Hospital trip

Back at the beginning of November, my little guy started coughing. It was no big deal until a day or two later, he suddenly woke up in the middle of his nap with full-fledged croup. I tried all the home remedies (just like we always do when Ethan gets croup), and as usual, none of them helped at all. So Dan took him to the hospital so he could get a nebulizer treatment to help his breathing. When they came back, he wasn't any better, so Dan took him back at night for another treatment. It helped a bit, so he came home and we hoped that would be his last trip. But the next day, Ethan developed a fever, and was breathing very rapidly (even though he wasn't wheezing any more). So it was back to the hospital where they decided to admit him. They gave him a nebulizer treatment and decided to do chest x-rays (I'm so glad I wasn't there for that - I wouldn't have been able to handle watching Ethan cry from a distance while he was pinned and x-rayed!). Since he had a fever, respiratory problems, and a cough, they automatically suspected H1N1, which meant that Dan & Ethan were quarantined in their room. The doctor tested him for H1N1, but started Ethan on Tamiflu just to be safe. My poor boys were stuck in a tiny hospital room for 3 whole days!! They couldn't even go into the hallway! With a 4 1/2 month old baby at home, the doctor suggested that I stay at home to avoid spreading whatever Ethan had to Mason. I managed to visit him once without Mason, but I wish I could have been with him the whole time.

In the end, the H1N1 test came back negative, so the doctor figures that he had a cold that became croup, which (combined with a bit of asthma) caused further respiratory problems. Thankfully, after three days of having nebulizer treatments every four hours, he was much better, and we didn't have to worry about passing H1N1 on to Mason!

Here are a few pictures from the ordeal (sorry, but they're cell phone pictures, so they are pretty low quality)...

Here's my little guy in his "fort" - he no longer sleeps in a crib, so Dan turned the crib in the room into a play area for Ethan. He's such a great Dad!!

Ethan eating some toast for breakfast - I think that was the only hospital food he ate the whole time he was there. Hospital food isn't exactly two-year-old friendly!

After they got home, Dan wanted to treat Ethan to a fun Father-Son date since Ethan did so well at the hospital and was cooped up for so long, so they went to Timmy's for a bagel(which Ethan LOVES to do!).

I'm so proud of my guys, and I'm so thankful that Ethan was okay in the end. I'm also thankful for Rosanna who spent so much time at the hospital bringing Dan food every day and going between our house and the hospital to bring clothes, etc since I couldn't go. My family also went to visit a few times, even with an H1N1 scare - Dan & Ethan really appreciated the visitors!