RSV

Well, as I'm sure you have guessed from these pictures, our baby boy was in the hospital this week. But let me back up a little bit. As I shared before Eli started getting sick the night before we left for Wisconsin. We were pretty positive that it was RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus). RSV is an infection where the small airways in the lungs become inflamed, swollen, and possibly filled with fluid or mucus. Since we were staying with my parents (and my mom is a nurse) we didn't think we would take him to the doctor. Except that each day he kept getting worse. And then during the middle of the night on Friday I got a little scared. He was having such a hard time breathing and he was breathing so rapidly that for the first time I really got nervous. But then he feel asleep and his breathing seemed to relax a bit. The next morning he was breathing so hard that you could see his skin pulling in by his ribs each time he took a breath (not good). So we took him into the urgent care clinic. That was not a fun place for my baby boy. Between all the poking and prodding, the nose swab to test for RSV, and the chest x-ray he was not a happy camper. As we headed in for the x-ray I began to wonder how they would get him still enough to take it. I quickly found out. They put babies in this plastic contraption that doesn't allow them to move and holds their arms up above their head so they could get a clear picture of his chest. My baby screamed the entire time. Joe held his hands and I just had to walk away (I think it was more painful for me than him). He tested positive for RSV just as we thought. He did have some cloudy spots in his left lung, but at that point they didn't believe it was pneumonia so we were relieved. They brought in a pediatric doctor to look at him and then we tried his first nebulized albuterol treatment to see if it would help his breathing (again he screamed the entire time). Afterwards the doctor was still concerned because his chest was so tight and congested and he wasn't moving oxygen through his lungs very well. And that's when they decided to admit him to the hospital. Honestly I never expected that. I guess I underestimated how serious RSV can be in infants. And yet the whole time I felt God watching out for us as I experienced a lot of peace about the whole situation.

So Saturday afternoon we headed to the hospital in Oshkosh. My dad and I dropped Joe and Eli off and I headed back home to grab a few of our things and lunch for all of us. By the time I got to the hospital I saw pretty much what you see in the pictures above. It kind of stunned me for a second to walk into his room and to see my baby sleeping in the metal "cage" and hooked up to a couple of different wires. It made me more sad than scared. While he was in the hospital they were giving him nebulized albuterol treatments every four hours in addition to constantly monitoring his heart rate, respiratory rates, and oxygen levels. His repository rates were definitely up, but they were most closely watching was his oxygen levels which were on the low side. We were told that if his oxygen levels continually fell below a certain level that they would have to put him on oxygen. He was on a monitor for all 3 things and every time one of these rates went below or above the acceptable level an alarm would go off. Let me tell you, this is enough to drive a mother crazy. Sometimes his rates would change simply because he was moving around too much or one of his monitor leads would come loose. A few times his rates really did change. Either way the alarm went off and my heart rate would go up. There were two times in particular that his oxygen levels dipped too low for too long and I thought they were going to have to give him oxygen, but both times he recovered just in time! We were so relieved that he didn't need oxygen or an iv while we were there!

The night we were in the hospital we had planned on having dinner at my grandma's house. Thankfully my parents were able to take care of Lily while Joe and I were with Eli in the hospital and the three of them enjoyed dinner at grandma's house. My grandma even packed up a WONDERFUL meal (nothing short of a Thanksgiving dinner) for us to enjoy in the hospital! While we were eating dinner Joe pondered why our life seems so crazy. I'll admit, at that moment (and still) life does seem crazy. But I was also very aware at that moment that there are many parents in hospitals with their children who are not going to be okay, who's children are not going to get better. And so even in that moment God was giving me perspective and I felt very thankful for our little boy and the care we were receiving.

Eli and I actually had a pretty restful night in the hospital. I think that we were both pretty exhausted. The nurses even came in at 3a.m. to give him his respiratory treatment and both Eli and I slept through the whole thing. I think I was finally really able to rest knowing that someone else (the nurses) were looking out for my little man.

We were once again relieved when Eli was released from the hospital after only 24 hours! The doctor said he was moving oxygen through his lungs much better than the day before and his respiratory rates were much closer to normal. He is still coughing and wheezing a lot. His chest still sounds very rattly. And once we got home from the hospital he started throwing up some of the mucus in his lungs (a necessary but sort of scary process). We continue to do his albuterol treatments at home and the doctors say it could be 3-4 weeks before he is totally better. We still need to watch to make sure he doesn't develop pneumonia (or a secondary infection like an ear infection). He is getting better and for that we are very thankful.

Joe has also been sick since the day we left for Wisconsin and he is just starting to feel better. Lily also started getting sick a few days ago with a cough, fever, and vomiting. To be honest this is the most sick I have seen her in a long time (but not sick enough to be in the hospital thankfully)! It is likely that all 3 of them have RSV- it's just that the symptoms are the most severe (and dangerous) in infants.

Thanks so much for all of you who have been praying for our family- I have surely felt and seen the effects of those prayers. We sure would appreciate your continued prayers for complete and speedy healing for Eli, Lily, and Joe (and maybe that I wouldn't get sick too). We will continue to keep everyone updated. God is good- all the time.