Here we are again

I should be posting pics of Halloween, but no, I am posting about Justin being in the hospital. I think he just likes having his own nurse taking care of his every need 24 hrs a day! I tried to explain to him that he has that at home, but I guess he likes it better here. I'll try to make a long story short. It started Friday night when he wouldn't take but 1 oz of his normal 4 oz bottle. Didn't think too much of it. Around 2:45 Sat morn he had the first of 4 apnea alarms over the next 4 hrs. We got a monitor download that confirmed they were real events and headed out the door to the doctor. He was diagnosed with a cold and we were instructed to "wait and see" if he got worse. From 11:40 on Saturday afternoon until 8:30 am on Sunday he got worse. After a night of no sleep and watching his every breath, or lack of breath, I called in to get another monitor download. This showed 27 true events, most of them apnea that lead to low heart rate. The longest spell was no breathing for 27 seconds. Yes, 27 seconds, try to hold your breath for 27 secs to get a clear picture of exactly how long that is! (Thank God he is on this monitor) This time we packed up, made a few calls for childcare and headed out the door to the ER at Scottish Rite. We were taken straight back to a room (they don't let babies who stop breathing sit in the waiting room) and saw a doctor in about 10 minutes. We were told he would be admitted and he was in a room by 3:45. He had 5 alarms while were were in the ER and he wasn't in his room long before he started to act up. About 10 minutes after being in his room his nurse witnessed one of the apnea spells where his heart rate dropped and he struggled to come out of it. He had really started struggling and having this strange cough sound when trying to take a breath. So the nurse called the Rapid Response Team, which includes respiratory tech and an ICU nurse along with the doctor. The decision was made that he needed to be in the ICU so he had more individual care and the set up for an emergency. We were in the ICU room by 6:30 and he got all hooked up and on oxygen. We were warned that if the oxygen didn't decrease the number of apneas, that he would have to be placed on a ventilator. Not what any parent wants to hear, even if it is the best option at the time. So, thanks to a lot of prayers, the oxygen did the trick, at least for now. He had a decent night but seems to not be responding quite as well this morning. They have had to up the oxygen flow in the last hour because he isn't maintaining his oxygen level. Doctor said to plan on being here at least 4-5 days, and more likely until next weekend. He is being test for all kinds of respiratory viruses and for pertussis. I won't get started on that, most of you know I am very pro-vaccination. I've seen babies with pertussis, one in particular that I will never be able to get out of my mind. I don't know how quickly the cough progresses with pertussis, I will have to do some research. They are actually recommending that parents get a pertussis booster. I may look into that for Nate and I. Hopefully pertussis is not what Justin has but just the thought has renewed my pro-vaccine campaign!

So for now we are here at Scottish Rite and plan to be here all week. I will be staying with him most of the time, although I may have to switch out with someone for at least one night. I need to get at least a little sleep! I know moms require little to no sleep, but I think I may even be pushing the limit of that! I will definitely be going home for a little while on Thursday because it is Jessi's birthday!! My baby girl is going to be 5 yrs old. I will also be going home some on Saturday because she has a birthday party with 20 of her closest friends planned. So this week may be crazy but we have lots of family helping and we'll just take it a day at a time. Keep Justin in your prayers. We are praying for a quick recovery and that he doesn't get any worse before he gets better.