Worst sleepover EVER.

I have asthma and I go to daycare, so I usually have a runny nose and/or cough, and Mommy and Daddy don't think much of it. If I wheeze, they nebulize me and that's that. Well, Saturday night I wasn't feeling so good - fever, wheezing, coughing, etc. Mommy and Daddy nebulized me so that we could all go to Mommy's office Christmas party. Sunday I wasn't doing much better, but I still had an appetite and was playing. Monday Mommy stayed home with me, and I was clingy and whiny and lethargic and not at all hungry or thirsty. Mommy still thought it was a normal cold.

When Daddy got home, he thought I should go to the doctor because I was burning up with fever, coughing really hard, breathing very rapidly and shallowly, and not at all in the mood to do anything but lay on him or Mommy. The doctor nebulized me and said she thought I had RSV. I was still having a hard time breathing, so she sent us to the ER at Duke Children's Hospital (Daddy would have prefered Durham Regional since it's right by our house, but apparently they don't admit from the ER or something).

Waiting to be admitted at the ER, Mommy thought I sounded better and wanted to go home, since it's a $150 copay to use the ER. But Daddy said we were already there, so we might as well have my checked. After tons of waiting and a chest x-ray, the doctors concluded that I have pneumonia! I also had a low oxygen count (ranging from 90-95; 100 is normal), so they wanted me to spend the night for observation. They were worried about me becoming dehydrated, so I had to have an IV in my hand for fluids. Yuck! I was very good though with it and only cried a little when they put it in. Mostly I was frustrated that I couldn't pull it off! They had to wrap it in tons of tape and a splint to keep it on.

About 10:30 they moved me up to a room. It was WAY past my bedtime, so of course I wanted to play! Mommy was at a loss as to what to do, since usually when I won't sleep away from home I either get a car ride or have to cry it out - neither of which were possible at the hospital. Finally I fell asleep, but I was hooked up to a couple stupid machines that would beep loudly and continuously whenever the sensor was bumped. So whenever I rolled over, the IV would twist and the machine would beep until a nurse came in to reset it. And since I was up, I'd pull the oxygen sensor off my toe and then IT would beep until it was reset. That one was attached with tape that lost its stickiness very quickly, and it had to be replaced several times.

Fortunately the night respiratory specialist was very quiet. Whenever he came in to adjust my oxygen (the machine also beeped whenever I rolled over and didn't have it blowing in my face) or nebulize me, he didn't wake up any of us - Mommy, Daddy, or me. The pediatrition on call was nice about that too. The nurses weren't though.

In the morning, after we'd each gotten about 4-5 hours of sleep, we were really excited when the nurse said we'd be discharged soon. Naively we took soon to mean within an hour. After four hours of bugging the nurse who bugged the doctor, we were able to leave. Just as we were leaving, Miss North Carolina came by my room, delivering books as a holiday treat/mandated community service project. I got my picture taken with her, but I wasn't very happy about it.

So now I'm at home for the rest of the week, recovering from pneumonia and RSV. The doctors said it'll probably take several weeks before I'm back to normal. Hopefully I'll be able to go back to daycare on Monday. Until then, Mommy and I get to stay home and make cookies!