Hospitalized

Well, it has been a rough couple of days. Over the weekend it appeared that Leah was getting sick again. She had a runny nose and a cough. My allergies were acting up, so I was hoping that was what was going on with Leah as well, but that wasn't the case. She slept horribly on Saturday night, had a rough day and wasn't much better on Sunday. Jed and I did our usual bedtime routine Sunday night and hoped for the best. At 3:30 am on Monday morning; Leah woke up with a fever of 101.4. She looked awful. I gave her some Tylenol, rocked her for a little bit and put her back down. She was up again at 5:00. I went and got her out of her room and decided that she needed to see the MD. So I took her into the kitchen with me to grab the phone book and find out if the Instacare was open or if I had to wait until 9:00am to see her pediatrician. When I turned the lights on in the kitchen, I was horrified at what I saw. Leah's mouth and lips were blue! She was breathing so hard and obviously not getting enough oxygen. I told Jed "We're going to the ER now!" and I took off with her. Luckily when I got to the ER we were the only ones there. They brought us back to a room right away and hooked Leah up to a pulse ox monitor. Her oxygen levels were hovering between 79-85%. They immediately started giving her oxygen and her levels came up, but as soon as you moved the O2 mask, the levels plummeted again. So, Leah was started on an IV, given a fluid bolus and some IV antibiotics. They also took a chest x-ray and tested for RSV. Then they suctioned her. I hope none of you mothers ever have to experience that! Ever! It was the most traumatic experience for me, I can't even imagine what it was like for Leah. My poor baby! The ER doctor was concerned about her O2 levels and decided that she needed to be admitted to the hospital. Of course the Peds unit is on the other hospital campus, so Leah had to be transported via ambulance. Luckily they just strapped me to a gurney and let me hold her during transport. Then we got settled into our hospital room. Leah was hooked up to every possible machine...heart monitor, IV, pulse ox, oxygen. She had wires and tubes everywhere.

Every four hours Leah had to receive a breathing treatment and be suctioned.



It has been rough. Jed and I stayed with her during the day and the first night, I attempted to stay by myself. That did not go well. I lasted 2 hours before I was calling Jed, practically in tears, asking him to come back. Jed and I took turns sleeping in the twin sized hospital bed and sitting in the rocking chair with Leah. At one point we were able to put her in the hospital crib, but she didn't last long.




So we rocked her all night. And to top it all off Leah's IV was in the crook of her arm, so if she didn't hold her arm completely straight, the pump would beep loudly. Bad night. The next morning Grandma Jeni came to the rescue. Since it was just to hard to have only one person in the room with Leah. Jed and I took turns going home to nap. Jeni stayed with me for 2.5 hours and helped take care of Leah. While Jed napped and then Jed came back and he stayed home at the hospital with Jeni and Leah.

When the MD came in to assess her, he wanted Leah to spend another night in the hospital. She wouldn't be able to be discharged until she was able to sleep on room air without a decrease in her O2 levels. So we were in it for another night. Yikes!

That night we tried to have a better plan. Grandma Jeni went to work for a few hours and then her and Grandpa "Papa" came back to relieve us. Grandma and Papa stayed with Leah from 7:30 to Midnight and Jed and I were able to go home and sleep. It was so nice. By that time Leah was feeling well enough to play with Grandpa...




Grandma and Grandpa had successfully gotten Leah to sleep in her crib. Woot! Woot! Jed slept in the hospital bed and on and off in the rocker from midnight to five. And I went home. I felt like kind of an ass, but it seemed silly to stay if Leah was going to sleep well and in her crib.

So now it is early morning. Leah is sleeping, Jed is sleeping and I am blogging about this experience. Hopefully we will be able to go home today. Leah has been off her oxygen all night and her levels have been in the high 90's. Her IV was discontinued, and she was switched to oral antibiotics. She was still suctioned and received a breathing treatment every four hours, and unfortunately that will continue until they are no longer removing large amounts of secretions. Gross! So...that's the story. Keep your fingers crossed, cuz we wanna go home :)