Go away sickness!

While I was away on my girls weekend on Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, Ken sent me a message on Saturday saying that Lila had woken up that morning covered in vomit from coughing. She didn't really have a fever so we weren't worried. We figured she had what Ken had earlier in the week.

Monday morning Ethan woke up with it as well. When I got home later in the afternoon I took their temps and they were at almost 100 so nothing to really worry about. We gave them Benadryl and Motrin and put them to bed

By Tuesday, Lila didn't feel too warm but I took her temp anyways and it was around 100.5. Ethan still seemed fine just a bad cough and low grade fever. Lila ended up throwing up a bit from getting upset and from a coughing fit.

On Wednesday both kids threw up from gagging while coughing or at least that's what we thought. Lila had a fever of 102 so we treated it with Motrin and she just cuddled with Grammy and me all day. I took the day off to be with the kids.

By Thursday Lila's fever came back at around 101. I had planned on taking her to the doctor that afternoon but she perked up around lunch time so I put it off.

On Friday we kept Ethan out of school for the 2nd day. Both kids woke up continuing to have a nasty cough. Ethan's cough kept him coughing and waking him up because it was so bad. Lila seemed to sleep okay at night. Ethan ran around like normal until about 2pm. At 2pm he laid down on the couch and immediately zonked out. He woke up a bit later and asked me where Grammy was, got upset, then promptly fell back to sleep. He hardly ever just falls asleep like that or even anywhere but his bed or ours.

By 3pm he really needed a treatment and I could hear him wheezing. His respirations were high and he kept sucking in his belly to breathe. I called Kaiser's advice line and talked with a nurse to see if we should bring him into the ER or wait for an after hours clinic appointment on Saturday.

After speaking with the advice nurse for about 20-30 minutes, counting his respirations 3x we determined that the oncall doctor, the nurse and myself didn't feel comfortable waiting for the morning.

So we headed to the ER. He coughed and wheezed all the way to the hospital and fell asleep almost immediately. At this point he'd pretty much been asleep since 2pm only waking up to take do his treatment at 4pm.

At the ER they took his temp in his armpit at 99.9 and his oxygen level was between 90 and 93%. They put us into a room. The doctor came in about 15 minutes later and examined him saying he felt warmer than 99.9 so she ordered a rectal temp. She looked at his ears and said that he definitely had one ear infection, if not two.

30 minutes later the nurse came in and gave him Tylenol and an albuterol nebulizer treatment. He perked up from the albuterol. Before this he had been laying on the gurney asleep or half asleep breathing hard. They then came in to take his temp which I thought was odd since they had given him Tylenol just 30-40 minutes earlier. Seemed kinda backwards to me. Even still his temp was 99.8. So my guess is he was really around 101 when we came in.

After this we were sent to xray to rule out pseumonia. 15 minutes later the doctor had looked at the xray and talked with Ethan's pulmonologist and they had decided that because his xray was clear that we should be prescribed a steroid for the wheeze and antibiotics for his ear infection.

After our 3 1/2 hour stay at the ER and waiting for Ethan's prescriptions we headed to McDonald's to pick up dinner and got home about 1130.

We ate, went to bed and were up at 2am to give Ethan an hour long treatment which helped but didn't change much. Ethan was wide awake at 7am (so much for sleeping in). I went to pick up Lila from my parents house about 9am and Ken laid down with Ethan for 90 minutes, got him up for a treatment.

By noon he was still refusing to eat and was really tired again so he laid down with me for a three hour nap!!! By the time he woke up for his afternoon treatment he had slept 4.5 hours out of the 8.5 hours he'd been awake and spent 2 hours of the time awake doing treatments.

The good news was that after that nap he started moving around and playing again. Since yesterday his appetite still isn't the greatest but he's not laying around either.

We had an interesting time attempting to get the liquid steroid down him. We mixed it with apple juice, then orange juice, then sugar this morning. Each time he either refused or threw it up. Thankfully he doesn't appear to really need it. We're still trying to give it to him but I think the wheezing has subsided quite a bit or even gone away altogether.

Since yesterday Lila has been whiny and clings to me. She doesn't really want daddy, just mommy. I think I'll need to take her in tomorrow to see if she has an ear infection. Until then there will be a lot of mommy/Lila time. Thankfully she's playing with Ethan now and giving me a rest. I have managed not to catch this horrible cold or flu. I feel a little weird today with drainage at the back of my throat, but otherwise fine. The test is still out as far as whether Ethan's got RSV, influenza or just a nasty virus. We should know today or tomorrow which one it is.

So that's what's been going on with us over the last week. Sorry for the long post. I'm hoping to look back on this posts after some time has passed. It's long so I can remember what happened later.

We're going home!

We were really happy to hear that we'd finally be going home yesterday. It took 3 hrs to get discharged, but finally about 230PM we were out of the hospital. We will have to continue nebulizers at home for another 2 weeks and he will still have his normal vest treatments 3x a day. Luckily, a month or so ago I bought a whiteboard to keep track of medications, feedings and treatments. I got it so that whoever came in our house to help us would know the dosages and what he needed everyday. It's still a little confusing, but less for us. For now, we're trying to take it one treatment at a time.
Please pray for patience for Ken and I while we try to adjust to having nebulizers, antibiotics, and vest treatments thrown into our already busy baby schedule!
Thanks for your prayers!
Erin, Ken & Ethan

A small setback...

When I arrived back at the hospital this morning Ethan sounded a little bit worse than yesterday. He's still not on oxygen, and his oxygen #'s are still above 95% which is great, but he is breathing a little harder. He's asleep right now finally after a night of coughing with my mom. It's unfortunate that we have to wake him to eat during the night so he continues to gain the weight back from last week. We have to do 4 vest treatments during the day and they have to be at least 4 hrs a part. Add that to eating every 4 hrs at night and 3 hrs during the day and it gets crazy. He can't do the treatment until 2 hrs after he eats or 45 minutes before he eats. It makes it difficult because it seems like we're constantly waking him up to do something to him.
He's a trooper. He loved reading, "Goodnight Moon" with me this morning. He stared at the pictures and listened intently to the words. I can tell that he's trying to be in a good mood, but he's really tired too.
I think he sounds like yesterday now that I listen to him. Usually nights are worse than the day. The pediatrician will be by in the next hour or so with the virus test results so we can see what exactly this virus is. He should also be able to give us a better idea of how much longer we will be here. I'm still hoping for tomorrow, but he would have to get back to where he was yesterday and then some. I'll send another update in a couple hrs.
Erin

He's coming home soon!

Ethan is doing much better. We were told initially that they most likely wouldn't have admitted him if it wasn't for the wheezing and the CF. When we got to the hospital he had lost 6oz in a week, but now he's gained 4 oz of that back. He is still puking up phlegm and some formula because of his treatments, but everytime the respiratory therapist comes in to do a treatment they say he sounds better. Dr. Treis said today that he will be home on Sunday or Monday. I'm still really hoping for Sunday, not only because of Mother's Day, but because Sunday night will be my turn again to stay the night. I stayed from noon Thursday until about 1030 this morning. I slept for about 30 minutes last night because Ethan had something in his throat that he couldn't completely cough up all night. I was completely wiped when I got home. Luckily, because I was stranded at the hospital without a car, my dad and grandma came to get me this morning. I slept from 12-6pm completely zonked out. I will be going back in the morning so my mom, who is staying tonight, can go home to sleep and will be there until late tomorrow afternoon until Ken comes back for the night.

We are lucky that this is just a cold and not bacterial. He does have a viral infection, but because it's not bacterial it will not leave damage on his lungs. Any infant could have gotten the Brochialitis he had 7 weeks ago or this virus. They are just being extra cautious.

For now we're trying to take it as it comes. I have had my moments of completely losing it more this time that last time. I think as a mother you feel guilty when something happens to your child. You want to shield them from everything and wave your magic wand and make it all better. Thankfully, we have great doctors, hospital staff and great family and friends to help us along the way. Thank you so much for praying for our family and our little boy! We really hope that this is the last time he is in the hospital until he's ready for a "tune-up" in a year.

Ethan is still in good spirits. If a man comes in to work on him he doesn't really pay much attention, but once any women comes in his eyelashes start to bat at her and he grins. He likes the ladies! The only time I see him looking miserable is when he is having a coughing fit. He still turns red, but thankfully more is coming out and he's eating better.

I'll try to send out another update as we know more, but things are looking better. We're hoping that because it's spring and almost summer that sicknesses will be non-existent until the fall.

I'll attach pictures later today.

Thanks!
Erin, Ken & Ethan.

Back in the hospital...again

Unfortunately, earlier today Ethan and I had our 2nd ambulance ride to the hospital. Ethan has had a cold for a little over a week. I thought he was getting better, but over the weekend he started coughing and by Monday it turned into hacking. He threw up a few times over the weekend, sometimes very little and once or twice big time. Gradually, he's been taking less and less formula and having fewer wet diapers. I was beginning to get worried that he was getting dehydrated and when he would go into a hacking fit his face would turn bright red and it would last for 30-45 seconds. He had a hard time eating, which is very unlike him.
Today I decided to take him in to see the pediatrician. Once we got there they checked his respirations, the pulling around his ribs, and he was at 80 respirations a minute. Normal is 40-50 for babies. They decided to give him an albuterol treatment in the office and after it was over his respirations were at 60, but still too high. The pediatrician called Ethan's pulmonologist who decided that we were going to be admitted to the hospital. As soon as the doctor left the room, I lost it. I felt so guilty for getting sick in the first place and for giving it to him. I know I've tried my best to stay healthy and to keep him from getting sick, but I felt helpless. I want to protect him from everything and it's just impossible. I've gotten very used to washing my hands a million times a day and using hand sanitizer so much that my hands are dry and peeling in some places, but it's still not enough. There are germs and viruses everywhere. How can I protect him from everything? I can't.
After getting to the hospital via the ambulance, which Ethan again slept through, we were admitted to Kaiser Roseville. They had done an x-ray in at the Rancho Cordova clinic before we left so the results were ready later this afternoon. It showed that he has something similar to what he had last time, but it's not nearly as bad. You could see on the x-ray that one of his diaphrams is a little bit collapsed from all the hacking and wheezing. They said it's a virus and they will let it run its course and treat the symptoms. For now, he is having albuterol nebulizer treatments every 4 hours, antibiotics to help get rid of more of the staph aureous he had last time and suctioning of his nose to get more of the congestion out. It amazes me that through it all he is still flirting with our nurse. He batted his long eyelashes at her a few times and gave her his killer smile. What a flirt! Then, he started cooing and saying, "Goo, goo!"
We have been told that he will be in the hospital for 2-3 days at this point. They have decided to run a test for pertussis, whooping cough, because cases have risen recently. We won't have those results for 2 days. If it is whooping cough he will be in the hospital longer to be monitored. For now, they are giving him a med to help him from spreading it to others just in case he has it. If he does have it the main concern is that he could stop breathing and that's why they would closely monitor him.
I am somewhat at peace knowing that he is at the hospital being well taken care and that Ken is there with him tonight so I can finally get a full night of sleep. I have been living in a whirlwind lately and barely sleeping at all. It's starting to catch up with me. No one can live on 30 minutes here and 2 hours there for long. It takes me 2 hours to fall asleep and by then 30 minutes later he's awake or I hear him coughing. The other night I slept on the floor for an hour beside his crib because I had been getting up so much.
I pray that he will recover quickly from this and we'll have him home soon enough with us. I really hope we'll spend my 1st Mother's Day at home, but I'll enjoy it no matter where I am as long as I have my sweet baby boy with me. Please pray for Ken & I as we ride through this rollercoaster of emotions again. Pray that God will give us the strength to keep pushing through and that we won't lose our hope and faith that God is with us and taking care of us every step of the way.
Thanks for your prayers!
Erin, Ken & Ethan

Ethan's Hospital Stay

Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted. We have had a whirlwind life in the last few weeks.
Ethan ended up in the hospital for 8 days a couple weeks ago. He was 25 days old! It ended up that he had Brochialitis. We are still unsure whether the Brochialitis effected Ethan's Cystic Fibrosis. It could be that he just caught a virus that turned into Brochialitis and the Cystic Fibrosis wasn't an added problem. We both had staph infections from breastfeeding and he had thrush. He recovered quickly and after 8 days in the hospital he was sent home with nebulizer treatments and antibiotics. Thankfully, 4 days after coming home he was able to stop the nebulizer treatments. The doctor had us giving him nebulizer treatments 4x during the day. Each treatment would take 30-40 minutes with chest percussion on his back and front to loosen up whatever mucus was left in his lungs. Since Ken went back to work 2 days after Ethan came home from the hospital, I was on my own. It was really overwhelming when added to his normal feedings, medication and the lack of sleep that I have come to find normal.
We were really lucky to have my mom, sister and Ken's mom each take a night at the hospital so we could get a full nights sleep. Ken and I each stayed 2 nights. We learned a lot in the hospital about what to expect in the future. We should expect to have a hospital stay once a year with Ethan. We learned how to do chest percussion, which is done with a plastic circular instrument by thumping on his chest and back. It sounds like it would hurt him, but he loves it! We also heard stories about families that become noncompliant with doing treatments at home. We are going to have to make a routine and hopefully Ethan will never know any different and will cooperate.
Ethan is still a bit congested at night, but he is pretty much 100% and back to himself. He's been smiling a lot and even laughing. He loves it when we talk in low and high pitches. He also loves fans and clocks. When he sees either one he beams.
He will be 6 weeks old tomorrow and last time he was at the doctors office he weighed in at 9 lbs 12 oz and 21 1/4 inches. He's growing so fast!
Here are some current pictures, including a pic from his hospital stay.