Thankful Thursday

"The making of a saint doesn't occur in a laboratory but in the field of experience; we do not grow in spite of pain but because of it."

~ Gracie Malone, Unafraid: 365 Days Without Fear

Happy Thankful Thursday folks!  This week has been looonng!  I am one tired/drained/sleep-deprived mommy.   I literally feel like I'm hanging on by threads.  Remember I mentioned in last week's Thankful Thursday post that Moo had a bad cough/cold?  

Well, her cough/cold didn't go away over the weekend like I was hoping it would.  It actually got worst and I ended taking her to the pediatrician on Tuesday after she complained of being dizzy and "seeing spots."  Turns out she had two congested lungs and was on her way to getting pneumonia!!  Here I was treating my child with over-the-counter cough syrup for what appeared to be a common cold and cough, but was really something more serious.  Also, her oxygen levels were low.

I really wanted to beat myself up for not knowing she had something more than a common cold.  However as her doctor pointed out, she didn't have fever and she wasn't complaining of chest pains.  She did have to use her inhaler a few times, but she asthma and that usually flares up here and there, especially when she has a cold.  So, there's no way that I could have known what was really happening.

In a way, her dizzy spell and persistent cough really helped us to catch this before it was too late and I'm grateful for that.  I've heard horror stories about how rough pneumonia is on kids and I'm glad that we catch this in time before it turned that.  We've decided that since her body disguises serious issues like a common cold, it would be best if whenever she starts to show signs of being sick to bring her in ASAP and they will diagnose whether or not it's a common cold or her body playing tricks on us again.  I feel incredibly blessed that my children have a pediatrician who understands our struggle.  We don't WANT to be that family who goes to the doctor for every little thing, but we have it because the risk is too high otherwise.

She was very patient and did her best to soothe me as she explained Moo's condition the seriousness of it.  She knows that I'm one of those emotional moms who internalizes things.  At the end of the day, I just want both of my kids to have one year without something major happening to threaten their health.  If I could take away all of their allergies, their asthma and everything else, I would because it just doesn't seem fair.  Nevertheless, Moo is home and she is feeling better.

She's on steroids and breathing treatments every four hours to help her lungs and praying that we get good news when we go back for her recheck.  A hospital stay is not in the cards for us right now.  Through this all my family has been amazing.  They've been calling and texting to check on all of us around the clock and my mom even volunteered to take some time off from her job and come to sit with us.  I'm beyond thankful to have such an amazing support system.  My village holds me down and I wouldn't have gotten through these last few days without them.

I'm grateful that JJ is healthy and am praying that he doesn't catch anything.  I'm thankful that we may have more Snow Days coming.  There's a snow storm that's supposed to be coming our way and I'm open to the idea of being snowed in with my family so that I can catch up on some sleep.  Some news reports say we'll more likely get a few flurries and freezing rain while another said that we should expect to see a few inches and stay inside.  I guess we'll see what happens this weekend.

Lastly, I'm thankful for reconnecting with my besties.  We're all busy working moms and spouses.   So, it's been hard to really keep in contact, but this past weekend we talked about taking a girls' trip to Mexico and I'm super excited.  I've never been to Mexico and can't wait to go with my besties.  One of the pictures I put on my vision board was a passport with the word 'Travel' on it and it looks like that vision is already manifesting itself into reality!!

Have you ever been to Mexico?  What was your favorite place to visit?  Don't forget to let me know one thing you're grateful for this week in the comments!