Sick little boy in the hospital

Well, it finally happened, and at the worst time possible. The winter got the best of us and Colin ended up in the hospital. He was diagnosed with RSV (respiratory syncytial virus infection) and pneumonia. Colin started to get a bit of a cough on Monday and by Thursday he was refusing to eat or drink, coughing so much he was gagging and throwing up, running a constant fever that no Tylenol or Motrin could kick, and was the most lethargic, pathetic looking kid I've ever seen. He wasn't sleeping good at night because of his cough and was so puny and miserable during the day he would just crawl up on the couch at daycare and try to fall asleep.

I stalled on taking him into the doctor. Brian kept telling me we should take him in, but I resisted. His drainage from his nose was clear, his cough wasn't productive, and I thought he just had some crud that was going around. However, Brian was going to Las Vegas on Saturday morning and really wanted to make sure both Colin and myself would be taken care of while he was gone. So, I made a doctors appointment.

A nasal swab positive for RSV, a nasty looking chest xray, a respiratory rate in the 60's, and hearing rattling in his lungs got us admitted to Liberty Hospital. I was so scared. I burst into tears multiple times, thinking about how I could've gotten Colin help much sooner. It is also so hard for me to figure out when Colin's symptoms are bad enough to warrant a doctor visit. I guess I'll just get better at that as he gets older!

We arrived at the hospital on Friday night around 4:30 pm. The nurses immediately got an IV started on him (after 3 attempts they got one started on his foot, and I would've preferred one in his arm because he couldn't walk with the IV in). He got blood drawn (another stick in his arm) and got oxygen started in his nose. Surprisingly, the oxygen didn't bother him too much because I really think it made him feel better. The pediatric floor wasn't busy at all, which was such a blessing. We were in total isolation because RSV is a highly contagious virus. The nurses and doctors had to wear masks and gowns whenever they came in the room. I'm sure that was a bit scary for Colin as well, they didn't even look like people because of all the protective gear they had on.

Unfortunately I didn't have my good camera with me, but I did sneak a couple of pics with my phone camera. Here's Colin on Saturday morning playing with some of the hospital's toys. He had such a rough night on Friday. Waking up coughing and gagging about every 20-30 minutes. I guess once the IV fluids started to get into his body, all of the mucus in his lungs started to "fluff out" as the doctor called it. It needed to come out and Colin was working so hard at coughing it up, but RSV is known for having such thick mucus. He had to get deep suctioned (where they put a catheter down his nose and into his lungs to get some of that mucus out deep in his lungs) as well as having multiple breathing treatments to help loosen the muscles in his lungs. Poor kid!

Saturday night was a lot better (considering how Friday night went) and I got a little more sleep. Remember, Brian had to leave on Saturday morning. I can't imagine how difficult it was for him to leave Colin and myself at the hospital, but we were in good hands and I would update him constantly as the weekend went on. But, it really would've been nice to have him there, for sure. I think Colin got tired of seeing just me all the time, but we made it through okay with the help of Grammie coming to bring Colin some familiar toys and a fun balloon.
Sunday, Colin started to act a little bit more like Colin. He still had his oxygen in (but as you can see from the picture, he took it out when he got annoyed with it in his nose).

He still didn't have much of an appetite, but he did manage to eat a few bites of Orange Serbert ice cream for breakfast on Sunday. I would've given him anything to eat if it tasted good to him. They weren't going to discharge him home until he was able to keep his saturation levels high while off the oxygen. The nurses attempted this on Saturday night, but the saturation levels kept dropping into the 80s. He was getting IV antibiotics his entire time as well as fluids. By Saturday afternoon, he was looking quite puffy, but well-hydrated finally.

Staying all cooped-up in that hospital room was quite a challenge. We had to get creative to pass the time, which included blowing up gloves, watching multiple cartoon videos, playing with all sorts of toys that the hospital provided, throwing a ball around the room. Remember, Colin couldn't walk so he had to be carried or be sitting for all activities. But we managed!

Colin and I played with these cars quite a bit. Racing them around the rails on the crib (which really resembled a little jail cell to me) and crashing them into each other. He really did a great job for being there 3 days and feeling very badly for the majority of that time.
Sunday afternoon they took the oxygen off Colin to see what would happen to his saturations during his nap. Well, they stayed up!! We were so excited! So, he slept all night on Sunday without oxygen and things went fine. The doctor came in on Monday morning around 10:30 am and we were home by 11:45, just in time to settle into our normal routine at home.

Colin was such a trooper! We missed having Daddy around (Colin kept asking "where daddy" the whole weekend), but we survived. It wasn't easy though! So glad to have our happy little boy back. Winter really hit us hard this year, and I guess it did to others as well, they reported having an RSV outbreak in the area, as well as pneumonia, bronchitis, strep throat, croup, etc. The docs think it's because of the intense cold temperatures, mixed in with days of warmer weather where kids were playing outside (like Colin did).

Thanks for all the prayers and well-wishes. We really appreciated them!!