Hospital

I'm on a quick break from the hospital so I'm filling in what's been going on.

*Thursday afternoon I took Holden back to the dr because he was having labored breathing. His pulse/ox was low and the dr was concerned about his breathing. He received some nebulizer breathing treatments and we waited, but he wasn't getting any better. Dr said we'd have to take him to the hospital. Mom started crying then. I had called Dw and he met us at the dr's office. We all went to the hospital Thursday evening.

*Most of the days and times are a blur after that... Holden received more breathing treatments which didn't help a lot. He was really having a hard time breathing. They did a viral scan on him. That came back positive for RSV. RSV is a respiratory virus very common in babies and young children. It presents itself like a cold but with a lingering cough (exactly what Sophie had). It is more seroius for babies beause they're so little and their little lungs can't handle it well when they get congested. It's supposed to last about 2 weeks and it peaks somewhere between 3-6 days.

*Sometime friday Holden spiked a fever. The dr's had said if he spikes a fever they'd have to run a whole battery of tests to rule out meningitis or other infections. This was an AWFUL day!! Poor guy had to have a spinal tap, a cathader to get a urine (which didn't work the first time so he had that done twice), blood drawn- (they had to try about 4 differnt veins before they could get blood and then another one to get enough blood, and an IV for medicine. They got an IV on the 4th or 5th try but then later it didn't work or came loose so we had to do that all over again. This was so hard for Holden!- he cried nonstop for the hour and a half that it took to do all this. It was really hard for Mom to watch all of this! Of course I was crying too.
Holden was also put on oxygen to help him breathe.

*So Friday seemed to be Holden's worst day. He was still working hard at having to breathe and the drs were concerned. He continued to get breathing treatments and oxygen along with antibiotics in case the bacterial infections came back positive. You have to wait 48 hours to watch and see if bacteria grows on the cultures, so we knew we'd be at the hospital for another two days atleast.

*I haven't left Holden since we've been there. They gave me a bed in his room and they bring meals for me since I'm nursing him. He has been in my arms or his dad's the whole time. It is SO HARD to watch your little baby in so much distress and hooked up to all kinds of machines!!!

*Grammy flew down Friday evening to help out this weekend. That has been a great relief for us! It's good for Sophie too, to be on a somewhat normal routine and not get carted back and forth to the hospital all day with Dad.

*The good news is that he's getting better! He's still not great but he's on the right track. His heartrate's down, they've lowered his oxygen level, he's eating well, and his cultures have all come back negative so far. Hopefully we'll get to come home Monday or Tuesday!

*I pumped a bottle for Holden and he's at the hospital with dad for a little while. I came home to refresh myself and get out of that tiny hospital room for a few hours.

So that's the news. Thanks to everyone for your calls of wanting to help and your well wishes. I'll post again when we get back.