putting on her pants and she was standing up, holding on to my shoulders....made me realize that she was putting them on the “grown up” way!


---She loves to eat vegetables, specifically the green beans/peas/carrots/corn medley kind. I heat them up for her every dinner and weekend lunches too...she gobbles it down like it is candy!


---She is learning to eat with a spoon and fork! Plus, we have gotten her some more dishes and she has been pretty cooperative with using them, but leaving them on her tray. Also, she has decided that at Miss Jamey’s, she should eat at the table with the other kids. Jamey now has to lower the highchair and let Emily join the others...Jamey, we love you and you are a saint for putting up with our crazy lady!! :)


---Tonight, she used the potty for the first (and second!) time!! I was SHOCKED! She was trying to make “poo poo” and I said, “let’s let her try it on the potty instead” since I knew that’s what she was doing. You see, whenever Emmy has to poo she goes off by herself and tries, but she tries by sitting down on her bottom....thus making it MUCH more difficult to go. So, I grabbed her up and put her on the potty, and then hugged her because she was a little confused about everything. I just wanted her to try sitting there- I didn’t think anything would really happen...when all of a sudden, we heard a little plop!! She went in the potty!! (Side story- I was trying to put her diaper back on and wipe her bottom and she reached and very nearly reached into the potty to get her “deposit” back OUT. Yuck!) A few minutes later she assumed the position again so we ran back to the bathroom shouting “poo poo!! Let’s poo poo in the potty!” and voila-- she did it again! Now please-- we are not starting potty training now by any means, but I am seriously thinking of trying to have her poo in the potty because it makes it so much easier on her-- I don’t mind changing diapers at all but it is frustrating to see your baby struggling so, all because of her position. So maybe this is our answer?


---She loves to play “I’m gonna get you!” type games-- LOVES them! Right now her fave is to walk too close to me and then I’ll say “Emmy!” in this scary voice and she will laugh hysterically, walk a little faster, and then look back at me. It’s even better if I will chase after her stomping my feet hard or crawling on the floor. She gets completely worked up over this game and laughs so hard!


--- She LOVES to dance! She has a big Fisher Price toy set that plays a lot of songs and she loves to dance to it--- but her dancing is hilarious right now. It starts out as simple heading bobbing, back and forth...but then grows to be like, head loosely flowing from side to side, with whole body swaying and arms in the air. It is so funny to watch!! Another favorite activity is playing the music, dancing, and then turning to make sure Daddy and I are also dancing. If we don’t dance she gets SO mad!! She checks after every song to make sure we are bobbing our heads too...so funny!



So there you have it-- a synopsis of our girl right now. She is so much fun and this is an incredible age. I always feel like I love her current age the best but this time I really mean it, haha! She is tons of fun to play with and we love spending our time with her.

FINALLY feeling better!

After nearly 3 weeks of being sick, Emily is FINALLY feeling better! What a long Christmas break/vacation time (for Paul) we have had! Emily had viral bronchiolitis, a bad cold, and double ear infection! In addition to the ear infection, she was completely unable to hold down food for 5 straight days and lost a full pound....talk about stressed-out Mommy and Daddy! Thank goodness she is finally better and back to her old self. That is one 3-week span I do NOT want to relive!