Hospital admission :-(

Danielle had been doing great. Her brother got a bought with Bronchitis just over a week ago and we were SO extremely happy that she didn't get it too. Or so we thought.....Wednesday night I picked her up from daycare, she was happy as a lark, had a great day, just like any other day. We got home I put her on her changing table to take her bunting off and she threw up. Okay, no biggie I thought. She needed a bath so we headed for a nice warm bath, bath nights at our house are a big hit because Danielle just loves them. After her bath I got her dressed, warmed up a bottle, fed her. She ate about 1/2 and threw up, just mucous it seemed. She ate the rest of her bottle and her eyes started to become a little glazed over. So we decided not to push the baby food and instead, I checked her temp, it was 102. I was a bit worried, Danielle never gets a fever. Some kids get fevers frequently, she is not one of them.

On a side note: Dylan loves to help with the baby. Last Sunday our power went out so Dylan thought we had to leave. Thankfully it was only out for a short time, but Dylan didn't understand why we weren't putting the baby's shoes on to go bye bye even though by this point the power was back on! So he thought he would put them on her himself!

So Wednesday night, we snuggled and rested. Dylan became very concerned. We gave her some Tylenol and put her to bed. She slept until about 3:30am, I got up with her, checked her temp 101.2. Her fever was back again. We had already decided daddy would stay home with her for the day Thursday, mommy would take Dylan to daycare and attend to her very busy day at work.

As Thursday morning progressed, baby started throwing up, frequently. She was really scaring daddy. We were both worried, especially about her shunt. A potential sign of a shunt malfunction is vomiting. Because of the fever we were hoping that this was NOT what was going on, but it was in our minds. I called and made an appointment with Dr. Collins at 2pm. By 11 Danielle was throwing up about every 10-15 minutes. Brad was very very scared, I called the doc to get her in sooner and became very frustrated when the nurse told me that she would be fine until her 2pm appointment. By this time Danielle had begun to vomit stomach bile, we felt that she was getting dehydrated. We didn't want to take her to the ER because then we would have a doc that didn't know her or anything about her and it would take forever to get seen. So at 1pm daddy headed to the doc, drove slow because since she was vomiting so much he needed to be able to stop and check on her during his drive into the doctors office.

Upon arrival the nurse knew right away Danielle was very sick. She was making small moaning noises and getting very sick very fast. Dr. Collins came in, witnessed her vomiting and ordered blood work immediately and an RSV test. The RSV test threw Brad because she didn't have any obvious symptoms, NO coughing, NO wheezing, not really a buggery nose, but just a slight fever at this point. Thankfully our wonderful cousin, nurse Jessie, came to assist a scared and worried daddy. Mommy was in meetings at work and was watching her phone closely. The tests came back, positive for RSV, her CBC was elevated. So we were off to the ER for chest x-rays to check for pneumonia. I met Brad at St. Lukes and we got her checked out. She was still continuing to vomit and just not herself. It brought tears to my eyes how in just a matter of hours, baby girl could be feeling SO much worse. She got the x-rays, the really sad looking positional ones in the tube. That just breaks a mom and dad's heart, but she was a trooper. We waited for the results, the doctor called and told us she also had pneumonia...WHAT?! We were SO confused, shocked and just felt horrible for our sick baby girl. She admitted us to the hospital, daddy went to pick up Dylan from daycare and mommy went to the PICU and got Danielle situated.

It was very strange being back in the hospital. A place we had been over a year and a half before... day in and day out with our little baby girl. We were back, not a good feeling, unfortunately we were very familiar with our surroundings, but we knew she would be well taken care of.

They started IV's immediately, took more blood work for a blood culture and tried to make our baby comfortable. She wanted to be held, she could barely stay awake, she was pale, our hearts sunk.....

As parents we think we know our kids, very well, more than anyone else, how could we miss this....Pneumonia and RSV of all things and just weeks after getting her monthly dose of Synegis (RSV preventative) shot???? We were monitored over night, Danielle stopped throwing up and at 10pm took a whole bottle and kept it down. The fever subsided slightly, she never needed any Tylenol to break it, it broke on it's own. She slept great, in her crib even. Although mommy wanted to snuggle her all night long, I slept along side her in the chair and knew she would sleep better in the crib. They woke us every 4 hours for a breathing treatment, vitals etc. She went right back to sleep. By morning she was close to acting like herself again. A happy little girl, she cracked a few smiles and her lips were pink again. She was still pale but continued to be breathing great. Her sats were wonderful, she never needed oxygen, in fact her pulse ox never beeped off all night long, she was a rock star patient! Her precious smile came back!

More blood work showed her less dehydrated, an exam by Dr. Collins showed her to be better all the way around. She asked us to stay for the day and at 4-5pm she would call and get a report and decide if we could go home. Since Danielle had been eating and holding food down, didn't require any supplemental oxygen and was becoming more active we got the go ahead to head home! YAY! Mom and Dad were so happy, 24 hours in the PICU was long enough. We have strict orders to continue breathing treatments until Thursday, even though she is showing no respiratory distress and her lungs are clear, this is a preventative. Dr. Collins agreed that Danielle's dose of Synegis a few weeks ago prevented her from becoming extremely sick. That is also why she did not show any other signs, wheezing, coughing etc. The vomiting was all of the fluid that was in her lungs, she thankfully was getting it OUT!

We headed home, our family was all together once again! Antibiotic, steroid, nebulizer treatments and a lot of TLC! Danielle is totally acting herself again. She is very hungry, which is great, probably making up for the day she didn't eat, she is sleeping 12 hours at least and last night 14 hours! YES, that was a record! She is on the mend, nothing makes mom and dad happier and Dylan too. He was very concerned about his sister, he missed having her home, he is very attentive to her needs, he is the perfect big brother!

So last week was chaotic to say the least. We survived, the lord listened to our prayers and watched over our baby girl. We have a re-check on Tuesday and are excited to get great news that our baby girl is all better. Her fever has been gone since Friday afternoon, although she doesn't like her medicines, we get them down. We are very much looking forward to Spring! The serious sickness' to go away, the warm weather to move on in and our kids to be able to be outside, run and play in the thick green grass....as mom and dad sit back and watch the miracles of our world in action!

Thank you lord for protecting our family, keeping our baby girl on the road to recovery and helping us to be reunited at home, for a few days of rest before yet another busy week!~