RSV

Three little letters-who knew they could be so terrible! Nathan has RSV. It is a mean virus that has transformed our happy, alert, and calm baby into a sleepy and uncomfortable baby. It all started on Sunday. We were sure he just had a cold. Sneezing. Coughing. Watery eyes. Monday he slept all day. Tuesday things started getting worse. Coughing became scary. He would start coughing so much he couldn't catch his breath. On Tuesday night about 10:00 he started coughing, couldn't catch his breath, started turning a little blue, and then threw up (not spit up) about 3 oz. of milk. I lost it. It was the scariest thing. I immediately took him into his room, changed him, and took his temperature. I had taken it early and it was 99.4. When I took it this time it was 100.9. (The doctor wants you to call them if it is above 100.4) I called the exchange and they told us to go to the hospital. We went to St. Joseph's. (FYI: if you have a newborn, they expedite the process. We went to triage immediately after checking in and then straight to a room.) The pediatrician came in to see us after about 10 minutes (who EVER thought we'd be seen that quickly) and they took his temperature. It was 100.2 (GREAT! I was thinking we would be sent home now, no temperature!) Oh no, not so fast. The pediatrician asks what's wrong. We explain. He looks in Nathan's ears. "I think it's RSV" he says. WHAT?! He wants to do a chest x-ray, draw blood, and do a nose swab. First is the chest x-ray. Joe and I had to wear lead suits and hold down our naked baby on the x-ray table. (very sad for us) Then, we went back to the room. The nurse comes in and puts a bag on him to try to collect urine. (I won't explain how that worked, pretty crazy) Then she gets ready to start the IV to collect blood. She takes the elastic strap and wraps it around his arm to try to find a vein-then she leaves! Who does that!? Nathan's arm was BLUE and PURPLE by the time she got back. I was very tempted to rip the stupid strap off. She comes back with a board to tie Nathan's arm to so he doesn't rip out the IV after she gets it started. (fabulous) She finds a nice vein in his arm. I am holding him and stick my face into his face and start talking to him. She sticks him. He starts SCREAMING (like on a whole new level) and I start crying. Joe is squirming in his seat. It was the saddest thing ever. She tapes his arm to the board and then starts filling the viles with blood (you know how they take the viles and then put them into the needle on the IV to get blood and sometimes they get a little rough and push the needle a little further into your arm and it hurts, yeah, Carol was doing that. Joe was mad. He started calling Nurse Carol "Second career Carol") We got the blood drawn, Nathan stops screaming, I stop crying. Then second career Carol comes after Nathan with a swab to swab his nose for RSV. Blood and snot go to the lab. 1 1/2 hours later we find out the chest x-ray shows no pnemonia and RSV is positive. He did other blood tests but those won't be back until Friday. IV comes out (FINALLY!) and by 2:00 a.m. we were home again.

Since we can't give Nathan any medicine, the doctor said to give him 2 drops of saline solution in each nostril to help clear up his sinuses. Then we can use the blue bulb syringe to suck out anything else as needed. Wednesday he slept in our bedroom in his bassinet so I could monitor his breathing (I slept about 3 hours) and last night we slept in the family room. (Me on the couch, him in his bouncer). We slept from 10:00 p.m.-11:00 a.m. this morning. Obviously he woke up a few times and I helped him clear his sinuses, but we got lots of sleep. Nathan ate a total of about 5 oz. from Tuesday morning until this morning and he has been eating better today. He did start coughing and lose his breath this afternoon, which led to him throwing up again. He is much more alert today, is breathing easier, and seems to be doing a lot better! I am so thankful! Please pray that he continues to get better!

I had my follow-up doctor appointment today and everything was great. I have lost 35 lbs. since I went in for my first appointment with the pregnancy. In fact, I weigh 1 lb. less than that appointment! Yeah! Hopefully my clothes will fit when I go back to work on Monday. (Sad, work.)