We've had quite the first week home with our little man. Everything was going great until Saturday night. Brooklyn slept over at grandma Denise's to try and let Jon and I catch up on some sleep. Denise called to say Brooklyn was wheezing a little bit, which isn't all that unusual, she's already had a few problems this winter. We told Denise to just watch her, try all the usual tricks and if it got worse to call us and we would meet her at the ER. Well, we went to bed without our phones . . . big mistake. We woke up at 8 to several missed calls and a voice mail saying Brooklyn had been admitted to the hospital and they were testing her for RSV. I felt like the worst mom in the world. We hurried and packed David up and headed for Provo. Jon went straight to the hospital with our friend and neighbor Cody where my dad, step mom Lori and grandparents met him. I wasn't aloud to go to the hospital as a precaution to try and keep David from getting sick, so I camped out at Denise's with my mom and Cody's wife Dorothee and waited until they'd let me go see her. They ruled out RSV and decided it was OK for me to come, we would just keep David in a separate room and I scrubbed up every time I went into Brooklyn's room to keep as many germs off me as possible. They finally started to get her breathing under control when her blood sugar went really high and so they started her on a insulin drip with her IV. Normal is below 100 and she was over 230. They later determined that this was a reaction to the steroids and stress. About this time we got the results back from David's latest biliruben test (for jaundice) and he was at an 18 (30 is the dangerous level, they like it below 10) so they decided since we were already there they would just admit him too. So, we had a very sick Brooklyn in one room and David in another room under a stronger light to help with his jaundice and Jon and I (and Denise and my mom and my dad and Lori) taking turns going back and forth. Brooklyn slowly started to improve, responding to the breathing treatments and insulin and by the next day was taken off all her IVs and allowed to eat real food again. David also responded to the lights and they were both released Monday night. Brooklyn was prescribed an oral steroid to take for the next few days, as well as a nebulizer for breathing treatments twice a day for the next 2-3 months. David is still on the billi blanket, a portable light, to help with his jaundice. They both had a follow up appointment with our Dr today who said everything looked good and they were both progressing very well. We will have another follow up appointment next week. So that was our fun and exciting first week with a new baby. Here are some pictures of our adventures.
The first time I got to hold her after they finally let me go to the hospital
Getting a breathing treatment
All of the staff was SO wonderful. This was one of the respitory therapists.
This was after they took off most of her wires
This was after all the tubes and wires were gone
She was so glad to be able to get out of her room
To make it easier to put in David's IV, they filled diapers with hot water and put them on his hands. He looked like he had boxing gloves on.
Under the lights
With Grandpa's sunglasses on
3 comments:
SORRY, well we would love to come visit, but I think in our intrest it may be best to stay home! so if you need anything just call me on the phone, when times are better I will drop off the rest of the baby stuff, I finally sat down went through it all and got a handle on my basement, so give me a call when all of you feel better!!!
Oh my word! What a first week that turned out to be! I hope they are both feeling much better.
I agree with Kristin; EVERYONE at UVRMC was the BEST! I felt real concern from everyone who worked with Brooklyn and David. They brought Brookie a big stuffed bear to help take her mind off the procedures they were doing. At first she was too sick to care, but later she had fun taking it for rides in the wagon. And because Brooklyn was in the ICU portion of the pedes unit, waiting on her bed was a handmade pillow case and fleece blanket. When I saw those donated things, I felt like someone else out there really cared about what we were all going through. This summer I'm planning to make some items to take up to the pedes unit. You know, that whole pay it forward thing.
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