ER visits and more...plus a long post!

Sorry I have been missing...if you follow me on Facebook you already know the past 2 1/2 weeks have been a little crazy over here.  However for the others let me fill you in!!!  Sweet Miss H got a major fever the NIGHT after her birthday party!!!  Yes, we were thankful it was after her party for her sake, but I did worry about all who had attended that day too.  This was our first MORJOR illness.  I mean yeah she has had the sniffles and such here and there but never a fever.  I felt so bad for her she had a 102.0 temp!  She was so tired and didn't even want to eat or nurse.  My baby does not MISS a meal people.

I called the on call dr for the night.  They just said to watch her and give tylenol as needed for the fever.  Needless to say Sunday she still had a fever so first thing Monday morning I called the Dr. for an appointment.  We went in that afternoon to find out she did not have the flu, but did have an ear infection and a bad cold.  BOO....so got some meds for the ear and nothing for the cold! Back home we went.  We stared the meds asap and she perked up some that night.  Her fever even broke! Whoo whoo she ate a little and nursed too.  I really was happy it looked like we were on the mend.  Wednesday she woke up and had been fever free for 24 hours! Thank heavens!  However she had a little wheezing when she was breathing.  I placed a call to the nurse as the DR's office to ask if that was normal.  In the mean time we went to music with hopes to sing and dance like normal.  Miss H kind of participated but not like her self.

After class she immediately fell asleep in the car...we live about 10 minutes from class and she was out before we left the parking lot to head home.  Poor thing...then she stayed alseep once we got home! I brought her in in her car seat like normal since she was sleeping.  She normally just sleeps about 10-20 minutes more once we are home...the dog will bark or she will wiggle and realize we are no longer in the car and want to be up.  Come 10:20 she was still sleeping...she had fallen asleep around 9:45!  So I thought I would get her out of her seat.  I got her out and she stayed asleep...then I started to notice she was breathing very quickly....well much faster than normal.   Thankfully the nurse FINALLY called back at about 10:45.  I told her that H had been asleep for almost all of the morning and I was worried about her breathing.  I said it seemed very labored.  She told me they could get me in at 3, but if I got worried or didn't think it could wait to just come in.  I hung up and then called my mom to talk it out with her.  Yes, I still need my mom!!  While on the phone with her I told her our story...and how I was holding H now while she slept.  Then as we were talking H STOPPED BREATHING!!!  I hung up the phone and begin to wiggle and shake her!  She woke up breathing and looked shocked that I was shaking and wiggling her.  I immediately threw her in the car seat and left for the Dr's office.  Her lips didn't turn blue but it was not a normal pause!  The whole way there I kept on hand on her car seat and shaking it!  I didn't want her to fall back asleep.  I also called Chris who left work asap to met us.  Thankfully our Dr. is 5 minutes from the house.  I called them to tell them we were headed in.  They got us straight back to a room and took her oxygen levels.  86% is where she was sitting....NOT GOOD AT ALL!!

Then she had to have blood drawn, chest x-rays, and a test for RSV.  Everything came back as positive as RSV!!  These were letters I had dreaded since she was born...I knew it was not a nice thing to have and could really be bad.  Thankfully Chris was there to help out because it took two for the x-ray!  After that she had to do 2 breathing treatments....before her oxygen was in the 90% area and the dr said her lungs sounded clearer.  She even perked up and asked for some mum mums.  Which was a great sign!!  She hadn't wanted to really eat or nurse all day.  We left the dr's office at 3:45 and went to CVS for her breathing meds.  I was told to give her one as soon as we got home and then another one about 30 minutes later.  I did just that. Come 5 she was still breathing very quickly.

Doing her treatments at home...sleeping!

She should have slowed down a little after 4 treatments.  Thus I call my brother-in-law (fp doctor).  I had both him and Chris on the phone explaining how she was still struggling to breath. Brian said go to the ER now...breathing is one thing you don't mess with.  Okay you have to know my brother-in-law....he never really gets worried about sicknesses.  For him to say go it means we really needed to be there asap!  Thankfully Chris was in route home.  By the time he got there I had her in her car seat and away we went.  She was still breathing so quickly and just wanted to sleep....when we arrived I told the er check in dr the whole deal.  He listened to her lungs then told us to wait.

We waited in a corner I didn't want her to catch anything else...especially the flu! After about 15-20 minutes our name got called...thank heavens because this mommy was a nervous wreck.  The whole time we were there I was doubting myself on if it was the right thing to do.  Was it worth risking other illnesses for this?? As soon as we were taken back they took her oxygen level and it was 86%...then the nice nurse called back and asked for a room with respiratory ready to go!  Okay that right there tells me this was a good decision by Chris and I.  She took her temp and it was back to 102... poor baby girl!

From there we were sent back to an ER room (around 7 pm)..where we were met immediately with 4 people.  One to check her in and get all her info....aka the paperwork person for billing and such! 2 nurses (it's a teaching hospital), and then the Dr. Moore.  Everyone began to listen to her lungs.... they all came to the same conclusion they sounded great which didn't match why she was breathing so quickly and struggling.  Dr. Moore was the sweetest ever, she just kept telling H that she was working way to hard to breath. Thankfully our pediatrician is part of the Cook's Children's network.  Thus they were able to pull up all of her info from our Dr. visit just that afternoon.

Just waiting around watching daddy be silly!

 Dr. Moore wanted to do another breathing treatment, different then the 4 we had already done.  Respiratory came in and got her going on that....not something she H likes at all.  After her treatment Dr. Moore and the nurses all came back in to see how she was.  Again her lungs sounded good, but then.....after listening a little longer than normal it was heard!  There was a raspy sound in her left lung, apparently so light it was easily missed by many.  Dr. Moore was sweet she said to give her a moment, but to plan on staying over night.  There was no way she was letting her leave when she was working so hard to breath.

after her breathing treatment...not too happy!

I never thought I would be so happy to hear we were staying overnight at the hospital.  But honestly I had been so stressed out all day long that it was nice to know I wouldn't have to be second guessing myself all night on if I thought she was breathing hard or not.  After about 15 minutes the nurses returned with a machine...it looked pretty scary.  Thankfully H can't tell that things look scary but this mommy was worried.

The nurses explained that she was going to be on an oxygen flow machine.  Basically it was going to pump air into her body...however it was going to be warmed and moistened.  This would help break up all the stuff in her lungs that was causing the breathing issues.  ---SIDE NOTE: RSV is basically when the cells in your lungs all fall of and to the bottom of your lungs.  From there you would try to cough them up and out...babies are not strong enough to cough it up, instead they just cough and it stays in there causing the lungs to work over time----  Now the task was to keep H for yanking the oxygen nose piece out of her nose!  That was a task until but eventually she forgot about it.  Plus she was still pretty tired so I got her to sleep.  After about 20 minutes you could see a difference in her breathing.  She was by no means breathing normally but she was taking a bit longer of breaths.  She was on the right path as Dr. Moore said.  Then she informed us that H would need to be on this machine all night at least.  Again I was thankful for good Dr's.  After that she said that H would be moved from the ER to a room., yet it would not be a normal room.  Instead she would be move to the ICU! (in my head I kept saying don't freak out don't freak out).  I asked why?  In order for her oxygen levels to be monitored and her to stay on the machine it was the only place she could go!  I really didn't feel like it was a big deal...I mean it sounded like it was just because of her oxygen flow machine that she was going there.  At this point it was like 9 pm and we were just chilling in the ER room.  They said they had to get paperwork and such to the dr's up in the ICU and then they would move us.  But until then she would need and IV and a flu test done.  Thankfully people have invented many wonderful things...one being a numbing medicine that goes on before an IV.

finally sleeping after all the torture

H did pretty good with it and I was thankful Chris was there to help hold her hand too.  Actually I think she fussed more from the flu test than the IV.  After waiting around until 11:30 I told Chris to go home and worry about the dog.  After all H was asleep finally in my arms.  Plus poor Winston was left not knowing what was going on.  Chris had work in the morning and come on we both don't need to be up here to watch H sleep, right?  (to be cont...because this is way to long as is!)