Jack's Hospital Stay

We've had a tumultuous few days, starting early on Wednesday morning when we ended up in the ER with Jack. We have known there will be a hospital stay in our near future, but we never thought it would be Jack as the patient!

Jack and I both came down with something resembling a cold on Saturday. I felt pretty horrible immediately but other than some congestion, Jack seemed generally okay. As the week progressed though, his appetite waned, his activity level (which is usually quite high even when he's sick) slowed substantially, and we battled a low-grade fever that neither Motrin nor Tylenol seemed to touch. On Monday & Tuesday, he began coughing so violently, it caused him to vomit.

Very early Wednesday morning, I heard him coughing again and it sounded as if he couldn't catch his breath. I went into his room to check on him and he seemed to be struggling a bit to breathe and his heart was racing. I called Mick and and we agreed that we needed to step up Jack's asthma treatment plan to the most serious level (he can't be tested for asthma until he's older but we treat him as if he has it during cold/flu season to try to avoid nasty respiratory infections that require steroid treatment). I also called the on-call nurse to see if we should take him to the ER. The nurse could hear him coughing in the background and said we absolutely needed to go. So, at 6:30 am, we arrived at the hospital with our sick little guy in tow.

Clutching Daddy in the ER

We ended up spending almost 12 hours in the ER, with Jack receiving breathing treatments every 15 minutes to try to get his cough under control. It was heartbreaking to watch him struggle. His coughs were so violent - he'd cough for at least a minute at a time with no relief and even his rest periods were brief. About seven or eight hours into our stay, the doctors started preparing us for the likelihood that Jack would have to spend the night. They said the fact that they couldn't get him to go four hours without a breathing treatment was alarming to them; in fact, since he couldn't even get to two hours without a treatment, they told us he'd have to be admitted to the ICU. He tried to get some rest in the ER but it was hard to do with the coughing fits.

Jack's favorite part of his stay; our ride from the ER to the pediatric unit (they wouldn't let me walk for fear I'd go into labor)

The doctors eventually ran some tests and took some cultures which helped them diagnose him as having RSV complicated by asthma symptoms. He stayed overnight on Wednesday, with Mick curled up on a tiny chair next to Jack's hospital bed (which looked like a cage) and me heading home to get some rest in case I went into labor (needless to say, it was impossible for me to sleep with my little one sick in the hospital).

First night in the hospital

I was relieved when I returned to the hospital early Thursday morning to find that Jack was acting MUCH happier... and was even trying to eat a meal. Even though he was in isolation (because RSV is so contagious), we were confident he'd be released on Thursday as he was acting SO much better. However, his pulse-oxygen level dipped into the 80s every time he lay down to sleep, so the doctors mandated he stay a second night.

Acting silly on Day 2

Practicing good exhales with a party toy, courtesy of our kind nurse

Mick and I were so worried I was going to go into labor - as my due date was just two days away - so we asked my mom to come down to Ann Arbor a week earlier than she'd planned. My big fear was that I'd end up having the baby (in a different hospital than Jack was in) and I'd have no one with me; I would have wanted Mick to stay with Jack.

Luckily, Jack ended up being released Friday afternoon... which made all of us very happy!

Morning 3 - At least Jack had a good night's rest!

We're outta here!

He's recovering now and the hardest part is just keeping him from running around too much (which is much easier said than done). Never have I been so happy that my babies seem to like to blow past my due date without so much as a hint that they're ready to be born; I would have been a nervous wreck had I delivered while Jack was in the hospital! Mick has come down with "the plague" so now all three of us have it; we are desperately hoping we'll be recovered in time for delivery day.

I put a bunch of pictures from Jack's hospital stay in our photo album.