Over the last couple of weeks my whole family succombed to a respiratory infection.  I was lucky and seemed to excape it.  However, our 7 wk old baby did not and was admitted to the hospital.  It was a very scary and trying time.  He was diagnosed officially at the hospital with RSV.  However, by Monday afternoon our dr was certain that it was RSV. 

Here is a copy of the updates I kept during our trial.

1/4--5 am

I am crying now as dh won't let me go to the ER as he has two hay trucks that have already left headed this way. HE can't keep our other 4 dc while he loads the trucks. I can't take them as they all have this stuff too.

Isaiah has a fever of 101.3 and is coughing a lot. I am really scared. I will get him in as soon as dh is done. THANKS!! I will update or have Amy update later today.

3pm

we are done at the doctor's office and headed to a chiropractor appointment a bit later.  Baby is doing ok, has an ear infection.

1/5 early am

Yesterday at the dr office we found out that Isaiah haad an ear infection. I have never been so excited to hear that one of our dc had an ear infection. I was fearing RSV. The dr said that if his drainage got worse--which it has--to call him back as he is as risk for RSV. We went to the chiro 1.5 hrs away and had him adjusted in hope that that may help clear it up. Last night was bad. He has so much drainage that he is choking on it and I was afraid to go to sleep. He is having trouble nursing too becasue of the drainage--it seems to be mostly nasal, and draining down his throat. He is still running a fever, so I think dh will most likely decide to take him to the ER today. I am not sure what will happen there (obviously) but I do know that the hospitals are full of little ones with respiratory stuff, (RSV) it made the news last night. I have had less then 2 hrs sleep in the last 48 and am just plain exhausted. When I get this tired while nursing I tend to get mastitis. Please pray that doesn't happen as I won't be able to care for him if I do.
Dh was up with our 2.5 yr old most of the night as she is having trouble sucking on her binkie with her plugged up nose. The 19 mo old is ok, but still pretty ucky feeling. Our 8 yr old seems to be doing pretty good, but still coughing a lot. 5 yr old just has a runny nose.

So I will call dr later this am after I see if extra humidity will help. We don't have a humidifier on our main leval, but I do put a pot of water on our stove during the day.

1/6 midnight

Isaiah had pretty much stopped nursing this morning and I was getting that panicy feeling again. Then about 2 pm he started nursing more and is still nursing. not as much as normal, but better. He is still congested and you can tell he is not feeling good. I am watching him like a hawk and praying that he has a good night. I am staying in the recliner with him tonight so I can keep a very close eye on him. I did get to rest this afternoon while he nursed. I have been doing a lot of kangaroo care to keep his fever down. It is working wonderfully and I highly reccommend it if it is ever needed for you. He still is having the choking stuff and I am not sure what we need to do for that. If tonight and tomorrow go well (fever stays doen, not struggling to breathe, and nursing well.) I will give the dr another call on Monday, if not I will call sooner. He is a wonderful Christian, homeschooling Dr/dad. He has never said a negative thing about non vaxing our dc. I really trust him.

1/7 8:30 am
There are times I think he is doing better, then not 20 min later I can see tha tmaybe he isn't. It is so confusing. HE will nurse good and then choke during burping and lose it all. Or he will get raspy and not nurse good or he won't sleep, his poo is funny ect. Just little things that are confusing me. So, I am taking him back to the dr at 1:45 today. I am scared to fall asleep and after 4 nights of not sleeping and only getting a 1.5 hr nap since Friday I need to know that he is ok. I know that sounds really dumb. I do know is respirations are faster then nomral, I do know that his fever is steady at 100.4-101.2 not bad but ugh. I do know his ear still is hurting him, and I know that it hurts him to lay down. SoI will or have someone update later today.

1/7 6:20 pm
It is RSV. When we got there his o2 sat was 87-92, heart rate 190s, they did a nebulizer treatment and his 02 dropped and then went up to 100% Heart rate down to 160s. The dr allowed us to come home for now. We have set up a tent witha humidifier in it for him. He is in the bouncy seat with it. We will be doing nebulizers round the clock too. We go back tomorrow at two unless he shows signs of needing to go earlier.  Anyway, we are in a waiting period still and it does not appear I will get much rest tonight.

1/8 5 am

Isaiah sounds better. However, he gets to coughing so hard and is unable to keep most of his feedings down. Alot of what comes up is phelm. I am concerned that if he continues this he will become dehydrated.

I am getting very worn out. I slept for an hour as I just couldn't stay awake any longer. I am going to ask dh to stay home for awhile this morning so I can sleep.

noon

Dh and I have decided that we will most likely be -staying in the hospital. I am packing for baby and I and trying to get all ducks in a row here at home as dh will be staying with our other 4 dc. He has never stayed home overnight by himself with them.

1/8 evening

His O2 was in the lower 90s and he wasn't as hydrated as they had hoped for. They are testing for RSV right now. He is in a croup tent and I am staying w/ him and  dh went home to stay w/ our other 4 children.

1/9 am

the RSV was positive and his O2 falls when he is out of the tent but not unusual at this point, but he has improved and the doctor thinks we may be able to go home tomorrow if he continues to improve.

update from Friend on 1/9

Baby has been out of tent since 3:00 p.m. (about 3 1/2 hours) & has done great. Sleeping good now! He's still on an IV & she imagines he will be taken off some time tomorrow. Please pray that every one in her family gets healthy ... her hubby is sick as well as 2 of the other children.

My final update with a bit of humor. 1/10

Thank You all for all the prayers, calls, and pms. It means a lot. It is awsomely amazing how quickly he has gotten better. He still is not 100%, but so much better then when we went into the hospital. He will be receiving nebulizer treatments until Tues, when he is re-evaluated. He really hates them and cries very hard (hold breath and turns purple) through them, so please pray that I can manage to time so I give them while he is sleeping.
It was so amazing, when dh and dc came to get us at the hospital and I was putting him in his car seat he looked around and smiled for the first time. It was really cute.

Considering that dh was not feeling well and that he was taking care of 2-3 sick dc our home is in pretty good shape. Now my dishwasher on the other hand may need help as MIL put powdered water treatment stuff in rinse agent hole. I am hoping it works when I run it later tonight.

Dh and all our dc are also feeling much better. It will be awhile before we find the sense of normal I have been really looking forward to and I am praying that God helps me accept the normal he has me in for now. Isaiah lost some weight and is nursing a lot right now. On Monday he weighed 9 lbs 8 oz, on discharge he was 9 lbs 1 oz, so he has some catching up to do.

That is our stay in a nutshell.  Our room was very small, and I was becoming quite stir crazy in there.  I left the room for a total of ten mins during our stay, once to go get a snack and once for an extrememly lousy shower-no hot water and ver little water pressure lol. 

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