Smith Family Weblog

In the list of Olivia’s milestones, we can now add “First Trip to the Emergency Room.”

We spent close to five hours there on Saturday afternoon after Olivia’s cold symptoms worsened. She woke up from her nap breathing very rapidly, and I noticed that her hands, feet and that little spot below her bottom lip all had a blue tinge. I touched base with the doctor on call at our family practice, and she instructed us to take her in the ER for evaluation.

Of course, by the time we arrived, she was pink, happy and breathing regularly. They did a quick evaluation when we walked in the door, then we were promptly bumped by a motorcycle accident, a heart attack and–get this–a sword injury. I tried to convince her that we’d be seen faster if she’d pitch a fit in the waiting room, but she insisted on entertaining everyone with gratuitous smiles instead.

She was dressed in blue, and eventually I tired of correcting everyone who said, “Oh what a cute little guy!” The next comment was usually, “How old is he, seven or eight months?” Then, of course, “Wow–that’s a big baby for four months!”

When we did make it back into a room, I found that there were at least two other babies there. It was probably just the blue shirt, but even the nurses would refer to Olivia as if she were a boy. I started to get nervous they were confusing her with one of the other babies, so every time someone would come in, I’d stop them at the door and say, “This is OLIVIA SMITH and we are here for LUNG ISSUES.” And then, “…yes, she’s really only four months old. I know. She’s huge.” It was exhausting.

They ordered a set of chest X-Rays, which showed that she did not have pneumonia, and a test for RSV came back negative. The doctor thought she had a virus that settled into her lungs, and he guessed that mucus had blocked a passageway causing the breathing difficulty. She had obviously resolved it on her own, but a respiratory therapist administered a breathing treatment and tried to suction more mucus from her chest via a catheter. We had the option to stay overnight for observation, but we decided to bring her home and keep an eye on her here.

We’re continuing the breathing treatments with a nebulizer–this will help to keep her airways open and clear. We decided that we should stay up with her to make sure she’s breathing normally, so we’re trading shifts throughout the night.

Olivia remains happy and sweet–aside from a stuffy nose, she seems just fine. She’s sound asleep in her swing, perfectly pink (in blue).