My Birthday....Sort of

Well, my 26th birthday was on March 28. I wasn't wanting to do much. After a while birthdays aren't that big of a deal. And I had already gotten my birthday present from Scott...a night out to see My Fair Lady at the Buell Theater here in Denver. Eric and Erica, who were up visiting, were so nice to watch our kids so that we could go! Thanks you guys!! The play was long, but so good!! It was just like the movie and the cast did great. I would love to see it again! So I had a great gift and just wanted to enjoy some ice cream and cake on my birthday with my family. However, like many things in life, things never go as planned. This is a picture I took myself of me with my cake that I ate alone on my birthday.Let me just say that I actually wasn't too disappointed. I was more worried about Katie, who was in the hospital with Scott. This was the first day of about 6 that she spent in the hospital during the following week. We'll start at the beginning...Katie started out with her usual cough and breathing troubles. We werent' too worried because she hasn't been getting very sick lately and we haven't had to use the nebulizer and albuterol for several months. We were hoping that she was growing out of her respiratory problems. Well, she continued to get worse, so I took her in to her pediatrician's office, expecting them to send me home with instructions to get the nebulizer back out and start her treatments. Unfortunately, 3 hours later I was still at the doctor's office with a tired, sick girl and a hungry, mad little boy. After several nebulizer treatments that didn't work we were sent to the emergency room with Katie on oxygen. Scott met me there and I took Jace home to go to bed. Poor Eric and Erica who were there to visit were starving and bored, so I sent them off to dinner, put Jace to bed, and ate my cake.
Katie was able to come home the next day (Saturday) because they thought she was doing a lot better. We were able to get this cute picture of the kids with Eric and Erica. I felt so bad that we couldn't do anything while they were visiting! But they were so great and were fine with going out and doing things on their own.
So...Katie did okay for a while. We kept her home from church on Sunday, but that evening she started doing badly again. She really struggled to breathe. It was kind of scary! Scott took her in, they tested her, didn't know what was wrong, and we decided to take her home so she could rest comfortably. They sent us home with instructions to call if she got worse. She did, and Scott had to take her in again at 1 in the morning. They decided to admit her and she was there until Thursday morning. They diagnosed her with RSV. For most people, this is just a cold, but for a few unlucky people, it gets into their lungs and causes respiratory problems. Since Katie is prone to getting respiratory infections, this was kind of a given. We are really hoping that she doesn't have asthma and grows out of this soon!
I felt so bad for Katie at the hospital...she was on oxygen the whole time because she couldn't keep it up on her own, and they had to wake her up every few hours to give her a breathing treatment. But despite all this, she did great and had fun playing with some new toys and watching lots of movies. The doctor's and nurses were great and we had a good experience at Children's Hospital at St. Joseph's.
Scott's mom came up to help us out, and Scott and I took turns staying the night at the hospital with Katie. We were so grateful to have Yvonne's help. I think it kept us sane. I wish I had pictures of her with the kids, but the week was so crazy I forgot to get the camera out when we were at home!
Katie is doing much better now and we just finished her breathing treatments today. The picture above shows all of Katie's get well cards. Lots of family and friends helped us out and we really appreciated all of the support...meals, phone calls, fun things for Katie...it was wonderful! We are mostly so glad to see her getting better and not have to work so hard to breathe. Having sick kids is definitely one of the hardest things about being a parent.
Jace also got sick, they think it was probably RSV too, but not nearly as sick as Katie. His was more like a cold, although he did get a high fever and a rash. Scott is also a little sick, as well as Eric and Erica...sorry you guys! But we are out of the worst and glad to have life going back to normal.

Some other great new...Scott passed his dental board exams!!! HOORAY!! We are so glad to have that over with and now we can concentrate on what lies ahead. Good job Scott!!!