Our Kids

So Jason and I have experienced a strange phenomenon, missing weeks. Now we have missed a couple days now and again but entire weeks….never! Let me explain.

Phoebe’s cold went from icky to scary on Sunday, February 28th. I got so upset that I started crying and Jason knew it was time to take action. He called my folks and had them come over and then we went to a pediatric urgent care. When we arrived the waiting room was empty so I was soon to be put out of my misery (or so I thought). We got in to see the doctor and he basically said that if we did not or could not go directly to the ER from there then he would be obligated to call an ambulance. I went from terrified to petrified. Of course we agreed to go directly to the ER. The doctor faxed over his diagnoses, RSV, and when we got there we were admitted right away. All in all that was a particularly painless process so for that I was grateful.

When we got in our room they put Phoebe on oxygen and she started breathing better right away. Then they came in and suctioned out the mucous by putting a tube down her nose and in to her lungs. She was not happy and I was a mess. By this time we figured Jason should go home and get some supplies as well as check on our other chits. A new nurse came in and it turned out to be someone from my twins club, so that was really nice. I was able to ask her questions and find out what was in store for us. After talking to her I thought we would be home in a matter of hours (about 24 of them). Soon we were sent up to the 6th floor to our room.

Phoebe started to get worse, she lost interest in eating and was just exhausted from trying to breath. We saw a pediatrician at about midnight that night and she suggested that I stop breastfeeding and start pumping and bottle feeding. Over the next couple days she slept a lot and was eventually put on an IV. I was still pumping and offering her a bottle when she was awake which she took in really small doses (like a tablespoon at a time).

By Wednesday that week she started to get better. She had been getting respiratory therapy every 3 hours since Sunday and the mucous was breaking up in her lungs. She was showing interest in eating again which was great and one night when Jason was with her and I had gone home to see the girls the IV was removed. Everything started to get better from there. She was eating again, she would be awake every once and a while and she wanted to be held again. By Thursday afternoon the pediatrician thought we would be able to go home on Friday. I was so glad to be getting out of there and getting home to my family.

The care we received at the hospital was great and I am thankful for that. It was a bit scary but I know we did the right thing. All the girls ended up getting RSV with Landis and Phoebe getting the worst of it. Landis still has a cough and does a breathing treatment every day, she also got a double ear infection with the RSV.

This is how we lost a week or so. It was such a blur for us all. Phoebe is now almost 5 weeks old and we don’t know how we got here so quickly. Aside from some residual exhaustion on both our parts everyone is doing great. On to the next adventure.