Jason had an "off" night on Tuesday, waking up 4 times, being very restless, eating very little, and coughing when I laid him back down to sleep. On Wednesday morning, I noticed that he was breathing very hard and his head was shaking like a bobblehead due to the effort. I unzipped his sleeper and saw that with every breath, the skin on his chest was sucking to his ribs and his stomach was pushing forward. They call this "retracted breathing" in the medicine world. This warranted a call to the doctor, and the nurse told me my doctor was summoned to court to testify in a child custody hearing. The nurse, Julie, felt just awful and told me to take Jason to the urgent care. We headed there, got an oxygen reading from the nurse of 92 (low) and were told to go to the emergency room pronto. This begins our crappy adventure with RSV....
At Mary Washington Hospital, they took him back right away (thanks for not making us wait behind the lady with the sprained toe) and found that he was breathing way too hard and fast. His lungs were crackling so he got a breathing treatment (nebulizer) and an IV. If your baby ever has to get an IV, step out of the room. It's horrific. I didn't know this, so I now have flashbacks of how bad it is to watch two women search for veins in your baby's foot and hand....with a needle. It sucks.
Jason got some oral steroids before the IV was put in (that took two attempts) and we were told that he needed to be admitted because babies with RSV can go downhill fast and because of his age. Tim arrived around this time (I called him at work and he made great time from DC). We waited in our room at the ER til 3 pm and then headed up to the third floor.
Our nurses were great, but the hospital is just not a good place to be. This isn't like the maternity ward where you can send your baby to the nursery and get a nap. We were solely responsible for Jason. The nurses came in every 3-4 hours. I was trying to nurse a baby that couldn't breathe through his congestion, give him breathing treatments, help suction his nose and mouth, weigh his diapers (to check for dehydration), and when his IV clogged, I had to help clean up the bloody blankets on his bed. Luckily, they pulled his IV and decided against putting in another one as long as he kept eating. Tim and I took turns sleeping on the couch bed (which was hard as a rock and only 3 feet wide) so as you can guess, no one got any good sleep that night. Including Jason, who woke up in a coughing fit every few minutes.
See, here's the deal with RSV--if you are a child or adult, you get a stuffy nose and cough for a few days and just assume you have a cold. No big deal. But babies can't handle the mucus and congestion. And it's a virus, so no antibiotics. We got to take Jason home today around noon with a nebulizer shaped liked a penguin, a prescription for oral steroids, and orders to visit our doctor tomorrow for a follow up. She warned us that the cough can hang around for up to ten days....oh joy.
On the way home....could he be any cuter?! Even when he feels like crud, Jason is freaking adorable :)
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