A Tough Couple of Months

The Roberts household has been dealing with illness after illness this fall, which is the main reason I haven't posted anything in awhile. In the past two months, Christian has had three cases of what we thought was bronchiolitis. He would get a cold which would then move to his lungs and cause breathing difficulties. His breathing would get so labored that we had to take him to the ER twice and to the doctor many times. On our most recent visit, the doctor diagnosed him with Reactive Airway Disease, which I think is a catchall for kids who have frequent labored-breathing episodes. Christian now takes steriod breathing treatments that will help his lungs stay healthy for the rest of the cold season. We have an appointment to see a pediatric pulmonologist at the end of the month. It would be great if she could find a specific problem, along with a solution, but my guess is that she will see say this is simply something we need to manage. I just hope it is something that can be managed well and will still allow him to do everything he wants to do, now and as he gets older. It's been really hard to see him want to run around and play, but feel too sick to do so.

Before I had Christian I had no idea how hard it is to parent a sick child. It takes everything I have and leaves me completely exhausted! There is just so much to tend to with his meds, the doctors, trying to get him to eat and drink. And of course, when he's sick, he doesn't sleep well and just wants to be held all of the time. To make matters worse, I always get Christian's contagious illnesses, so I too have battled many colds this fall (and one stomach virus, yuck). Of course, in the end, the only thing that matters is that Christian stays healthy and feels like his happy little self.

So this is my official excuse for not having posted anything in six weeks. Tomorrow I hope to post photos of some of the fun we have had in the past few months.