Dancing and Answers

Well, our Labor Day was pretty uneventful. Clint went golfing during Ainsley's 3.5 hour nap and I just relaxed the entire time. By the time she woke up from her nap, her fever had finally broken! She was still pretty cranky that evening, but no fever made a world of difference.

I debated for a while on whether or not to take her to church with me Tuesday morning for bible study, but finally decided she'd probably be ok. After all, no one could tell me what was wrong with her and none of her playmates had gotten sick. For the first time since she was just a few months old, she didn't want to go into her classroom. Once she saw Veronika (Michael's mom) she decided it was ok, so I was off to bible study. My first break in 7 days! When I picked her up she immediately laid her head down on my shoulder and Veronika told me she had been laying under the table most of the morning. She took a terrible nap when we got home - only about an hour. I still thought she'd be ok, though, because she had slept over 12 hours that night. So, we were off to dance class!

Ainsley LOVED dancing! There are about 6 or 7 little girls in the class. The mommies stand in the back and encourage the girls to follow directions, wait their turn in line, etc. For the first 15 minutes Ainsley did great! She was doing all the move the teacher was doing, and went around to several of the other girls shaking their hands. But the last 15 minutes were a little different. She kept saying, "My turn!" and she'd go to the front of the room, face the girls, and pretend like she was the teacher. I was so embarrassed! I spent so much time putting her back on the red line where she was supposed to stand. But it all became clear when we got home. I thought she was just super excited to see her Daddy with the big hug and greeting he got, but then I realized that she had laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes...at 7:00pm! So, off to bed she went. She slept until 8:00am the next morning.

Here's a picture of her after dance lessons. She was SO thirsty! I'll have to get Clint to go with us and get some video sometime....

Wednesday we headed off to Toddler Toes. I thought it might do her some good to breath the fresh air, but that afternoon her cough got worse AND she started wheezing. As the night went on I got more and more concerned. I took her in the shower with me before bed so she could breath some of the steam. Now, this was an event she loved! She kept saying, "Look at the waterfall!" and "Catch it!" She wasn't ready to get out either. She was asleep by 7:45pm and continued the wheezing most of the night, but only woke up once and fell back to sleep after just a few seconds.

She woke up at 8:00am this morning and I called Wellquest to see when Dr. Fox came in. Turns out he was booked all morning and it would be late afternoon before they could see us. So, I made an appointment with his P.A. Misty. She was very nice! I might start going to her regularly. She assured me that there was NO way I was just an overprotective mom and apologized for the other doctor even suggesting it. After the chest x-rays she told me that she didn't want to say anything earlier, but she had feared the x-rays would show pneumonia. Well, no pneumonia but she did say we were right on the brink of it and it's good I brought her in when I did. She has a very severe case of bronchitis. Plus after more talking about her history and listening to her breathing, she was fairly certain that Ainsley has asthma. Especially after learning that I had an activity inhaler as a child too. So, Ainsley is now taking Singulair for her asthma/allergies, Donatussin for her cough, steroids to clear up the fluids and boost her immune system, and Albuterol for her wheezing/asthma. Yep, another expensive trip to the pharmacy...in addition to the monthly medication for Clint! The home health company came this afternoon and delivered the nebulizer and showed me how to work it. We did one treatment at the doctor's office, but they didn't have the infant masks, so I think it will be easier at home with the mask. I really hope she cooperates because the treatments take about 15 minutes. That's a long time for her to sit still with something up her nose! And they're too expensive for us to waste any of the vapors. I'm supposed to do it every 4 hours until her breathing gets better and then once a day for the next 3 months or so. I hope we don't have to go that long if the Singulair starts working.

Nonetheless, I am SO glad we decided to see the P.A. We got to talk to Dr. Fox for a while too. They seemed very concerned that she had not been treated last weekend when we took her in and said we were lucky that it hadn't gotten any worse. (Probably thanks to the antibiotics which will end tonight) Just a couple more days and I think we might join society again! She already seems to be feeling better. My only complaint is that today was my make-up day at Mom's Day Out and tomorrow is her regular school day. Looks like we're just going to miss this week. :( Since I work there some the director has been super sweet, though. She said she'd fit Ainsley in once she got to feeling better so I could have a break! :)

Another random thing, Ainsley has started saying, "No way, no way!" when she doesn't want something. It's usually when we're trying to get her to eat (she lost 3 pounds since she's been sick...26 lbs now) or getting her to take her medicine. Every once in a while she'll sa, "No ma'am", but it's usually, "No way, No way!" Yes, always twice. I'm not sure how to break this, but I'm working on it. I really don't like it! Well, I better go get ready for bunco. I need a night with the girls!