A Hospital Stay

Our little man gave us quite the scare last week. After a very minor cold, he woke up from a nap on Thursday afternoon wheezing audibly. He had been his usual cheery self all afternoon, even swiping our pastor's sandwich off the table when we went for lunch earlier that day. Still happy, John played and ate supper with us. But as the evening went on John got progressively worse and when he woke up in distress at around 8 30 pm, we knew it was time to take him to the hospital. I wasn't panicking at all then.. but maybe I should have been? No, I drove calmly the 5 minutes to the local children's hospital, parked in staff parking, and carried my wheezy little boy across the parking lot in his car seat. The cold air seemed to help him a little bit. Brian stayed home with Bronwen. 

However, when we got inside the toasty hospital, things got worse fast. John was deemed in 'severe respiratory distress' in the ER and they wasted no time getting him inside immediately. His little feet were ice cold and he was working so very hard to breathe. His blood oxygen levels (Sp02 for you medical types) never dropped which is a sign that he was able to still keep up with the demands of his body, thankfully, but our little man was seriously ill. His heart rate went up to 260 and the doctors were worried that he was entering SVT (supraventricular tachycardia, a seriously abnormal heart rhythm that is far too fast). They determined that it was just because his little body under so much stress, however. He also had a very high fever and there was concern over possible sepsis (bacterial infection in the blood). After 3 epinephrine masks, IV steroids and antibiotics, monitors of all types, a chest and neck xray and lots of blood tests, John finally settled down. Thankfully, as the doctors were getting ready to send him to the pediatric ICU if he didn't improve. To make a long story short, we spent two nights at the hospital in an isolation room on the medicine floor, and it was determined that he had a severe case of croup- a viral infection of the upper airways and trachea that happens to small children. In adults, the same virus would probably look like like a bad cold- but in the tiny airways of babies, the symptoms are much worse. And very scary. Babies can get sick very quickly. 

It's been a stressful weekend and I'm so glad that John is on the mend. He is doing much better now and only has a snotty nose and a bit of a cough. Babies also recover very quickly! Always one for dramatic flair, John is also popping two teeth through on top of all of this. And big sister is working on her two year molars... oh my.

I think that I'm still processing the whole ordeal.... it was quite something to be on the receiving end of emergency care rather than one of the nurses in the thick of it. And then having your own child be so sick makes for one emotional and scared mama. 

Here are some pictures from our ordeal. I had Brian's phone with me and not much else to do besides watch and wait.. hence our stay is fairly well documented...

in the ER after all the dust had settled. Heart rate still the high end of normal

finally sleeping.. he was so exhausted after all that work to breathe

little man and lots of equipment. IV splinted on in his little antecubital (inside of elbow) since his hands are too chubby!

the next morning.. not very happy. John slept most of the day in between feedings

poor lil guy

perking up a little bit.. eyes puffy from the IV fluids

chewing on a bun to try and keep him happy

finally asleep after a fussy few hours

my delicious dinner that Brian delivered.. friends from church had him and Bronwen over for supper

sunset.. view from the window

snuggles

watching TV.. for a couple minutes at least

sleeping again

keeping an eye on his oxygen levels

starting to get back to normal on Saturday morning.. wanting to grab everything

well enough to play with some toys. This was just after a finger prick hence all the blood on the pink box.. I let the nurse know so it could be thoroughly sanitized after we left!

we got the go-ahead to go home! much happier and time to get dressed 

all ready to be picked up.. still a little pale!

Very glad I grabbed his favourite red polka dot blanket on the way out the door..

I am very thankful for the support of friends and family... we felt so loved! From phone calls and emails to visits and dinners. One friend brought me a tea and cookies and sat with me in the dark while I tried to get John to sleep (and when he finally fell asleep) on Friday night. The friends who fed my husband and daughter a delicious meal and packed me up some to go. Others who altered their work schedule on Friday morning to look after Bronwen. A casserole and bag of cookies brought to our door Saturday afternoon. Tim Hortons coffee and Timbits on Monday. A lunch hour visit from another friend. Opening the front door to find cupcakes and a fruit tray on our front porch. Even offers to clean my house! (which it probably does need, but I think I'll use that person's offer for babysitting instead). Thanks everyone. Life lived in community is better, richer, and how it was meant to be. I only hope we can bless others the same way we have been blessed in the past few days.

I have new eyes for those parents with chronically ill children.. I cannot imagine having to spend days on end with your child in the hospital, waiting on tests, undergoing scary procedures, trying to make sense of what is going on and what can be done to make things better. I am very thankful that despite these little bumps in the road, our kids are healthy and hearty! You can never take health for granted.

Also, I am very glad that both our kids are up to date in their vaccines. This is a very hot topic right now and there have been outbreaks in Canada which should not be happening. I don't feel up to a debate, but I just want to say this- I feel that it's extremely important to vaccinate your child. While I was in the hospital with John, one of the first things I was asked- triage nurse, ER doctor, pediatricians, is "Is your child up to date in his vaccines?" I can't imagine having to say, "Actually, no, I thought it was better that we skipped them," or, "No, I decided to change up the schedule based on my own personal research." There is a lot of research that goes in to these things and keeping our children healthy, I really do not believe it is just a big conspiracy by drug companies. Looking back on our experience, it just wouldn't make sense- "I'm here because I need your help in making my seriously ill child better-- but by the way, I don't think that those vaccines are any good." That's all I have to say on the topic right now.. but maybe I'll write more later!

Off to tend to the waking wee ones... thanks for reading!