We had a rough week last week. It started on Friday (the 20th) after we got home from Hudson’s gymboree class. He took a nap and then after drinking some milk on the couch with me he threw up big time in the living room. This was the first time anything like that had happened and it was so unexpected. I was nervous about a stomach bug, but he acted pretty normal after that. The next day, the runny nose and cough started again. (We had just gotten over his second round of double ear infections). So, Saturday and Sunday he was coughing and had a lot of drainage. I took him in to the doctor Monday morning because those symptoms had gotten worse and his fever was around 100.4. Dr. S diagnosed him with bronchiolitis. She didn’t give us any medication or breathing treatments, but we talked about both options if he got worse. We decided to watch his cough and breathing and she said his ears might end up with infections any day. Monday also happened to be Jon’s first trip out of town with his new job so he was on a plan to North Carolina. Around 5:30 (after the doctor’s office was closed of course) Hudson was super fussy, clingy and really warm. His fever had risen to over 103 and he was breathing pretty rapidly. Dr. S had warned me to watch for signs of respiratory distress and I was getting nervous about the way he was acting. So I called the after hours nurse and by then his fever had risen to 104.4!! This had never happened and was really scaring me. The nurse counted his respirations over the phone and they were at 48 and she said if they surpassed 50 she would tell me to take him to the ER. The nurse said she would have the on-call doctor call me and luckily that happened very quickly. She suggested a cool bath to help break the fever and so I did that. It actually helped a lot. After the bath the fever was down to 101 within 30 minutes. His breathing slowed down a lot too. The doctor called to check back in and thought we were fine to stay home. Thank goodness. She wanted to check with us in the morning though to see how he was and go from there. Meanwhile, I finally hear from Jon who was in the middle of changing planes 3 different times! It was crazy, but they had problems with the planes and kept delaying their flight. By the time he was on the plane that was actually going to take off, he told me he got sick and had to throw up in the bathroom before the flight even took off! Poor Jon! I immediately thought, Oh sh*!#, he has a stomach bug I bet…..and what if I get it….and what if Hudson gets it….Or maybe Hudson had a bug the other day and he is giving it to us….anyway, you can imagine how my mind is racing. So, poor Jon is sick himself and then he has to hear about the last few hours of stress with Hudson. Phew. The next day I called to get Hudson back in to the doctor because his cough and fever were still persisting and I was starting to hear some wheezing. Dr. S was booked, so her partner saw us. Her partner was actually the on-call doctor who helped me the night before so I was very comfortable. She said his ears both had infections again which meant a new anti-biotic and we decided to start him on albuterol breathing treatments every 4 hours (which he was not a fan of). My mother in law had already called and was going to come to town Tues evening and stay the night and watch Hudson so I could go to work on Wed for an important training class. Well, Tuesday afternoon the stomach bug caught up with me. It was awful. I had a sick husband in North Carolina stuck in his hotel room, a sick baby needing breathing treatments every 4 hours and now I was super sick practically rolling around on the floor (I am a major wuss when it comes to being sick). Thank goodness Peggy was on her way. The 3 or 4 hours that it took for her to arrive felt like eternity, but when we finally did get here I knew it would be okay. Luckily Hudson started to perk up a tiny tiny bit after his breathing treatment, so when I was super sick he was actually okay playing with some toys on his own. Thank goodness. Needless to say, I didn’t make it to my work training on Wednesday and Peggy took care of me and Hudson. SUCH a Lifesaver!! Thank you, thank you Peggy. Jon was starting to feel better so we thought it was likely a 48 hour bug. Jon got home at midnight that night so I was able to drag myself into work on Thursday and he stayed home with Hudson. The doctor was great and called to check on us each morning and he started to very slowly show some signs of improvement. The breathing treatments definitely helped and the fever was long gone. Poor kid didn’t have an appetite at all, but I guess that’s too be expected when you are really sick. We took it super easy all weekend and I became a little more protective than normal. I didn’t want to get Hudson out in public at all around germs, snotty kids, etc, so we just stayed around the house. Thank goodness he really turned the corner on Sunday and we now have our boy back. His appetite, energy and personality are all back. The cough is pretty much gone too. So, we are now back on track (minus some gnarly allergies for me) and maybe we can just pretend like last week never happened. I guess having your toddler get sick is impossible to avoid, but this was really the first time he was sick sick and it was hard on me. I just want to protect him and make him feel well and sometimes we can’t make it all better for our little ones and that is hard. I think we all need to give thanks for our health each and everyday. It is so easy to take it for granted!
After going to see the doctor on Monday. He just wasn’t himself and we did a lot of laying around and snuggling.
He’s never slept like this before with his arms above his head, so when I saw it on the monitor I had to sneak in a take a picture. This was Monday night after his really high fever. Look at those hot, red cheeks! (Doesn’t he look like such a big boy?!)
Tuesday morning in bed watching Sesame Street. You can tell he wasn’t feeling well at all and there are those cute arms up like a big boy.
Tuesday before Peggy arrived. I was not well at all and thank goodness he played by himself for a bit
Wednesday evening after Peggy left. He started to perk up a tad
Friday we started seeing our boy come back around and we got some good playing in
He put his books and stuffed animals on the chair by himself and then climbed up there with the stool. I was back and forth between his room and the laundry room and came back to find him like this just reading to himself.
We actually saw the outdoors for the first time all week. Ahhhh, fresh air and sunshine.
Breathing treatment Saturday morning and being super sweet and snuggly with Dad
Uh oh, did all the TV watching this week because we were sick spoil him? I sure hope not. But seriously, thank goodness for the TV while we were both sick. Another lifesaver.
Sunday morning….a happy camper reading books with Dad in his new fort. This picture makes my heart happy! And when did our boy get so big?!
And this was tonight. Our happy, healthy and amazing boy is back! Yay!
~Sarah
