i should have knocked on wood

Saturday night I was thinking about my next blog post - it was going to be about reaching a milestone of sorts with Annika. She had surpassed the time of Bergen's onset of his reactive airway/asthma. He was just shy of 16 months when we made our first ER visit with our struggling to breathe baby boy. . . and little did we know that was just the beginning of many more trips to come. Every time Annika has had a cold I have held my breath in fear that she too will develop reactive airway. And on Saturday night I was thinking about how thankful I was that while she has fallen victim to numerous colds, we hadn't been to the ER with her.

THAT is when I should have knocked on wood.

Annika went with me to the clinic this past week as she had developed a cough and at that time her lungs sounded good. Yes, she had a cough, but air was moving through her lungs. I asked what I should look for and the doctor said "should she become lethargic or develop a fever bring her in". And Sunday morning that is exactly what happened. Our usual spit-fire of a little girl was running a temp, could barely sit on her own, and my worst fear - her breathing was shallow. My first thought - pneumonia. So in we went in for our first trip to the ER with our Little Miss.

We were able to drop Bergen off at a friends (THANK YOU JOEL AND KATE!!!!) so we could avoid Bergen coming into contact with the plethora of germs that is an ER. And we made it before the morning rush - we walked in to an empty lobby and walked out to one with standing room only.

At first Annika checked out perfect other then having her first ear infection and we thought she just had a nasty bug. But to be on the safe side (and we all know how I like to be on the safe side!) the doctor ordered a lung x-ray. Sure enough she has pneumonia. When the doctor came back to tell us, I answered so affirmatively that she asked if someone had already told us. No, it is from acutely listening to my son's every breath for the past 3 years. I could tell her lungs weren't working properly. We are treating her with a strong antibiotic and Tylenol/Motrin as needed.

Today she is back to her usual spit-fire self and while she may have made her first trip to the ER, to me she still has reached a milestone. So far no reactive airway and for that I am beyond thankful.

Going to knock on wood now.