Whitt got to spend his very first Valentines Day and his 5 month birthday in the hospital!
The last few days have been a whirlwind to say the least! Hoping to make this somewhat short, but there are a lot of details, so feel free to skip on down to the cute dimpled boy at the bottom of the post!
Whitt got his 4 month shots a week ago from today...so last Wednesday! Thursday he had a slight fever and was a little congested! I thought the fever was from the shots and the congestion was just something related to the weather! Considering it was 8 degrees last week and 86 degrees today, it could have been a possibility! Friday morning he was even more congested but didn't have a fever! I made an appt. with the doctor for later that afternoon, but ended up canceling it because he seemed fine. Nothing more than a little snot and maybe a little cough. Saturday morning, he still wasn't feverish but was getting more congested and his breathing seemed a little labored. He would have coughing fits where it would take a little bit to recover and we were sucking lots of snot out of his nose. I was going to call our pedi's office and leave a message so that someone on-call could call us back and I could ask them some questions, but his office was actually open! I didn't know it was open on Sat, so I had Josh go ahead and take him in because he seemed to be getting worse! He tested positive for RSV and sent home! We were told to come back Monday for a recheck. I don't think they like to give breathing treatments to little bitties, so we were just hoping he would recover on his own! Cooper got RSV at about 6 1/2 months and recovered without any treatment, so I wasn't too concerned. Well, I was concerned, but Josh wasn't....so I tried to just act like everything was ok. He was about the same on Sunday. Josh took Coop to church and we stayed home. He was still having tons of coughing fits. It was like he was trying to cough up mucus, but it just wasn't productive. He would cough so hard and so long that he would turn a lovely shade of purple! Still tons of snot. He was sleeping through the night with his normal one feed somewhere between 4 and 6. (I was up checking on him or looking at the monitor probably 85 times a night...I'm not exaggerating!). As I was watching him Sunday night, his chest was really pulling in as he was breathing. He was struggling. He woke up at 1:00, 300 and 6:00. I called the pedi office to make our recheck appt. and was disappointed that I was given such a hard time because I hadn't called at 8:00 that morning. They had to fit us in and the receptionist was not a happy camper. Sorry, I was just doing what I was told to do. Nobody told me to call at 8:00. I think it was 9:05 when I called because that's when we woke up. Anyway, I almost told her to forget it and to just schedule us for the next day, but she "sweetly" told us to just come in at 1:00. So, we did. When Dr. N came in and listened to his chest, he was immediately concerned. He said it was super tight and he was really struggling. Whitten was so incredibly agitated and screaming bloody murder...which is how he had been for the last few days. This concerned the doctor as well! So, we did a breathing treatment in the office!
Ater the treatment, he still didn't sound any better, so Dr. N said we needed to be admitted. I was scared, but relieved at the same time because I knew things were on a decline. So, I headed home, heart racing out of my chest, and grabbed a few things before heading up to the hospital. Thank the Lord we live in the same town as my parents because my mom was able to take Coop home with her for the rest of the day and night. Josh was still at work and didn't get off until 5, so I was on my own for the first part of this journey! We got admitted around 2:30. They had to draw labs and get an iv of fluids stared because he was so dehydrated. They only had to poke him one time to get blood....but had to dig around for a little over 5 minutes in order to find his vein. More horrifying screaming, but once it was done I got to hold him and he seemed to calm down. Next up...chest x rays! At this point, he's crazy tired, hadn't eaten in over 5 hours, and obviously didn't feel good. When they left they told me they wouldn't come back unless they need to get another pic and.....they needed to get another pic!!!!!! They were back within 20 min. and I had just gotten him to sleep. Back to the torture chamber!! He was so tired, he didn't put up too much a fight the second time! Now for the absolute worst possible part! It was time for the iv so they could get his fluids going. I'll spare you a lot of details. He got poked a total of 9 times....arms, hands and feet. I was doing my best to hold him down and comfort him, but I was getting nauseous. I hadn't slept in about 4 nights, and I had maybe 30 minutes of sleep the night before so I was exhausted, starving, and absolutely devastated for my baby boy. He was so miserable. At this point he was really dehydrated, and they just couldn't get a vein. I texted Josh and told him he needed to hurry because I needed to breathe for a second. Whitt was so tired that between each poke, he would fall asleep. Saddest thing ever. On about the 7th or 8th poke, Josh came in the door....and just a few minutes later Dr. N came to the rescue!! He totally took over and I was so thankful! Not that the nurses weren't doing the best they could, but I was ready for the torture to be over. They decided that they weren't going to be able to find a vein and he was going to have to get a pic line in his femoral artery (I think that's what it is called). They took him to an exam room and Josh and I couldn't be in there....not that I wanted to watch, but it's hard having your baby in someone else's hands when you can't see what's going on. About 5 minutes later....success!!!! Thanks to Dr. N!!! He really is amazing!
Before all of the action began. He does not snuggle!! He obviously didn't feel well if he was asleep on me!
Some of the battle wounds from trying to find a vein
Pic line in groin
Finally eating!
Worn out little boy
So, after all of the mass chaos, things began to settle down. Whitten was beyond worn out. They finally started breathing treatments that he just slept through because of all of the trauma. Because I hadn't slept in days, I went home while Josh stayed for a while! Did I sleep at home....no....I should have just stayed up there! I got back up there around 4 a.m. and let Josh go home so he could sleep because he had to go in to work at 1:00 p.m.. He said Whitt did just fine without his mommy! I took up some frozen breast milk so that Josh could feed him during the night. So thankful for a sweet hubby!!!! Fast forward...Dr. N came in the next morning around 7:30 and said he sounded great. We were discharged around 9:30 and were happy to be home!
Whitt right before being discharged!
Finally home!!!
So, we have 5 days of saline breathing treatments every 4-6 hours. He's still not 100%, but he's feeling better. We go back in for a recheck on Friday. To be honest, this whole situation could have been kind of a routine thing. Baby gets RSV, baby goes to hospital for treatment, baby goes home the next day. But the whole not being able to find a vein...getting a pic line thing totally sucked....bad!!!!!! Yes, we had a very sick baby boy, and it was scary having to be in the hospital, but that other episode is something I could have totally lived without! Ugh....it gives me nightmares. However, it definitely gave me a little bit of perspective. I know there are mommies and daddies that have very sick babies that don't get to go home....and that tears my heart up inside.
On an up note! Here's my sweet little dimpled boy hanging out in his brother's swing in the 80 degree weather today!!
