Will at the Hospital

Maybe its because my entire pregnancy I worried that February meant RSV, but I think we were just a little unlucky. Or lucky, as he is doing really well.

He caught a runny nose from Ruth, and eventually me, on Friday night/Saturday and I'd just been sucking it out with the bulb syringe from the hospital. He got pretty pale at Sterling's mom's house on Sunday (our first major excursion with the baby and everyone assured us they weren't sick, too bad he already was) but when I got him home he seemed just fine. I told Sterling I was kind of worried when Sterling got home from work, but at the time he looked fine. Then as I was holding him and we were getting ready for bed he got really pale, and kept coughing and was slow to breathe after. But he'd recover, so I couldn't decide how worried to be. Maybe he just needed his nose cleared? Sterling was beyond worried and wanted to head to the ER right then. I looked up signs of RSV online, and he got more worried, but I thought it was just cause we were psyching ourselves. Then I called my sister Megan, but I don't even remember what she said since Sterling was already pulling on clothes, starting the car, getting Ruth in the car, etc. I made Sterling stop for one second and give Will a blessing. I have no idea what he said, but I remember, that the moment his hands were on Will's head I felt the spirit so strongly and was just so grateful for Sterling and his priesthood and that one quiet moment. Then I grabbed some blankets, our insurance cards, and the diaper bag, and we headed out.

The admitting nurse thought he looked pretty fine, and went to get a device to check his oxygen on his foot (I think?) while I talked to the admitting receptionist lady. Next thing I know the admitting nurse is taking him away, car seat and all, and I am waiting for his leg bands. When I walked into the ER room it was a horrible, terrible feeling. No one should ever see their tiny little three week old on a huge, big bed with bright lights shining down and nurses scurrying around him and an oxygen mask over his face. His oxygen had been low. Extremely low. But everyone seemed pretty impressed with how well he started doing as soon as they started giving him oxygen. He started doing even better when they deep suctioned him, and he had a ton of gunk come out. The nurse in the ER normally works in pediatrics, for which I will be forever grateful, and got his IV in right away. The other nurses trying to get blood drawn were not so lucky. The first blood draw showed high potassium, so they had to recheck it. The second blood draw they didn't get enough blood. And so they had to do it a third time. His poor little wrist and hand is all bruised now. They also did a chest xray, and they decided they couldn't see what they wanted, so I followed them to a radiology room, and they had to redo it. Twice. They made Sterling leave because Ruth is under 14. That was miserable. I kept wanting to feed him because I was getting really engorged, but that didn't happen til two or so.  They also gave Will a bolus because his electrolytes were off, which meant he was dehydrated.

Finally, all the tests were finished, and they let us go to a room. The positive test for RSV had come back in the first fifteen minutes of being there. They gave me a pump to use, unhooked Will from oxygen because he was doing so well, and we settled in for the night. But not until I cried in front of two nurses. Nurses shouldn't be nice to moms at 4am who don't have a husband with them, I wouldn't have cried if they wouldn't have been nice. At 5am he started having episodes of apnea, which was not fun to watch. But they hooked him up to oxygen again, put it higher, and he started doing great.

Since then he's done really well. None of the mucous is down in his lungs, so they just regularly suction him so its easier for him to breathe and eat. They have him monitored and today he seems a lot better. Yesterday the poor thing just wanted to be held in one certain way and would slowly sound more and more stuffed up, but today he is much happier. Last night he did spike a fever, but not high enough that they wanted to do any tests right away, and it hasn't come back. 

As far as RSV goes, we are really lucky, especially since he is so little. If he keeps improving, they'll probably send us home tomorrow. Keeping our fingers crossed! He's also eating much better and that is a good sign.

They haven't used his IV, but they keep it in just in case and flush it every four hours. That's why his hand is bandaged.

This morning he got some cool dinosaur bandaging.

This morning we also gave him a bath which made his hair go SO fluffy. I keep thinking "It's SO FLUFFY! I'm gonna DIE!" His color also looks great.

Our first nurse was amazing and I loved her. Our nurse and respiratory therapist from last night were not so great. I think the nurse just bugged me because I only got about an hour of sleep the night before. The respiratory therapist kept saying she didn't hear anything in his lungs, so she'd only half-heartedly suction him out. Then we got a new one this morning, and I told her I thought he was pretty stuffed up, and she did a deep suction again for me, and got a huge amount out, and he went right to sleep. So happy. I also like our nurse today better, so thats good, she helped me give him a bath. Long post, but now its all documented.