And so it begins... {Winter sickies}

BellaMei's birth defect (TEF/EA) increases her chances of respiratory infections. Thankfully, her issues appear to be mild compared to others with the same birth defect, but she's had more than her fair share of respiratory infections since she was born. She came to us sick and has been sick several times since then. Actually, during my first video chat with my mom when we were in China, I told her I thought BellaMei had pneumonia. She was breathing hard, belly-pushing, and had a harsh cough. She seems to fight the infections off on her own usually, but this time was different.  She started acting sick on Friday. On Saturday, she had a fever and had some stridor, but since she often sounds "junky" with her breathing, I didn't get concerned at first.  By Sunday morning (after Alex and I both got up to check on her multiple times through the night), I knew she needed to be seen. Both the Dr and the nurse went on and on about how awful she sounded, which made me feel like a bad mom for waiting to take her in.  Being an NP (who used to work in pediatrics) and mom of 6, I'm used to high fevers and yucky coughs. I'm used to her sounding raspy when she breathes. I don't like giving my kids unnecessary medication, but it was definitely needed this time.  She ended up getting a racemic epi treatment, steroid shot, and oral steroids to take at home. It was still 48 hrs before she started sounding better.  And I'm guessing this means we could be in for a long winter...

Sick but still so sweet. And those rosy cheeks. 😍