Sick (Again)

Layla gave us quite the scare the other night. She woke up, after sleeping for about four hours, and was struggling to breathe. When a breath would come out it came out sounding eerily similar to a bark (yes, croup). It was so scary and if it happens again, I now know to take Layla outside to the cool air to help open up her airway. You can read up on croup here. I only put the link there because I wish I had read up on it before it happened because it was a pretty jarring experience.

Layla ended up in the ER and was given two breathing treatments right away followed by many tests (Layla's favorite, right?!?). As the blood tests and x-rays came back, it was discovered that Layla also had bronchitis that thankfully was caught before it developed into pneumonia. The oddest thing to me was Layla wasn't sick at all prior to this episode in the middle of the night. Layla did have a bit of a runny nose and had been sick about a week and half prior to the that night, but all day she had a hearty appetite, a happy demeanor and no coughing. The ER doctor said that it looked and sounded like the cough had healed but really it never did.

Now for the sweet side of the story. There was a bit of a hero that evening and he came in the form of an orange cat. I was downstairs sewing (with the baby monitor) and Ryan was already sleeping for the evening (did I mention that he had tested positive for Strep Throat that day?). Blue, our orange kitty, heard Layla "barking" in the room and he started yowling and throwing himself up against Layla's nursery door. Blue woke up Ryan (Ryan thought there was a wild animal in our house by the way Blue was acting) and Ryan was headed to the nursery as I was coming up the stairs to check on Layla and see why I heard her "talking" in the monitor. We opened up the door, to Blue's relief, and found Layla in her distressed state. I am so thankful Ryan had woken up at the same time that I was headed into the nursery because one might say I freaked out (who me??) at the state Layla was in. So it turns out....."Blue the Hero Kitty," who would have thought??

Layla is doing fine now. In addition to the breathing treatments, she was given two antibiotic shots at the hospital to ward off the pneumonia and a prescription for an antibiotic (her first!). Miss Layla has been a little under the weather but thankfully nothing too serious at all. We go for a follow-up appointment to Layla's doctor in the next couple days and we will see if Layla is healed enough to go to Shea's big Elmo party this weekend. She will not go if she is contagious at all, but I just cannot believe she may miss Shea's big day! I think Shea may be more shocked if I show up with no Layla. I have a feeling he may follow me around saying, "Where Layla?"

Layla is on the path to health and Ryan is feeling pretty good too...and I am hoping to stay healthy! Hope all of you are feeling good too :-)