Our first new year with a six week old baby was rung in by spending the night and most of new years day in the ER and hospital.
It was our most expensive new year :).
(Brandon keeping the oxygen tube up to his nose)
Isaiah's cough that started Thursday or Friday really turned a corner for the worst around 2 am on Monday morning. I had already had plans to call our doctor and try to get him in that day, but we had to make a new plan when nobody answered the phones at the office. So we headed to a urgent care near by.
We hurriedly packed up the diaper bag, put our lethargic little baby in his carseat, donned our coats and headed out the door.
Didn't know we wouldn't be beack for over 24 hours.
At the Urgent Care the doctor that saw us sent us immediately to the Emergency Room.
He didn't want to take this lightly since Isaiah is only 6 weeks. His cough was really bad, he was having a hard time breathing, not eating very well, lethargic, etc...So off to the ER we went.
The Urgent Care had called ahead and let them know we were coming so we had a VERY brief wait time in the waiting room(like mayyybe 5 minutes) before heading back into the ER.
We were downstairs in the ER for about 5 or 6 hours while doctors and nurses and breathing teams and xray specialists etc came in and out and did their thing.
During those hours we had to keep Isaiah on oxygen because when you took it away his oxygen stats would go from 100 down to 79-89. They ideally wanted it to be 95 or above, NEVER below 90.
(Grandpa and Isaiah)
They ruled out the flu and RSV and told us he had a form of bronchiolitis. Since he was so young and on oxygen etc they wanted to keep him over night to closely watch him and then decide if we can go home.
While we were in the ER Brandon's dad came down (he was working several floors above) and he was able to stay with us for an hour or so and just be there for good support. Our good friend Christopher who was also working that day came by and prayed with us. And both of Brandon's bosses called and prayed with him for Isaiah. God has been answering all those prayers!
They finally were able to get us up into a room. We found out we would be sharing it with another baby who had the same thing.
This baby had it worse tho-had been in the hospital since Christmas and in the NICU for 3 days.
My brother Zach came and brought us lunch/dinner since we hadn't eaten a thing all day, and later on Brandon's mom came and his brother and his wife. They brought us a pillow and blanket, ibuprofen for our headaches, coffee and other such stuff.
We had one sleep chair for Brandon and I that night, but thankfully it wasn't too small and we could both fit on it.
Isaiah of course had his own bed/crib. He LOVED it. I think he wanted us to buy him one. But that's just not in our budget right now.
Brandon was able to get about 1 1/2 hours of sleep while I got close to 4. It was a long two days.
Isaiah had a breathing treatment every four hours we were there and his nose was suctioned out quite frequently and he always did better after those times. He was weaned off the oxygen and his stats began to stay consistently at 91, then 93, then 94+. It was really encouraging.
Morning came and the team of pediatric doctors came and assessed him and decided that he could go home! By noon we were on our tired way home.
Isaiah is not "better" but he is improving. Halfway through last night he finally started wanting to eat! So that makes me feel better...he does have a few coughing fits here and there where he winds up throwing up everything he has eaten, but if I feed him just a little here and there it usually stays down. Don't want him getting dehydrated any more!
We are suctioning his nose constantly and using a humidifier in our room for him. There really isn't more anyone can do...We have been instructed to keep a close eye on him, his breathing, color etc.
Hopefully this will be the last hospital visit for this little guy!
We are very thankful to be home and to see him improving over the hours :)
Thanks for all the prayers!
