Alex went to Australia....

....and came back with her first illness :( And not a seemingly benign illness like a cold-but PNEUMONIA!!!! Pneumonia-what a scary word! I just cannot believe that she has this as her first illness ever. I was expecting a runny nose or something similar. I've pretty much been dreading this first sickness, just because I didn't know what to expect. But having your baby get sick away from home, away from her doctor and in another country no less, is a bit disconcerting.

It started out with a mild cold during the last week of our stay. Dan's mum was sick for a few days with cold like symptoms, so I'm assuming that is where Alexandra picked it up from. Poor Corrie felt so bad-but really, it had to happen at some point. Alex certainly does not live in a bubble. Anyway, the first sign was a bit of a cough and some congestion. So off to the family doctor we went, and he said her lungs were clear.

We kept an eye on her for a few days and noticed that her cough was getting a little worse, but other than that she was completely happy and had no fever. Just to make sure things were still ok (since we were heading back to the states soon), we took her to another doctor in Yeppoon. He listened to her lungs and said that she sounded "raspy", but not badly so, and that he was going to prescribe amoxycillin "just in case"-due to our traveling. Ok, no worries. Well, the day before we left for the states, we were in Brisbane and had a doctor actually come to Dan's friend's house to check Alex over because I could feel her chest rattle. Still-no temp and she didn't act sick, no labored breathing either. That doctor said that it was phlegm build up and prescribed prednisone to help open her airways.

Ok, fast forward three days and we're home. Alex still has a cough, but not too bad. She still does not have a fever and acts perfectly normal and happy. I decided to take her to her normal pedi just to have her looked over here. Well, the pedi said her chest was perfectly clear and the cough was due to residual congestion. This doctor actually wanted me to stop the amoxycillin because her lungs sounded so good. But, this doctor was wise and decided to do a chest x-ray before taking her off the drugs. I think she was very surprised when a little bit of pneumonia was detected! And I was shocked too-Alex really hasn't acted sick and her cough isn't even that bad. I always expected a child with pneumonia to be very sick. If anything, I thought I was overreacting about a MILD cold. Crazy! And scary!

Anyway-Alex is to stay on the meds and to rest. She woke up today smiling and laughing and acting normal, thank God. She was definitely less congested today too-so hopefully this will all be behind us soon. I'm so grateful that this was a very mild case and pray that it stays mild and goes away quickly! Sick kids are nerve wracking....you just feel so helpless. Oh, and seeing your infant having a chest x-ray is pretty horrible. They put Alex in this clear plastic case (like a body cast) and it suspends her arms over her head. It closed around her super tight and I couldn't even stay in the room with her (because of the x ray). Poor kid just cried and cried. Well, that's all for now-going to keep unpacking....