Pneumonia?!

So, Here's the scoop. Caleb has pneumonia. Can you friggin believe it? When I first found out, I was crying and asking, how could this have happened? Well, I'm gonna tell you the whole story...

Saturday night we were having dinner at Beka's house. I'd noticed throughout the day and evening that he'd been sleeping a lot and not eating much. But, I didn't think to much of it. Sunday we go to church and he slept pretty deeply until the afternoon, and again, not eating much. My parents came over that day and he'd started coughing pretty badly towards the evening. Still I didn't think much of it because he'd had a pretty bad cold about 5 weeks ago. The Dr just said to keep clearing his nose, vaporizer in his room, nurse as much as possible. Well, i thought if i do these same things, he'll get better soon. But that night, he woke up with a super hot fever, coughing uncontrollably for 2 hours straight, and just couldn't eat. I called immediately the next morning to get him an appt. They gave him a breathing treatment in the office right away. The Dr could have sworn he had strep throat because his throat was so raw, but the results were negative. She gave him a shot of an antibiotic that's so painful, they actually mix it with a numbing agent. I felt so bad for my baby! they also gave me some sample of the liquid so i could give him breathing treatments throughout the night, if needed. They also prescribed him amoxycillin. She said to call in the morning and if he's not any better they'd do a chest x-ray to check for pnuemonia. Because he's so little, she didn't want to do the x-ray unless she was sure it was necessary.

The next morning he woke up with a pretty sever breathing attack again, so she ordered a stat x-ray for him. I went straight back to the Dr's office. Lo and behold, he has patchy pneumonia in the lower lobe of his left lung. They gave him another shot of the painful antibiotic, prescribed him zithromax and prednisolone (a liquid steroid).

Well, that night, I had to give him a treatment like every 2 hours! And after the treatment he'd still be wheezing pretty badly. I was starting to get a little worried because it said to only give him treatments every 4-6 hours. So, i called the dr at like 9pm. She said to give him some more of the liquid steroid and to call her back in an hour. She was gonna get a bed ready for him at the hospital, just in case! But, thank God, he was better within the hour and she said to just watch him throughout the night and bring him in the next day (wednesday).
Now when i found out it was pneumonia, i was almost in shock. None of my other children ever had gotten sick like this. Even Cole, and he actually has asthma. I asked her how this could have happened, he'd only started coughing on Sunday which was 2 days ago. She said that in babies, there lungs and airways are sooo tiny that it just sets in that quickly. Most likely someone who was carrying the bacteria, kissed him in his face, and he breathed it into his lungs.
Also, we have a major smoke issue in our apt. Downstairs from us live 4 adult chain smokers. One of which is a man who's attached to an oxygen tank 24/7. Besides the fact that obviously he'd die because of his lung cancer, it's a friggin fire hazard! WTF?! they also have a 7 month old baby that lives in the apt, and none of the stupid asses feel it necessary to go outside to smoke, because "it's too cold" ARRRGHHH!!! So sorry to all you smokers out there, but I have absolutely, NO TOLERANCE for people who smoke and have children. Has anyone seen the commercial of the old guy sitting in his recliner smoking a cigg?Te camera follows the smoke through his vent to the vent in the upstairs apt. it comes out into this bedroom with a 2 year old playing with toys and he's breathing in the cigg smoke. I get sooo furiated when i see it, because that is EXACTLY what's happening in my house. I mean people think WE are smokers because our clothes and carseat, and diaper bag all smell like it. I have chocolate brown leather couches, and they're covered in smoke residue. You can wipe a wet cloth over them and it's so dirty, it's absolutely disgusting!In the morning when i go to take a shower, i open up the curtain and smoke practically billows out. The smell is so bad it makes me literally gag. I've talked to my landlord about it, but they're not even willing to offset the cost of some damn air purifiers! Anyway, back to the point at hand, (sorry about that, i told you i'm anal about cigg smokers) the Dr actually asked if it were possible for us to move! Of course, it isn't to she "highly suggests" that we purchase some air purifiers. She tells me that the cheap ones aren't going to work and only buying one isn't going to cut it. The cheapest we found was $130! Thank the Lord for my parents because they went out and bought us one. At least we can move it around the house with the baby. It's better than nothing, ya know? So, besides the air purifier she wants me to wash his bedding nightly because the smoke settles into the blankets. No stuffed animals near him and remember to dust daily! Great. And I have to do this when no one in MY house even smokes. It's really frustrating.

Anyway, so the drs didn't want to have to hospitalize him because babies so little have a really high chance of catching things in there. I mean think about it...hospitals are where sickness LIVES. But, Great News! Wetook him back to the Dr on Wednesday, and he's doing better. He's still having trouble breathing but each day it's getting more and more under control. They gave him another painful antibiotic shot and prescribed him some steroids to give in his breathing treatments. They want to see him once a week for the next month and then once a month for the next 3. They also want him to take the pulmicort (the breating treatment steroid) 4 times a day for another month after next weeks appt. Now for those who know me, you know that i hate giving my kids all kinds of medicines. I'm one of those parents that doesn't believe in over-medicating my child just because he's got some sniffles. I think your own immune system is stronger and your healthier if you let it fight on it's own. but, in some situations you do need antibiotics and medicine to help. ear infections, strep throat, pneumonia, just won't go away on it's own. If giving him all of this is what i have to do to make him better, than so be it. But i have to tell you, honestly, i pray over him a couple of times a day as well. Just a little xtra help, ya know? =)

So, to any of you who have babies out there. If they start to get a cough, please, don't hesitate to get them looked at by a Dr. right away. My baby got pneumonia within 2 days, so it's no joke. Please take it seriously!

Caleb James

Here's our new baby boy, Caleb James Garner, born on October 13, 2007. This also happens to be my older brother Josh's birthday and it was a special surprise for us.

Family Pics

Here a few pics of us....