In the ER... again.

Okay, it's not that we are there that much, but Ella and I have chalked up 2 ER visits each now. And to be fair, her first visit would have been to an Urgent Care if one existed in Wheaton, IL.

Moving on... Friday night, we put Ella to bed. It was like pretty much any other night except that she was a little wound up. But she had had no nap, I have been working more, so her schedule has been a mess, and let's face it, Christmas is right around the corner. We were surprised to hear her whining at about 12:30 and alarmed when we realized that she could hardly breathe. She had no cough, no other signs of illness... she just could not breathe. It was very scary. So Scott toted her off to Beaumont while I stayed home with Ben. Thanks to modern technology, when I sent the Bat Signal out via Facebook to see if anyone was up, Jenni responded and even came right over. (Bless you, Jenni!)

Less thanks to modern technology, cell phones and hospitals do not mix well, so it was difficult to get updates. Turns out she had croup (cough-less croup... go figure) and a breathing treatment full of steroids had her ready to rock. She made friends with a 5-month-old little boy, colored, ate a popsicle, had some juice, was given a puppet and about 3 hours later, was sent home with the nebulizer mask, which she pretty much refused to be without for the next 48 hours. After telling me of her adventure and getting her picture taken (of course) she went to bed and was fine. She was very brave and seemed to understand that it was a serious situation and that she needed a doctor.

Other than a few minutes of congestion the next morning, a touch of a hoarse voice and being a little run down, she has shown no other signs of being sick. She did, however, break down in tears the other night when I asked her if she had felt sick at Grandma's that day. It was the only sign she has shown of being frightened about it all.

It is all very odd to me and I wonder if the RSV that had us in the ER last December or a possible start to asthma may be part of the problem. I hope not on both accounts, but Grandpa Alexander has asthma and I have a tendency to show signs of it, so who knows?

So far, Benjamin is not showing any signs of getting sick, so we're hoping for healthy kids as a fun Christmas weekend is on its way!

Oh... my favorite part of it all? The next night when we were out for a Christmas Light Hunt in the van and Ella picked up her broken hospital band and told me it was her "race numbers". It was a proud moment. I asked her how her run was and she said that it was a good run and that she was fast. That's my girl!