Saturday, February 09, 2013

PICU stay for Miss H

Where were we,
Chris took off to go home and get some rest while I help Miss H as she slept and began to breath a little better.  Finally at 12:15 am (Thursday now!!) we were being moved from the ER to the PICU.  Again I was not going to be stressed out by this, Dr. Moore made it seem like it was no big thing really.   Well, as the "team" of people arrived to set H up for transferring I began to see this way was bigger than they made it sound.  I mean it took 4 people to just walk her up to the PICU.  She had to be taken off the wall oxygen and moved to a portable oxygen tank and such....to then only be greeted by 8 people once we arrived in the PICU.  I couldn't do a thing, this is probably the most helpful I have ever felt for my sweet baby.  She was sound asleep in her car seat to only be woken up by tons of people who were yelling out numbers and sticking things on her and such.  I think I looked like a deer in head lights because the er nurse said Mom, Mom, MOM you can sit right here and once they have her STABLE they will come talk to you.  At that moment the word STABLE was stuck in my head...what do you mean STABLE, she is stable she just needs her lungs cleared out!!!  I mean that is what I thought anyways.

What seemed like forever, but was probably just 10-15 minutes went by as I watched them hook my sweet baby up to 3 machines.  Not to mention she was crying and reaching for me the whole time...all I wanted to do was hold her, but couldn't.  I kept asking if they could just give her back her paci it would help calm her down.  Then finally one of the nurses could see H was not going to calm down....and said lets pull up the rocking chair and have mom hold her.  The biggest relief came from that moment...as she laid in my arms crying while they finished up what needed to be connected to her.  I was so thankful to just be able to at least try and comfort her through it.  Soon enough things calmed down and the nurses were telling me all about the PICU and how it worked.

Then her PICU Dr. Dr. Gordon came over and sat for a bit.  He was so nice (they are the best people there).  He sat and asked me about H and how her normal days are and such.  Then he asked what I did and my husband...where we lived and such.  He basically was trying to get an idea of our home life I think and how we worked.  Thankfully we live 8 minutes from the hospital!! I am very, very thankful for that.  Then Dr. Gordon explained RSV and how the oxygen flow machine was helping clean out her lungs.  He also told me that normally he begins his chats with families by saying expect the baby to get worse before it gets better.  However, he didn't see that being the case at all with H.  He felt like she had already been at her worse today and would only improve.  I was very thankful to hear that.  Then he explained the dr's shift changes and such so I would know where he was if I  needed him.  After all of this it was about 1:45 am  H was still sleeping in my arms.



Her nigh nurse was super sweet Ms. Ava and made me put her in the crib to sleep.  She was a great nurse and really took great care of H.  H didn't love being in the crib but they made it super comfy with blankets all around to make her feel safe.  Bad news about the ICU is the little bed for the moms and dads to lay on is behind the crib.  Thus every time H would open her eyes and not see me she would freak out and try to stand up.  I spent the night in a chair next to her with little sleep.  Thankfully her daddy gets up early normally.  Chris arrived around 5 am to hold her tight.  She was so happy to see him and just wanted to be held tight.  While Chris sat with her I ran down stairs to grab some food...I was starving!!!   Around 8 am my mom called and said she was coming to help! I am so thankful for her she is amazing.  No matter what is going on she always comes to help me out.  At 9 am Ms. Ava came in and said that the Dr wanted to take her off the oxygen machine.  I was happy and worried all at the same time.



H spent most of the morning sleeping which was good for her.  The more rest she gets the better she gets too.  The Dr's made their rounds at about 11 they discussed how she was no longer on the oxygen machine and keeping her oxygen levels in the 91% and above.  They then said they felt like she would be moved out of the ICU to a regular room.  Oh happy day...we were one step closer to being home.  H began to feel a little better she actually started nursing again! I was so happy to see her wanting to eat a little something.  Chris thankfully was able to come and go all day long between appointments.  I am so thankful he has a job that he can make flexable in moments like this.
Daddy brought her a balloon!!!
How we spent most of our time there...holding mommy's hand.
Mom arrived aournd 4:30 ish just in time for our move. I was so happy as the lack of sleep was really starting to hit me at that time.   Our sweet day nurse loaded H up into the wagon and away we went...we left the ICU!!!

all packed up and almost ready to go...just need to wake the sleeping baby


sitting back and enjoying the ride


 H was now part of the 14 other RSV children on the 4th floor!  Plus we had our own rooms and better chairs to sleep in, lol! Chris made it up for dinner and to check out our new digs :-) Mom and I gave H a bath..she was pretty stinky from the past 2 days events.  Mom said she would stay with me at the hospital so Chris could sleep for work again.  I was so grateful for that and so was Chris.  I know he was ready to spend the night...but since he has work there is no reason for him to be tired if mom was there.  H slept pretty good till about 2 am when they came in to check her vitals.  She had even slept through an iv medicine treatment.  But the vital lady woke her up...grrr!! For this mommy that stunk!  Mom stepped up and took on H watch so I could get a little more rest.  Finally come 6 am we had gotten her back to sleep and a new nurse came on.  It was a male nurse he was pretty cool.  He didn't mind that I had her sleeping on me in the chair.  The other nurse yelled that "co-bedding" was not allowed...blah blah blah.  Hey what ever gets this mommy sleep is what we need to do, LADY!!

H continued to improve all day on Friday except for one little detail...she was not having enough wet diapers.  She was nursing but it just wasn't enough.  Thus we began the feed her anything and everything plan...she wasn't a fan.  She wanted to eat, but then come time to do it she didn't.  I think maybe because her throat may have hurt??  Applesauce was our only relief! She would eat it like a champ, I am sure the meal lady thought it was odd that we wanted so much.  Plus I got her a smoothie...she liked it for a moment but that is all.

first smoothie, big girl
Come 4 pm she had only had 2 wet diapers really.  The nurse thought she was doing good but understood my concern on the wet diaper issue.  After 4 it is like she really began to feel good.  She wanted to walk around and play, which was a first in a long time.  
thankful to be up and around

pumping her full of water and food....
Come 6 we were ready to be discharged from the hospital.  OH HAPPY DAY!!  Chris, Mom, H, and I were all headed home.  Does this mean she was 100% better no, no, no but at least she could breath.  Not only that but we didn't even have to do breathing treatments at home, WHOO WHOO!!
Happy to have her IV out and ready to go home
It was so nice to be home in our own place.  H was still pretty tired but we were all happy to enjoy our big king sized bed.  Yes, H got to sleep with us! Our routine was so out of wack I wasn't going to even try putting her in her room.  Plus I was TIRED, and this was an easy solution for all to sleep.  Actually we (H and I) slept so good that we went to bed at 9 and woke up at 10 am!!  Man did we need that sleep.

H kissing her babies the night we got home from the hospital and had a bath
How is H now??  Well for the 3-5 days after the hospital she was still not really eating much.  She was still sleeping more than normal, again a good thing.  Bad thing with RSV is that it takes a while to get rid of it...from 10-21 days.  The coughing was sounding much better though so I knew we finally were on the healing side and her snotty nose was also improving.

Now 2 weeks later we are back to a baby who LOVES her food!  She has finally gotten her full appetite back, thank heavens.  She still has a cough here and there, maybe 3-5 times a day if that.  Only major issue we still have is the ear infection...its hanging on.  However, H doesn't seem to mind it much and just goes on.  We have new meds for it lets hope they work for gosh sake.

For those who sent up thought and prayers THANKS so much!! We are so blessed to have good friends and wonderful family around us.  H has no idea how many people were thinking of her but will one day see how blessed she is.  I wish THANK YOU was big enough to show you how grateful we are!  


1 comment:

Kara said...

So happy she is better!