Sick

Everyone's okay, but Friday was a heck of a day.

Let me backtrack:

Tuesday night Robbie was fussy. Now, not to brag, but Robbie is a really happy baby. He's just really mellow & good natured. He gets cranky when he's tired and cries when you feed him (because his stomach hurts) but other than that, he's really a good natured kid. He got that from David, not me.

But Tuesday night, he was a fuss pot. It was one of those nights where you look forward to bedtime because man, the quiet will be nice.

Around 2am, he started to get fidgety. By 3am, he was basically up. And stayed that way until 5. He was clearly not feeling well, but I couldn't pinpoint what was wrong. I tried Mylanta and Tylenol but nothing seemed to help. Finally around 5 am, he slept a bit, though still pretty fitfully.

At 9, he woke up coughing. In preemie land, cough = BAD news. I called the doctor and asked to be seen.

Dr. P had all good things to say. I was feeling pretty crappy. I was feeling pretty guilty that Robbie got sick. We have been out and about quite a bit lately. I am pretty anal about keeping things wiped with antibacterial wipes, but there is only so much I can do. But Dr. P said it's actually good for him to get out and see things and to be social. And that really, he's big enough now that getting sick once in a while is good for his immune system. A cough isn't the thing we'd want to see, but that so far his lungs sounded okay and really there wasn't much to be done for him.

But then she added "though, he sounds like a kid who's going to start wheezing tomorrow." Fabulous! She said if he got worse to bring him back.

Thursday was about the same. Not great, but no worse. Thursday night, however, he started breathing pretty heavily. Around bedtime I decided he really sounded uncomfortable and ended up calling the nurse line. I wasn't sure if what he was doing was wheezing or not, but he didn't sound right. The nurse was great, walking me through all the symptoms and ultimately deciding that was okay- for now.

Robbie slept well and I really hoped he'd wake up feeling better. It was not to be.

He woke up sounding awful. I hoped being up and about would break things loose, but again, it just wasn't going to happen. By mid-morning, he was starting to sound a little occasionally rattely when exhaled. I called the doctor. Dr P isn't in on Friday so they arranged for us to see the covering doctor about an hour later.

I have a guest from out of town staying with me, so I had her with me. Off we went.

I swear, by the time we drove to the doctor's office, he was so much worse. In the exam room he went from occasionally sounding yucky to full out wheezing. The nurse who checked him over asked if we had a nebulizer. When I said no, she replied "I bet you're gonna get one today." She was right.

She took his pulse ox. It should be at least 95, preferably closer to 100. It was 94. That's not scary low, but it's certainly not what you want. And considering how many months I spent staring at monitors with low pulse-oxes, I really hated it.

I also admit that I read a few blogs that instantly came to mind. I was pretty nervous.

The doctor ordered a breathing treatment with some albuterol. The nurse got us started. Robbie did okay, but really didn't love the mask. They checked his oxygen again- 95%. Better, but not great, and he was still wheezing.

Another breathing treatment. Still 95% and still wheezing.

That's when she said the words I really could gladly never hear again, "You're going to need to be admitted to the hospital." GAH! No more hospitals! But I knew it was for the best. We ultimately decided to go back to the hospital we normally deal with and the doctor went off to make the arrangements.

We had planned a barbecue for the weekend, so I called to start cancelling that stuff and of course, called David at work to let him know what was going on.

The doctor came back in and said that the hospital didn't want to do a direct admit, they wanted to work us up through the E.R. so she sent us on our way.

At the E.R. things went pretty quickly at first. We were triaged and given a room very quickly. They started with another breathing treatment which really did nothing except annoy Robbie further.

The nurses were great and the doctor very nice. That was something, at least. My friend from out of town is childless and she mostly looked shell-shocked.

They decided that their course of action was to do a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. No one thought he had pneumonia. He doesn't have a fever, and really, other than the wheezing, was not behaving that sick. After they ruled out the pneumonia, they'd do some steroids and another breathing treatment. If those didnt' work, we'd be admitted. Everyone kept talking more like "when you get admitted" than "if you get admitted" though, so they didn't seem too hopeful that it would work.

Then we had the X ray. And it was hazy. Well, crap. They were afraid it was indeed pneumonia after all. Everyone was surprised.

That meant blood work and an IV. The nurse got a vein pretty quickly, which was nice, but Robbie was still screaming. I'd warned my friend it was going to be ugly. She looked traumatized. They took the blood but ultimately couldn't get the IV to flush so he didn't get one. I asked that they not poke him again until we confirmed he'd need IV meds. They agreed.

They decided to go ahead with the steroids and breathing treatment while we waited for lab results.

That was amazing! It was like someone turned on a light switch to Robbie's normal personality. Suddenly he was happy, playful, smiling and best yet- BREATHING NORMALLY. He just sounded so much better.

They checked his oxygen and we got 96 & 97. Phew!
Then even better news- the bloodwork was normal! Not only was his white blood cell count normal, but the marker for any inflammation in his lungs was zero. WE COULD GO HOME!

We were discharged with steroids & a nebulizer for home. By that time, David had gotten to the hospital with us, and we were all elated.

So home we are. Robbie still hates the nebulizer. He has to get a treatment at least every 4 hours, which means waking him in the night (the machine is loud, so he definitely wakes up) but in the grand scheme of things, it really could have been so much worse.

We'll be seeing Dr. P today to follow up, but so far, he seems much better. He's still coughing, but the wheezing has stayed away.

Please continue to pray that he gets better quickly, but for now, we're hanging in there.

NO MORE HOSPITALS, PLEASE!

--Trish