The Scifres Family: A vacation just isn't complete without a trip to the ER......

We were so excited to spend our last week of summer in Lake Tahoe with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Sandy, and Uncle Jake, but we quickly learned that a higher power had different plans for us. Before we left, Ava had started a fever, so just to be safe we took her into the doc to get her looked at. Doc said she looked good other than a mild ear infection. We were given a prescription that we could fill if her ears got worse and were given the OK to head out on vacation. Our travel day went well and all seemed fine when we arrived. We had a nice afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa driving through the mountains and hanging out at our very nice house near the lake. Things took a turn for the worse that night when Ava woke up wheezing. I wasn't too worried, but stayed awake all night listening to her just in case it got worse.

In the morning you could see that she was struggling to breath and in so much pain she couldn't even swallow a drink of water. We realized this could be something serious and took her to the Urgent Care down the street. By the time we got in to see the doctor her condition was worsening, so after monitoring her O2 levels and discovering she was at a 90%, which I clearly remember from the NICU is not a good sign, we were sent to the Emergency Room. We spent the rest of the day getting tests done and trying to figure out what was going on with our little sweetheart, who by the way was an absolute champ through all of this! Luckily her O2 levels quickly rose back to 99% so that made all of us feel more at ease. After looking at her x-rays we were told she had an infection in her lungs and were sent home with a harsh liquid steroid and a baby inhaler. Her condition just seemed to worsen, she couldn't keep down the steroid, and her temperature kept rising as we got home so we made the decision to head back to LA in the morning. The airline was amazing and quickly got us on a flight, free of charge.

After getting home we got Ava into her pediatrician who diagnosed her with Croup and gave her the right medication. Within 12 hours or so of leaving the doc you could finally see her improving and the fever going down!

It is a bit alarming to me that the ER misdiagnosed her and gave her meds (meant for adults) that made her sick, but I am just thankful for my mommy intuition, my amazing husband, and the loving/supportive family that surrounded us during all of this. I know I will look back and know that this really wasn't a big deal and Ava's health was never severely in danger, but for a first time mommy who has had a pretty healthy baby thus far, this was very frightening!

Here are some pictures from our adventures in Tahoe. I am sad that there aren't more family fun pictures, but hopefully next year's vacation will turn out a little different!