Landon's First Hospital Admission :(

Oh, man, where do I even begin? Long story short, Landon has been sick since Friday, September 5th. We've been to the emergency room three times, urgent care twice, and he was hospitalized once. He is still very sick, but hopefully we are on the upswing of things! I am tired...

Now the long story, so I have this for his records. This is what I remember, but I could've missed something...

Landon started getting a runny nose and a tiny cough (9/5), but we weren't too concerned because we thought it was just a cold.  On Saturday, (9/6), it looked like he had pink eye, so we took him to urgent care. I had them listen to his lungs, too, and they said he sounded fine.  They gave us an antibiotic for the pink eye and away we went. Later in the day, his cough started to get worse and he had a fever of 99.9.  At the end of the night, he wasn't keeping many liquids down and seemed really tired.  We gave him Tylenol, had him sleep upright in his car seat, and thought he would be good. By Sunday (9/7), his fever had reached 101.8 and he was only keep some fluids down.  His cough was getting progressively worse and his nose wouldn't stop running. By 5:00 pm, his temp was 102.1 and I was worried. He would shake his head back and forth and was coughing so bad.  We took him to the ER where they did a bunch of tests. It was SO awful watching them take blood and giving him a chest X-ray :( I tried to stay brave, but I lost it a few times because he just screamed and I knew he didn't feel well.  The doctor said he had bronchiolotis (gave us an antibiotic, which turns out wasn't even going to help us bronchiolitis) and sent us on our way around 11:00 pm. He slept on and off in his car seat throughout the night. Both Cory and I stayed home on Monday so we could be with him.  On top of Landon getting sick, he was giving it to us, so that was tough.

First time in the ER- 10:00 pm

On Monday (9/8), we couldn't break his fever and his liquid intake continued to slow down.  He would drink, but it was only 10-15 ounces or so, when he normally drinks 30 ounces a day.  This was a concern, plus the high fever and terrible cough.  It got so bad that he could not really breathe, so we ended back up in the ER on Monday night because he needed oxygen and more help than we could give him.  They hooked him up to a nebulizer and said we had to give him that every 4-6 hours because we had to get his bronchiolitis and breathing under control and they said to continue giving Tylenol, in addition to the amoxicillin we were giving him.  He was absolutely miserable and it broke my heart because there was nothing we could do to make him feel better.  We purchased a nose frieda because that was the only way we could get the snot out of his lungs. He hated it, but it worked wonders for him.  Turns out that the nose frieda is what actually spread Landon's sickness to us... who knew the filter wasn't germ free? We continued to give the nebulizer treatment every four hours...

Round the clock nebulizer... poor hunny!

Tuesday (9/9) wasn't a great day, but we didn't end up in any clinic or the hospital, so that was nice. We continued to do the nebulizer... By Tuesday night things started to change...

Sleeping in mommy's arms is the only place he wanted to be :(

By Wednesday (9/10), he was so sick, he hadn't gone to the bathroom in 13 hours, wasn't keep any liquids down, would roll his eyes to the back of his head, had a high fever of 102.1 and was miserable. We took him to our pediatrician who took one look at him and said he needs to get to the hospital. He is dehydrated and I believe he has enterovirus d68 and needs to get better, FAST! Needless to say, I was numb and SO scared that my baby was going to the hospital. I knew he needed to get better, but it was awful seeing his little body in the crib.  Two groups of people tried to get an IV in him, but they couldn't, so they had to have the anesthesia team help.  I left the room, which was good for all of us.  My mom came to stay with us, which was really nice! He was monitored and given IV fluids round the clock.  Regardless that he was so sick, he continued to smile and laugh with the nurses. The doctors said he followed the exact pattern on enterovirus d68 that is spreading across the country, but thankfully, since we had been in the ER before and he was on a nebulizer, it didn't get as bad as it could have, but he still wasn't great! They gave him oxygen while he slept, as well as the fluids and nebulizer.

Getting admitted... He was so, so, so sick

Hanging out with mommy and grandma and trying to smile...

IV :(

I'm so thankful my mom could be with us!

He just woke up from a nap and was waiting for meds.

His sad looking crib :(

Since he had the Enterovirus d68 and it is spread by droplets, if you came into the room, you had to have a mask and gloves on!

By Thursday afternoon (9/11), we were able to leave the hospital armed with a stronger nebulizer prescription, stronger amoxicillin, and a few other things. They said we should be on the upswing of things in about 2-3 days, so that gave us hope.  My dad came to stay with us from the 11th-12th, so that was very helpful! Landon continued to have a runny nose, cough, and slight fever, but he was able to keep liquids down and wet his diaper, so that was good. We stayed home that entire weekend and just tried to get better.

Ready to get out of the hospital!

On Monday (9/15) Landon was still not great, so I stayed home with him! I felt so torn because I had SO much to do at work and I left my class in a frenzy, but I didn't want to be anywhere else other than with my baby.  The rest of the week is kind of a blur, but he went to daycare some days and other days he was home with either Cory or me.  It was exhausting because we were really sick on top of everything else going on with him.  We took him to urgent care on the 18th because he was breathing really hard again, but it ended up being okay, so that was great.

We thought everything was slowly getting better, so we took Landon to daycare on the 23rd. Around 11:00, our daycare provider called and said Landon would barely lift his head, he had a high temp, was breathing really heavy, and she was scared. We got to the clinic and they sent us to the ER. After a chest X-ray and some other labs, it was determined that his bronchiolitis was getting worse and they needed to add more steroids to his nebulizer. Oye! 

My smiley boy was nowhere to be found :(

So, so tired :(

We got home that evening and my dad came to be with him at night and the next day so we could get some rest.  I pray, with all that I have,  that we are on the upswing and he will be better soon! It has been so hard watching him go through this knowing that I can't take his pain away.  Now I understand how my mom felt when she said she wanted to take our pain away when we were younger... I would've done anything to help him.  We did purchase a battery powered nose sucker and that has been great! Landon isn't a fan of it, but at least we are able to get snot out and he isn't transferring his sickness to us.

Trying to be a big guy and do the nebulizer himself!

I pray we are almost done with this and all of us can feel better soon! Cory and I have both been in urgent care and were put on antibiotics, but we still aren't great. Cory feels better, but I'm exhausted and still pretty sick.  If you could continue to keep us in your prayers, we would greatly appreciate it. 

Landon's 1st Day of Daycare

Landon went to his first day of daycare on August 25th, 2014! I am SO thankful I was able to be home with him for the first five months of his life due to having the summers off. I couldn't imagine bringing him any earlier and I truly feel blessed to have had that long with him.  Bringing him to daycare was extremely hard for me. As in I cried the entire day before, the entire morning getting him ready, the entire ride to daycare, and then the entire ride to work. I cried throughout the day and then throughout the week. I NEVER would have imagined it would have been so hard to leave him.  I am so thankful he is at a wonderful daycare and has a chance to interact with other people and learn SO much, but it was awful! I had so many fears about leaving him, but thankfully those fears quickly diminished and it isn't nearly as hard to leave him. I think what made it so hard to leave him is that we have been through hell and back to have him and now someone else was going to be caring for our little miracle, our most prized baby. Our daycare provider loves him and is so good with him, so I am thankful for that. He is the only baby, which is nice for her and for him. The other kids love him and he smiles when he sees the other, kids too! I wanted to document a few pictures of his first day so I don't forget.  Is it June 2015 so I can be home with him, yet? :) Just kidding... kind of!

We gave him the book, "If I Could Keep You Little" for his first day of daycare and he loved it! He kept trying to turn the pages by himself and he didn't want me to hold the book. I love that he enjoys books! The book is a definite tear jerker though... yikes!

He was so smiley when I went to get him in the morning!

Goof ball!

"I'm going to daycare?! No way!"

Until next time, friends, God bless!