Noah's Hospital Visit

Laying on my bed, waiting to get his IV in.

See? Does he LOOK sick? :) Such a happy boy.

Exhausted after getting in the IV on his head. He screamed bloody murder the whole time.

Checking out the IV tube...

My happy, but very sick, little guy!

Breathing treatment with dad.

Noah still found time to do his yoga... :)

In the hospital crib. He thought it was really funny to bonk his head on the metal bars.

Noah and Ben

After getting in the oxygen tube and heart monitor.

Still happy!

Trying to pass the time. Monotony knows a whole new definition when it's a baby in this hospital, particularly one who isn't acting sick and wants to roll around and play!

Story time with dad.

Well, this post was originally going to be about our romantic trip together to Logan, but that never happened! We were supposed to leave for our trip on Tuesday and when we woke up Noah was cough, wheezing, had a fever, congestion, and was just all around sick. He was still in a crazy good mood despite all of that, he was talking and cooing and babbling like crazy, and wanted to play and roll around. So, we decided to take him to the doctor's office, thinking we would just get an antibiotic that my mom could give him while he was staying with her. Well, turns out they had us admitted to the hospital for an over night stay!

Noah has a strain of RSV, but it's a little bit different than the standard RSV. It causes asthma like symptoms that can linger for years and flare up when he gets a cold. It's not true asthma and he will eventually out grow it. Anyway, we went to the hospital and got his chest x-rayed and then checked into the pediatric ward. They had to put his IV in his head, which was really sad to see, because they couldn't get a good vein anywhere else. He HATED getting the IV in, it was painful and then uncomfortable. He always tried to play it or pull it out. It was taped to his head like crazy, and we had problems with it the whole time we were there. They almost took it out and re-did it at one point. It wouldn't work very well when he cried, which was the main problem.

They also had an oxygen monitor on his foot (which they had to move around constantly to get a good reading. A monitor on the foot is just not a good idea for the Sock Ninja!) and he also had a heart monitor on his chest and the oxygen tube in his nose. So-he was connected to 4 monitors, totaling 7 wires! Poor baby! The weird thing was how happy he was for most of it, the nurses kept commenting on how happy he was. We got a lot of nurse attention-one even told me that coming into our room was a break from the other unhappy screaming kids! :)

He had a total of 5 breathing treatments while we were there, and he didn't really like them but was asleep for two of them which was nice. He only got one hour long nap the whole day on Tuesday. He didn't fall asleep that night until almost 1:00 AM. He slept in the bed with me instead of his crib, because if he was in his crib he is such a mobile active baby that he was getting tangled up in the wires and got frustrated he couldn't move. So, he slept snuggled up against my side in the bed for the night-which wasn't long! We slept (and by we I mean he) from 1:00 AM until 3:00 AM when they had to wake him up to take more blood for tests and stuff like that. He HATED that part, and every other time they had to check his IV (frequently through the night) or poke him. I had a really hard time having to hold his arms down, or his head still, or keep a hand on his chest pushing down to keep him still while they did all of this stuff. At 4:30 he fell back asleep and slept until 6:00, and then suddenly woke up screaming bloody murder. I think he forgot where he was. He fell back asleep around 6:45 and slept until 8:15 and then was awake until we got to go home around noon. Poor guy was SO sleep deprived! This is the guy who normally sleeps 11-12 hours a night plus about 4 hours during the day! I was just glad that he would finally relax enough to sleep, even it was in my bed and made it so that I couldn't sleep!

Oh yeah-at 3:00 AM I realized that his diaper was full beyond belief and couldn't contain it anymore, since I had his pee ALL over my stomach and leg where he was cuddled up. We had to change his hospital gown as well. Once we were cleared to go home, they let me give him a bath to get all of the sticky stuff of his head, face, chest, leg, and foot. He LOVED being free from the wires and everything. He kept touching his head where the IV was at. He even "told" Dr. Whiting about it when he came to check on him. He kept babbling and touching his head as if to say, "And then they put this thing on my head right here..." He started to get really wheezy again before bedtime on Wednesday, but did okay through the night.

We went back to the doctor's office this morning for a follow up and he said that Noah's lungs sound a lot better. He's still wheezy so we got a nebulizer to continue to do breathing treatments at home. It's nice to know that at least now we can be more prepared for the wheezing next time he gets sick! He is also on an antibiotic for a few days. He is still SO happy and loving. Since that experience he has been a little more clingy to me than normal. If he is playing with his toys, he likes to keep a hand on my leg or something to let him know that I am still there with him. I'm sure that whole experience was frightening since you can't really explain to a 7 month old what's happening! But, we are home now and can continue to help him feel better. I think I kept a pretty level head through it all-even though it was SO incredibly hard to see my baby with all the wires and to try to comfort and calm him through the night. One nurse told me she was surprised this was my first baby, and our first hospital visit, since I was so calm and level headed. That made me feel like I am doing a pretty good job as a mom! :)