Whew...What a Week!

Last Tuesday at about two in the morning Caleb woke up to eat.  I couldn't get him to go back to sleep he  just cried and cried.  At first I thought it was gas.  But then I noticed a fever.  A fever too high for a newborn.

 

I called the Dr. and they didn't have any appointments that morning so they sent me to the ER.  Not cool!  But, if you don't know when you take a baby under two months to the ER with a fever and no more symptoms, they do a total work up on them including a spinal tap and chest x-ray.  Then they admit your child until the result come back. 

They found out he had right off he had RSV but it was very early on and didn't have any symptoms. But then we had to wait on cultures and they take at least 24 hours.  Caleb was still fussy, but he slept quite a bit during the day and then fussed again late into the night.

Then next morning they told us he had a UTI and started him on IV antibiotics and they needed to do an ultrasound on his renal system since it's really weird for a baby boy to have a UTI.  So, we had to stay even longer for that and more cultures to grow out to see exactly what type of bacteria was growing so he could get on the right antibiotic.  All the time the RSV hadn't started showing any symptoms.

Thursday they said the ultrasound came back good and Friday they would know what oral antibiotic to put him on and since he wasn't sick with RSV yet they  would send us home.

But Thursday night Caleb had to have oxygen in the evening.  He did pretty well until about 3:30 in the morning.  At that point I woke up and looked at him and started getting a bit concerned.  I held him and wouldn't go back to sleep until 7:30 when I decided he was ok.  About an hour later he crashed and was really struggling to breath.  They took him off of oxygen and put him on a machine that forces oxygen up their nose and is also connected to a vaporizer that comes out into the nose also to help open up the lungs.  They put him on 40 percent oxygen and he started doing a little bit better.  They pounded softly on his chest and back and did a deep suction and nasal suction every three hours Friday and Saturday.  Sunday he didn't need it as often.

 

Below are two videos I took.  This first one you can hear how hard he is struggling for air and you can hear the oxygen blowing.  Ignore me.  I should have just kept my mouth shut.

The second video shows how hard he was working to breath.  He's bobbing his head.  FYI: If you ever see that it is really bad. The further up from the chest you move to try to breath means you are struggling harder.  You are pretty much using every muscle you have in your upper body if you're moving your head to breath.

 

After three days on the machine, Caleb was able to come off and go straight to room air.  And 24 hours later his lungs were almost clear. (on Friday night there were parts of the lungs at times that they couldn't hear air moving.

Friday,  Bo and I wanted to take turns at the hospital while I sat with the kids in the car so he could see Caleb for a bit.  Bo decided on the way up Caleb needed a blessing and had a friend that worked nearby the hospital and he was able to meet him.  Thank you Scott.  THANK YOU to so many that helped out with meals, visits, kids, and prayers in our behalf.  And my Mom who brought me treats a couple of times and sat with Caleb for awhile so I could go home for a little while.  Thanks to Gini for taking our other boys for a few days too. 

Caleb had a quick recovery considering many babies under two months stay for a week after they get really bad.  I'm so grateful for the power of the priesthood and prayer.  I know they truly make a difference in our lives.  We are so blessed to have the gospel in our lives!

Here's a picture of him today after we got home.  He looks so much better.  We love you so much Caleb!!!