Our Hospital Visit

It seems like since New Year's Day hit we have had a lot of things going on in our little family. New Year's Day Nathan knocked his front tooth out of his head. (More on that later) Last Tuesday I took Nate and Cael to see Dr. Gifford because they were both very sick. They both had the starts of croupy cough and crappy breathing. Nathan had an ear infection and started antibiotics. They both got an injection to the leg of a medicine that was supposed to open their airways and help them breathe better. He explained that when kids are still little their lungs are very soft. He said that when they get sick like this their lungs sort of collapse and close the airway off so they need help getting it back open again. So this injection was supposed to help them both. Nathan got a little better, but even today still has a cough. Friday I took Cael back because he had just gotten worse. The Dr. ordered a home nebulizer to be delivered Friday night. He said not to worry it would be late at night before they got to it. So we waited until 11 p.m. I finally called the company who told me that they had no order for our home. He said that he could deliver it, but that I would have to give him a credit card number and sign a paper saying that if it wasn't covered being directly ordered from me instead of the doctor that we would pay it. It was $350.00!! I was in tears I was so frustrated. I tried our insurance company and of course they had no answers for me. So at 9 a.m. when urgent care opened I called in. Luckily our doctor, Dr. Gifford was the physician on call. I don't know how we got so lucky, but Heavenly Father was watching out for us. We went in and when he tested Cael's oxygen levels they were 90% and they are supposed to be 100%. He told us that he would have to be admitted to the hospital. I was supposed to go to a baby shower for Kiersten about an hour after he first told us so I called a friend to have her let Kiersten know why I would not be there. From there on we checked into the hospital and I was busy there for the next 2 days. Tests (tested negative for RSV, pneumonia and flu A and B, doctor says he had a common cold like older people would get, but a little baby just can't take it), blood draws, the IV insert (which took 5 tries, for anyone who has ever had an IV put in you know that this was difficult to watch) breathing treatments, oxygen, holding and rocking because he was so uncomfortable. Trying to sleep in a chair myself because the bed that was in there was off limits to parents. (At 2 a.m the first night I said forget it and used the bed. The next night I had the same nurse and she didn't say anything so I just used it again. I was SO lucky, no other rooms had a patient bed in them, they were all cribs. I also did not get a roommate which is unheard of. About midnight the second night a nurse came in and said they might move someone in, but again we were being watched over. I was praying so hard at that point that they would not do that because I was SO tired.) The first night I got 4 hours of sleep between feeding and people coming in to do the breathing treatments. Sunday his breathing improved somewhat, but he still needed continued breathing treatments and observation. He had to endure more blood draws that day and by 3 p.m. was so exhausted that he could not sleep. He cried and was just to tired to go to sleep or eat until 8 p.m. It was so difficult to feed him with all those tubes and wires that he had a hard time and was refusing. We finally gave him a bottle around 8 and he was able to get full and relax until about 2 a.m. We were up then and again at 4 a.m. and then he slept until 7 a.m. Dr. Gifford greeted us that morning (Monday) and gave us the good news that he could be released. I had not been out of that room in 2 days so this was good news. The whole time all of this was going on our kids were not allowed to be there so they stayed a few hours here and there with my friend Debbie. They ended up staying the night there Sunday night because Trent had a training that the district has paid a lot of money for on Monday. There are 5 trainings in this course and if he would have missed the first one he could not do the rest of them. So the boys had their first ever friend sleepover and Debbie took Tyler to school. So Cael is home now and doing better. He still has a horrendous little cough and I have to do the breathing treatments every 4 hours, but he looks better and he is able to rest better with no cords attached an no one constantly poking at him.

Our Great Dr. Gifford

(Notice Tyler hiding under the counter? He said he couldn't be in the picture because he wasn't sick:) Silly kid.

Free parent plate at each meal, but I had to ask myself if it was really worth it :)

So many grateful feelings came from this experience. On the way to the hospital I was telling Trent that I can't imagine living years back when parents had to watch their children suffer through these things and many watched them die because they could not get to a doctor or a hospital for the proper treatment. This was not a serious situation, but if we did not have the proper care and transportation like many in this world have not, it could have been so much worse. I am so grateful to live in a time where the doctors have advanced education, good medicine and we have good hospitals to care for our children. So grateful that Trent has a job in which we have excellent health insurance where we could spend a stressful time in a hospital without worrying how we were going to pay for it. We are so blessed, this is such a huge thing.

So grateful to have good new friends that helped us through this time with our children and with a ride to the hospital so that Trent could get my car to me. So grateful that our little Cael is starting to feel better and breathe better.