How I Didn't Want to Spend My Weekend: Bronchiolitus Edition

Let me rephrase.  It wasn't a crappy weekend.  It was a crappy week.

So let's start on Tuesday.  Tommy came home from daycare with a low-grade fever.  Not usually anything to worry about but they told us that a girl at daycare had pneumonia. The next day I decided to keep him home because he still had a fever.  He also had a horrible cough and would cough so much that he would throw up.  I called the doctor and gave the symptoms. They said they would like to see him.  The doc told me he probably had bronchiolitus.  They gave him a breathing treatment with a nebulizer.  I brought him home and was instructed to call them in the morning.
That night it became obvious he wasn't feeling well.

 The next morning I called them and updated them with his symptoms.  They ordered a nebulizer for him because he was still wheezing. 

 The winter weather took a turn for the worse.  Andrew was out of town but my dad happened to be in town running errands so he offered to get the prescription and the nebulizer so I didn't have to take Tommy out in the 5 degree weather.  We continued the breathing treatments.  After I stayed home with him on Wednesday and Thursday, Andrew stayed home with him on Friday.  He called me at work on Friday saying things were not looking good.  He took a video but I can't post it here.  I can't watch it.  It was so awful to watch him struggle to breathe even during the breathing treatment.  Andrew took him back to the doctor and they said he needed to be admitted to the hospital.  Those are not words you want to hear.

 We got our room and our wonderful nurses set us up with everything we needed. 

He was so very sleepy that day. He slept most of the day Friday at the hospital.  He was miserable. 

My mom took this picture.  When she sent it to me, I had no words.  I had so many emotions looking at this picture.  I had stuffed myself into Tommy's hospital crib trying to calm him down.  Andrew and I felt so completely helpless.
Tommy most likely got RSV (or possibly another very similar virus) from daycare and it caused his bronchiolitus. Now RSV usually isn't anything more than a cold in most people.  But premature babies, kids with crappy immune systems, and kids around cigarettes often get more serious illnesses (i.e. pneumonia and bronchiolitus).  Since Tommy was born two days after his due date and no one around him smokes, I guess we have to assume the subpar immune system might have something to do with it.  I feel so helpless since I've done everything in my power to pass on immunities to him with nursing for an extended period and whatever else I could do but I guess you can't win 'em all.

 Tommy got to wear this lovely peach colored gown during his stay. 

 I swear the pants they gave us to go with the gown were for an 8 year old.  They were HUGE! We had to roll them from both ends!

 During the night on Friday, his oxygen levels got so low that they had to put him on oxygen.  When they put those tubes in his nose, we knew we weren't going home on Saturday. 

 Can I just tell you that he LOVED wearing the nasal cannula? (Where is that sarcasm font again?)  No, he did NOT like it.  He fought us tooth and nail to keep from wearing it.  Plus his eczema was flared up so he would scratch, remember it was there, and then yank it out over and over again. 

 He wore it like this a lot because he would pull it out of the those holder sticker thingies (that's a medical term).  He was still getting some oxygen and he was sleeping so I let it pass. 

 He was so good at ripping the tubes out of his nose that he at one point had them wrapped around his fingers.  He knows how important grip is! :)

 Andrew appreciated that the IU Health hospital had a nicer futon than when we were in the hospital to birth Tommy.  MUCH more comfortable.  (There were a lot of similarities to our first stay in a hospital suite with this one.  We checked in on a Friday, there was a nasty snow storm, we were there for 3 days, 2 nights. We didn't sleep.  We were a little traumatized.  We wanted to get the heck out of there and we were extremely happy to leave. LOTS of similarities!)
I wish you could see the winter wonderland happening out the window.  Andrew's blanket covered body definitely matched the blanket of snow on the landscape.  Poetic, no? :)

 Poor kid.  He was so cute even when attached to machines.  He would get extremely ticked when he realized his wires and cords would only reach so far.  But hey, he was up and moving around on Saturday morning.  It was a good sign!

 We got him out of those itchy PJs and put on a Purdue sleeper.  He played Itsy Bitsy Spider on the iPad with dada.  You know, they were concerned about his one pound of weight loss (as was I) but thank goodness he has that gut, huh? Really comes in handy in situations like this. Plus it's super cute. :)

 By Saturday night, he was feeling much better.  Much less lethargic. Breathing easier.  They let us detach him from the machines.

 Then it was DUNKING TIME!!! I love this picture.  Reach!

 So cute.  I can't say enough nice things about our nurses.  They had this toy room set up down the hall and since Tommy is so contagious, we could only go get a toy or two and keep it in the room.  Well our awesome nurse Steffany dragged the hoop down the hall (it was full of sand in the bottom) to our room so he could dunk the basketball.  How nice is that??

 This picture shows that Tommy is feeling better.  Why, you might ask? He began throwing his peaches on my tray.  Little stinker.  I spot 3 or 4 pieces.  He's got good aim!

 Like his parents, Tommy wasn't a big fan of the hospital food.  But hey, everything else was great so we shouldn't be complaining.

 Saturday night was also a rough night.  He needed oxygen again after his breathing treatment but not for very long.  (It usually would dip after his treatment.) We also found out just how restless of a sleeper he really is.  He was all over that crib.  Look at his little hands coming out by his feet.  Too cute. 

 On Sunday we were finally released.  HOORAY! They asked us if we wanted to carry him or if he might want to ride in a wagon.  We chose the wagon.

 He LOVED it!

 That boy couldn't have been happier about leaving the hospital.  He missed his Grovers (yes he has several) and his basketball hoop!

So now we just continue to monitor his improvement.  He's on an antibiotic for his ear infection (just add it to the list) and he has to continue the breathing treatments.  Other than that, he just has to get better.  He can't go back to daycare for another week or so which is fine.  We don't want him picking up anything else on the tail end of all this business.
I'm just so glad it's over.  It was a rough week.