Sunday night ended with me taking Elliana to the ER for respiratory distress. The day started out somewhat typical, other than a mental note that she woke up sounding hoarse that morning. I told myself that if I happened to see one of my two nurse friends at church I would ask their thoughts on Elliana's hoarse voice. In the middle of the service I took my almost asleep baby out of Abe's arms so that I could go to the nursing moms room to feed her before she fell asleep. Elliana ate and didn't end up falling asleep, so I left the service again to walk her around in the hall. I happened to stop in the nursing moms room again and found my friend, Bibi (one of my two nurse friends!!) there with her son. We chatted a lot and I ended up mentioning Elliana's hoarse voice. She said it was probably allergies and recommend I put a humidifier in Elliana's room.
After church, we grabbed lunch and then headed home. Elliana hadn't napped all morning and finally fell asleep on the way home, only to wake about 15 minutes later. She sounded aweful, hoarse voice and almost like she was wheezing. I texted Bibi and ended up talking with her on the phone. She mentioned that Elliana sounded a lot worse and suggested I take her in. I kind of balked thinking I could wait until the morning. Bibi suggested I walk Elliana around in the bathroom with a hot shower running so that she could breath the steam. I did that and then had to head to Mira's school to help set up for the week (I do school set-up each Sunday and get a great discount on Mira's tuition. Praise God for that!!). I told Abe I'd call the nurse triage line on my way to Mira's school.
When I spoke with the nurse, it was hard to describe how Elliana's breathing sounded, but the nurse said if it sounds like she's wheezing I should take her in. I asked if we could try Urgent Care instead of the ER and the nurse said we could. Biggest waste of time and money EVER. The doc said she wasn't wheezing and wrote a script for steroids in case she wasn't better in a day. I left with a false sense that she was ok. Over the next couple of hours, my normally under-concerned husband was starting to freak me out with his statements that something wasn't right. Bibi happened to text me at this time asking about Elliana and I told her Abe was freaking me out. Bibi called and when I described Elliana's breathing she asked me to come over so she could listen to her.
After checking her with the stethoscope she said she wasn't wheezing, but looked at her ribs and told me she was "retracting". I don't know exactly what that means other than the pediatrician told me today "that's a pretty significant sign of distress". Bibi ordered me to the ER immediately.
Once in the ER we were seen within three minutes due to Elliana's symptoms and age. The nurses commented on how bad she sounded and asked how long she had sounded that way. They were surprised when I told them just since that afternoon. They were also surprised when I informed them Urgent Care hadn't done a breathing treatment on her or tested her for RSV. One of the nurses immediately orded a bed be opened for us, that Elliana get a breathing treatment, and be tested for RSV. The breathing treatment came first, and I immediately saw a change in Elliana. She started smiling at everyone...back to her normal selfI (Abe told me later that's how he knew something was wrong. Normally he can get her to laugh hysterically but she wasn't even smiling at him). After the breathing treatment (steam with meds blown in her face, which she handled very well and without crying!), they put us in a room and had me hold a tube in front of her face with cool mist coming out. They administered an oral steroid and the doc came in and said they'd do x-rays to check for pneumonia and croup (I had no idea that's how they checked for those things!). Praise the Lord she doesn't have RSV or pneumonia!!! The x-ray did show croup, so they sent us home with a script for a 5 day round of steroids.
Looking back on the days events, I see how God planned the entire day, from Bibi and I being in the nursing moms room at the same time (Bibi told me later they normally attend the 11:00 service instead of the 9:00 service which is when I saw her). Also the fact that Abe is typically an under-reactor and suddenly was adament that Elliana get checked again. I'm so thankful to the Lord for protecting our sweet girl. I took her to our pediatrician today for a follow up and he said she looks and sounds great. Thank You, Jesus!! Lesson learned: when you're dealing with an infant, always go to the ER and not Urgent Care. Our pediatrician said today that Urgent Care is a rotation of doctors and some are good with kids and some aren't.
Here's Elliana's 4 month pic (which I took in November when she was exactly 4 months. Hard to believe she'll be 5 months in six days!!!)
Here's a pic I took of my girl just a few minutes ago. Smiley happy girl!! Notice her two bottom teeth?!? Yep, an early teether like her mommy. I think she's working on the top ones too.
Another reason to be thankful: Abe's entire department at work was laid off yesterday, except for Abe. Praise God. Seriously. Praise the Lord of Heaven and Earth for His great and glorious provision over us. I pray for those who weren't so fortunate yesterday.
2 comments:
So glad she is okay! I hate that feeling of not know what to do!
Croup is so scary. Glad she is doing better. It was always lots of sleepless nights for mama and baby when croup is in the house.
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