Love Will Hold Us Together

Wow.  What a week.   

Well, what can I say about the last week that we've had?  It was definitely not the week we had planned for.  For those that don't know, our sweet Liam spent most of it at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital with a very nasty case of RSV.  After five days and four nights, he is almost back to 100%, but the doctors said this last bit of the virus can take up to 2-3 weeks to recover from completely.  I am thankful that my little guy is on the mend. I  sure don't ever want to have to go through that again.

This whole mess started a while back.  Liam has been suffering from chronic double ear infections for almost eight weeks now.  He went to see his regular pediatrician on January 5 to recheck his ears, and also he had some very slight wheezing going on.  We started him on an Albuterol inhaler and an antibitoic for the ears.  I took him back the following Monday, January 9 because he sounded worse.  He saw a different pediatrician in the office because our doctor was  booked.  She prescribed more Albuterol and a different antibiotic.  I took him back to the same doctor took days later (ours was booked again) and she prescribed three rounds of Rocephin shots for the ears (that's eight shots in three days) and said that the breathing/wheezing would "take some time" to get over.  She wanted to see him again in a week to check his ears.  So, back we went to see her on Friday, January 20.  His breathing was much better at that point as we'd been using his inhaler as needed, but mostly he had just cleared up.  Ears were still infected.

The following Monday, January 23 Liam was stirring about 1:30 am.  I went to get him out of his bassinette (yes, I said bassinette....yes, I know he is almost 9 months old) and he was on FIRE.  When I say on fire, I mean the child's skin literally felt like it was near boiling.  His temperature was reading 105.4!!  Freaked out Momma??? You better believe it! And he was breathing fast and heavy.  I gave him a dose of Motrin and took off his fleece sleeper and the fever was dropping quickly.  Against my better judgement, I didn't take him to the ER because bad storms were just hitting our area and the tornado sirens had just started going off.  Boy, does this Momma regret that decision. :(

Justin took Liam back to the same lady doctor the next morning, Tuesday, January 24. His fever was down to normal at the time, but he had been on Motrin every 6 hours.  He was given another dose of Rocephin for his still infected ears (two more shots), an Albuterol breathing treatment using a nebulizer which we were to also use at home, and a new antibiotic.  Wow.  I was a little surprised after I talked to Justin that she didn't seem more concerned.  She had, after all, seen Liam four times in two weeks.  Nevertheless, she's the doctor, so I figured she knew what she was doing, though I was starting to doubt it to be honest.  After breathing treatments at home that night, Liam went off to bed wheezing a bit, but no fever.  But not for long.

The morning of Tuesday, January 25 he woke with 104.4 fever and wheezing pretty badly again.  After taking Chandler to school, I decided that another trip to the doctor was in order, but I was not going to see the same one again.  Our doctor once again was booked for the morning, but we were able to get an appointment with one that I've always liked in the practice.  He spent five minutes with Liam and we were off to Vandy.  Thank you, Dr. Kirshner!

We spent 10 hours in the ER at Vanderbilt Children's because the doctors there were trying to make the call whether he should be admitted in to ICU.  After two breathing treatments of Albuterol in the ER, the doctor thought that perhaps Liam was responding a bit to the magnesium sulfate that was opening his airways, but not the Albuterol.  He should have been getting better after two, one hour treatments...but if anything he was getting worse.  He wanted to switch Liam to Epinephrin treatments.  After two, one hour treatments of Epi he was breathing easier.  But, he also was dehydrating quickly.  A round of IV fluids (after finally getting an IV after five pricks) was in order.

Poor baby was exhausted.  And pitiful.  And it hurt Momma and Daddy's hearts so bad to see him like this.  But, I was glad that he was finally getting the help that he needed.  After four nights,  two more breathing treatments, three rounds of suctioning, two more bags of IV fluids, and four more rounds of Rocephin, we were ready to go home.  (Did I mention that our sweet Lamb got pricked 12 times total for IV's?  When Baby is dehydrated, combined with tiny veins and layers of fat, it's no easy task.  He had three IV's while we there because they kept coming out; two in the head, one in the foot.  Pure torture to everyone involved, but most of all to my little baby.)

So, Liam was my teacher this week.  What did I learn?  I learned that I am his Momma, and that my instincts are pure and very real.  I have regretted EVERY DAY for a week now not taking him to the ER early that Monday morning.  I have regretted taking him to see a doctor four times that didn't seem to be taking his symptoms as seriously as we thought she should.  And I have regretted not putting my foot down in the hospital when he went all day Wednesday without fluids...and I felt like he needed them even though the doctors hadn't ordered them yet.

Doctors and nurses are wise.  They are trained and very skilled in their expertise.  But Mommies are wise, too.  We are wise and trained in the ways of our children.  I learned this week to never, ever, ever let someone else make me question my instincts about the health and safety of my children.  That was a hard lesson learned and I am angry at myself that I had to learn that lesson at Liam's expense.

For those of you that sent encouraging thoughts, calls, texts, emails...we thank you.  For the prayers that were sent up on Liam's behalf...we are whole-heartedly grateful.  For the meals, help, visits, hugs, and other acts of love and kindness...we are so thankful to you and the love that you've extended to us.

Here is my sweet baby a day after arriving home.  Never lost that sweet smile through it all. And do you know how many times I've been told that he is a "Happy Wheezer"???

 

And, to end this week's post I chose a snippet from a song by Matt Maher.  Listening to it yesterday, it made me realize how much we really do depend on the ones we love to help us get through life's storms, but God's love is what will ultimately get us through any storm we might face.  So glad that we made it through the storm last week.

                             "And love will hold us together.  Make us a shelter to weather the storm. 

                              And I'll be my brother's keeper, so the whole world will know we're not alone."

                                                                                      ~Matt Maher, Steven Patrick Wilson~

                                                                          Till next week friends!

                                                                                   Brittany :)