My Sick Baby

I don’t even know where to begin this post.  Tuesday, Sawyer developed a cough.  He had a rough night Tuesday night, but I sent him on to school Wednesday.  His teacher texted me to let me know he had a really bad cough.  That afternoon Ms. Melinda also texted me about his cough. As soon as I got out of school I took him to the doctor.  This is where it gets crazy!!!!!! I really just thought he had a cold and instead of taking him all the way to Jonesboro to his pediatrician, I ran him to our family doctor.  He told us he had an ear infection, prescribed some meds, and sent us on our way.  Nonna took him with her and I left to go fill the prescriptions and to get Sam.  About 20 minutes later Nonna called me and told me he was not breathing well.  I told her to meet me back at the doctor’s office.  He listened to his chest and because we were persistent did a lung x-ray, which we were told looked fine and we were sent on our way.

At this point it is 5:00 and we are sitting in the parking lot with my 2 year old baby not breathing well and trying to decide what to do next.  I couldn’t get a hold of his pediatrician so we just went on to the ER.  We were there for hours and were told he was “belly breathing”.  His tummy would get really big and then go far in, where we could see all of his ribs….not normal!!!  They took blood, did a nose swab, did another lung x-ray, and gave him two breathing treatments.  His breathing was not getting better, the nurses told us his white count was elevated, but not severely and they were trying to decide if they were going to admit him or not.  Then a doctor comes to the door and says, “she has pneumonia, but we are sending you home, check in with your pediatrician tomorrow.”  Ugh, “she” is a “he” and you would know that if you would have even come within 10 feet of him!!! That’s right, he was never examined by a doctor, a nurse told us he tested positive for RSV (which apparently would be very rare this time of year), he is still not breathing correctly, and they are sending us home!!!!

After yet another stop at the pharmacy, I decided to call my friend Jamey who is a nurse at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital to see what she thought.  She quickly let me know that he probably would have been admitted if we would have been there.  So, here and I am on my way to HR which is an hour from a hospital with a baby that isn’t breathing right and that’s all I really needed to hear.  Nonna and I stopped by the house and then headed to Children’s Hospital in LR.

After many hours in the ER, two more breathing treatments, ANOTHER lung x-ray, Sawyer’s pulse oxygen level was still dropping.  They then put him on oxygen and decided to admit him.  Once in the room, we saw a respiratory therapist who was able to stabilize his pulse oxygen level.  Late that evening he was doing much better and his oxygen levels had returned to a normal level.  They released us!  We went to Sheridan and spent the night at my parents and SLEPT!!!

Yesterday, we took him to Jonesboro for a check-up with the pediatrician and got a great report! He was back to himself today…

HOLDING A LIVE SNAKE!

I CAN NOT say enough about how good my family and friends are to us! E was able to take care of Sam and Bax and keep them in their routine.  We received so many texts and calls checking on us and we know God heard your prayers.  This could have been so much worse and it is so hard as a parent to know what to do.  Nonna and I (and on the phone with E) sat in the car two times debating what to do next.  I just went with my gut and knew I was better safe than sorry!  Thanks Lou, Justin and everyone who pitched in to help us!  Thank you Nonna for being by my side during this horrible night.  Thank you Mom and Dad for spending the day in the hospital with us and taking us home to rest.  Sawyer was SUCH a trooper through the entire ordeal and I was so proud of him.  I am so glad he is sleeping soundly in his bed tonight:)