Seriously??

Thanks to the medications, breathing treatments and steps we took at home, Leland made a full recovery from pneumonia.  He is a little trooper for sure.  Ryan was scheduled to leave for a 2 week training class in Ohio starting last Sunday.  Since Leland was in good health, he went ahead with the trip.  I was feeling fairly comfortable with being alone with the 2 kiddos for 2 weeks, although a bit nervous about getting through bedtime.  Monday morning I noticed that Leland's little feet looked a little purple and felt cold.  I rubbed them trying to warm them and that helped a little, but not much.  I thought it might have something to do with the lack of breathing treatments so I gave him one to see if his circulation improved.  As with the feet rubbing, the color in his feet improved a little, but not much.  I kept checking throughout the day with no real change.  The 3 of us went to the park in the afternoon and it was a bit chilly outside.  By the time we were walking home Leland's hands were dark purple and really cold. 

I called the on-call doctor and she told me to take him into urgent care.  After paying our co-pay, urgent care told me to take him to the hospital.  Thankfully we didn't have to wait long to get a room in the ER, but I really wasn't expecting to need one.  The nurses were VERY good with Leland and showed genuine concern given his age.  Plus, they all thought he was cute which helped my stress level just a bit.  He had to have another chest x-ray to confirm the pneumonia was gone.   That wasn't too bad - he did very well.  The worst part was the blood draw.  Infants shouldn't have to get their blood drawn - it's just too traumatic for both baby and mom. 

The charge nurse noted a cyanosis around his upper lip but didn't know what else was going on.  After a while, the ER doctor came in.  He was a young-ish guy (hard to read - face looked young but his hair was starting to gray.  Could be from job stress) who was super nice, thankfully.  Without seeing the chest x-ray or blood work, he diagnosed Leland with vasomotor instability.  That's the big-worded way of saying he can't regulate his body temperature due to his age.  He'll outgrow this in a few months.  It was a lot of money and trouble to get told nothing is wrong, but we had to go through it all to find that out.

As for Isabel, she showed great concern and really wanted to go to urgent care with us.  Having enough to worry about, I didn't think that was the best choice.  Thankfully our next-door neighbors were happy to have her stay at their house at a moment's notice and for as long as it took.  They fed her second dinner and taught her a little piano.  I'm always glad we moved to this neighborhood, but that night made it truer than ever. 

Leland's little hands and feet still look dusky every now and then and sometimes a little purple, but now I know I don't have to panic.