Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Well, we had a good run . . .

Poor little Emma! Her asthma has been doing fairly well lately and it gave the hubs and I this false sense of security- that "maybe she's starting to grow out of it and maybe things will be better for her now" mentality.

WRONG!

Last Monday she woke up and her breathing was a little funny. Her "emergency" inhaler helped a little so I just continued to monitor her throughout the day (I was off work) and give her extra breathing treatments. Sometimes it will just flare up like that and can be managed. By 5 that evening she refused to let go of me for even one tiny second and the inhaler wasn't giving her any relief so off to the pediatrician's office we go. And an hour later were admitted to the hospital. Yikes.


This brings our total asthma related hospital stays to 4, poor little girl. This time was sooo much harder than any of the previous stays. She felt terrible and is at the age where she understands more and realizes that when nurses come in with needles its gonna hurt. 4 liters of oxygen, 3 attempts at an IV, and around a million tears later we were finally settled down for the night. The only way she would sleep was sitting on my lap in the bed.


It just breaks my heart to see her struggling to breathe, tubes and cords connected to her little body, and not understanding why she keeps getting poked with needles and has to wear the little oxygen thingy in her nose, which she absolutely hates. Some of the worst mommy moments ever.


By day 4 she was able to remove the oxygen for a little while during the day but her oxygen levels were still dropping dangerously low at night. We were able to walk through the pediatric unit for brief periods using a portable oxygen tank and dragging her IV tower with us. My little girl is a charmer and she made tons of friends on these daily walks. My boss sent her a present which she had to carry with her on our walks. Tissue paper, balloons, and all. Since the frog is almost as big as she is I wound up carrying it most of the time but Em wouldn't hear of leaving "Dora" behind. It was so sweet and funny watching her try to carry that giant frog around that I wound up laughing and crying at the same time.

She kept the nurses laughing too. One of the maintenance guys was riding around on a floor buffer and she started yelling "Mommy! Look out for the lawnmower! It's coming this way! Don't let it get me and Dora!"


Finally after 6 LONG days we were able to come home. Praise the Lord! It took an act of congress to get all of her get well soon gifts loaded into my SUV but we finally managed. She was so happy to be home she literally played with every single toy she owns that afternoon, no small feat I promise. Now that she's home we are still doing some extra breathing treatments and she tires out easily. Hopefully in a few days she'll be my happy, silly, little chatterbox girl again!


While I was staying at the hospital with Emma, Jeremy was playing Mommy for Seeley who had RSV. Double whammy right? Since he had RSV he was essentially quarantied for 7 days and this mommy didn't get to see him at all. Super tough. Jeremy and I had talked about trading off some but Emma is such a mommy's girl she would have only gotten more upset and we didn't want that when she was already sick. So, my mom would come to the hospital each day so I could shower (if that's what you can call it) and the in-laws would sit with Seeley each night after work so Jeremy could spend a few hours at the hospital with me and Em.


While I was MIA for a week Mr. Big learned all sorts of new tricks. He's no longer "kinda" crawling, he's a full on force to be reckoned with. As hubs so eloquently put it "he just won't stay where I put him anymore". (This was said in a very exhausted voice one evening over the phone.) And, he supposedly said his first word- dada. I say supposedly b/c I have not heard him say it yet and I'm holding out until I hear it for myself. I personally think it's a little unfair since Jeremy had the advantage of coaching him for a full 6 days.


Emma doesn't know what to think about Seeley's new mobility, especially since he's now getting into all of her stuff. I feel some sibling fights coming up in the near future. It's also funny to watch Seeley try to use Emma to pull himself up to stand. He's only a few pounds lighter than she is and everytime he tries it they both wind up falling onto the floor; Emma tries to help him but she just can't manage to do it without losing her balance!


Here's hoping everyone stays healthy and we can enjoy the pretty weather this weekend!

2 comments:

dave and jenn said...

Poor Emma! And poor Steph, Jeremy, and Seeley too! I had no idea all of that was going on. I'm glad she is out of the hospital and on the road to recovery!

Brittany Schwaigert said...

Bless her little heart. It's the worst to see your child in pain and there's nothing you can do to help! Hope this is your LAST hospital stay!