Today I Yawned.

I am always amazed how I can roll over, after only being asleep in bed for 3-4 hours, look at the sweet little sleeping face next to me and feel nothing but love and happiness.  No resentment or irritation because, once again, I didn't get to go to sleep until 4am, or 5am, or 6am, or 7am.  My baby is truly nocturnal. 

(she's got probiotic powder around her mouth.  i give that to her to help her little digestive system.  and to ward off thrush from the antibiotics.)

So.  Pertussis (or whatever it is) up date:

I had all three of my kids tested.  My mother had 6 of her kids tested (the ones who had running noses or coughs).  Britt is the only one who tested positive.  Yet, every one has this thing!  And I mean everyone.  Me, Tony, our kids, and just about all of my siblings (14 of them anyway) have the same exact symptoms.  And only 1 out of 9 tested positive.  We all took a round of antibiotics.  So, no one is contagious (if is IS whooping cough).  Elle is the only one with a bad cough that leads to restricted breathing and wheezing.  I took her to the hospital on Saturday to get her some albutirol.  She wasn't wheezing much by the time we got there but they gave it to me anyways.  It's a good thing because she definitely needed it on Sunday and today.  We got her come natural cough syrup and homeopathic calming drops today too.

She does well as long as she remains calm.  When she gets upset she coughs a ton and then the wheezing starts up and being asthmatic myself, that scares me. 

Ash and Britt have little colds with only the occasional tiny cough. 

The lady at the health department said that pertussis is at least a 2 week long illness, with a cough that lasts that long too.  We'll see.  I have my doubts about this being pertussis.  Elle's doctor said that pneumonia, bronchitis, and RSV are ruled out because Elle has no fever.  I guess you can have a fever with whooping cough and you can also not have one. 

So, it would seem that whatever this illness is, we were very blessed.  The coughing of pertussis often leads to vomiting (lovely, I know).  We've had none of that (knock on wood that that remains the case).  Britt's symptoms have been mild the whole time and Ash only had a mean cough for two days.  I have a sore throat.  Tony coughs at night.  Elle still needs to be watched constantly and kept calm.  Which means we get to stay home until she's well because being in the car seat induces the screams of a banshee from her!

Thank you for all your prayers!  They were heard, I'm quite sure of it.

P.S.  I have been neglecting my blog visiting.  Please don't think I don't care what is going on in your lives too.  I'm just a bit overwhelmed right now.  I'll get back to reading in the near future.  :)