Well friends, today I bring to you the story of my first 911 call. The story of an ambulance, police car, and fire department all outside of our house within minutes. It is a dramatic story, and at first we thought it completely unnecessary, but soon we found ourselves (that’s little miss and I) checked into the hospital for a two night, three day stay. Baby girl vs RSV. (Can I blog more about being sick? I wish I had other things to write about!)
It all begins on the evening of Sunday the 21 of January. Our poor baby girl awoke coughing and sneezing and crying. She has caught a cold and is feeling unwell. I’m in for a long night of snot-sucking, upright-bouncing, bathroom-steam-breathing adventures. Of course we can’t forget our poor middle child, right smack in the middle of his terrible twos, giving us the hardest time. He awakes at some point during my comforting of baby girl. He’s distraught and confused. Our girl is needing me more however, so I put on a movie for the little man in our room and pray he falls asleep. He doesn’t. I spend the night going back and forth between the two youngest… comforting, rocking. I’m exhausted. I don’t get more than a few minutes of stolen shut eye at a time.
Come morning things seem less dramatic. I had considered going to emergency during the wee hours, but Matthew, bless his soul, is not great at remaining awake overnight and I feared leaving him alone with our rambunctious middle child who was still wide awake.
I spend the morning listening to her breathe, trying to get her to sleep, checking temperatures, etc. I am consumed in worry about her oxygen levels. I take her outside for 10/15 minutes at a time for fresh air. Eventually, as evening creeps upon us, and after talking with my bestie and fellow mom of three, I decide I don’t want to spend another night wondering if she’s okay. She seems so mucous-y and grunts when she exhales which is triggering some red flags in my momma brain. I’m not sure it’s an immediate emergency, as she’s been going on this long, but I’m still worried about whether she is getting enough oxygen. We decide to call 811 to speak to a nurse practitioner who can help us make the decision to go to the emergency room or not.
I’m not on the phone more than a minute when she declares that she’s patching me through to 911. “Best you have a health care professional come straight to you,” she says. I’m grateful but suddenly overwhelmed with feelings that I did baby girl wrong but not calling sooner. They patch me through, get our address, and within minutes the fire department is at our door. A minute later, the paramedics arrive, followed by the police. Our kitchen filled with people checking on our sweet baby girl.
Everyone was wonderful. So helpful and comforting. I cried. I was so afraid I wasn’t taking her illness serious enough and not advocating for her. But, they hooked her up to an oxygen machine. 100%. They count her breathing and listen to her lungs. Normal and relatively clear. Thank god.
She sleeps well that night, but when we wake up in the morning, something just isn’t right. Initially we call our family doctor, asking if he can squeeze her in. But he recommends we head straight to ER if we suspect she’s having trouble, as there’s not much he can do. So I quickly pack a bag, not expecting to need much, and off we go.
I wish I had better things to say about the intake/triage portion of our visit to Valley Regional Hospital. We enter and there’s a long line of people waiting to be triaged by the nurse. No take-a-number system, just people relying on memory and kindness to keep themselves ordered. I am distraught and can’t recall who was in the room before me or after but some kind gentlemen (who are also waiting to be seen) seem to be keeping track. A woman asks how old little miss is, mentions how it’s insane they aren’t triaging us immediately. A kid comes in with a head injury, hanging onto his father for help. He waits hours. Once he is triaged he is taken back immediately, but I was shocked that he still waited so long after arrival.
Finally we see the triage nurse. Her oxygen levels are around 95 and she doesn’t tell us much. We’re told to sit in the green chairs, not the same chairs as the head injury kid, so I suspect we’ll be here a while longer.
About 45 minutes later a doctor calls us over. They’re swamped she says, but seeing us there she says she had to call us back even without a room to treat us in. She has a little one the same age she tells me. We squat in the hallway and she listens to our girl. She orders a chest x-ray and a swab for COVID, etc.
We’re quickly taken back to have her x-ray. Passing all the other waiting patients, I thank and apologize and they all wish us well. Fortunately the x-ray comes back clear, however we hear rumours of her swab being positive for RSV. We’re taken to a utility closet where it’s a bit quieter to try to get her to nurse and sleep. Then, taken to a new ward where she can be seen by a pediatrician. Her oxygen is tested again, it’s dropped. They hook her up to oxygen and were told she’ll likely be admitted. “Better safe than sorry,” they tell us. Of course.
The pediatrician comes in, asks us our history and timeline. “Sounds on par for RSV,” she says. She tells us the swab is likely positive – she needs to confirm the results herself. I’m starting to feel sick seeing her hooked up on all the wires. A nurse looks at me and says – “you need food and water” – and takes off. When she returns with broth, a muffin, and a large jug of water I’m very grateful. I didn’t realize how much I was shaking and my stomach was aching.
Little Miss is still coughing and crying. It’s breaking my heart, but as she’s able to nurse now that she’s hooked up to oxygen, and I’m able to down the food the nurse brought. Not long after, our curtain is pulled back. A wheelchair that holds oxygen so baby girl and I can be escorted to our room. We’re admitted.
I’m so thankful that we came and I don’t have to spend another night worrying. We have professionals all around us and all of her vitals are beeping on the machine next to our bed. They have set up a crib for her but ask if she’ll be sleeping in the cot with me. I tell them yes.
It’s a fairly uneventful three days, thankfully. We can’t leave our room and no one can come in without a lot of personal protection – masks, disposable gown, etc. Food is left for me at the nurses station instead of delivered to my room, and then brought to me when they get a chance. I have to call to ask for water. Our first night our girl remained on oxygen all night. She slept well and I am relieved. But when they try to take her off oxygen she is unable to nurse. She can’t sleep. They put her back on oxygen so that she can nap that afternoon. We’ve been in about 24 hours now. The doctor tells us we will have to make it through a night off oxygen before we can be dismissed and I imagine that means we’ll be here another few nights. They take her off oxygen again when she wakes up in the late afternoon. “Just wait and see”, the night nurse tells me as she begins her shift. I thought for sure she’d need the oxygen this second night. But, somehow, she never went back on. She nursed and fell asleep and her numbers stayed where they should. I couldn’t believe how abruptly she just didn’t need it anymore.
We were fortunate enough to have a mild case. She was such a champ and did so well the whole stay. In a shocking turn of events, our middle child slept decently for Matt, he didn’t wake up at 4 am. However now that I am back he has quickly resumed the early morning wake-up’s. It seems he reserves these mornings just for me. We were hopeful that my absence for a few days would “reset” him and get him back on track, and while he did great with me gone, his bad habits have returned with my presence.
All in all, it was a tough start to 2024. It’s not lost on me that my tarot card for January was the Five of Pentacles – which carries a meaning of illness with it. February is Nine of Thunder which is another less than stellar card. We’re halfway through the month and it has still been a rough go. I’m behind in my updates, so will try and get everything written out in the next week or so.
Until then, stay healthy friends.
– R
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