My poor baby!!

It's official. HATE winter! I hate everything about it. The cold, the wind, the snow, the slippery roads, and the germs. I've tried to be really careful with Avery since she was born. I try to keep her home as much as I can. But, Mackenzie and Gavin are older and that's not really a possibility. They've got school, friends, ect.. Anyway, Gavin picked up a TERRIBLE croupy cough. He would cough so hard that he would make himself throw up. It lasted over a week. All he would do is lay on the couch and watch tv. He was so miserable. He started to get better, was up playing, then started screaming in the middle of the night that his ear hurt. So we took him to the doctor the next morning and of course, he had an ear infection. That same day, Avery started coughing pretty hard. I had tried to keep Gavin away from her but obviously, that wasn't enough. The next day was even worse. She was coughing more and wouldn't eat much. The next day, she didn't hardly eat at all and was still coughing. That nght, she had a horrible night. Could not sleep, and was really congested. In the morning she started screaming and nothing I could do would make her stop. I didn't want to take her to the hospital here, because these small hospitals just don't have the resources that the big hospitals have, and I dont trust them with my baby. So we drove to Layton. By the time we got there, her breathing had gotten so so much worse. She would take a breath, and hold it, exhale, Take another breath and hold it. There was such a big gap between breaths, it scared me to death. My mother-in-law met me there and took Mackenzie and Gavin with her, which I was really grateful for because it ended up being a long and stressful day, and would have been much worse if I'd had all 3 kids. Anyway, As soon as I took her in, they did a breathing treatment. It helped, but not for long. They gave her a shot of steroids, then another breathing treatment. The doctor said that she wasn't responding as well as he had hoped, so he sent us to McKay Dee hospital to the RSV clinic. Sure enough, she has RSV, and an ear infection. The respiratory specialist there was amazing! He was so nice, and SO gentle with Avery. He had a way of making you feel very comfortable and relaxed in a stressful situation. He gave her a different breathing treatment and used a machine so suck out all of the mucus and clear her nasal passages. Instantly, she sounded much better. She was holding her own, so she didn't need to be hospitlized. But the doctor wanted us to stick around for 24 hours before going home, to make sure that she starts eating. He explained everything that he was doing, everything that he was thinking. That's one thing I don't like about some doctors, is that they can be so secretive, and you never know what they are thinking. But he wasn't like that. He told me exactly what he was thinking, and walked me through the whole exam. He had me listen to her lungs, and explained what I was hearing. They sent us home with antibiotics for her ears, and a nebulizer, so we can do the breathing treatments at home every few hours. We stayed at my mom's house and luckily, she started eating that night so we were able to go home the next day. The breathing treatments are helping a ton and as long as I keep her elevated, she does really well. She's still only eating about 4 oz per feeding, but I can tell she's feeling ALOT better. So, in conclusion, I have decided to become a hermit for the rest of the winter. I am not taking Avery anywhere. She had me so scared and I do not want to do this again. Mackenzie's birthday is this week and I was thinking of cancelling her party. She was so upset. but, I talked to the doctor and he said it would be ok. I'm just going to make Dallas and Avery stay locked in my bedroom while the kids are here. There will only be 4 kids, and they are only staying for an hour and a half, so it won't be too bad.

Gavin has been begging me to let him "write" something so here it goes:

jjjjj hhggggggggnnnnmmmmmmm,,,,,...ddrewewqytyu88uyyrr34343rf fc ['pkkk.