The scare of my life

So Nellie decided to scare the crap out of me. On Monday she had a runny nose. On Tuesday she had a runny nose and a cough. Tuesday night she went to bed and kept us up all night. She kept crying I hurt, I hurt, but of course couldn't tell me what hurt. I brought her in bed with us and nuzzled all night, thinking she was getting an ear infection...it wasn't.
The next morning I woke up and Nellie came out on the couch. I was getting all the kids ready for school and when they were off turned my attention back to Nellie. I sat down beside her and noticed she was a bit lethargic. She was breathing pretty fast and hard, making this giggly sound she does when she is having an asthma attack. I picked her up and took her into the bathroom where I turned on the hot shower and sat with her.
Within minutes she was gasping. The giggly sound was gone, replaced with her trying hard to breath. I called my husband and said if you don't get home now I am calling an ambulance. He was home within minutes and we were on our way to the doctors.
Nellie's oxygen was at 94 and dropping when we got there. The doctor hurried in and got her on the nebulizer. After two doses she finally came out of it and went to sleep. When the doc hear her snoring he told me she has sleep apnea (A blog for another day) and he's going to send her to yet another specialist. However that was not was was wrong with her this time. She had pneumonia!! So we now have her on tons of scripts and nebulizing every four hours.
Nellie is getting better now and for that I send praise to God. I never want to see one of my children struggling to breath again. It was the scariest moment of my life!

Nellie the wrecking ball

Yes Nellie is a wrecking ball. She can destroy a room in seconds flat. The problem is she is not made of metal and often hurts herself as well. You see Nellie is very bull legged and also has a tight foot muscle which makes her foot turn in pretty badly. She also has little to no depth perception so she is clumsy. In less than two weeks this girl has gone down the basement stairs on her belly. hit her head numerous times and now fell off the couch onto the end table.
Another issue we have with Nellie is her under sensitivity to pain. I guess in a way that's a good thing for her, but not so much for us. It's very hard to tell how bad she is hurt. Ok, I take that back because when she fell off the couch she screamed!!!!! The thing is unless she is really, really hurt she does not cry.
It's scary sometimes because most kids learn from getting hurt. They jump off something, hurt themselves and their brain says hummm I better not do that again, but not Nellie. She'll do it over and over and one day I fear this will cause a broken bone or more stitches (She had her first set of stitches over the summer after an attack by a dog food can).
To all the mothers who have children who have under sensitivity to pain, I feel you. Most people think it's a good thing, yet we know it's not.

The appointment I fear the most

So Nellie is going to go to a developmental ped in the next few weeks. It's the one appointment I've been dreading. I was hoping she'd just get better. That there was nothing really wrong and she would just catch up. That hasn't happened.
She has begun to talk a little more and I can even understand her at times. She still doesn't ask for things, but we had a huge breakthrough yesterday. We asked her if she wanted to go outside and she said yes! I know it sounds silly to be so excited about something so simple, but she's never said yes in response to a question before. I'm hoping this is a sign of more to come.
Recently we found out what her special skill is...songs. She can hear a song once and know it word for word. Of course now she walks around singing all the time. I have never heard so many Beatles songs from a three year old.

I wanna Hoad da baby

Nellie has taken a liking to her new baby sister. Every time the baby makes a sound she says : My my my. The holds out her hands saying I wanna hoad da baby. If I don't instantly help her to do so she throws a fit! On one hand I'm glad she likes the baby on the other I think Nellie thinks she's a toy. Her new favorite thing is hanging off the side of the crib.

I guess it could be worse, she bites her other siblings.

Nellie's Getting an aide

I guess in a way it's a kind of funny reason she is getting a one on one aide at school. It's something I have known a long time and experienced first hand with her....Janelle is a danger to herself! The girl may be behind other kids in many ways, but running, jumping, climbing, and generally getting into everything isn't one of her weaknesses. In fact she is the first one of my children I have used a child restraint harness on (Nice way of saying a leash).
Nellie has no fear and doesn't understand when we express something is dangerous so she runs of large bodies of water, into roads etc etc. At school she has taken to running out of the classroom to the point the must keep the doors closed. We learned this same lesson at doctors offices. You now where they have the rooms with the pull down and they pop open. Yep those are Nellie's favorite. She also has jumped of the top of a playground at school and can't tell people when she is hurt, or I take that back she can scream in pain, she just can't tell us where it hurts.
We have had many scares with her. Once she had eight stitches in her tiny finger. She moved just a little faster than me and got it stuck in a can. She has taken falls off furniture, down stairs etc. Her physical therapist noted the danger of Nellie on stairs. It's scary at times, but I have learned to be right on top of her. The only thing that stinks is I will only leave her with a select few people who I know will watch her closely and because of that babysitters are hard to come by.
I'm really hoping this aide will make her day at school safer, but in all reality why can't I have one for her at home?

So Nellie got another dx added to her list. She has been diagnosed with asthma. Lots of fun :( Truth be told we kind of knew it was coming, since she'd had to be nebulized a few times in the past. It seems her trigger is upper respiratory infections.
On a side note she is doing better in school, other than not eating her lunch. She has begun to join in with the music and dance at circle time. I'm looking forward to her upcoming open house so I can see how she interacts in the classroom setting. I also am anxious to meet her therapist as I have been so use to having her therapy at home and now don't get daily updates on her progress. I know she's talking more at home, but I guess not so much at school.
Her afternoon bus driver has been trying so hard to get her to talk to him and the bus aide. It's about a half hour drive and Nellie stays silent. I told them she likes to sing and maybe she would do that, but nope she just stayed mum. Her teacher said she'll talk and sing to herself in class so at least someone other than us is hearing her cute little voice.
I'm thinking of hiring someone to dress up as Sponge Bob to go to her class. She absolutely loves him. She'll either A. Have a long conversation about Bikini Bottom and the people who live there or B. Freak out and run away crying at a character she knows should only live in the TV.

Nellie and the bus

Nellie has found she loves the bus now. She goes outside and stands looking in the direction her bus comes from. She says: Where bus go? I say: It's coming. She stands a moment longer: Where bus go? Me: It'll be here soon. This conversation goes on for five or ten minutes before the bus pulls up. She hears it before she sees it. Nellie: Bus. Me: There it is.
Nellie climbs the stairs always stopping to look back at me. It's as if she is waiting for me to go with her. She climbs into her car seat (The bus aide can't lift her. Most people can't). Her sisters run along the side of the bus waving as it pulls off and Nellie just stares at them. I know she'd rather be going on their bus with them, but that will be a few more years.
I'm so proud she's been doing so well about going to school. It's been harder on me than her. To be honest I wish I was on that bus beside her, but as I've been told it was time for her to go off and learn.