E.R. visits and pneumonia

Unforunately our family has been plagued with sickness for the past few weeks. First Rob, then Abby who had a terrible cold/flu. We even rushed to emerg in the middle of the night after she randomly gagged/threw up. (there were other things that led to this decision - including a phone call to TeleHealth.)

On the way down, it was like she was a totally different girl. Talking about how pretty the lights were and just being super chatty. She didn't even want to sleep while we were at the hospital. 3 hours later, it turned out she was okay. Just had a terrible cough/cold/flu thing happening. No pneumonia. Although she did have an x-ray to rule that out.

She has recovered quite nicely. I started to develop a cough and it has been getting the best of me recently. No other symptoms, just this nagging cough that really keeps me up at night and hits me at some points during the day too. So annoying!!!!

A day or two later after our emerg visit with Abby, (Thursday/Friday) Lochlan got sick.  Very sick. He seemed to be holding his own though and was perking up a little.  Enough so that on Saturday, Rob and I felt comfortable traveling for a wedding while Loch and Abby stayed with my mom overnight. He slept a lot. I knew when Rob brought him home, that he was really not feeling well at all. We monitored him and decided to keep giving him the Tylenol/Advil combo.

Monday morning he was up just after 7 and was super tired still and just wanted to snuggle. I put him down for a nap at 9:30 and went in to check on him quite frequently. Around 11:30, I noticed that he was breathing more rapidly and didn't look very good. Rob's sister, Fiona is a nurse and came over (she lives across the street - definitely a perk!) And agreed that he definitely needed to go to emerg. I got the car and our bag ready and took Lochlan from his crib and into the carseat. He looked terrible.

The whole drive down to the hospital, I kept checking my rearview mirror and talking to him. I was really really worried. He did not look good. And I was starting to get very very scared.

We got to the hospital (Children's Outpatient) and had to wait in triage for a bit. Once he was seen, she whisked him into the back room to immediately be put on oxygen and have the doctors look at him. He was sat'ing in the mid-high 80s.

I had to hold the oxygen mask hovered over his face to blow the oxygen into it. They tried nose prongs, but he did  not like that at all. So we went back to the face mask. Which they finally just put over his head. Because he required extra oxygen, he had to be admitted to the hospital. And we couldn't just drive him over to the other hospital (where the peds and admittance is) because he needed the O2, so we had to wait to go over in an ambulance. Good times.They took a chest x-ray and it showed he had pneumonia in his right lung. When the ambulance finally arrived, they hooked him up to a special car seat belt thing. He looked so tiny on that stretcher. Rob took the stroller and other items while I went with Loch in the ambulance. I held his little hand the entire time.

We arrived on KIDD 10 (the pediatrics wing) where we were a year and a half ago.Talk about memories. It's so very overwhelming seeing your kid lying in a hospital bed. Memories of the past came flooding back.  It was like, "here we go again."

The doctors decided to put in an I.V. to help deliver the antibiotics and give him extra hydration. It took 4 tries to get it in. FOUR! Poor little monkey. The one nurse tried 3 times and then finally another nurse tried and was successful. If that didn't work I was going to lose it I think. The veins kept bruising is what they told me. I stayed with him while they were doing that because I knew he would want me to be there with him and hold his hand. I hated it. He hated it. I don't blame him. It was very frustrating.

So now it is a waiting game. We wait for him to get better. Wait for him to not need to extra oxygen. Where he can breathe again on his own. Then we can go home and put this behind us.

Rob and I stayed with him Monday night, and I slept overnight and hung out with him Tuesday during the day. Then after school, Rob brought Abby in for a visit and then I took her home and Rob stayed overnight and all day Wednesday. Abby is very worried about her little brother and keeps saying that she misses him. Wednesday morning, we had some good quality time and then I had to get ready to teach. She said she wanted to go to the doctors to visit Loch. I told her we wouldn't be doing that until later because I had to work. She said, "hey mom, I have an idea! You can drop me off at the hospital and then go to your class and teach the children!" Cute girl.  Unfortunately that wasn't going to work.

He has perked up a little bit. Starting to want to eat a bit and we read stories last night and he played with a toy for a few minutes. He just wants to snuggle mostly and was a big cling master and didn't want to let me go. He has had to be suctioned a few times which is loads of fun. They stick this tube down his nose and it sucks out all the mucus. It's very thick. And he hates it (wouldn't you?) but it helps him breathe better so it's for the best. Anytime though a nurse or doctor gets near him, he starts freaking out. I don't blame him! He is in isolation on the floor since it's contagious and we don't want him to infect anyone else that is in critical care.  So the nurses/doctors have to wear masks and gowns and gloves.

Thank you to our family and friends for your help. For being supportive, for watching Abby, for hanging out with Lochlan, for meals, for tea and coffee, for everything. We appreciate it so much.

And thank you to you for your thoughts and prayers and healthy vibes and well wishes.

We REALLY hope our little man can come home this weekend. Heal quickly my love.