Pneumonia

Miles and Vivienne have both had head colds on and off for the past 2 or 3 weeks.  Actually, it kind of feels like someone either has the sniffles or congestion throughout the whole winter, but they always seem to be feeling fine (and always love going out on the playgrounds even in cooler weather). 

A few days ago, Vivienne's congestion increased considerably.  She still didn't have a fever, though, so we didn't do anything about it.  We have a humidifier in their room to help with the dry air, but I always wonder how much of a difference that really makes.

Yesterday, Vivienne woke up with this horrible cough.  She was coughing constantly, and she would cough so hard that she was actually gagging herself.  She was crying a lot, but still had no fever.  I called the pediatrician, and they recommended that I bring her in.  Our wonderful neighbor, Jessie, stayed with Miles while I took Vivienne in.  (Huge thanks to Jessie for helping out at the last minute!)

When we got there, they did all the usual stuff - temperature (still no fever), pulse-ox, etc.  The doctor listened to hear lungs and could hear some whistling.  She said,"Well, she's got a little pneumonia in there."  A little pneumonia?!?  Apparently, Vivienne has a mild case of pneumonia.  At first, this sent a sense of shock through me, but I realized that it's not as dire as pneumonia usually sounds (usually makes me think of hospitalization and people dying).  We have her on amoxicillin twice a day now.

Yesterday became a Sesame Street Marathon day.  I think we honestly watched at least 5 episodes.  Vivienne wouldn't nap, so I just rocked her in the recliner and we watched Elmo.  Lots and lots of Elmo.  When Jason got home from work (and the Hallelujah Chorus could be heard from above), we discovered that Vivienne had a fever over 102.  (Funny that I wrote 2 posts ago about how she has never had a fever.  So much for that!!)  We gave her one dose of Tylenol, and the fever hasn't come back since then.

She seems to be eating fairly well.  She is upstairs resisting a nap right now, even though I know she's exhausted.  I'm hoping that she gets some good rest today.  Both she and I could probably use the break.

Apparently, pneumonia isn't as crazy contagious as a lot of people think.  We're probably more likely to get the virus that caused the cold that turned into pneumonia than we are likely to get the pneumococcus or other bacteria from her lungs. 

I'll be glad when my sweet baby girl is feeling like herself again.  Poor little Viv.  She was pretty pitiful yesterday.