Election Day

November 4, 2008 is a day that most of us won't forget. Certainly history was made and it was touching to hear both Barack Obama's acceptance speech and John McCain's speech of concession. But for reasons more than the political ones, that day left an indelible imprint on my memory.

The day started off as usual, although for an early November morning it was unusually warm and sunny. Henry went to preschool, so William accompanied me to our polling place. We walked since the place was a church in our neighborhood just a few blocks away. Besides crashing William and his stroller into the booth next to mine upon trying to exit, voting went well. And William proudly wore his first "I Voted" sticker for the remainder of the day.

That evening when William woke up from his nap I noticed that he was wheezing. Patrick came home early that night to leave enough time for him to vote and he also noticed the wheezing. Around 5:00 we decided that we should take William to the doctor to check his breathing. We keep a nebulizer at home since he has had recurring wheezing and he didn't seem to be responding to the treatments. I brought him to Prompt Care since our doctor's office was closed for the evening and expected to get a prescription and be home by 6:00 to watch the election coverage. (I have become an obsessed CNN junkie and wanted to watch the results of this election unfold.) However, the doctor at Prompt Care was worried about his breathing and sent us to the ER. Needless to say, it made me even more worried and I hated doing it alone. Patrick and I definitely work as a team and he is a certain rock of mine when it comes to dealing with stressful situations. I really wanted him there, but I was rushed around so fast that I didn't have a minute to call him. After doing some more paperwork and duplicating the same tests/checks on William in the ER that had already been done in Prompt Care, they put us in a little room. Laughably, the man who walked us there told me to put William in the bed - a regular hospital bed. When I asked him it he would fall out, he pulled up the other side and said, "he might try." Hmmm. I finally had the chance to call Patrick and he came as quickly as he could. His brother Matt graciously came and stayed with Henry at our house.

William had to have two chest x-rays and then did two breathing treatments and was given an oral steroid to help with his breathing. After they monitored him and his breathing returned to normal, they let us come home. It was about 9:00 and he was exhausted and asleep. They diagnosed it once again as bronchiolitis. Fortunately, his chest x-rays looked normal. Although by now, I'm thinking there must be more going on.

He is doing tons better and isn't wheezing at all today which is both a blessing and a relief.

And since I know what you are all thinking right now I'll go ahead and say it : I am shocked, too that William was in the ER before adventure-loving Henry. (!)