Mother Nature

It's not all good times; mother nature dealt us a bum deal this week! last Sunday they were calling for a rainy week. Hum, I thought, we could use the rain. What I didn't know was that it would rain day and night torrentially for four days! I have never seen anything like it. We received over 20" of rain! School was cancelled for two days! Let me tell you how much fun it is to be trapped inside with a 5 year old, 3 year old and 6 month old for three days straight. Nathan missed school on Wednesday as he had a bad asthma attack on Tuesday night. It was his first asthma attack and like always I sort of knew what to do. I had given him a breathing treatment before bed and other than a cough he wasn't wheezing so i figured I would just check on him through the night, it's not like i sleep so that would not be a problem. At 10:30 pm I checked on him and all was well. At 12am I heard a noise. The nose immediately sent me running after I realized it wasn't Owen. It was a high pitched squeak of a blocked airway. I hit the light and ran in and said, "Are you okay?" He looked at me with the biggest eyes I've ever seen and tried three times to breathe; there were squeaks of air going in but no exhale. I had the inhaler and in my limited asthma attack knowledge I thought those things are magic - you just take a breath in and you can breathe. Okay, what they don't tell you on the instructions is that no five year old who can't breathe is going to put a long tube up to his mouth and take a breath. Oh, and that the pressure of medicine that it emits is not enough to help a fly! I assured Nathan he would be fine, he just had to take a breath. All the while, I was trying to remain calm so he would not get worse, I was going nowhere and he was not looking good so I called 911. The operator was so fast, all i said was "Asthma attack 5 year old" and my address and then she started helping me. She asked if I had a nebulizer and when I said yes she said to forget the inhaler and use the nebulizer. Well, duuhhhh, why didn't I think of that? It was already set up downstairs and I think I carried him downstairs three at a time. Within two treatments of the nebulizer he was good as gold! When the ambulance arrived his blood O2 was 96% and I did not have them transport him to the hospital as it was coming up. I mean, what was I going to do with Caitlin and Owen sleeping soundly through it all upstairs? I headed to the doctor with Nathan at first light and he is being treated with antibiotics for a sinus infection. He has enough steriods to make Hulk Hogan jealous. The doctor also gave me a prescription to keep him on during cold season so we will hopefully not have any more attacks. So, we have been inside for three days; Nathan has either roid rage or maybe just 5-yr-old-boy-trapped-inside-for-3-days syndrome, Owen is teething and screaming and Caitlin woke up with a runny nose this morning but in pure Caitlin style she will be "Okay"! Finally, it has stopped raining, time to get everyone dressed and take a walk...a very, very long walk!!!