It’s been forever since my mom and I have been able to get a babysitter for the kids. We’ve tried scheduling one, and they either can’t accommodate us or the sitter doesn’t show up. The situation is very frustrating, especially since I go through a service. So tonight when we got a babysitter I was excited…until we ended up at the hospital.
Kennedy’s been having difficulty breathing, a week ago we brought her in to see the doctor. Since then her breathing has just been getting worse (nothing worth freaking out over or so I thought.) I decided it’s better to be safe than sorry. So the plan was to go see our family doctor, then go out for a quick supper and head back home. We were only able to get a sitter for four hours. Which isn’t much time when you count driving to and from places. Once we arrived at the doctor’s office and our family doctor had checked Kennedy over.
He told us that he was concerned that Kennedy’s breathing sounded worse compared to last week, and she now had a fever. He told us he was sending us to the Alberta Children’s Hospital so that Kennedy could get an x-ray on her lungs.
My mom dropped Kennedy and I off at the Alberta Children’s Hospital.
I thought Kennedy and I would be in the waiting room for hours, but after five minutes we were called. The triage nurse said that Kennedy’s oxygen stats were low. She said that they were going to admit Kennedy for more testing and monitoring. The nurse brought us to a room, and we waited there for the on-duty doctor.
The doctor said they wanted to run some tests on Kennedy, some blood-work and x-rays. I’ve never dealt with that with the other kids so I didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t aware that Kennedy getting an x-ray would be so emotional, and terrifying for me. It’s on the top list of the hardest things I’ve had to do as a parent so far.
I had to get her undressed and in a fresh dry diaper. Then they placed her in the baby x-ray machine. I was allowed to stay in the room with Kennedy, but I had to stand behind a plastic barrier while she got her x-rays. I was still able to see her and hear her, and she could still hear me and see me for the most part. That’s till they had to face her in different directions, and she wasn’t able to see me. Despite Kennedy crying, (which the x-ray tech said was good so they could get a good x-ray of her lungs) the x-ray technician assured me that the process is painless.
Kennedy got her first chest X-Ray, then we returned to our room to wait for the results.
The doctor diagnosed Kennedy with bronchitis. I had to give her four puffs of Ventolin with an inhaler, and another four puffs of Atrovent with an inhaler every fifteen to twenty minutes.
I quickly changed Kennedy into a sleeper, so that she could be more comfortable and then she got a dose of steriods.
She was being such a good sport, but you could tell she hated it.
After a few rounds of the inhaler, she started crying every time it was time to have the treatment. After a bit we had a nurse come in and check her oxygen stats again. Kennedy’s oxygen stats were showing minor improvements and the doctor decided they wanted to keep her overnight to be monitored.
The doctor said Kennedy wasn’t sick enough to be at the Alberta Children’s Hospital overnight. So they were arranging an ambulance to bring us to the Peter Lougheed Hospital.
The paramedics were friendly and extremely patient as they adjusted and figured out how to safely strap Kennedy with her car-seat onto the stretcher. She even smiled a little bit to one of the paramedics!
Kennedy and I got to experience our first ambulance ride together. We got transported by ambulance to the Peter Lougheed Hospital, the hospital that Kennedy was born at. An exciting yet bittersweet moment, the silver lining was it wasn’t a life or death situation and the paramedics were incredibly kind.
Once we got to the hospital and the paramedic’s brought Kennedy to her room the nurse said I could let Kennedy sleep for a bit in her car seat while we figured out some paperwork. Once all the paperwork was complete, they woke her up to check her vitals and then left us to be for a bit so that Kennedy could fall asleep.
Kennedy didn’t seem to mind being in the crib. As long as I kept the crib side down, and stood right near her while she played a little bit. Eventually, though I had to put the rail up so that she could get some sleep.
The hospital policy requires Kennedy to stay in the crib, and that is where she has to sleep. Slightly challenging since she’s co-slept with me since birth. This would be her first night sleeping “alone”. I held Kennedy’s little hand through the crib rails and talked to her till she fell asleep.
The staff even set me up a bed, I’m grateful but I don’t think I’ll be getting much sleep. They’ve got nurses coming every hour to check on the little one.
Okay, maybe a few hours of sleep wouldn’t hurt. I’ll update everyone in the morning.
Up bright and early, so here’s what we know. Kennedy’s oxygen stats are way better than they were last night. She seems to be in a better mood, so that’s really good!
We’ll be heading home, later on, this afternoon with some antibiotics. Kennedy’s got bronchitis and a raging ear infection, they also mentioned that the little bump above her bellybutton is a hernia so we’ll be booking an appointment to get that looked at. Thank you to everyone that said a prayer we really appreciate it!