Hospitals

I took Rush to the hospital the first part of March. He had a low fever and a terrible sounding cough, but what really had me worried was how fast it came on and how labored his breathing was. I tried to get him into see our pediatrician, but they had no appointments til the next day and the nurse said not to wait to take him in if he was having breathing issues. I debated and debated about whether or not to take him in. After the other kids got out of school and I found them all a place to go I took him to the Hospital#1 around 3:15pm. I felt dumb. I thought for sure they would send me home with nothing to show. Well, I was wrong. The Dr did a test for RSV which to my surprise came back negative. So they did a chest x-ray and found that he had pneumonia. Thankfully we caught it pretty early and it was only in one of the lobes of one of the lungs. They put him on oxygen which he hated and put in an IV which he hated worse. The IV was the absolute worst part of this whole experience. Three different nurses tried to put in the IV, finally on the 4th attempt they were able to get the IV into the left hand. Rush and I both cried through the whole process. He looked at me while I talked to him with tears streaming down my face. I tried to be brave, but I felt so helpless. I knew they were helping my baby by hurting him, and it was so terrible. He looked like he had a cast on with how well they padded and protected the IV. None of us wanted to do that again. Through the IV they gave him some saline and a dose of some really good antibiotics. The Dr and I discussed whether or not to admit Rush. She really encouraged me to have him admitted, so I agreed. Enter Hospital # 2. They said they didn't have room for us at #1 so they called an ambulance to transfer us. Then the nurse came in and told me a room had just cleared and we wouldn't have to leave. Then the nurse came back and said even though the room was available there weren't enough nurses to take care of my boy. So the ambulance was summoned yet again. In the meantime Matt and Matt Porter arrived to give Rush a blessing, which I was so grateful for. It was hard to want to let Matt return to our other kids. I was feeling a little scared, confused and alone at the moment. I am so grateful they were able to come by and give me a boost to strength. The ambulance came and they had me sit on the bed and hold Rush on my lap. I think Rush actually really enjoyed the ride and was glad to goodbye to the nurses who had put in his IV. For the whole time we were at #1 after the IV the nurses would come in and he would say Ouwie, ouwie, ouwie until the nurses left the room even when they didn't touch him. At #2 the nurse got us all settled around 11pm. I didn't really get a good picture of the bed that they had Rush in, but it looked like a crib. It was about 3 1/2 ft off the ground, maybe a ft or so longer than a regular crib, but definitely not as long as a twin. Anyway all this to explain that that is where I spent much of the night and the next day climbing in and out of. Rush finally was able to sleep after we got to #2, but he woke up about 6 times during the night saying ouwie, ouwie, ouwie. He woke up once when they came in to give him an albuterol treatment, but he calmed down as I sang him back to sleep. I finally gave up on sleeping on the couch and climbed up into his crib in the hopes that he and I would sleep better. I had to put up the rail as I was a little worried about falling out, but we both slept a little better after that.In the morning I was able to get him to eat some food. We spent some time snuggling in this chair, we spent some time sleeping, we spent some time waiting for the Dr watching cartoons. We played peek a boo and tickle tickle. By late afternoon Rush was starting to feel better and I really wanted to give him a bath and take him for a little walk. He had gotten a bloody nose because of the oxygen and I wanted to get him good and clean. After his bath the nurse got us a wagon and we went for a walk up and down the hall about 20 times. Every time we passed the nurses or an open door Rush would say Hi and wave. He liked to look at the posters on the wall, especially the puppy one. I could really tell he was feeling so much better which was relieving. It was actually nice to dedicate myself to just him that day. I love this boy so much. They discharged us that night around 10pm and we finally got home at around 10:30pm. Rush got to be on oxygen and antibiotics for the 2 weeks after our adventure, which was not so fun. I am so grateful our stay was not longer and that we caught the pneumonia so early. A few days after Rush was off the oxygen he got some other bug and threw up several times. I think I can safely say that he will hopefully be able to stay somewhat healthy for the near future.