"It's A Beautiful Life": Kendal's stay at the hospital :-(

It all started about a week ago, her big brother got sick with a fever and a cough. So naturally his little sister got sick too. :) Fun times in the Heyde house!! So we started with the breathing treatments, and vicks. Pretty much everything we could think of, I didn't take her to the doctor because they didn't give Aidan anything because they said it was viral. Well the weekend hit, and I had to work both Sat. and Sun. that week. Josh called me at work looking for the gas drops and Tylenol because she had been screaming her head off for two hours. He was about to lose it, so I talked to my manager and they let me come home early. On my way home I called the doctor, and luckily our pediatrician was on call that day. She told me that I should give her some Motrin, and try to tough it out through the night until the next day, so that they could take a look at her in the office. She really didn't want us to have to take her to Urgent Care or the ER, but said if she got worse, that would be our only option. So we made it through the evening, and she seemed a little more like herself by Monday. She was eating a little better and everything. I went ahead and called the doctor to try to get her in, but found out that our pediatrician was on vacation that week. ( Why didn't she tell me that when I spoke to her the day before) My only option at that point was to see Dr. Padgett, and I was not fond of him. They did say however that Dr. Thomas would be on call on Tuesday, so I decided to take her to see him. So Tuesday morning I took her to the doctor, and they looked her over. He tested her oxygen levels, and they were okay. He checked her ears....nothing. He told me there was really nothing we could do, she sounded like she had RSV, but he didn't think she did.( He didn't bother to run a test to be sure) He said it was a viral thing that just had to run it's course. Well...by now she was hardly eating, so that was a concern for me. He was like..."well just try to feed her every couple of hours or so to get as much in her as possible" He obviously doesn't know Kendal because she only eats a few oz at a time to begin with, every oz counts with this little girl because she is so tiny. WHAT DO I KNOW, I'M ONLY HER MOTHER!!!

Well I took her home, and needless to say, she got much worse. She was up half the night crying, she wasn't eating at all, and her cough was horrible. We called the doctor back on Wednesday morning, and I spoke with the nurse. I told her our concerns, and she said Dr. Padgett was there today, and he could take another look at her. I was totally dreading seeing him, but at that point I was desperate for some answers, and wanted a second opinion. He took one look at her and said, "wow, her breathing is really labored. Sounds like she has RSV." I think we need to do a chest x-ray and admit her to the hospital at least over night. Josh and I were so scared, but relieved at the same time. SOMEONE FINALLY LISTENED TO US!! So off to the hospital we went.....

She had the chest x-ray first thing, and that was awful to watch. Josh and I both teared up on that one. I can't even describe what they did to her. They had her in this cage thing with her arms above her head all confined. OMG!! It was just awful. Then she had to have an IV, and that was nothing compared to the chest x-ray. Josh just dipped her paci in sugar water the whole time, and she fussed a little, but that was it. You could defiantly tell that she was on the dehydrated side, because she started to perk up a few hours later. The respiratory nurses came in to give her her treatments. When Dr. Padgett came in that evening to check on her, he said her chest x-ray looked okay. She didn't have ammonia, that was a relief! He said her lungs just looked a little inflamed, probably a virus. He said her RSV test was negative, but that didn't mean she didn't have the virus. He wanted her to stay the night so he could test her oxygen levels while she slept. Well of course when she finally fell asleep that night the nurse came into put her oxygen sensor on. (she kept kicking it off while she was awake) It measures the oxygen in the blood. Normal range is in the upper 90's. She was in the mid to lower 80's!! Yikes!! So they had to wake her up to put the oxygen tubes in her nose. Boy she didn't like that at all!!! She was not a happy girl. :( It seemed to help because after that, she was eating well and her spirits were up. I had my baby girl back :) So after about 48 hours in the hospital she got to come home, and she is doing much better. The only downfall is that she now won't take the powdered version of her all ready expensive formula. She wants the ready made stuff that she had in the hospital. ( Ya think she is spoiled any) :) So we have switched her to the ready made version of her formula, and she is taking 3oz at every feeding. She still has a cough, and we have to give her treatments every 6 hours. Other then that she seems back to herself. THANK GOODNESS!!

Josh and I don't know how we would have made it through this week without the support of our family. Thank you so much for helping out with Aidan, bringing us food etc. We are truly grateful for everything. It's nice to know who you can count on. We love you all very much, and could not have made it through the week without your help and support. Here are some pictures of Kendal in hospital. So sad......