Christmas Eve...In the Emergency Room

On Christmas Eve, Dave's Mom, brothers and sister came up for a visit and to exchange presents.  The boys eagerly awaited Grandma's arrival!
 

Ashleigh helped prepare the snacks

The table set with light snacks for our guests

Grandma brought big presents!

Dave putting together the Razor Rip Rider for Reed

Clayton took on his uncles in some X-Box hockey.

As you can see from his expression, he's serious about his gaming LOL!

Ashleigh with her Barbie townhouse

Dave giving Clayton some tips on how to ride his Razor scooter from Grandma

My mother-in-law gave Dave a Kindle Fire for Christmas.  And for me...my first  pieces of Le Creuset cookware!  Two rectangular dishes and a dutch oven.  I can't wait to use these in the kitchen!  

After our visit with Dave's family, we were planning to ride around and look at Christmas lights as part of our tradition.  But plans changed later that evening.  Reed had been coughing throughout the day, but by the evening he was wheezing and rather lethargic.  We rushed off to the emergency room where he was quickly taken back and started on a breathing treatment and an oral steriod.  His temperature had also jumped up to 101.  He was given a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia (negative thankfully!).  After several breathing treatments (and some anxious hours), his oxygen levels returned to normal and his fever began to drop.  The doctor on call stopped short of calling it an asthma attack due to Reed's age.  He said at this point, it's referred to as "reactive airway disease".  Reed had a similar incident when he was a year old and needed to be hospitalized overnight for bronchitis.  It's still unclear if Reed will need to use asthma treatments when he's older.  Some kids grow out of the symptoms.  With Reed, the wheezing is not a daily issue.  But it is something we have to be especially vigilant about any time he gets a cold.  With him, some colds are just colds and pass without incident.  At other times, it leads to respiratory distress.   

Luckily, this time didn't require an overnight stay in the hospital.  We got back home around 11:30pm to find Ashleigh and Clayton already asleep.  By the morning, Reed was up and ready to see what Santa brought for Christmas!  Lots of Captain America stuff if you couldn't tell :)

Mary Ellen