Little Girl Sick

Molly just can't get a break! First she comes down with a mystery rash and now it appears that she's caught another bug. She's been coughing a little bit for a couple of days, but last night she was coughing, wheezing, breathing hard, and sporting a little fever. She was uncomfortable and miserable and kept waking up -- I don't think she slept more than an hour at a time. This morning she was even worse and definitely not her usual self -- when all my kids want to do is sit quietly on Mama's lap, I know they need to pay a visit to the doctor.

We managed to get an afternoon appointment with our pediatrician. Molly had a 100.5 degree fever, weighed in at a little under 26 pounds, and when they dragged out the pulse ox (which always brings back some great NICU memories :P), the best number they could get was a 94 (not terrible, but not great either). The doctor listened to her lungs and she was pretty wheezy, so we gave her a breathing treatment in the office to see how she responded. Her lungs cleared up after the treatment and she started to perk up a bit -- instead of just sitting quietly on my lap, she started chattering away and wanted to explore the exam room. So, the diagnosis was an upper respiratory infection, probably bronchiolitis, almost certainly caused by a viral infection (RSV or something similar). The doctor prescribed her some nebulizer time and a brief round of steroids.

The meds seem to be helping a lot and Molly was feeling much better tonight. She's horribly overtired and still seems to be having trouble sleeping, but she was playing and talking and getting into mischief. Hopefully she'll kick this virus soon and be well for Christmas. Now if we can only keep Max from catching it ...