Asthma and Apples

When you're a parent, you dread that trip to the emergency room. One trip to the ER during childhood, from any parents' point of view, is one trip too many. Well, at the age of two, Eli has had enough trips to the emergency room to last well into old age! At eighteen months, he had to have stitches, at twenty months he had a rectal prolapse (didn't even know that could happen until it happened), and now at two, we can chalk up another ER visit. This ER visit was not as dramatic as the first two, but still just as unsettling. On Sunday, I noticed that he seemed to be breathing heavily at times and his little heart was racing. It wasn't until we got out of the car and Eli ran to Aunt Kathy that we all really noticed that his breathing was very rapid. So, James, Eli, and I headed for Huntsville Hospital Pediatric ER. Upon arrival, we were surprised to find that we did not have to wait at all. After the admitting RN listened to his breathing, they immediately took us back to a room and started Eli on a breathing treatment. I thought he would be scared of that smokey, unfamiliar mask being held over his mouth and nose, but he wasn't scared at all. James and I were actually laughing because it looked like Eli was really enjoying himself, trying to taste the vapor, sticking his tongue out and licking around inside the mask. The doc diagnosed him with "acute respiratory distress" and said it was "asthma." Asthma? I always thought of asthma as a chronic condition, but after speaking with the doc, she told me that this could only be a one time thing. Eli was playing in hay at Family Farm Day the day before this happened.

It is very possible that he had an allergic reaction to the hay. The doc also said that asthma is familial and asked if anyone in our family had asthma. After telling her no, I remembered that I, myself, have cat allergy induced asthma. Duh! Is it possible for brunettes to have blonde moments? Yes! Feeling like an idiot, when the doc came back in the room, I had to fess up, "Remember when you asked if anyone the family has asthma? Well, I don't know why I didn't think of this at the time, but I have cat allergy induced asthma." We both laughed about it. I know she must have been thinking I was so ditsy. Anyway, back to my baby boy. After the breathing treatment and a popsicle, Eli's breathing returned to normal. As we waited to make sure that Eli's breathing wouldn't remain normal, another nurse came in with another popsicle for him. Not too long after that, Eli began to wheeze again. The doctor wanted him to have an hour long breathing treatment. One hour? How in the world would my very active two year old sit still for an entire hour without being asleep? It just didn't seem possible. Well, did Eli surprise me! He was such a good boy. There were moments when he took the mask off, but for the most part, he was wonderful.
So, you know what that meant... time for another popsicle.
After this breathing treatment and a third popsicle, his breathing remained normal. Thank God! Eli's breathing is back to normal, and he hasn't had anymore problems.

Now to the "Apples" portion of this post...
As I prepared a mesh feeder for Bella and filled it with a chunk of a delicious honey crisp apple and then peeled an apple for Eli to eat, many images quickly flashed through my mind. I thought about Eli and how he used to eat homemade applesauce as a baby. When he finally got some teeth, I started making baked diced apples for him. As he got older, he progressed to eating raw, slivers of apples, next came apple slices, and now he can just eat the entire apple. What a big boy! I used to always worry about him choking on the apple slivers. "Stephen, don't cut them too thick, he'll choke on them." "Eli, baby, please be sure to chew your food." Now my sweet boy is so big, eating whole apples and not choking on them at all, eventhough, at times, I still have to remind him to take little bites. On another note, Eli's Cardinals hat finally fits his head. Stephen bought it for him, a long time ago, and it was so big (as you can tell from the picture). Big and all, Eli would wear it anyway. When Stephen would wear his Cardinals hat, so would Eli.

He put it on the other morning, and just like that, his head was big enough for it.



Little Miss Bella did something today that I didn't expect her to do for a while. She pulled up to a standing position. Go Bella! She has also been sticking her tongue out all the time. It's the cutest thing. She'll smile and stick out her tongue at the same time.

I remember when Eli was Bella's age, he would do the same thing.
I never remembered reading anything about that in any baby books. I thought it was just something Eli did, but now that Bella is doing it, too it makes me wonder if it may be hereditary. :-) I love you, Stephen!