Day 9~ Modern Medicine!

It has been a rough couple of days/nights in our house.

We had Emily sick last week with a cough that lasted almost 2 weeks. Now overlapping that, Madeline has had a cough for over a week and Ashley started coughing last night.

Sigh... coughing kids = little sleep.

Thank goodness we have a nebulizer at home that allows us to give breathing treatments to the girls. When they get sick we have to be on top of things and give a treatment every four hours! I can't tell you how many trips to the ER this little machine has prevented! We did land at the doctor's today and Madeline has bronchitis. Poor thing has a tummy ache from coughing so much. She has been set up with a nice round of antibiotics and heavy duty cough medicine for bedtime. Ashley is still walking a fine line between healthy and sick so for her we just give the breathing treatments for preventative measures. Emily had an ear infection with her cough and has completed her round of antibiotics. She seems to be back to normal.


Over the summer, Ashley and Madeline had ear tubes put in. The procedure was relatively quick and was done on an outpatient basis from our hospital. Both girls we STARS! We had both girls have their procedures the same morning. Emily stayed with my parents and kept them busy! It's something we have hemmed and hawed over for a couple years- but when we hit May this year and both STILL had ear infections from March that we could not clear up, we knew it was time. The great news is that both girls had CLEAR ears today!!! Despite being sick- their ear tubes are doing their jobs! Yes- I wish we would have done it sooner, but I am still so grateful that we did it this summer. They have been great about keeping their ears dry and reminding me to put their ear plugs in at bath time. We also bought these "cool" headbands for them to wear when they are swimming to help keep the ear plugs in place. We only got to use them once this summer because our weather stunk, but we had a fun day when we did! I am so thankful to have the ability to treat my children for their illnesses, at home for the most part, and for the fact that we can avoid the ER (aka GERM area!) as much as possible! ;o)