A is for Asthma....

Asthma is a chronic condition involving the respiratory system in which the airways occasionally constricts, becomes inflamed, and is lined with excessive amounts of mucus, often in response to one or more triggers.--definition from Wikipedia
I never dreamed that this little word and its definition would ever have such an impact on my family. Our son Benjamin has been diagnosed with Asthma. Our first experience with an asthma attack was in December of last year. I thought it was a severe cold or maybe even bronchitis. He had a horrible cough that would not be soothed by any of the over the counter cough syrups that are available. When I took him to see our doctor, the doctor immediately said to me, "Let's not rule out the possibility of asthma." After we ruled out the possibility of Pneumonia and RSV he was pretty sure Asthma was our daisy.

I am ashamed to admit that I didn't take it very seriously when my doctor told me Benj had asthma. Honestly, this is what I thought..."I know lots of people who have asthma and they are just fine. Surely, this attack was just a coincidence and it would never get this bad again." I didn't realize how dangerous it could really be. I guess I am the kinda of person who has to learn things the hard way. For those of you who read my last post, we had to come home early from St. George because Benj was sick. Well, it went from bad to worse. By Sunday we were minutes away from Benjamin being rushed to the ER in ambulance and that was while I was sitting in my doctor's office. He had a temperature of 104.7 degrees and was literally struggling for every breath. Asthma was real to me in that moment. I understood better than anyone could have explained to me of how ugly an asthma attack can be. I wanted so bad to trade places with my baby. With every breath that I took I became more frustrated with myself because I was breathing so effortlessly. It is so weird the kind of promises you will make to God if he will just ease your child's pain.

We made it through that 5 day attack with lots of visits to the doctor's office and even more medication. I have a whole new respect for Asthma and I am willing to do anything that is required of me to make sure that my little Lito never gets that sick again! If any one has any good books or websites that you can recommend to me I would love to hear about them.

The Very Elusive St. George Trip!

So, I had an opportunity to go to St. George with some friends in early April. I wanted to go so bad, but circumstances would not permit. I reluctantly said goodbye to that trip and stayed home for the rest of the weekend. I moped with as much intensity as I could muster. I swear it was equivalent to being the only girl who didn't go to her senior prom! Despite all of my doom and gloom there was a glimmer of hope for me. I had another chance to go to St. George the first weekend of May.

Redemption!

My girlfriends and I left on Thursday morning for St. George with just our babies in tow. The older kids were staying home for the weekend and the Daddies were going to meet us in St. George on Friday. It was slated to be a fabulous weekend. Thursday lived up to my expectation. We talked, munched and soaked up the wonderful sun. (Side note: When we left Lehi it was snowing!) So soaking up the sun was a very big deal for me. The kids were being so good. Benjamin was so happy to have me all to himself. He was delighted with all of the attention he was getting. So the sun went down on Thursday, and I was completely satisfied and relaxed. The sun came up on Friday morning and everything began to change. I didn't feel great, Benjamin was starting to show signs of an asthma attack, and my babysitting situation at home was not going exactly as planned. My utopian dream was beginning to fade and fast. Jon and the other Daddies showed up late Friday afternoon. By that time I had a sinking feeling that we would be cutting our trip short. Ok so to make an already long story short...We had to wake Jared and Kelly up at 2 am and ask them if we could use their car to take our sick baby home. Jon had been in St. George for just about 8 hrs at that time and portion of that time was split between work and sleep. He didn't even get to go to dinner with everyone the night he arrived!



So for the second time in two months my relaxing get away to St. George escaped me. Thanks to Kelly I do have some pictures of me enjoying the time I had.