About 2 Saturdays ago, I was exhausted and trying to sleep but kept waking up because Adam was coughing really badly. He was breathing very quickly but couldn’t quite catch his breath and was wheezing. He kept asking for milk but couldn’t drink it. I was so worried that he was going to have an asthma attack and die! So I woke Adrian up at about 4am and he took Adam to the Children’s Emergency at NUH while I stayed at home with Anya who was asleep.

Adam being nebulised

The Children’s Emergency at NUH is generally a lot less crowded than the one at KKH so they didn’t have to wait too long to see someone. Turned out Adam had bronchiolitis and it was a good thing I got Adrian to bring him in because his vitals weren’t very good and his airway was quite constricted. They used the nebuliser on Adam but had to swaddle him like a giant baby because the sound frightened him and he kept struggling. My poor baby! :(

Fortunately, he didn’t have to be hospitalised, but they were sent home with an inhaler and some other medicine. He wasn’t crazy about the inhaler but we managed to medicate him every 4 hours or so. We went for a review the following Monday and the doctor said he had recovered very quickly and very well. This little one likes to give me a scare every now and then to keep me on my toes but I really thank God that he’s ok now!

at the dentist

Adrian decided to take Adam to see Dr Rashid Tashir, a dental specialist in paediatric dentistry, at The Kids Dentist. According to Adrian, the dentist took one look at Adam and declared that he needed to have an X-ray taken because there might be fractures. The X-ray showed that 2 teeth were bashed in so far that they may have damaged the adult teeth inside and we will only know for sure and be able to fix them when his adult teeth grow out. 2 or 3 other teeth were bashed in but not far enough to damage the adult teeth and the dentist said that all the bashed-in teeth are likely to revert to their original position on their own. However, his gums were still swollen and bleeding and we were told to keep his teeth and gums very clean to prevent infection.

We had a follow-up yesterday and there is some improvement in his teeth position but we were informed that we are not doing a very good job of keeping his teeth and gums clean! Argh. It’s quite heartbreaking because he’s obviously in pain when we try to brush his teeth and there’s some blood since his gums are still swollen. Adrian says to just go for it but I want to cry and run away when I see the blood on the toothbrush!  :(

at the dentist

Adam had a pretty bad fall yesterday. According to my mum, they were having breakfast at the food centre and he slipped off his seat, fell backwards and smashed his chin against the seat. I left work early and rushed to my mum’s place.

Adam was in good spirits when I got there and was happily playing with his sister. He didn’t want to show me his teeth but I could see that his bottom lip was cut. I put some lavender oil on the wound to stop the bleeding and reduce the swelling. He was very upset about that because lavender oil is extremely foul-tasting.

I couldn’t get a good look at his teeth and gums so we got him to take a nap and while he was sleeping, I saw that his front left incisor was completely bashed out of position and his gums were bleeding. Later that day, we took him to the dentist and the conclusion was that we had to wait and see if the teeth stabilise or turn grey and fall out. We haven’t decided if we should consult a paediatric dentist yet.

Yesterday night, I took a closer look at his teeth and saw that the first four or five teeth on the right side of his mouth are all either broken or bashed into the gums. He looks really terrible when he smiles. I’m quite heartbroken because I’ve always loved his cheeky little grin and now it’s all messed up. He also looks like some character from The Simpsons because his top lip is still swollen and sticking out.

I know it’s just teeth and his adult teeth will come in eventually so the damage is not permanent but I’m feeling really down about the whole incident. I also know that it is inevitable that children fall down and get hurt but I just wish I could form some safety bubble around him so I could protect him all the time. Sigh.