The craziest day I have had yet in Russia!

On Wednesday morning at about 5am, Merrick woke me up, sounding like he had a "croup" like cough. From that moment on, I knew we were going to have a fun day...especially since Burke was (of course) in New York all week!

Luckily, he went back to sleep for a couple hours without any problems. When he woke up at 7 as Taylor was getting ready for school, he could barely talk or yawn without sounding like he was wheezing. I got Taylor ready for school, got her in the car and off she was to school. I quickly got ready for the day, and called the doctor. Luckily the European Medical Center had an opening at 11. So, I waited for our nanny to come like she usually does at 9 and figured that I could get some things done around the apartment before going to the doctor. She showed up about 20 minutes late (which never happens), and said "I sorry Linzee." She had fallen as she was getting off the train and badly hurt her knee. She could barely walk in our apartment, and I have no idea how she even made it there in the first place. She asked if she could call the doctor to come over and look at her. Well 20 minutes later, a doctor and his assistant showed up at our apartment in an ambulance. I was so impressed that someone actually came at all when an ambulance is needed. I always see them driving around on the streets with lights on, but no one actually moves aside for them. They sit in traffic along with everyone else, so I severely doubted that anyone would even come, but they did, and fast! The doctor looked her over, and they needed to take her to have an x-ray. So she left for the day, and we left for the doctor soon after.

Once we got in to see the pediatrician and she listened to his chest, she immediately sent us downstairs to their "emergency room" where they checked his oxygen, which was only at 92%. They then gave Merrick a shot of Prednizone and started trying to give him a nebulizer treatment, which he was having NONE of. He was working himself into a full fledge asthma attack by screaming and kicking and hitting everyone around him that was trying to force him to breathe into the nebulizer. We both emerged form the ER sweating and bruised. We then had to wait another 30 minutes to see how he was doing. His oxygen was only up to 93%, so they were going to attempt another nebulizer treatment since the first one was not very effective. As we approached the door he freaked out. The doctor decided that we should just go, since as long as he was staying calm he was breathing well. She let us go with 4 prescriptions and directions to go buy a nebulizer at a drug store, saying she would call around 6, and if he wasn't better, then he could stay in their hospital for a couple days!

By the time we left it was almost 2pm, and I had to go get Taylor from school. Thank goodness my friend Megan was willing to watch Merrick for a couple hours so that he could go home and have his medicine and try to sleep. I left them at our apartment and went to school around 2:30 pm. We did not get back home until after 6! 3 1/2 hours later because traffic was so bad! Of course I also forgot the instructions in Russian that I was supposed to give to a pharmacist to get our nebulizer. I went into the drug store, and had to call our cleaning lady at home, so that she could try to explain to them exactly what was written on the paper that I should have had with me. It was a mess. Everyone in the store was staring at me, and I am sure, thinking all sorts of anti-American thoughts! Finally nebulizer in hand, I was able to leave and go home. Needless to say, after the kids went to bed, Megan and I had a couple glasses of wine.

And to make everything even better, our nanny can't walk for at least a week.