Bree’s RSV/Bronchiolitis

Bree developed a cold earlier this week, most likely catching it from me since I have had one for a couple weeks now. We brought her to the doctor on Thursday just to make sure everything was okay, because she had a pretty nasty mucous-filled cough. The doctor listened to her lungs and everything seemed to be okay at that point. She also gave me some symptoms to watch out for in case it developed into RSV, including chest retractions (visible sinking of the chest when breathing).

Late Friday night/early Saturday morning around 1:00 a.m., Bree had a nasty coughing spell. Greg and I were concerned about her, so we unbuttoned her sleeper to check her chest and sure enough, it was retracting quite a bit right below her ribcage. Since the Urgent Care Center we usually go to closes at midnight, we took Bree to the Children’s Hospital ER.

One of the hardest parts of being a parent is those middle of the night decisions when your child is sick. Do we rush them into an urgent care/ER or wait it out? It was very reassuring and validating when a doctor at the Children’s Hospital told us that we did the right thing by bringing her in and bringing her to a children’s facility.

I am trying hard to remember the details of that first night, but after two nights of very little sleep my mind is pretty fuzzy. I think we got there around 2:00 a.m. on what would have now been Saturday morning. We were there until about 5:30 a.m. A sensor was placed on Bree’s toe that was hooked up to a machine to monitor her oxygen levels while we watched The Bee Movie and then Monsters Vs. Aliens. They also stuck a tube up her nostrils and sucked out a lot of mucous. Bree didn’t like that one bit. Her oxygen levels were mostly between 88-92, so we were sent home with the instructions to bring her back in to be checked in 24 hours.

By this time, we were all very hungry since we’d stayed up all night, so we stopped by a McDonalds drive-thru for breakfast. We ate our pancakes or egg Mcmuffin and fell into bed, exhausted.

We slept until past noon. The sleep, at least for Greg and I, wasn’t very restful. Every time Bree had a coughing fit or made a noise, our adrenaline kicked in and I also felt the need to get up and check on her. On the flip side, if it had been a little while since I had heard a noise from her, worry about that would settle in and I would still feel the need to get up and check on her.

For her follow-up appointment, we decided to take her to the Children’s Hospital Urgent Care in Wheatridge around 9:00 p.m. on Saturday night. The reason we went so late is that the ER from the night before had recommended she be seen in 24 hours and 24 hours would have placed us at 5:00 a.m.

Once again, a sensor was placed on her toe to monitor her oxygen levels. They specifically wanted to test her levels when she was laying on her back while sleeping since that tends to be when oxygen levels are the lowest. But Bree just would not fall asleep. She just wanted to eat, eat, eat even though I had fed her before we left the house. So I nursed her quite a bit and finally after a couple of hours she drifted to sleep. We could hear the oxygen monitor going off when I was nursing her and while she slept. Her levels dipped as low as 84, so the doctor made the decision to put Bree on oxygen and to admit her to the Lutheran Hospital a couple of blocks away for continued monitoring.  So we rounded up all our stuff, woke up Adrianna (who had finally fallen asleep on a hospital bed), calmed Adrianna down after a panic attack, and headed over there. I think we were admitted somewhere after 1:30 a.m.

After getting Bree and myself checked in, Greg took Adrianna back home to get some sleep. Adrianna slept in until noon today! I am so glad; Adrianna has been such a trooper throughout these two very long nights. Unfortunately Bree and I didn’t have such a restful night. The nurses wanted me to feed Bree while sitting up rather than laying down because of her oxygen levels, which was very difficult to do since I was exhausted, it was the middle of the night, and there wasn’t a comfortable place to breastfeed. I did have some pillows to help with positioning, but I was really longing for a chair to sit in rather than a flat hospital bed. Bree didn’t like it either. She is used to lying in bed with me and falling asleep while nursing, so it was hard to get her back into her crib without waking her. And of course there are nurses are in every couple of hours to check on the patient.

Since I was a nursing mother, they did allow me to have free meals even though I wasn’t the patient. They said they do that since I was providing the meals for the patient. Ha!

Bree was doing better by this morning, so they lowered the amount of oxygen that was being pumped. A few hours later, they lowered it again. We were able to leave the hospital around 3 this afternoon to come home.

Bree is still hooked up to the oxygen and it does seem to be helping her get steady breaths. Her fussiness has also decreased quite a bit. The coughing spells are still a bit worrisome, but I do feel a sense of relief knowing the oxygen is helping. Hopefully I will sleep a little easier tonight. So far Bree seems to be.