The Alberico/Orahood family made a trip to Lamar to celebrate Great Grandma Rector’s 72nd Birthday and to introduce Shane to our crazy family. We left Saturday afternoon and spent the night in the local Super 8. Saturday we visited Great Granny Orahood and Sunday we met the Rector family. Shane got to visit with his closest 2nd cousin – Ethan Troy Hamilton who is 5 months older – and met 3 of the 5 great-Aunts (the token great-Uncle was MIA) and many, many of the 2nd cousins.
Shane did really well Saturday night during his first stay in a hotel and even made it through most of the visit at the farm. However, about noon he started sounding really bad and wasn’t nursing like he normally does. I thought at first it could just be that he was completely out of his element. We quickly realized with his croupy cough that he wasn’t feeling well and we cut our visit short and headed home. Let me tell you – the 2 hour trip home was extremely long because the closer we got to KC the worse he sounded.
We stopped at Children’s Mercy South’s urgent care and waited, and waited, and … until finally we were seen by a pediatrician. The doctor said it sounded like Shane had RSV and the nurses were going to suction his sinus passages and test the mucus. Let me tell you … I had heard of RSV … and just the mention of it set my emotions into turmoil. Then the nurses came in and held Shane down to suction him. My heart just broke for him. Sure enough – Shane had RSV. The doc released us with the warning that he would probably end up hospitalized but maybe not considering he was breastfed. She gave us strict instructions to follow-up with his pediatrician the next day. Frankly, she scared the crap out of David and I and neither of us slept much that night just waiting for the shoe to drop and Shane to take a nose dive for the worse.
Monday morning we dropped Brendan off at school and took Shane over to Johnson County Pediatrics … where we waited, and … you get the point about doctor’s offices right? Dr. Bush took a listen to Shane, they tested his oxygen levels and gave us the news that Shane was doing well and that he was healthy enough that we would not be making a trip to the hospital. He told us not to suction Shane’s nasal passages – which was the complete opposite of what the pediatrician the night before had said. He signed over the papers and off we went. Shane actually seemed to be doing better that day.
Tuesday I decided I was going to keep Shane home from daycare for the week. I’d stay home with him through Wednesday and David would stay home Thursday and Friday. Tuesday was a decent day – Shane slept a lot … but he wasn’t laboring in his breathing. That was … until about 4:30. By 6:00, he was sounding pretty bad. David and I kept taking turns watching his chest, counting the number of times he breathed. Finally about 8:00 we decided we were going to take him back into urgent care. I packed a bag for Shane (the doc said if we came back to pack a bag because we’d probably be staying), packed a bag for Brendan and dropped him off at Pop’s house. David and I drove the 25 minutes to Children’s Mercy South while I was in the back seat trying to count Shane’s breathing in the dark. We pulled into the parking lot … woke Shane up … and he seemed to be breathing a little easier. We actually started to pull away when that mommy instinct kicked me in the butt and told me to go inside – what’s the worst they could tell us … he’s fine?
So in we go to find out he is really struggling to breath (apparently we weren’t counting right). Another round of suctioning and more waiting and up to Floor 3 we went. We were admitted sometime around midnight. Thankfully we had a terrific nurse and the hospitalist on call was more forthcoming with information about what was going to happen and how Shane was doing.
Shane and I spent the next 2 days at Children’s Mercy battling the crud called RSV. Wednesday they had to deep suction him twice and nasally more times than I can remember. He was sleeping a great deal of the time and was eating only intermittently. I had foolishly packed a bag for Shane and did not even bring a hair brush for myself. I’m sure those nurses were wondering about my attire – sweat pants and a t-shirt one day, and the same sweat pants and a green polo the next. LOL … David tried to pack me a bag … but even with a list … he’s still a man. Thankfully Children’s Mercy was well prepared for the late night flight of the parents to their doorsteps. At 5:00 in the morning when I stumbled out my door to their nurses station they were eager to supply what was needed and even suggested what else I might need.
By Thursday morning we were getting the green light to leave. That morning a volunteer came around to deliver a bear donated by Wal-Mart to the hospital to Shane and the first thing out of my mouth was – has this bear been in the hospital long? They kept warning us about secondary infections that he could pick up and the first “outside” item besides people had been this bear! They reassured me that they had just opened them this morning from their plastic packages.
Thursday afternoon as we were walking out of the hospital I was saying a little prayer for all of the other children who were still stuck inside and for the parents who had to watch their children go through their battles. I know that RSV was such a mild thing compared to what other parents are battling and I was thankful that was the case. Honestly – I learned a lot about myself in those 2 days couped up in room 330. 1st and foremost – I’m a very weak person when it comes to my children. I’d lay down my life for them … because I’d surely die having to watch them suffer.
We stopped at Children’s Mercy South’s urgent care and waited, and waited, and … until finally we were seen by a pediatrician. The doctor said it sounded like Shane had RSV and the nurses were going to suction his sinus passages and test the mucus. Let me tell you … I had heard of RSV … and just the mention of it set my emotions into turmoil. Then the nurses came in and held Shane down to suction him. My heart just broke for him. Sure enough – Shane had RSV. The doc released us with the warning that he would probably end up hospitalized but maybe not considering he was breastfed. She gave us strict instructions to follow-up with his pediatrician the next day. Frankly, she scared the crap out of David and I and neither of us slept much that night just waiting for the shoe to drop and Shane to take a nose dive for the worse.
Monday morning we dropped Brendan off at school and took Shane over to Johnson County Pediatrics … where we waited, and … you get the point about doctor’s offices right? Dr. Bush took a listen to Shane, they tested his oxygen levels and gave us the news that Shane was doing well and that he was healthy enough that we would not be making a trip to the hospital. He told us not to suction Shane’s nasal passages – which was the complete opposite of what the pediatrician the night before had said. He signed over the papers and off we went. Shane actually seemed to be doing better that day.
Tuesday I decided I was going to keep Shane home from daycare for the week. I’d stay home with him through Wednesday and David would stay home Thursday and Friday. Tuesday was a decent day – Shane slept a lot … but he wasn’t laboring in his breathing. That was … until about 4:30. By 6:00, he was sounding pretty bad. David and I kept taking turns watching his chest, counting the number of times he breathed. Finally about 8:00 we decided we were going to take him back into urgent care. I packed a bag for Shane (the doc said if we came back to pack a bag because we’d probably be staying), packed a bag for Brendan and dropped him off at Pop’s house. David and I drove the 25 minutes to Children’s Mercy South while I was in the back seat trying to count Shane’s breathing in the dark. We pulled into the parking lot … woke Shane up … and he seemed to be breathing a little easier. We actually started to pull away when that mommy instinct kicked me in the butt and told me to go inside – what’s the worst they could tell us … he’s fine?
So in we go to find out he is really struggling to breath (apparently we weren’t counting right). Another round of suctioning and more waiting and up to Floor 3 we went. We were admitted sometime around midnight. Thankfully we had a terrific nurse and the hospitalist on call was more forthcoming with information about what was going to happen and how Shane was doing.
Shane and I spent the next 2 days at Children’s Mercy battling the crud called RSV. Wednesday they had to deep suction him twice and nasally more times than I can remember. He was sleeping a great deal of the time and was eating only intermittently. I had foolishly packed a bag for Shane and did not even bring a hair brush for myself. I’m sure those nurses were wondering about my attire – sweat pants and a t-shirt one day, and the same sweat pants and a green polo the next. LOL … David tried to pack me a bag … but even with a list … he’s still a man. Thankfully Children’s Mercy was well prepared for the late night flight of the parents to their doorsteps. At 5:00 in the morning when I stumbled out my door to their nurses station they were eager to supply what was needed and even suggested what else I might need.
By Thursday morning we were getting the green light to leave. That morning a volunteer came around to deliver a bear donated by Wal-Mart to the hospital to Shane and the first thing out of my mouth was – has this bear been in the hospital long? They kept warning us about secondary infections that he could pick up and the first “outside” item besides people had been this bear! They reassured me that they had just opened them this morning from their plastic packages.Thursday afternoon as we were walking out of the hospital I was saying a little prayer for all of the other children who were still stuck inside and for the parents who had to watch their children go through their battles. I know that RSV was such a mild thing compared to what other parents are battling and I was thankful that was the case. Honestly – I learned a lot about myself in those 2 days couped up in room 330. 1st and foremost – I’m a very weak person when it comes to my children. I’d lay down my life for them … because I’d surely die having to watch them suffer.
