The fourth trip

Early Sunday morning, Maxwell had his fourth visit to the ER.

In his short (lest than one year) life, he has seen the inside of an emergency room four times.

He looks like he really enjoys spending time there, right (is that why we keep going back)?

Maxwell had been sick with a cold for a few days, but woke up Saturday evening with terrible croup.

It came on so suddenly and scared us to death.  His breathing was very labored.

And it reminded us of all the health scares following his cleft lip surgery.

We had deja vu as we panicked, administered full doses of steroids and reminded him to breath.

We decided to drive into town and stay with Michael's parents, so we would be closer to the hospital.

Maxwell was doing better, but we wanted to be safe.  

We called the triage nurse and she told us to come in if he rebounded within four to six hours.

We were able to sleep for a few hours, but Maxwell woke up with labored breathing again.

So we headed to the hospital and checked in.  As we walked down the corridor, I panicked a little.

I saw the big double doors, and remembered standing just outside of them nine months ago.

We were making arrangements with our parents, prior to Maxwell being life-lighted to the children's hospital.

Luckily, this scenario was not so unnerving.  The doctor gave Maxwell another dose of steroids.

And then he requested a chest x-ray.

After the x-ray, the doctor told us that Maxwell had also developed pneumonia.

Upon returning home, he slept on my chest for nearly 24 hours straight.
It was so nice to have him close.

We had a follow-up appointment with our pediatrician yesterday, and his lungs sound better.

He is finally acting more like himself.

He has been through so much in his first year.  But it only makes him stronger.