Sick Ward Update

I only slept today from 6:00 a-m until 8:15 a-m so forgive me if this makes no sense.

I took Gabriella back to the doctor yesterday because she clearly isn't breathing any better, she desperately needs some sleep, and the nebulizer treatments are a disaster. The bottom line from them: no matter how hard she fights the only treatment they prescribe is the nebulizer and I'm the only parent who has come through the practice in the past five years who hasn't been able to administer this (?????).

Then the nurse tried to take G's pulse with the little monitor that straps onto her finger. Except she kicked and screamed and cried and thrashed so hard they declared "she's strong" and moved onto her toes. That didn't work either. So they gave up on checking her pulse. Yet they insisted I try to immobilize her and get her to breathe with the mask. It is almost impossible to keep her from crashing to the floor but the nurse keeps insisting to me "she'll stop having the tantrum and settle down". Sure , just like for you and the pulse thing???

They let me stop after 5 of the 10 minutes. The baby has a cut across her forehead from the mask (which even they stopped trying to put ON her head because she was choking herself with the elastic) and a cut across her entire forearm from being restrained. They are unmoved by her Italian temper and tell me to up the treatments to 4 times a day -- try one when she's sleeping they say. I say if she were sleeping we wouldn't be here.

I did what I could. I got 5 more minutes of it into her last night. But a side effect of the medication is agitation and jumpiness. She screamed most of the night. She thrashed from midnight to 2:30 am so I took her out of her room again and downstairs to keep from waking everyone. We paced until 6:00 a-m when she finally gave up. I laid her down -- myself as well, but she was up again a few minutes after 8:00 and I had to get back to work and so it goes.

Sophia and Francesca had low-grade fevers and sound like the croup twins -- didn't even get out of their jammies yesterday. Sophia's cough also makes her vomit which is a very unpleasant side effect.


Well, that's enough happiness from here. Hope things are better where ever you are!