updates...

We've been so super busy lately. Unfortunately, the baby came down with RSV. Both the older kids had that too, you might remember. However, in this case Siobhan had to be admitted to the hospital. She'd been sick for a little while a few weeks ago, and needed nebulizer treatments. however, then she seemed to get much better. When we went away to the hotel a few weeks ago, I came back with a pretty bad cold. The general consensus is that I probably got the RSV virus. I passed that along to Siobhan. She started with regular cold symptoms and just went down hill from there. We got into the dangerous business of counting respirations and watching for retraction while breathing. After a few days of this, with respirations at around 60 per minute and significant retraction we went to the ER (after our Dr. couldn't do anything more).

When we got there they did a chest X-ray. They lungs were pretty full. They said it definitely looked like RSV and perhaps bi-lateral bacterial pneumonia. They also had her on an O2 saturation monitor on her toe. A few times her oxygen saturation levels went into the 80's. They decided to give her some blow-by oxygen. Based on the chest X-ray they decided to treat her for bacterial pneumonia, and keep her overnight for observation. Treatment for the pneumonia was IV antibiotics. In case you were wondering, it takes four people to put an IV in a 10-month old baby! She was one strong fighter!

She was also tested for RSV, which is a terrible test involving nasal mucus.... Once we endured that we were admitted. They needed a definitive answer on the RSV because they needed to know where to put us in the pediatric wing. RSV is extremely contagious and obviously precautions needed to be taken. Sure enough, off to isolation we went....

We went up to the pediatrics wing at about 12:00 that night. The peds wing is fantastic, and the nurses were great. There was a huge institution style crib in the room, metal bars and all. Siobhan opted to sleep with me in the bed. (Who could blame her!) She stayed on the oxygen monitor all night, and ended up needing oxygen (by blow by first, and then nasal canula) for most of the night. In the morning it was clear that her stats were still not going up. We ended up staying in the hospital from Friday night until Tuesday afternoon. They were going to send us home on Monday, but Sunday night her stats were still dropping into the 80's while she slept, and she was still on the oxygen. Although they kept telling me she was okay, I really didn't want to take her home until she went one night with no oxygen. Monday night she did, and she did great. Her numbers went to about 90-92, but she was strong.

Thankfully Al's mom was able to come up and stay, and we were able to keep her home from day care the rest of the week. the first few days she needed nebulizers every four hours, but very quickly she recovered. She's doing great now!

One thing she learned in the hospital was better crawling! That girl is all over the place now. It's fantastic!

I learned that if you ever have a need to torture me, isolation would be the way to do it. Siobhan and I were stuck in the 12 X 12 room for four days. Everyone who came in had to don protective gear, and wash up as they left. When we had visitors, they had to stay in the room with us. We could not visit the playroom or anything like that. A few times I was able to leave, as one of Siobhan's Godmothers came to visit, but on the whole, it was a long boring lonely few days! I think Siobhan felt differently about it though, I think she was definitely enjoying the one on one time.

Being the dutiful blogger and scrapbooker that I am, I did, of course, take pictures of our ordeal. Enjoy. (Or not?)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Can I have a re-do?

2009 is not working out to be the best year for us thus far. Allow me to explain. Three weeks ago, the week of January 19, everyone in the house was battling a really bad cold. On Monday of the follow week I actually ended up taking a sick day and stayed home with Siobhan. On Tuesday I stayed home with Connor. That weekend Siobhan started on a stomach bug. She had vomiting and diarrhea all weekend. (I sent her to school anyway....). On Tuesday night, Al and Aisling had plans (and tickets) to go see Sesame Street live. She was feeling the effects of the cold, so I loaded her up with Tylenol and Triaminic and sent her on her way. Apparently that was the wrong choice. She, right after the intermission, vomited all over the jackets and seats at the Flynn. She was home from school on Wednesday. She went back on Thursday..... and Siobhan was home sick with the stomach bug. That same day, Wyatt had a few seizures at school; a sure indicator that he's not feeling well. He also currently has "the ear infection that wouldn't die", and he's on Amoxicillin. The following weekend (the 30th and 31st) we had plans for the Duclos family to come up and visit. We haven't seen them in so long, and everyone seemed healthy, so visit they did. We had a fantastic time, until their older daughter started vomiting. Then, the baby was vomiting with diarrhea the next day. (SORRY!) We thought we were out of the woods..... until Thursday of this week. Aisling was up most of the night Wednesday night with a cough. she was home on Thursday with a cough that got progressively worse throughout the day. She also had a fever that ranged from 100 to 102.5. On Friday was actually worse. And, as it happens with kids, she was her worst on Friday night, after the Dr.'s office was closed. Since it was a Friday, we were off to the ER. I learned a few things there.
1) Apparently a fever is not dangerous in a child until it hits over 104. (So there I was at midnight for no reason. Good we got that out of the way first).
2) The little girl who I told them weighed 45 pounds actually weighs 55 pounds. (Perhaps her fever never went away because I'd been under medicating her?)
3) There is absolutely nothing on TV for a child to watch after midnight, even when you have cable. (Although, Aisling is good to watch "What not to wear" she'll make fun of outfits along with the best of em.) We did end up getting a chest X-Ray last night to rule out pneumonia, due to her coughing. They also did a strep culture, due to her throat looking pretty rough. X-Ray fine, no pneumonia, and they'll let us know about the Strep. She got a Popsicle and a carton of apple juice and we were on our way. Our papers indicated she had a viral upper respiratory infection, also known as the common cold. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we traveled to the ER at midnight for a Popsicle and a diagnosis of a cold. *awesome*.

(However, given that colds don't generally have fevers, I am anxiously awaiting our strep culture. Or, a downward spiral. Or, the next great thing to hit our family).

So, seriously, can I have a do over? Can I go back to December and try 2009 again? Please?

My trip to the doctor

Wyatt had a doctor's appointment today. He was scheduled to go to the hospital for a swallow study. (This is where he gets to drink lots of yummy Barium and they get to watch him while he eats a variety of things. This helps us to keep track of what he's able to eat and how we can best keep him safe while helping him learn to feed himself.) ANYWAY....

His appointment was at 10:30. I left work at 9:30; picked him up at 9:45, and off we went. Got to the hospital at 10:30. Got out the wheelchair, my purse, all the crap that we need to bring everywhere we go, and were on our way. I took extra care to lock the doors, which I don't always do, because we were in a creepy parking garage.

We made it to the information desk, and we were told we needed to register. Great, now it's 10:40, and I need to register before I can even get to my 10:30 appointment? So, I go ahead and sit down to wait, then we go back to register. I sit down with the woman, who seems to be having a very difficult time finding Wyatt in the computer. I'm hearing a lot of "huh". Turns out, we weren't supposed to be there that day. So, after lots of phone calls and keyboard clicks, we find out we have an appointment Wednesday. Great. By this time, Wyatt is complaining miserable that we're still there. (I later find out that my appointment was cancelled and re-scheduled. By whom I'll never know....)

So, we turn around and head back out. Boy, that was a day off work well spent.... As we head back to the car (Which I actually find without walking around the entire garage for an hour and a half) I notice.... that the door to the back of the van is WIDE open! I took all that care locking the door, but left the back door wide open when I took out the wheelchair. Didn't I feel like a complete idiot walking over to this wide open car in the middle of the creepy parking garage. well, of course then I had to check every nook and cranny of the van to make sure there were no bogey men hiding inside!

So, one changed appointment, one van left wide open, and one wasted day off. Super. Which was worse, this appointment, or the one on Monday where all three kids, and myself, got the flu shot? Both were a barrell of laughs, I guess.