Latte, STAT!

It’s 11am on the west coast and while most mothers have been up for about 3 or 4 hours, I have been up for 7. Yes you read right, SEVEN! Why? Because someone in my genetic ancestry had asthma, passed it down to me and I passed it down to Hippo. But why are we having asthma flare ups back to back in Southern California?? Because Southern California seems to have switched places with Northern California and is playing dress up as Central America. Translation: It’s bloody freezing out here! And because of the temperature drops and wind gusts, the little one has had a hard time trying to breathe like a normal person. Needless to say the past few days have been interesting and last night I was up most of the night listening out for any changes in his breathing and giving him breathing treatments every four hours. What’s a breathing treatment? A breathing treatment is when the asthmatic receives their medication slower through a nebulizer than the fast acting inhaler. You take the Albuterol solution and pour the dose in the reservoir. Attach the mask or mouthpiece, get comfortable and flip the switch. Breath in normally & comfortably. We have a great compact machine where are the parts fit inside by Beurer . I mean it’s still a bit large, but not compared to the monster sized one we had growing up! It rumbled and shook more than my mom’s juicer! LOL! So, every four hours, Jax has to sit and have one of these. On top of the Mucinex, Qvar, Singular, Claritin…yada yada yada. When it gets like this, there is a lot of paying attention you have to do. My child is like me, it’s like it sneaks up on him. He’s doing seemingly okay, you look away and then you look back and his shoulders are in his neck! But I do try to help the situation along with the medication. We stop all dairy and go soy. No sugar, less carbs. Lots of chamomile tea to combat the albuterol side affect of racing his heart. No major run, jumping or strenuous activity. Asthma is a tricky tricky thing! It’s very hard to handle by yourself. I don’t know how my mom did it with four asthmatics by herself! So if anyone wants to take pity on me and bring me a short Vanilla Spice Latte w/ whip an extra shot and extra topping… I will tip you handsomely! 🙂