Back before Christmas Jonah became ill and the doctors told us he had RSV (although they didn't do the official swab test). He was put on breathing treatments and improved. Then, a few weeks ago, he was having more breathing troubles and we took him back to the doctor only to find that he had an upper respiratory infection. Back on breathing treatments and antibiotics (he also had an eye infection). Last week at his nine month appointment, our pediatrician recommended that we take the proactive step and put him on daily breathing treatments until spring to (hopefully) combat any more respiratory problems.
This past weekend, Jonah was battling a little tummy bug while I was battling a flu like virus. The Cox house was a fun house indeed. We kept him home from school on Monday, but he went back to school Tuesday because he was back to normal. Or so we thought. At school, he was a total crank (and if you know our boy, you know that he is anything but cranky) and had a cough. I decided at bedtime to do an extra breathing treatment (he had one in the morning), thinking that would get him the relief he needed. Well...he was up again at 10, 2, and finally 4am Wednesday morning with extremely labored breathing. Nathan and I decided to take him to the ER after some debate (I had taken him back before Christmas with prompting from a nurse and it turned out to be nothing). Boy, am I glad we did! His oxygen level was 88% when he went in and wasn't improving as quickly as they hoped. After dropping Jacob off at school, I headed up to Children's and he was admitted a few hours later. By the time I arrived, he was hooked up to oxygen and an IV to keep him hydrated. Probably the hardest thing in the world to see.
All day Wednesday and Wednesday night was a nightmare. Nathan came home to be with Jacob while I stayed up with Jonah and neither of us slept. Seriously, talking about maybe three hours sleep in tiny increments. I just kept praying. And praying. And praying. At 7am, the only way I was able to function was through those prayers. I gave Jonah a bottle, then a little sponge bath. While I was bathing him, we unhooked his oxygen and he did so well during that time they decided to keep him off (we knew he'd have to be completely off oxygen for 18 hours before coming home). I'm telling you-he was a new baby. Well, he was actually his old self (before hospitalization). He was more comfortable not being so hooked up (he had pulled out the IV during the night: not a fun way to wake up and see your baby with blood all over him and not know where it's coming from!) and was actually smiling, talking, and playing. They didn't have to hook him back up to oxygen and we're hoping for him to come home Friday morning.
Probably the hardest thing to do as a mommy is walk away from your baby in the hospital. But Nathan and I both decided that I should come home and be with Jacob (and actually get some sleep-still working on three hours sleep for the past 36 hours). But, he is doing great and they even took out the tubes that went up his nose so he can finally have his paci!
We have been so blessed to have healthy boys and I thank the Lord each and every day for them. Times like these remind me of His goodness. While it was painful to see my baby boy all hooked up, we had the best medical care and I know God is in control. Praise Him!
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| Day 1: Oxygen, IV (the only reason he wasn't screaming his head off was because I was feeding him puffs!) |
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| Day 2: No oxygen, no IV (with a puppy the staff from my school sent him) |
