Pneumonia...

Jude has had a nasty cough for days and a runny nose with a low grade fever. Cary and I both dismissed it as allergies combined with recent immunizations and cutting teeth. However, yesterday he got worse so I took him to the doctor this morning. The poor little guy has pneumonia...again. This is round 2 with it. He was already on albuterol and singulair. Now we are just adding an inhaled steroid and an antibiotic to the mix. I feel so sorry for him, but he handles it very well to only be 18 months old. Now, he even holds the face mask by himself when he does the breathing treatments. He is supposed to go back in for a recheck on Friday to make sure he is improving and I'm sure they'll repeat the chest x-rays.

There is a huge part of me that feels so guilty because this is exactly what I did as a kid. You come to hugely appreciate the 6 to 8 healthy weeks, if that, in between the illnesses. If he continues to follow my pattern, then by age 14-15 he will grow out of these respiratory problems. Of course, my circumstances as a child and his are much different I know and it's hard to compare. But, I can't help but blame myself for passing it on to him.

We have spent so much time in the doctor's office in his short life, that it's like an episode of Cheers everytime we go there. We walk in the door and all the front desk staff yell "Jude." But that's a good thing too I guess...they know him and love him and he has some favorite nurses there as well.

Please be in prayer with us that we can get him well before we bring Kate home. She certainly will not need to be exposed to pneumonia as a new born. That's scary!