Reactive Airway Disease, RSV and all that good stuff!

McKenna was diagnosed with Reactive Airway Disease this past fall when she got pneumonia for the second time in her short life! That basically means that whenever she gets a simple cold or virus it is likely that all that junk will end up in her lungs. It also means that it is more likely that she will have asthma when she's a bit older. With this in mind we have been diligent about running a humidifier ALL THE TIME and we give her breathing treatments at the slightest sign of trouble. I am constantly harping on everyone about hand washing and this time all that just wasn't enough.

(McKenna's cute little humidifier. Anyone have one like it? I haven't figured out a good way to clean the inside. Let me know if you have a suggestion.)

McKenna's been pretty sick since last Wednesday. I had her at the doctor on Thursday hoping for an antibiotic to head this off. They thought she was just teething and even told me to stop the nebulizer treatments. Glad I didn't listen. Sometimes mommies just know their babies best! On Saturday Ryan took her back in and they said it wasn't in her lungs, but that we should definitely start doing nebulizer treatments (like we had already been doing). Today she was worse, so I took all five kids (Em had a teacher work day today) to the pediatrician's office. I hate taking them all there first of all because it's just a nightmare to keep everyone in line and quiet and then there's all the buckling of car seats and holding hands in the parking lot. But I especially HATE it because that place is filled with germs. So we broke out McKenna's birthday present a little early and used it in the waiting room, so we wouldn't be tempted to touch other germ infested stuff.

(You're probably wondering why on earth we're giving a one year old a DVD player. Doesn't seem so appropriate does it. But I really wanted it and needed an excuse to buy it. It's so great. Great in the doctor's office. Great in the car. The kids can drop it and it doesn't matter. It's going to be quite handy. If you want one go to TARGET, I got this one 50% off).

I was armed with lollipops, movies and skittles and the whole thing went pretty well until they told me I was going to have to go to the hospital for an RSV test for McKenna.

Yup, they think she has RSV which really stinks because it can be very serious and because it's a virus and they can't do much for her. I'm not too worried because McKenna is pretty tough. She doesn't have any other medical issues to complicate this, so I'm not panicked. They sucked some mucus out of her nose and put it on ice for me to take to the hospital, which meant buckling all five again and then unbuckling them and then buckling them again when we were done. I just couldn't handle the thought of it, so I called Amy and told her I needed her. It's quite convenient that she works right next to the hospital, so she sat in the car with the five, while I went in and took care of all the lab paper work.

Whew! We're home and just waiting to hear if it's RSV. Pray that it's not. I'm going to get dinner for my kiddos and then head back out to the pharmacy to pick up McKenna's prescription. Oh and did I mention that we're really missing our Daddy. This stuff always happens when he's gone.