It is only two days before Christmas, yet I am feeling anything but merry: you see, my little girl is in the hospital with a raging case of viral pneumonia.  She got sick last week, and she just kept getting worse and worse until she was having so much trouble breathing I had no choice but to take her to the Emergency Room the other day.

They immediately admitted her to the Pediatrics ward.  She is very sick.

My daughter is named Rosalie Grace, and she is six years old.  She has never really been all that healthy: she has severe asthma and allergies: she's allergic to just about anything under the sun, so a stay in the hospital isn't that uncommon for her.

If she isn't in the hospital, then she's at the doctor's, trying to see if the doctor can find anything to help her.  So far, nothing really has.  I feel so bad for her because any little germ that comes along, she's likely to get sick.  She is often coughing, congested, or has a runy nose and eyes (or all four at once).  It has been a long time since she really felt well.

I would think that the winter time cold would help ease some of her allergies, but nothing doing.  If it isn't the allergies, it's the colds or flus going around, and it's like I can't win.  It's very frustrating!

Currently, Rosalie is sleeping: the doctor just came and gave her a shot to help her rest.  They have her on nasal oxygen, and she is getting most of her medications by IV.  They have her on a heart monitor, so they can keep an eye on her.  Yesterday she tried to stop breathing; the nurses and doctors have been on pins and needles ever since (but nothing like us, her parents).  I've been here at the hospital ever since Rosalie came in two days ago; Mike, my husband, has been at work or at home, taking care of our other two kids, Cooper (eight) and Rice (two).

I could have gone home when they got her stabilized yesterday, but I've been too scared to leave my daughter.  What if something were to happen and I wasn't there? I'd feel worse than I already do ...

Anyway, Christmas is in two days, and I don't see how we are going to celebrate it, seeing our only daughter is so sick.  Right now, Christmas is the last thing on my mind as I think about what Rosalie is facing.  She has been so miserable, and it breaks my heart!  I wish there was something to do to help her feel better or hold her when the doctors or nurses stick her yet again!  To hear her crying or coughing so hard is the worst thing I can ever face as her mommy!

There have been some carolers who have stopped by to sing for the children, but all I can do is hang my head and cry.  I am so scared that I will end up losing my daughter; if she were to die, I don't know what I would do!!  I can't imagine my world without my big, brave girl!!

Well, the lab people are here, and they want to take yet more blood from her, so I must wake her up and hold her while they stab her poor, abused arm.  Say a prayer not only for Rosalie, but for me as well: I am suffering too, right along with her! And pray we get through Christmas somehow!!

*to be continued.*