An unfun first

I don't know if it's just a bad winter or if it's having 2 kids to spread and share germs but we have been constantly battling colds for months. It seems like we get a few days of good health before another round comes. Charlie was up coughing all night Friday & and had a low fever most of the weekend. Levi started looking rough Saturday afternoon and was up & fussing a lot that night which is very unusual for him. By Sunday he was not good. He did not have a cough and his fever hung around 100 but he was just not happy. I could not put him down, he was not interested in eating, wouldn't take naps in his crib and would sleep for 45 min-1 hour and then be up for an hour and then fall asleep again. We debated taking him in all day and if it would have been a weekday I would have gotten him into the clinic, but we didn't think he needed to go to the ER. Also, it was raining/sleeting/snowing and the roads were not good. Finally, at 6:00 we decided he needed to be seen. We packed him up & I took off with him while Erik stayed back with Charlie. It wasn't busy so we got right in and when they started checking him out his oxygen level was 83% so they gave him an oxygen mask & called the doc in right away. As they were getting out the nasal cannula, I just had a feeling they were going to admit him.  I felt so bad right away for waiting so long. They also did a neb treatment right away and drew blood. He did not like it but he was so miserable he didn't really fight it. They also ordered a chest xray and that was not pleasant either but he did really good. It looked like he had a small spot of pneumonia and the dr was concerned about his oxygen levels so they did admit him.

They got a room set up and after another neb treatment we moved upstairs. We were in an ICU room but I think it's because it was bigger with an extra bed for me and there was nobody else on that side around us. I fed him & for the first time since that morning he actually had a good feeding. Then he looked up and puked it all up on me. The nurse said it was probably from the neb treatments breaking up the gunk in his chest. I had brought a bottle along from earlier and asked if she'd put it in a fridge for me but when Levi saw it he freaked out so we gave it to him and he sucked it down. Then we gave him his 2 meds & put him in the crib. Since I didn't eat supper I was starving but the staff (including a couple of nurses from when he was born!) was so great. They made me some toast & found me some snacks. They also brought some scrubs for me to wear since I was covered in puke & found a phone charger I could use. It was around 10:30 when we got settled. They were back at 11:45 for his neb treatment and he took that well and went right back to sleep.

Poor baby!! :(

 When she came back at 4 to do his neb he had removed his oxygen and was doing ok so we left it off. Then the little stinker would fall back to sleep but he wouldn't let me put him down. So, our day started bright and early. Since he hadn't ate much the day before he had the same diaper on that I had put on at maybe 4pm but it was all twisted from all of the action so when he finally peed it leaked all over my pants...nice. His oxygen levels dipped quite a bit around 6-7am so they put the cannula back in but it was in maybe an hour before he pulled it back out again. The charge nurse came in and told me that they usually make babies go all night without oxygen so to plan on spending the night again. Levi was still pretty out of it and the respiratory therapist came and did another treatment with him. 

An oversized monkey gown since he threw up all over his clothes.

In the morning - still pretty flushed but feeling much better

Erik made an appt at the clinic for Charlie (he checked out fine) and I sent him a list of things to bring in for me. They stopped by when they were done (and we got in trouble since they have visitor restrictions. oops) but by that time Levi had turned the corner and was ready to go. He wanted to move and he couldn't go far because of the monitors. At one point I did just let him wander for a few minutes to burn off some steam. I wasn't sure how we would keep him entertained the rest of the day. Around 11:30 I also asked if a doctor was ever going to stop by??? Erik told them our primary doctor was out that day so the nurse said she would figure out who was going to check on him. An hour later the doc we had seen in the ER stopped by (he also saw Charlie that morning) and said he thought Levi was doing just fine without the oxygen & could go home. I was so happy and kind of shocked since his levels were staying around 90-93 and they had told me they like to see 95 consistently! So we finally got discharged around 1:30 and got out of there.  By that time Levi was standing next to his little crib shaking it & crawling everywhere, happy to be free from the wires. I'm not sure how parents spend days/weeks/months in the hospital with sick kids, especially with other kids at home. It was not fun seeing him so miserable.

Shaking the crib and happy to be free

 

The boys were so happy to be back together. Erik said Charlie didn't eat much Sunday & wouldn't eat at all yesterday but last night he put Levi in the high chair & Charlie came right over & chowed down too. They missed each other! He has been extra loving and playful with Levi too. He was trying so hard on Sunday to cheer Levi up but Levi wanted nothing to do with it. They both looked like such sad puppies and  they barely got any toys out the whole day. Within minutes of being home yesterday they had everything out again. Levi went to bed around 7pm and didn't make a peep until 4:30 so I brought him down and fed him and he slept until 8am! Charlie was up a couple of times during the night but he slept until 8 too! Everyone felt better after that.

back in business at home