Our baby girl got really sick last Monday. She was breathing too rapidly. I took her to the dr and we tried albuterol treatments. It seemed to help a little bit. But she had a rough night and by the morning the albuterol didn’t seem to be helping anymore, she had a fever, and I couldn’t get her to eat anything. We went to the dr again and that led us to an ambulance ride to the hospital.
Sick babies are the saddest. She was so lethargic and miserable. We spent all afternoon in the ER until they were able to admit us and get us into a room.
All of the initial testing for everything came back negative, but early Wednesday morning the longer test for RSV was positive and so we had a diagnosis.
Eric and I traded off back and forth taking care of our kids at home and our sick baby at the hospital. I spent the first three nights in the hospital. Then Eric spent two of the weekend nights there. And then I stayed for her sixth night. And then we were so ready to break out of there! We were both exhausted mentally, emotionally, and physically. It was my first time in the hospital and now I understand what it’s like and I have so much more empathy for anyone who has to spend time in the hospital. It is rough.
Baby was on oxygen and an iv for the first few days. Once her breathing was less rapid we weaned her off of the oxygen. But then she had to go back on. And then off. And then on. And then off for good. Our biggest challenge at the end of the week was the fact that the sweet stinker would not eat. When we were finally released (we were practically begging to go home) we understood that if we couldn’t keep her hydrated we would be right back at the hospital.
B was such a trooper. She was poked and suctioned and given nose drops and deep suctioned so many times. I was certain she was traumatized. Sometimes when they were doing their routine checks with their stethoscopes she would cry just because she was afraid something was going to happen. But through it all she still managed to give a few of the nurses smiles. Daddy and I could get a few smiles, too.
I took the other kids for a short visit at the hospital Friday evening. Baby B lit up!! She was smiling and laughing and it was the happiest I had seen her all week. These siblings have a deep bond and love for each other.
I spent so many hours in that hospital room. While B was sleeping, I watched a lot of psych episodes and I read the book “The Other Side of Heaven”. I’ve seen parts of the movie before, but that was the first time I read the book. I loved it! Maybe something about being in the hospital and having so much time to think contributed to my feelings, but I found it inspiring, interesting, comforting, and filled with so much truth about life.
I just have to say that I am so grateful to the good nurses who took of her (not so much the one bad nurse who was belittling and made a scary poor decision about her care so I had to fire her) and all of the drs and aides and room cleaners. And we were especially blessed to have so many friends checking in on us and bringing us meals and family helping out that my heart was so full and their love and prayers meant so much to us.
We brought B home Monday night. I think it was almost 9pm when we got home with her. I did not get a single picture, but it was the sweetest reunion in the whole world. Just like when the kids visited in the hospital, baby just glowed and laughed and there was so much joy as we gathered into Perry’s room with everyone. It was such a relief to have everyone under the same roof again.
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