What a week!

This week seems like it has gone by really fast but at the same time the days have all seemed really long.  On Monday Katie seemed like she was coming down a cough and was having a little tummy trouble.  By Tuesday her cough was becoming worse by the hour.  It was so bad that in the middle of our lunch at Bertucci's Bryan had me call the pediatrician to see if she could be seen that day.  Minutes later we were having our food packed up so we could go home.  The coughing had become that bad.

Bryan took her to the doctor's since Ellie had a friend over for a playdate that afternoon.  They suspected that she might have pneumonia based on the cough, the fever and this weird grunting sound she was making when she breathed, but they didn't hear any fluid in her lungs.  They tested her for the flu and it was negative, so they sent her for a chest x-ray.  The x-ray came back negative.  Bryan was told that we needed to watch her breathing to see if the grunting sound continued or worsened, and we also needed to watch the fever.  Tuesday night she wouldn't sleep unless one of us was holding her and even then she wasn't sleeping well.  The ibruprofen and tylenol weren't doing anything for the fever.

By Wednesday morning she had almost zero interest in eating or drinking.  She was lethargic and only wanted to sleep.  At one point I took her temperature and it said she was over 104 which I was certain had to be a mistake.  We called the pediatrician and they had us bring her in.  When we got there her fever (with ibuprofen) was 105.7  she was seen within minutes by a couple of nurses and the nurse practitioner.  We were sent to the ER where they quickly triaged her and had her in a bed.  They ran a bunch of tests on her and gave her some fluids via IV.  It wasn't until they did another chest x-ray that they diagnosed her with pneumonia, which had been suspected by the dr. who saw her the day before.  We left the ER shortly after they got a bag of antibiotics in her.  By the time we left she was looking a lot better thanks to the fluids.  Her fever had also dropped down to 101.

This morning I was hopeful that she was on the mend when she drank about 1/3 of a sippy cup with no prompting and then ate about half of an icee.  I didn't want to leave the house with her today, but I had to pick up her antibiotic and get juice and a few other things we needed for her, like Jell-O and batteries for the ear thermometer.  Of course, I get home and realize that I forgot to get her ice water and ice pops, so one of my awesome neighbors ran to the store and got them for her.  Things were going well until about noon.  At that point she was refusing to drink or eat anything.  Her breathing wasn't sounding too great and her eyes were glassy again.  Once I let Bryan know what was going on he rearranged his schedule so he could come home.  A few minutes later the pediatrician's office called to check on her and I was told we need to give her a syringe full of liquid every five minutes until she perks up.  It appears that she's on the verge of dehydrating.  She wouldn't take any of the liquids from me, but once Bryan came home he was able to get her to take them.  He also managed to get her to east some goldfish crackers.

Now we're just trying to keep her hydrated and keep her fever at bay.  It's been under 101 today so that's good. But her eyes are glassy and she's still not interested in taking fluids.  Fortunately Bryan is good at getting them in her.  Tomorrow we need to take her to the pediatrician again.  I'm praying that she will be doing better and that we will not have to go to the ER to get fluids in her.  I was already warned that it's possible that she may need another bag of IV fluids if we can't get enough in her.  It doesn't help that now that we have fluids going in that she keeps having diarrhea.  I feel like we are fighting a losing battle here.  I just want to see her on the mend.

Katie is just worn out, and Bryan and I are both pretty exhausted. Any prayers you can offer up for us are greatly appreciated.  We're hoping to get through this without needing to go back to the hospital.  I know Katie would very much like to avoid having to get hooked up to an IV again.