Samuel is sick.

6:15 AM, Friday
Samuel woke up happy, as usual. After dropping the kids off at school, Bryn and Samuel went with me to Walmart. The entire time I held him or he rode in the buggy.

11 a.m., I noticed a raised circle by his nose- like a mosquito bite. He and Bryn sat down to watch a movie.

2:15 p.m., I went to turn the tv and DVD player off and saw his cheeks were red and swollen with hives. I called Johnny at work and he said to give him Benadryl. The rash was on his arms and legs, but not his feet or torso. Within 30 minutes, he was asleep in his carseat and the rash was gone. I thought it might be a milk allergy because he had no other symptoms and he had just had yogurt and chocolate milk. We picked up the kids from school and I took Samuel to the hospital to show Johnny. We decided to keep him away from dairy and keep the Benadryl handy.

5:36 PM, Samuel has a fever, 99.8.

6:43 PM, hives are back.

7:30 PM, Johnny comes home, listens to Samuel's breathing- its clear. Samuel's temperature is 102.9. We give Samuel Benadryl and Tylenol, put him to bed.

1:30 AM Saturday, Johnny gets up to give more medicine. Samuel has a higher fever Not sure about the rash, but his breathing has changed. He's very congested.

3:50 AM, Samuel wakes up crying and coughing, gets in bed with us.

4:15 AM, Johnny has his stethoscope and is listening to Samuel. His lungs are congested really bad. He calls into work and says he wants to be put on call (he was supposed to be anyway, so he confirmed it.) We get dressed to go to the ER.

5:00 AM, Samuel gets triaged. His fever is 103. He gets lab work. Doctor gives prescriptions for antibiotic and breathing treatments.

7:30 AM, Samuel feels better and wants breakfast, so we eat in the cafeteria while waiting for Walmart's pharmacy to open.

8:00 AM, naps in the parking lot.

9:00 AM, Johnny goes in to get the meds.

9:08 AM, temperature 101.1.

9:45 AM, We get home and give Samuel his antibiotic and ibuprofen, which he promptly throws up, along with his breakfast.

10:00 AM, After a bath to lower his temperature, he gets his antibiotic and Johnny gets called into work. Thank goodness for the nap in the car.

10:42 AM, Albuterol breathing treatment while Samuel naps. Rash is back and changes every 15-20 minutes.

11:15 AM, gave 1 acetaminophen suppository.

1:50 PM, Johnny has me count his breaths per minute, it's 39.

2:07 PM, After talking to a pediatrician, he tells me to bring him back to the ER.

2:29 PM, I'm in the ER, the rash is gone, still has fever, give him ibuprofen.

4:15 PM, they will admit him. He gets chest X-rays. Rash is back and changing quickly, but never itches.

Okay, so you get the idea. They said its pneumonia, but it's more like a viral bronchitis and we don't know what the rash is.

Last night was rough because of the frequent visits from the super friendly staff. No, I'm not being sarcastic, I really like the staff here, it just wasn't easy to sleep. Samuel tossed and turned a lot. His rash came and went yesterday and into the night. They gave him Benadryl at bedtime and it didn't come back until this morning, and then it was only small areas that didn't last long. He had a fever of 100.6 early this morning. The doctor said he has to be fever free 24 hrs before he can go home, so we'll be here another night. Tomorrow a dermatologist is supposed to come check out the rash, and if it's not there, he can look at these lovely pictures.

Johnny was supposed to work today, but couldn't because of me being here with Samuel and Olivia started running a fever yesterday. Hers is not related though- it's upper respiratory. He'll have to take the kids to school in the morning. Also tomorrow, Johnny starts a new online 5-week nursing course. Maybe he can bring the laptop up here and work on it.

Samuel is going to be fine. They've changed his breathing treatments from every 4 hrs, to every 6, which means he sounds clearer. His fever is gone now and he hasn't had much of a rash today.

What makes this extra hard and sad is that tomorrow is Bryn's 5th birthday! Hopefully Samuel and I will home in time for a party!