Will it never end?

DISCLAIMER: If you are sick and tired of reading about our family's medical issues and think we provide more medical drama than an episode of Grey's Anatomy, stop reading now!!

Yesterday Lincoln woke up with a nasty cough. I didn't think too much of it because we have all been coughing for over a month now. He was also really clingy and seemed to be pretty miserable, so I decided to go to Vitamin Cottage to get him this homeopathic cough medicine a friend had told me about. We loaded up and bought the meds, then headed out to do some last minute Halloween costume shopping. As we were going through the store, I looked down and noticed Lincoln had fallen asleep sitting up in the cart. I knew then that something was really wrong. I laid him down and he slept in the cart while we hurried and paid. While I was putting him in the car I looked at his chest and noticed that it was really pulling in hard and he looked really pale. At this point we were far from home and the doctor's office and the girls needed to get to school. I called Ryan and he suggested just taking the girls to school and then giving Lincoln a breathing treatment when I got home. I agreed. I kept having Chloe lift Lincoln's shirt and he was still really struggling. I then remembered a doctor once telling me that I was the mother and I should trust my intuition. I just really felt like I should call the doctor and at least consult with them. I picked up my phone to call when suddenly Lincoln coughed so violently, he threw up all over himself, his car seat and part of the car. I finished dialing and was told by the nurse to bring him in immediately.

At that point I realized the girls were going to probably be late for school, if not miss it entirely so I called Ryan and had him call the school. We got to the doctor's office and I have never seen such a swift reaction. We were rushed into the room--they didn't even let me sign in or pay the co-pay (that came later...)--and the doctor came in immediately, along with three nurses. Lincoln was really struggling to breathe at that point and it was obvious the way he was sucking his skin through his ribs.

LOOOOONG story short...we stayed there for two and a half hours, he got three breathing treatments, numerous pulse-ox readings done and two doses of steroids. The doctors still didn't feel comfortable sending him home, so we went over to the hospital to get chest x-rays to rule out pneumonia. Luckily I have incredible friends who stepped in and came and got the girls for me and picked up Isaac from school and kept them all occupied so I could continue getting medical attention for Lincoln. The chest x-rays came back negative for pneumonia, so we went back to the doctor for another check. The doctors listened to him, did another pulse-ox which was low at that point and then consulted for quite a while. They couldn't decide whether to admit him to the hospital and run the risk of him getting some sort of worse disease while there, or send him home and run the risk of him not breathing in the night. Finally they decided to send him home. They gave me copies of his chart to take with me to the hospital in the night if he got any worse at all. They also notified the on-call doctor of his condition and told us to check on him every three hours all night long. That was not very reassuring.

He did fine last night and woke up seeming much better this morning. No more pulling while he breathes and he is his happy little self again. I took him back to the doctor for a re-check. Final diagnosis: broncho-spasm. It might have been triggered by a virus, but probably he has asthma (which I have known forever since I have it, but they typically don't diagnose it in kids this young.) Never a dull moment, let me tell you!