If you would have told me the last 48 hours would have turned out the way they had I would have not believed you.  I would have told you Reece has a typical cold and we would nurse him with medicines and rest and that would be the end of it.  Don’t worry, it really is nothing serious but it is one of those times that makes me glad Kyle is not TDY or deployed.

Two nights ago Reece was waking up about every fifteen minutes.  He was coughing, burning up, sweating, crying, the whole gambit.  After a few times going into his room to soothe him, Kyle took one for the team and crawled into bed with him.  Reece continued to wake up frequently but would go back to sleep pretty easily once he saw and talked to daddy.  I got decent sleep but Kyle did not look good in the morning.

Yesterday morning Reece was not doing much better so I made a same-day appointment for him to see a doctor.  The appointment time was pretty convenient   It was a full hour before Kylee would need to eat again then take a nap and two hours before lunch but Reece hadn’t been eating too much lately so I wasn’t terribly concerned.

When making an appointment, they say to be fifteen minutes early to get vitals and other information for the doctor.  Me always being early, made sure to be there fifteen minutes before the fifteen minutes early they request I be.  I waited and waited and waited.  We were triaged by the nurse ten minutes after our scheduled appointment time and finally taken back to the doctor 40 minutes late.

By this time Kylee was starting to get hungry and fussy from being cooped up in the stroller and Reece was bored and miserable.  I admit fault.  I should have brought food and entertainment but I figured if I was actually seen when I was supposed we should have been out of there well before either was hungry or tired.

The doc listened to Reece’s chest, belly, and back then we talked about what was going on.  She told me she heard a “crackle” in his lungs so she wanted him to have a breathing treatment then an x-ray to rule our pneumonia.  I honestly figured it was the common cold, maybe with an ear infection to boot.  I did not expect pneumonia or anything requiring an x-ray.

We were taken to another room where he would get the breathing treatment.  It was a fun room with an ocean scene painted on the walls but Reece was cautious as we walked in.  The nurse adjusted the table so I could sit on it with him and, to Reece, that was the final straw.  Reece lost his damn mind!  He screamed and cried in my arms, scared of a moving examination table.  After calming him we started the treatment and he lost his mind again.  From the mask to the smoke to the unfamiliar woman to the moving table all added up to me having to bear hug him while she heald the mask to his face.  It was awful.

Kyle was in a class on base a few building down from the hospital so I sent him a text telling him where I was but there was limited signal so I wasn’t sure he would get my message.

After that lovely experience we headed down to Radiology for the x ray.  I waited in line and when I was called up I was told I couldn’t check in without a chaperone.  I couldn’t send Reece in for the x-ray by himself and I couldn’t leave Kylee outside while I went in with Reece.  They called a chaperone for me and I waited.

Ten minutes go by, no chaperone.  Reece is obviously bored and Kylee is squirming and fussy as it was way past her eating time.

Staying sane by getting silly.

Five more minutes, no chaperone.

Then I look up to see Kyle walking into the waiting room!  Honestly, the stress melted away.  Reece’s face lit up, Kylee was giggly again, and we no longer needed to wait for a chaperone!  Kyle took Reece back to the x-ray and when they returned Reece was still all smiles.  We –as a family- went back to the doc’s office to look over the x-rays and finish up the appointment.

It seemed like everything was going wrong when it was just me but when Kyle came along everything played out smoothly.  The rest of the evening we worked together getting both kids fed and put to bed.  Reece started coughing and crying like he did the night before so I decided to stay in his room so Kyle could get a good night sleep; he had to work in the morning.

I hardly got any sleep at all between the breathing treatments –every four hours- and he regularly waking up coughing.  When 6 o’clock rolled around I made my way downstairs with a pillow and set up camp on the couch where I spent all morning as Reece watched PBS kids and Kylee played (not my proudest parenting moment but I wasn’t being purely lazy, I had an excuse.)  Best part of the morning came after Kylee went down for a nap and Reece sat on me as he watched Sid the Science Kid, Kyle came home!

Since coming home he has played with the kids, fed them, put them down for naps, cleaned the house AND gave me some quiet time so I could sit down to write.  These past two days it is very  apparent to me why parents come in twos.  Either they work together or one takes the brunt while the other does what needs to be done, then they switch roles; tag teaming.  If Kyle were out of town, I could do it but it wouldn’t be pretty.  There would be a lot of PB&Js and cartoons but it would all get done.