Scariest Day Ever.

This has not been a good day. Of course it really started late last night when Ella spiked a fever. Well at 5am I heard her coughing and being restless so I went in and got her up. She had a fever and cough so I called the oh so lovely nurses line (for the base after hours,) of course the base was not open today so I had to take her to a walk in clinic. The doctor asked if anyone at home was sick so I told him that Hunter has bronchitis and he looked at her said she has bronchitis and an ear infection (which thrilled me cause she just had tubes put in 2 weeks ago) gave me a prescription for antibiotics and sent me on my way. So, around 5ish this afternoon my grandad was holding Ella and told me to come and take her temp cause she was getting hot. So, I went over and took her temp and noticed that she was kind of gasping for air, I lifted her shirt and saw that she was struggling a bit. So, I called the clinic and of course the Dr she saw was already gone, so I had to call the nurses line. I told the nurse what was going on and she said to call 911. I didn't really think that was necessary, I told her that she was sitting up fine, I just needed authorization to take her to the ER. She said "I'm an RN and have seen children up and playing one minute and down the next." I said, can't I just take her right now. She said "No, something could happen in the car." Okay. I'll call 911. As soon as I called Ella started going down hill quick. She started really struggling, and then started panicking which made her breathing even worse. She was gasping so loud, it was SO scary, I was just sitting on the floor holding her crying my eyes out and singing to her trying to calm her down. She turned purple when she would cough, it was bad. Luckily the fireman got her very quick and put some oxygen on her, her O2 stat was 80% which is not so good. The ambulance showed up a couple minutes later and off to the ER we went. She got a breathing treatment in the ambulance, then another one with a different drug in the ER. She was still breathing hard but her stats were up. Finally they gave her a liquid steroid and her breathing calmed way down!! So, the final diagnosis is Croup. Really? Is it supposed to be that traumatic and come on that fast??? Anyhow, she still struggles a little bit here and there, NOTHING like earlier. Oh and the ER doc looked in her ears and said that they are NOT infected. Hmmm.... can I ever trust a doctor??? Anyhow, my grandparents are going to stay an extra day, which is great. I am not going to get any sleep tonight, I'm going to sit up with Ella so they can watch the kiddos tomorrow while I take a nap : ) It's strange to say this but, I was definetly more scared today than I was when she choked on her vomit when she was 3 weeks old and stopped breathing. Of course I was scared then but, I don't know, maybe I am just SO much more attached and in love with her, I know thats weird. When she was 3 weeks old I was still in such a fog, and really all I could think was "wow is this how it's going to be?" Obviously I've come a long way since then and just cannot fathom my life without her in it.