WOW... welcome October!

So, how did you spend your Friday night?

Oh me? Thanks for asking...
Well, Brandon is camping with his Royal Ranger boys from church so I took the girls to McDonald's for dinner (I bet you can guess who chose the dining location!) and then over to a local kid's resale shop and to Target. Riley needed shoes and both girls needed some warmer clothing since it's beginning to cool off here... FINALLY!

So, all night Riley's cough (that she's had for 2 weeks) is getting progressively worse. Yes, I was the mom at McDonald's with the kid who is coughing all over everything! Send me hate mail... I'm braced for it!

As we are leaving Target (around 8:00) I look up to see our Pediatrician headed straight over to us... NOTE: sometimes it's nice to live in a small town.

Here's our our conversation went:
Dr.: "Ummm, how long has she been coughing like that?"
Me: "Ummm, 2 weeks, but I swear it's only gotten this bad today... it really has been nothing!"
Dr.: "Does she have a cool mist humidifier?"
Me: "Ummm, no." (DOH! She tells me to get one EVERY YEAR!)
Dr.: "I'm the doctor on duty tomorrow at the office. Come see me."
Me: "Should I call first?"
Dr.: "No. We open at 8:30. Tell them I saw you and told you to meet me there at 8:30."
Me: "Ok. I'll see you at 8:30."

She starts walking away and CHANDLER STARTS COUGHING!!!

Dr.: "When did she start that?"
Me: *sigh* "About 2 days ago."
Dr.: "8:30."
Me: "Ok."

She start waking away...

Dr.: "Oh! If it gets any worse tonight go STRAIGHT to the ER."
Me: "Really?"
Dr.: "Yes. See you tomorrow at 8:30."

I'm imagining dragging both of my kids to the ER while Brandon is off camping... did I mention the area that he's in has very little cell phone service... and by very little I mean none... unless you stand on your head and hold your tongue just right.

Before the girls went to bed we prayed for good rest for both of them... God? Were you listening? I'm thinking you might have been on a coffee break about that time of the evening. :)

Fast forward to 11:30pm...
I'm sitting at my computer and I hear my little Riley hacking up a lung... I go to check on her. Chandler is sitting up in the bed coughing a little, but Riley is in her crib red in the face from coughing.
I tell Chandler to go back to sleep.
I pick up Riley. She leans into my chest and PUKES! Yes. Yes. Yes... Puked all over me. Not once. Not twice, but THREE times. All I can do is hold her close to me as I RUN to the bathroom.

I sit her in the bathtub and start stripping her clothes off. She pukes again! Now she's freaking out because it's in the bathtub with her...
Hello? Little precious angel... IT'S ALL OVER YOUR MOMMY!

This is the point where I say to myself, "This is probably what the doctor meant by 'worse'."

I get myself and both of my kids dressed. Grab and bag and head out the door. As I'm passing my neighbor's house I notice that her bedroom light is still on... her husband and 2 boys are camping with Brandon this weekend.

I called and asked if I could drop Chandler off at her house. She said yes and now I owe her a "middle of the night emergency call"... THANK YOU BECKY!!!

Riley and I arrive at the ER just after midnight. I have no idea how long we were in the waiting room... I just couldn't think straight enough to even care about the wait.

Riley was a trooper. All of the nurses loved her. They coddled her and treated her like the most precious baby in the world (which we all know she is!). In fact over the course of 4 hours she got 3 popsicles and a tour of the ER. :)

After 2 xrays, a breathing treatment, having blood drawn, a suppository of Tylenol, and a general external exam it was decided that she has a bi-lateral ear infection... that's infections in both ears... BAD infections in both ears.

She got numbing drops to help with the ear pain and a prescription for amoxicillin.

We were home just before 4 am.

We slept together on Chandler's bed (since Chandler was at Becky's and Riley has a hard time falling asleep in my room)... Chandler had a twin sized bed. :)

I slept through a text message from Brandon and my alarm.

I woke at 8:30. I called the doctor's office to tell them that we had been in the ER all night. The receptionist said the doctor had told them to expect me.
I made an appointment for 9:30 and ran around like a crazy person to get ready, pick up Chandler and make it there on time... we arrived at 9:36... not too bad considering all we had been through.

They didn't check Riley since it had only been a few hours since the ER doctor saw her.

The doctor checked Chandler over... the results? An ear infection. GOOD GRIEF!
We battled ear infections with Chandler for the first 14 months of her life... she had tubes put in her ear and we were infection free for 4 years... one of the tubes came out about a year ago (they are supposed to come out after a few years) and now she has an infection. UGH!

Chandler is allergic to penicillin so she has to take antibiotics that are penicillin free... which means it takes longer for them to work.

I picked up Chandler's and Riley's prescriptions along with a cool mist humidifier after the appointment.

It's only 1:00 and I feel like it should be time to crawl into bed for the night!!!

Forgive the poor picture quality... all I had was my cell phone!
In the waiting room

After a little TLC from the ER staff... mainly popsicles!

On a side note: Oddly enough in October 2004, Brandon was in Kentucky visiting one of our friends from college and I had to take CHANDLER to the ER for breathing treatments!
That was pre-cellphone days for Brandon and me... I know it's a few years later (I know I thanked them at the time), but since I'm mentioning it... many thanks to Melanie, Joel, Susie, Denise and Jaclyn for being my support system for that incredibly stressful night...

Denise, Chandler and me

The ER doctor giving Chandler her breathing treatment... well TRYING to give it to her!

Chandler FINALLY passed out after a few hours!