An ER Visit--and an almost all-dayer

Derek gets up for work at 2:30 am. Sometimes (often) I forget this.  He comes home at noon and I expect him to stay up until our bedtime, doing things around the house, working OT, etc.  And, actually he does.  Often.  He has been saying for awhile that I should get up with him and stay up all day like he does so I have some sympathy for him.  On Mother's Day night I almost got the chance.  Sarah had been getting croup (Libby & Ben already had it.)  She woke up at 2:00 am Mon morning (Sunday night) and couldn't breathe.  It was scary.  It was like she couldn't get air into her lungs.  I tried doing a nebulizer treatment (that seemed to have helped Libby a bit when she had a similar thing the Monday before).  It didn't help Sarah.  Derek suggested a cough drop.  I said, LISTEN TO HER!  She can't breathe!  So we told Paige we were leaving and headed to the ER.  Derek's alarm to get up for work went off as we were driving to Children's Hospital.  Gave me quite the reality check to think that this is really when he gets up.  Anyway, at the ER they took her right back after listening to her and seeing her "retract" in 3 places in her abdomen where she was trying to get air in.  Then, once she was settled down on a bed and watching "Ella Enchanted" her breathing calmed a bit and they downgraded her condition from a 2 to a 3 (Derek knows this kind of stuff from having to take various victims and criminals to the hospital).  So then we had to wait.  It seemed like forever.  A couple of Derek's coworkers stopped in to see how we were doing--caused a bit of a stir to have 2 cops walk into our room.  But finally the Dr. came in and said she needed some steroids to help open her airway.  Apparently the problem with croup is in the throat not the lungs (which is why the nebulizer treatment didn't work.)  We go the meds and some chocolate pudding (the Dr. first said she could have a Popsicle, but Sarah informed her that she doesn't like Popsicles) and we headed home.  We got home just before my alarm was supposed to go off at 5:05 am so I could go swimming with Maren.  I went back to bed and slept until 7.  I didn't even try to pull off a Derek Norton all-dayer.  And, I was tired all week!  I admire that man of mine for his ability to thrive on so little sleep.  I am also super glad to know that there is something that a Dr. can do for croup!  We always had to sleep with a rag soaked in alcohol around our neck.  A dose of steroids is a way more comfortable alternative.  Sarah improved rapidly (in fact I feel like her recovery went a bit more slowly because of a head injury in the form of a giant goose egg suffered falling into Maren's pond on Sunday afternoon) and was back to herself in just a day or so.

Sarah was the model for Miss Sue to demonstrate how to put on stage make-up for the girls and parents in her class.