Emergency Room: A mothers worse nightmare.

Going to try and keep this post short and sweet...{yeah, right}.

Close friends got an alarming text message last night to pray for our ittybitty family as we headed to Dell Children's Hospital. While our phones were dead most of today and we have been trying our damnedest to recuperate, I figured I would squash any questions or concerns to eliminate repeating phone calls. 

On Monday, I noticed Amelia sneezing and had somewhat of a stuffy nose. She just cut a tooth so I honestly thought nothing of it. That night, she would wake up numerous times not to cry but to cough for a minute or two and would settle back into sleep. When she woke up, I noticed that her chest seemed congested...."oh great, we JUST got over this a few weeks ago". She wasn't acting that fussy but I could hear a rattle in her chest and her nose was beyond congested. When she woke up from a nap that afternoon, something was not right. She was gasping for breath...and not in a "stuffy nose" kind of way. Her little tummy was retracting so fast and hard I knew something was seriously wrong. I called the doctor immediately and got in right away. Amelia screamed the entire appointment, and for the first time in over a year, I was very aggravated with her pediatrician (who has always been great). They tested her for RSV and I was relieved when it came back negative but was annoyed they didn't address my concerns with her breathing and cough. They instead diagnosed her with an ear infection (which we later found out she didn't have) and sent us on our way with antibiotics. 

A few hours passed and her breathing was getting worse and in my deepest mommy-instinct-gut, I knew something was seriously wrong. I called my mother in law, who is nurse, to come take a look and get her opinion because I wanted to make sure I wasn't exaggerating. She noticed right away that Amelia was struggling....hard. We agreed to pack everything up and head to the hospital.

When we arrived, the front desk took her vitals and was immediately concerned. Her and Teresa (mother in law) were talking medical terms and I heard them saying her oxygen levels were pretty low and they got us set up in our own room immediately. After much crying, sticking, holding, rocking, clenching and x-raying  we finally got some answers....even if they weren't what we wanted to hear. 

They told us she had Bronchiolitis..."It's basically viral pneumonia" the doctor said.....Pneumonia? I associated that with old people who sat in the hospital after breaking a hip where they finally bit the dust.

 I believe I cried just as much as Amelia did. This was the hardest thing we had ever gone through....how on earth did this happen so fast? She just had a stuffy nose 24 hours ago and now THIS!? I silently cried out to the Lord and begged for a speedy recovery. Unfortunately, at 3am they told us that we were being admitted and we moved into a room around 4am. The "crib" looked like a torture device and all three of us crammed on the mini fold out couch and slept until 8am when she received another breathing treatment. Seeing your precious baby hooked up to so many machines, oxygen in their nose, IV in their arm, probes on their chest and machine going off reminding you their levels are shaky is so so so so hard. Seeing her literally gasping for breath in her sleep was heartbreaking....I felt so helpless. By noon, she was finally responding to the breathing treatments and we were discharged this afternoon.

We were sent home with inhalers but ultimately, this has to run its course and may take a few weeks. She has been sleeping like a baby {pun intended} since 7:30 and her breathing seems much more normal even with the little rattle in her chest. Once she was no longer a hostage to tubes and machines, she has been back to her old self, smiling and singing...and misbehaving :)

Please keep her in your prayers, I have a feeling I have many more sleepless nights ahead....if she is sleeping or not. God truly tested our strength, patience, hope and faith in the last 24 hours but I feel like I have learned so much about myself and the strength and love our sweet little family has.