Snuggling in the Hospital
Noah has been protected and fortunate that he had not gotten any serious illnesses for the last several months his life! This week Noah’s luck ran out. The boys came home with colds, and last Sunday, Noah got it too. It settled in his chest, and were able to do the nebulizer at home (which sometimes helped, but other times did not), but his cough caused him to lose feedings. We ended up in the ER on Wednesday morning with a very sick baby. He was limp, dehydrated, had high fever, retracting, super high heart rate that I didn’t feel confident giving him albuterol, 2 small wet diapers in the last day, and his oxygen requirement was over quadruple his normal. The ER doc said I could care for him at home because we had oxygen and nebulizer, but would admit him if I wasn’t confident. Good grief! How sick would he have to be for that doc to send us right up to the hospital to get help?! Yes, I am the fool, please help my baby.
By the time we got upstairs, his fever was still raging, because he hadn’t kept down the tylenol. He had really bad vein options for an IV, but the nurses managed to get it on the third try while I held him down and sang birdie songs and lullabies in his ear. We were all sweating when that was over. Noah spent the day alternating between being limp in my arms and crying inconsolably while saline, and steroids dripped into him. The next day it was 2 steps forward and one step back with nebulizer treatments. The fever was gone, he was hydrated, and he was discharged. He had fantastic nurses, and I asked lots of questions.
The pediatricians both remembered us, and were surprised that he hadn’t been hospitalized since leaving the NICU. Silver lining!
Since we are home, he had been doing great but coughed up 2 feedings last night and Dave had to go out for suppository tylenol in the middle of the night. I have never felt a kid’s temperature spike like his did at 4 am today.
Pray he keeps down the milk, the fevers stay away, and for him to breathe easy.
We were just down the hall from where Noah was born, 9 months ago. Thankful for how my broken heart healed. Thankful for the new set of mama bear claws I have grown. Thankful for my sweet snuggle buddy.
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