Sunday...and Since...

As many of you know (as in...anyone who reads my blog or involved in the adoption world) Sunday was Orphan Sunday.  I was so pumped up to have our church be a part of this movement that is sweeping the nation.  SO excited!  When our church contacted us and asked to interview us for a 3 minute video for Orphan Sunday I was nervous (and still excited) but willing to let God use me however He wanted. 

The interview was about an hour long, and needed to be cut into 3 minutes!  I was curious what they would keep, and what they would cut, and how people would respond.  The whole thing had me a little bit nervous ;)

So how did it go? 

I have no idea!

I SAW the video...but I didn't hear a word of it.  Lil Man came down with a croup-y sounding cough on Friday night that had us up all night and worried.  Although our pediatrician's office was unable to fit us in on Saturday, we thought he was feeling a lot better.  Even Sunday morning he woke up coughing, but happy.  So off to church we went, determined that nothing was going to keep us from being there.

You see, we knew the devil was at work in so many ways.  Friends across the country who were asked to speak were plagued with doubt, struck with illnesses, and experiencing technical glitches.  The adoptive families who are advocating for those left behind are a VERY passionate bunch...go ahead and browse through my blog list if you don't believe me!  satan knows that (and he doesn't even deserve a capital "s").  I knew our family's illnesses was his way of discouraging us.

We got to church fine...and then I had no idea where I was suppossed to be.  Soon I found who I was suppossed to talk to and all was fine.  But then Monkey started SCREAMING.  Literally.  I RAN out of there and into the cry room with my poor boy.  I think maybe having all the people around him and everyone talking on TOP of him already not feeling well just threw him into a frenzy.  The three of us sat in the cry room for the service.  We tried EVERYTHING to calm him...but he was so upset he started coughing non-stop.  So while our video played, I listened to my poor baby scream in my ear.  It didn't take long for us to figure out this was NOT working.  So hubby...who hasn't even been able to be at church for the last four weeks because of work...took Monks home while I stayed and prayed for a ride. 

Hubs said Lil Man was out in all but 30 seconds in the car.  And then he slept for over 4 hours.  Yeah.  I'll get back to that soon.

So I snuck into the back of church to listen to the rest of the sermon and worship before heading to the back of church to answer questions.  It was very encouraging to see such a great response.  People asking about mission trips, and child sponsorships, and sharing THEIR stories!  It was such a blessing to witness.  But on the back burner, I was dying to get home and care for Monkey.  Thankfully some friends stepped up and gave me a ride (means the world to me ladies!).

At home, Monkey was sound asleep...but his behavior in church had me worried.  This was NOT the little boy I knew!  So I called the nurse's hotline at his pediatrician's office and started grilling them.  The triage nurse really recommended bringing him to Children's Hospital to be seen, even though we had an appointment scheduled with his doc in the morning.

We waited for our sweetie to wake up and then we headed out.  The entire drive he was coughing and hacking and wheezing and sneezing and just sounded plain sad.  My heart broke!  Thankfully we live VERY near to a Children's and they got us in in TEN MINUTES!  Amazing, huh?

Does his expression make you just wanna cry?  My mama heart HURTS!

Well our worries were confirmed.  They put him on a steroid for the Croup (even though it was MOSTLY cleared up by this point) and said he was having an asthma attack (he's been treated for asthma-like symptoms twice before, and both his parents had severe childhood asthma...odds be against him).  They started him on an inhaler, but even after a half hour, his oxygen saturation level was only at a 93.  Repeat treatment.  No change.  So then they put him on an hour-long nebulizer treatment.  UGH!  He cries during the entire 15 minutes at home, I was just a LITTLE worried about this!  Fortunately they also handed us a portable dvd player and some cartoons to watch.  Lil Man stuck it out like a pro, even though he was teary almost the entire hour as I pinned him on my lap.  =(  Finally they took his vitals again and his oxygen was up to a 97-98 and we were good to go....WITH a pile of medications to treat him with. 

Sorry for the blurry-ness...cell phone pic!

Just finished the Neb

Waiting for the doc to give us the results

SO done with cartoons =(

The visit was about 3 1/2 hours and we didn't have lunch or dinner.  After arriving back in town at about 9pm, we swung by Jack In The Box for some food.  My Lil Man was ALREADY showing huge improvement as he scarfed down several of my french fries and his milk and gabbered the rest of the way home.  Once there, the talking continued...as hoarse as his throat was, we cringed with every word (he screamed every time the doctor or nurses TOUCHED him - no exaggeration).  He ran and ran and ran until about 10pm when he CRASHED. 

Early the next morning (which was 11am since Monks slept that long) we had his appointment with his pediatrician who stated that she wasn't quite ready to diagnose him as asthmatic YET.  She DID give me a lot of information on Childhood Asthma and told us to be prepared for the possibility, but I was happy she wasn't rushing to diagnose him.

We've been on the mend since then.  Although I am still hearing a lot of coughing and congestion, his attitude has made a 180!  He's his happy-go-lucky self during the day, but still falls apart around 6pm - I'm sure he's just EXHAUSTED from this illness.  Today was his last dose of steroids so we only have to keep up with his inhaler every 4 hours.  He hates it, but the reward system is working well for us for now =)  He's probably starting to notice that it actually helps too ;)

Anyway....all this to let you know WHY I have been MIA.  I'm back.  Kinda.  Workin' on it.  Now to bed I go - taking care of a sick kid wears on ya, you know?  =)