Pneumonia? Fevers? Coughs? Welcome back germ season.

Our sweet little Giuliana has finally fully recovered from pneumonia.

Rocco had brought home a bad cough from school at the end of September. He didn't have any other symptoms, but we brought him to the doctor anyway. She confirmed that nothing else was going on, and said it was just a cough. It took about 7 days for Giuliana to catch it. Then, that night she also came down with a nasty fever that started around 11pm and spiked up to 103.6 a little after midnight. I was able to control it by switching every 3 hours between i.buprofren and a.cetaminophen. But, she still had a fever the next day, which was a Friday, so I decided to take her in to the pedi before the weekend. Dr. C said her lungs sounded good, no ear infection, throat looked good. So, we assumed her body was just very busy fighting a virus.

Her fever continued over the weekend, although thankfully it never went over 102.5. But, I noticed her cough changed over the weekend. It went from being a dry cough to a wet cough... sounding like mucus was in her lungs. So, we went back to the doctor Monday morning. And, sure enough... our sweet little girl was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was prescribed a.zithromyacin and I knew it would be a battle getting her to take the medicine, but my plan was to give it to her in ice cream... because that's how I got her to take it back in July.

Well, as it turns out, my 21 month old child is so stubborn and willful that she can easily sniff out medicine and outsmart any medicine-giving strategies I come up with. i tried hiding it in ice cream - she flat out refused the ice cream, I tried giving her a straight shot of chocolate syrup (w/medicine in it), and she also refused it. I tried giving it to her in a syringe, a spoon, a cup and from a straw. So, then I had to try the tough method... so I pinned her down, and by the time I finished that method, there was more medicine in her hair, on her clothes, and on my clothes... and I'm not sure any of it actually made it into her mouth. She actually grabbed the syringe from me at one point and in the battle and pushed all the medicine out so fast that it went flying into the air and hit my face and hair, and her hair. I swear... if someone would have been watching this they probably would have thought we were both crazy! I had to call the pedi and tell them we wasted an entire bottle of medicine. And after telling them all the strategies I used, they told me we'd have to bring her in for shots. I was relieved to hear that though... at least we would KNOW she was getting the medicine.

So, we did 2 days of shots, and went in again on the third day to get 2 chest xrays so we could see if she needed another set of shots. Talk about stressful! I couldn't be in the xray room with her and she was screaming "momma, momma, hold me!!" at the top of her lungs. It was heart breaking! Then, when I got her back in my arms and calmed her down... she had to get a third set of shots...ugh! Poor baby! If only you could reason with a 21 month old and tell them "this is why you have to take your medicine!".

In addition to bringing Giuliana to the pedi 4 times last week, we also had to bring Rocco in again too. His cough was going on week #3 and with Giuliana being diagnosed with pneumonia, we were worried he might develop something worse too. Miraculously, our little dude's lungs are getting so much stronger! This is such a relief... when he was an infant, he would get bronchitis, pneumonia, or RSV at the drop of a hat. Over the past year, Rocco's lungs and immune system have finally gotten over the hump of succumbing to serious sickness within days of catching a simple cold. HOORAY!!!

Giuliana continued with a low-grade fever through Friday... poor little thing! Almost nine days of having a fever that lingered between 99.5 and 100.3. Sunday brought her a nasty cold... snot everywhere and lots of sneezing. By Monday, her cough was finally gone though. And, by Tuesday, my funny, silly, stubborn little girl was back to her normal antics, which was such a relief for me.

I know a fever is nothing a parent should stress over or fear. The fever itself is of course just a sign that the body is doing it's job and trying to fight a virus or infection. But, if you're THIS momma... a fever is stressful. I can't sleep, adrenaline rushes through my body, and I obsess over what is wrong with my child. It brings out my PTSD more than anything else... because Matteo died the night he went to bed with a high fever. He didn't have a seizure, pneumonia, swine flu, or any other known virus. He just had a fever. And, he died. The coroner told us that by all accounts, he looked like a perfectly healthy little 18 month old boy... all of his organs were beautiful. No sign of any issues. To this day, this makes me so angry and hurt... I will never know why he died. My little guy was just cheated out of life... and a fever is the only thing I knew to be wrong that night.

So, I'd like to tell germ season to suck it... leave my kids alone. That's all. Thanks!