This all started April 27th.
On Saturday night, Olivia started coughing and acting like she might be getting a cold so when Sunday morning rolled around we decided not to take her to church. Michael stayed home with her while I went.
Well, while I was gone I got a text from him saying that she seemed to be having a hard time breathing. (She was starting to act like she did last time she got sick and was hospitalized.) She was also coughing very hard and it was kind of a weird cough because it sounded a lot like a seal barking. So I came home and we decided to call the doctor.
After a couple of hours of her worsening (her chest and tummy were seriously moving up and down so hard and you could tell she was really struggling to breathe) the doctor told us to take her to the emergency room.
Luckily we didn’t really have to wait because our doctor had called in. Apparently some people had been waiting for over 3 hours! Well the doctor there looked at her and said that she for sure had Croup. He said all we had to do was give her a breathing treatment and a shot of medicine and that she should be fine. So, finally 4 hours later we were able to go home! Olivia seemed to be doing much better.
However, that night things started up again. Not so much the cough but the retractions (that’s what they call it when the skin up by your collar bone and by your rib cage is sucking in really hard when you breathe). So, Monday morning I called the doctor again and we took her in. They gave her another breathing treatment (it’s a nebulizer with medicine that we hold by her nose and she just breathes it in for 15 minutes or so). He told us to take her home and come back if it got worse. Well it did. So we took her back and that is when they decided that we needed to take her back to the hospital. This time we would be staying at least the night.
Just like last time they were all ready for us. But unlike last time we were told that she would need an IV. It was so horrible to watch and actually have to hold her down. We did this in a room way across the hall and Michael could hear her screaming from all the way in her room. Which of course made him come running. We were both literally in tears. It’s so hard to watch your child in pain, I seriously wish more than anything that I could have taken her place. She also had to be tested for RSV which was done by shoving a long cotton swab like thing up her nose. This was just as horrible to watch. It definitely a rough couple hours getting checked in and situated.
Well, to make a potentially very long story shorter we were in the hospital from Monday to Thursday morning. Olivia received constant medication through the IV and breathing treatments every 2 hours even through the night. A couple of the nights we had to hook her up to oxygen because her oxygen levels would drop so low. In fact, being the smart mommy that I am I (Just kidding) came up with an easy way of giving Olivia oxygen without having to put those little tubes up her nose which she obviously hated. I would tighten the tubes and hook them right on her binky so that they were leaning right up against the top of it without going up her nose, giving her enough oxygen to keep her levels where they should've been. When the morning nurses came in to check on us they told me that every one was talking about it and they had never had anyone do that. They said it was a pretty good idea. I know, I'm bragging a little bit, but it made me feel good. After all it has always been my dream to be a nurse:)
Olivia was definitely a favorite among the nurses. She was very cooperative and the second one would come in she would immediately lift up her gown so that they could listen to her heart. She had a couple visitors and even was given a stuffed animal dog and giraffe as well as two new puzzles. Lucky girl!
She was a sick baby but finally started getting better Wednesday however, they still though it would be best to keep her one more night just to watch her because at nights is when she would struggle the most. So on Thursday morning we were finally able to take her home! It was a long 4 days. Michael and I both spent every night with her. I slept in a bed with Olivia and Michael slept on a little bench thing. Neither of us really left the hospital unless it was for my doctor’s appointments or for Michael to pick up some food. We both struggled sleeping, especially me because the nurses would wake me up every two hours when they did the breathing treatments or checked her vitals.
The doctors have diagnosed Olivia with Asthma. And so we now have our very own nebulizer in which we have to do 2 breathing treatments a day with. Each treatment she gets 2 medications. One that helps with the asthma and one that will hopefully prevent further attacks. We have to do the breathing treatments twice a day for at least 4 weeks and then we will move down to just 1 treatment a day for another couple months. After that we will just do the treatments as needed. Like if it is allergy season or flue season or we are taking her to a place where there is a lot of dust, ect. We still don't know what triggers it which is why we have to take a lot precautions. We do have our suspicions about the Ag festival and being around all those animals and hays. Hopefully we'll eventually figure it out. We also will always have a little inhaler for her if she needs it. So that being said, she is doing sooo much better but definitely has asthma.
Here are a few pictures from our stay.
So tired and really not feeling good.
She treated her little hand with the IV in it like a sore. Which it really was but she always kept it tucked up against her and wouldn't let anyone near it.
Poor little thing.
Sleeping with my sick baby.
Isn't she precious?
One of her favorite things about staying at the hospital was the endless popsicles that she got! Every time a nurse came in she would ask them for an "osticle." It's so cute how she says it. She would even sometimes press the call button so that she could tell them she wanted one. I'm sure they felt so good on her little throat.
On the way back to the hospital from one of my appointments I stopped at the gift shop to get Olivia a balloon. And I just couldn't resist this little elephant balloon. Seriously cutest thing ever. It pretty much just hops right a long next to her when she walks. I think I may have loved it just as much as she did:)
Going for a little walk around the halls.
Michael apparently didn't know he was going to be in the picture:)
Isn't she too tiny to be hooked up to an IV and wearing a gown and such?
I think so.
We are so grateful for all the prayers on her behalf. We could definitely feel them. It was a really rough 5 days for our family but we got through it and are definitely stronger because of it.
I just hope that was our last hospital stay for a while.
Oh wait, I'm having a baby in a few weeks!
Ha but after that I swear we are done for a very long time!
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