Sunday, August 23, 2015

Sicky pants

We had kind of a rough week with Harvey. Tuesday after Tanner picked him up from the babysitter, he was super grumpy. Crying and crying and wanting a bottle. We had taken it away from him
Sunday but he was pretty inconsolable so Tanner pulled him one out. He had an awful night that night. I slept with him in the other room and was up all night with him. Just fussy and tossing and turning and not good at all. When he woke up he had a runny nose and cough. He did okay throughout the day. Just kind of needy and cuddly. 
That night I wondered if he maybe had croup because his cough was kind of barky. And when I put him down he sounded a tiny bit wheezy but I didn't think much of it. He had a fever so we dosed him up and I told Tanner I expected it to be a rough night. Well he did indeed wake up a little before 3. I went and got him and he was pretty toasty so I gave him some Tylenol and sat on the lazy boy with him. He just held on tight to me and I noticed he was breathing SOOO fast. Like not good fast. I thought I'd give him a little while and see if he calmed down at all. He wasn't and I was starting to wonder if he needed to go to the hospital. We kind of make fun of moms that bring their kids in to the ER in the middle of the night for fevers and colds. I didn't want to be the mom that brought him in for nothing but I was kind of stressing. I gave myself a time limit if he was still the same I'd take him. He never changed and so I went and woke up Tanner and told him what I was thinking. He decided to come with me. I initially thought we'd just go in, I'd get my stethoscope and listen to him, check his oxygen and be reassured and go home. Well, he was pretty wheezy and his sats were in the 80s. So we called to wake up the doc and checked him in and began that whole process. 
He was on blow by oxygen for awhile and got 3 breathing treatments in the ED. His sats got a lot better but he was still breathing so hard. They did a chest X-ray and checked for RSV. Both negative.  The doctor working thought we should stay in the hospital mostly just to monitor him for awhile. I sure didn't want to but I've admitted tons of kids like Harv and I don't like being the doc for my own kid and family, so we agreed. He had to get some blood drawn which was traumatizing to everyone. 
It took us forever to get down to the room so we just tried to rest as much as possible. 
Just FYI, Tanner didn't request the wheelchair. They practically force you to take one down to your room. We got to his room and he got a dose of steroids. He kind of perked up a little after sleeping a bit.
It was like he wanted to be happy and play so bad but was just so tired and worn out and didn't feel good. He got another breathing treatment of a different med and the doctor thought we might need to stay another night. Ugh. He did finally fall asleep later that afternoon and I put him in the jail crib they had in the room and was so excited to take a nap. Tanner went home to rest and I fell asleep. 
Only to be woken up about 20 minutes later. Ugh. He was not a fan of his room after that. The only way he was happy was if I was holding him walking around the hospital. And his 23 pounds wore on my body quickly. But every time I tried to go sit on the bed he'd freak out. This went on about 3 hrs. My nerves were just shot. No sleep for a couple nights wasn't good for the whole situation. I knew it wasn't a life threatening thing but I felt so bad for him. And it sucked being in the hospital with him. I was more than ready for Tanner to get back and help.
He finally fell asleep and then not 20 minutes later they came in wanting to give him a shot of steroids. Even though his sats were good, his rate and effort of breathing were still not improving. So another shot and I had a minor meltdown. Tanner took another turn and then we got him to sleep again when he woke up he did seem a lot better. He seemed to be breathing a bit more normally. And he was a lot happier and more perky. And even learned he loves vanilla pudding. 
I kept telling the nurses we needed to leave. There was no way we were all were going to survive another night. It took awhile and some convincing, but we finally got discharged about 6:30 Thursday night. He miraculously (thanks to lots of prayers, I'm sure) slept much better that night and seemed to breathe normally throughout the night. We had an appointment with his pediatrician the next morning and he said he was still wheezing pretty bad. So he got another breathing treatment there and got a scrip for a nebulizer at home. (I think he lost a couple pounds this last week. He got weighed Tuesday when Tanner came to visit and was 25 pounds. 24 pounds in the hospital and then 23 pounds at the doctor visit. He's 13% for weight and at 32 inches he's 36% for height.)
We've only had to use the nebulizer 3 times since we got it, thankfully. And besides a still pretty snotty nose and gunky cough, he is back to his old self and we couldn't be happier. 


3 comments:

  1. Poor Harvey.....and poor you! I have been in your exact same shoes multiple times with all three boys and it is never fun. I hope he's feeling better!

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  2. Ah man!! :( That's so sad and hard.... Poor guy and momma.... I'm sorry! Glad to hear he is doing better!

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  3. Oh goodness! So hard and sad. Glad that has come and gone!

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