My Poor Baby! :(

My poor little baby girl has been sick for awhile. She started out with a cold that got progressively worse. She had been fighting off a cold for about 4 days as of Jan 14th 2009. On Friday evening on the 16th she started running a fever. Come Saturday the fever got higher. She already had a cough and runny nose. She was now hacking up green mucus and she had green junk coming out of her nose as well. The fever was the new part of her cold. I called the her pediatrician and explained what has been going on. I also explained to her that my baby was treated not very long ago for an ear infection on Jan 3rd 2009 and not quite 30 days before that she was treated for another ear infection in the opposite ear on 12-08-08. I told her that she was seen in there office in December and was given Amoxicillin for 10 days, and on Jan 3 she was given another dose of Amoxicillin which was a little stronger for 7 days from Trinity Express Care Clinic. Now she is sick once more only this time she has a cough and a runny nose of which she was coughing up some green mucus and it was also coming out of her nose. So the Doctor told me that she would give her some Agumentin. She explained to me that it has another antibiotic in it besides the Amoxicillin which works well with together to clear up infections when one alone is just not cutting it. The Doctor told me that what probably happened is her ear infection must not have cleared up completely and it was helping to cause the cough and nose thing. So I agreed that I would bring her in the doctor's office first thing on Tuesday to be seen, since Monday was a holiday and the office would be closed. Well the next day she was still the same and no improvement on anything. I was fine with her up until after we woke up from a late nap. It was about 6:30pm when my baby woke me up crying, (she was sleeping next to me) she laid her head on my arm and I noticed that she felt like a little fireball. She felt hotter than ever, so I took her temperature and it was 103 degrees and it didn't get to finish reading her temp. because she pulled it out from her arm. She was whining and wanted it out, so I didn't make her do it again. As I was holding her I quickly noticed that she was breathing very fast. Like she just got done running a marathon and she just couldn't catch her breath. So I called the doctor's office again, (mind you it was the emergency line for the Pediatrician) I told her that my baby wasn't getting better and that her fever was higher than ever and she was now having difficulty breathing. The Doctor explained to me that a lot of times when children run a high fever they start to breath faster. The Doctor asked me if I had been giving her Motrin and alternating with Tylenol. I said yes, however only the Motrin seemed to be the most effective in helping to bring her temp. down and that from my medication log she was do for another dose of Motrin. The doctor told me to give it to her and she explained that if her breathing doesn't improve once her temperature goes down, then I would have to take her to be seen at the Emergency room because she cannot wait until Tuesday to be seen. So I waited about 5 minutes and then I called my friend Brenda over to my house to observe my baby and to make sure that I wasn't crazy about her breathing. She herself was very concerned about her breathing and told me not to wait and just take her to the Hospital. She gave us a ride since my car quit running. By the time we arrived her fever had gone down to 100.5 however she was still having difficulty breathing. She was acting just fine minus the breathing. Her pulse ox was at 100 percent so that was good. We were taken back in the ER right away and she was examined by the nurse who agreed that her breathing was too fast and noticed the wheezing along with it. She left the room and almost as quickly as she left the doctor came in fast and examined my daughter. He said that yes her breathing was of great concern for them so he said that they would do some blood work, get a chest x-ray, and give her a breathing treatment. Then he left the room. A few minutes later a different person came in to give my baby her breathing treatment. I swear it didn't help but the lady said that my baby sounded better. Well about 20 or 30 minutes later the nurse came back in and checked her breathing. She said, "Does it sound like she is still breathing fast to you?" I said, "Yes, I thought so after she had the treatment but the other lady said that she sounded better." The nurse left and the doctor hurried back in the room to listen to my baby's breathing and he agreed that she was back to the same condition before the breathing treatment was administered. Then he left to speak with my daughter's doctor over the phone. Before we knew it we were taken to the X-ray department and she had her chest X-rays done. Then we got back to the room she soon had her blood drawn from someone for the Lab department. After about an hour the doctor came back into the room and explained the test results to Brenda and I. So far the blood work was good and the chest X-rays were good. He said that he and my daughter's Pediatrician felt like she has asthma and her being sick with bronchitis caused her to have an asthma attack. We don't want to call it asthma just yet since she is so young but we feel this is what she has. So they sent us home with a nebulizer so that I can continue to give her breathing treatments at home along with a steroid called Prednisolone to help keep her airways open, I am to continue the antibiotics and follow up with her doctor on Tuesday. Okay, I was comfortable enough to take her home and was confident that her breathing would get better. When we got home I tried to give her the liquid steroid that was prescribed but she puked it up as soon as I gave it to her. So I tasted it. Well let me tell you it smelled like it would taste good but I was deceived, it was horrible and I wanted to vomit from the taste myself. So I looked at the clock and it was time for a breathing treatment which she clearly needed, so I gave it to her. I decided to try the steroid in the morning when I could mix it with some juice. On the morning of Monday the 19th my baby was still sick and she was now vomiting everything I put in her mouth and then some. I called the doctor's office and spoke to the other doctor that was now on call. He told me to continue doing what I was doing. Not to force anything and continue to offer her fluids. If she still continues to vomit call back. Well she quit vomiting enough that I was able to get her to take some Motrin mixed with juice. She quit vomiting but she was still dry heaving. She tried to refuse almost all the liquid I would give her to drink but I kept trying anyway. We made it through the day and night. Come Tuesday it was a different yet the same story. I got my older daughter up and ready for school while my baby slept. I made her a bottle of formula since she was refusing table food. She only wanted to drink, so I figured since she will still drink it then I'll continue to give it to her so she is still getting some kind of nourishment. She drank it while she was half asleep, and I let her rest all morning. When we both woke up at 11am I gave her some Motrin because her fever was just as high as the night before and it was past the time for a dosage. Only this time I only got to put a few drops in her mouth and then she started vomiting all over my bedroom. She threw up all of that formula that she drank at 7:30am everything she had she threw back up and then some. I didn't know that she had that much in her to vomit out. I couldn't wait to get her to her appointment that afternoon. When I finally got her there and we saw her doctor. The Doctor felt that the Agumentin was too blame for her upset stomach not just the sinus drainage. So she said that we could try something else. I reminded her of the Zythromax that she had when she was about 3 months old when she had pneumonia. That worked well. She said we could do that or they could give her a shot of antibiotics. So I agreed to the shot to save me the trouble of trying to get her to swallow and keep down another medication. As for the steroid she gave me a prescription for it in dissolve able tablet. So that it could dissolve in her mouth and there would be a lesser chance of her vomiting it back up. Then she told me that she would give me a prescription for some suppositories that would help her with her nausea and vomiting so that she could keep her fluids down to keep her from getting dehydrated. Then she told me that she wanted my baby back in the office again on Thursday, January 22nd to make sure that her breathing was improving and that she was getting well because my baby has been sick long enough. You don't have to tell me about that I already know that she has been sick too long, and I can't wait until she is better. So I tell you I am trying my best for my baby and I hope this will help her to get better. I say a prayer every night for her to get well soon. I hope it helps. I'll keep you posted while I can. I only found a brief moment to blog about this since I have been occupied with the task of motherhood. I haven't been to work this week and from the way things have been I may not get to work at all this week. Plus, my car is still broken down and I am relying on my good friends for help with transportation to appointments. Thank goodness I have some money saved up to be able to pay them for their gas usage.
Until next time have a good day and I hope to have better things to blog about.