Our first sickness

It all started out with some stuffiness.  I noticed that Liam was stuffy and so I suctioned him out a couple times with a bulb syringe.  It didn't really get any better but didn't get any worse.  Then he started coughing.  He woke up at his usual 2:30am time to eat but he just didn't sound right so I got up with him and went to the extra bedroom.  I tried to nurse him but he wasn't able to get the whole suck, swallow, breath thing.  I thought well he's stuffy so ok, he ate really well at midnight so I'm not worried yet.  At 4:30 he was up again and he still couldn't nurse.  He barely had a wet diaper and he was starting to be listless.  I called my mom (thank goodness for 2 hour time difference!) just to make sure that I was thinking the right things and wasn't overreacting and being that first time mom.

I woke Matt up at 6:30 and told him to get ready because we were going to the doctor.  I had been up nearly all night with Liam listening to him breathe and now it was time to go in because there was nothing more that I could do for him at home.  We got to the clinic and thankfully we went when we did because Liam was starting to go into respiratory distress.  He was starting to have some nasal flaring.  This seriously frightened me!  Thankfully when I get scared in a medical situation I can fall back on 'nurse mode'.  Nurse mode is a safe place to be, it lets me function and see objectively the problem at hand without panicking. 

Our nurse was also named Liam so we had a bond there :)  He listened to what I was saying.  Measured Liam and weighed him and then got the doctor.  She listened to him for a long time and her wheezes.  She gave us some neb treatments to do every 4 hours.  We brought him home and gave him a neb right away and it seemed to help!  3 hours later he needed another one and then 3 hours after that.  So I called the triage nurse and she thought it might be best to bring him back in.  We went back in that evening and the doctor barely even listened to him and said that nasal flaring was due to his stuffiness rather than his inability to breathe.  Now I was very frustrated and felt like all those skills I learned in nursing school were wrong.  The worst part is she was patronizing me and because Liam didn't have sternal or intercostal retractions he wasn't having difficulty breathing.  Did she honestly think I would let it get that bad before I brought him in?  So we went home and I held him that night for the second night in a row.

The next day we parked in the extra bedroom with the humidifier on and breathing treatments every 4 hours.  We got a new suction thing that seemed to get more snot out of his nose (he still hated it)!  He seemed to be doing much better!  Wednesday he started to sound worse again so I made an appt with a nurse practitioner at my ped's office.  She was very kind and taught very well!  I don't do a lot of peds and so they kinda scare me.  I do appreciate good teaching though!  We went home with a new neb machine, some better information, and feeling like we didn't suck as parents!

I held Liam for 3 days straight except to take care of those things you need to do everyday like go to the bathroom and shower.  It was scary to hear him struggle to breathe and scary at how fast it got to that point.  I'm so thankful for my nursing assessment skills and training!  I'm also thankful for 'nurse mode' because it allowed me to do what needed to be done without freaking out!

 This was Sunday night/Monday morning

 What kind of a kiddo will let you put on a mask like this?  A sick one!

 Even sick he was trying to be happy!

 Day 2 of no sleep but at least he was sleeping

 Poor sick boy!  He usually went to sleep with the sound of the machine which was nice!

 I was tired after 3 days of no sleep but after 4 years of trying to get this little guy...I had no place else I wanted to be other than caring for my sick son!

 Such a sweet sick guy!