I haven't had time to blog lately and I REALLY need to do a recap blog. But, for tonight, I want to blog about a scary experience that made me realize how fragile, and yet how strong, our children's little bodies can be.
On Monday morning, I was volunteering at my children's school. I started in Natalie's room and then went to Nicholas' room. While in Nicholas' room, the school secretary came in, obviously upset, and asked me to come to the office right away. I immediately followed her and found Natalie in the middle of an asthma attack (the school nurse later told me it was the worse she'd ever scene). I had Natalie's inhaler with me so I gave her a couple puffs and then took her home for a nebulizer treatment (a device used to administer medication in the form of a liquid mist to the airways). Natalie seemed better and we went about our day. Then, about 5:00pm, she had another asthma attack. I gave her another nebulizer treatment but it didn't help. So I gave her another one. Again, it didn't help. At this point she was so short of breath she couldn't even talk. Andrew and I said a quick prayer and I raced her to the emergency room.
In route, Natalie feel asleep in her car seat. At the time, however, I couldn't tell if she was asleep or unconscious. This nearly put me in hysteric while driving down the freeway. Luckily, she was just sleeping.
When we arrived at the emergency room they took one look at her and took us immediately to a room. (Thank goodness! I envisioned spending an hour filling out paper work and then another 3 hours waiting in the waiting room.)
They worked on Natalie for about 4 hours and still couldn't get her breathing normally. Also, by this time her heart rate was sky high from the steroids they were giving her. Natalie was so brave. She only cried when they put in the IV.
At this point the ER doctor and Natalie's asthma specialist, who they had on the phone, decided she needed to be admitted. BUT, the hospital we were at did not have a pediatric unit, so Natalie had to be taken by ambulance to another hospital. She kept asking what the hospital would be like. I told her it would be like a hotel with cable TV and room service. This seemed to cheer her up.
We then spent the next 3 days at the hospital. The hospital staff were wonderful in addition to her asthma specialist and our wonderful pediatrician who both made multiple visits to check on her. Her lung capacity is still only at 70%, but we're hoping she'll continue to improve each day. I'm so thankful Heavenly Father sent me Natalie. I can't imagine my life without her.
