Hey, so what started out at the beginning of this week as what I thought was a mild cold or allergies in Liam turned into a full-blown case of RSV & bronchiolitis that required him to be hospitalized for two days.
So this is where I have to admit to a mom fail. On Monday he was already getting sick and had a wet cough, but I sent him to daycare anyway because he didn’t have a fever. Tuesday I realized it was more serious than allergies so I kept him home. By the end of that day his breathing was very labored and wheezy and I diagnosed him myself with bronchiolitis. I knew there wasn’t any treatment for it specifically because it’s a virus, and he still wasn’t having much of a fever and was having wet diapers. So on Wednesday, even though he had cried literally all night long, I dropped him off with my mother-in-law (who generously volunteered to stay home with him) and I went to work.
After a couple of hours she told me that she just had to call the doctor. When she was speaking to the nurse on the phone she heard Liam breathe and told my MIL to take him to Texas Children’s emergency center immediately. He ended up getting on high flow oxygen, being suctioned many times, had breathing treatments to open his airways, and had fluids over the course of the two days we were there.
I had been hoping to ride out the illness at home, and in my defense, Meredith had the same thing when she was about three months old. In her case I did take her to the doctor, her breathing (to my memory) was very similar to Liam’s, and the doctor said to just keep her comfortable at home and watch for signs of dehydration. So that’s what I was doing with him, and I wasn’t too worried. I guess sometimes being a nurse makes me overconfident.
Being in the hospital wasn’t that bad. Liam hated the suctioning but barely cried when they started his IV’s. His first one went bad after a day and turned his whole hand and arm purple and puffy. I was a little nervous about that, but the next morning it was back to normal. Since he wasn’t able to tolerated feeding very well for awhile, he sucked away on his manly pink hand-me-down pacifier, which he normally spits out right away. He slept a lot and I was able to finish a book and start another one. I also slept better at night than I had for weeks at home because of our crazy dog, but I still can’t say that I’m feeling extremely rested.
We were released a little while ago because he met all his milestones, and it is nice to be home again. He isn’t totally well, but he is over the hump of the illness. I’m looking forward to hanging out with Meredith again (thanks to my parents for keeping her the past two nights) and getting back to normal. I’m grateful for a good job with an understanding director who isn’t upset that I had to call in during my second week there.
A lot of stressful stuff has been happening to our family lately, some I’ve shared here and some I haven’t. At the same time I’ve been consistently doing this Bible study
So! Here is to a restful, healthy, uneventful weekend and a return to normalcy!
