Tis The Season...

First (hopefully the last) stay at Riley.

It's that time of year.  It is only the middle of September yet some stores have already started putting out their Christmas decorations.  It seems like it gets earlier and earlier each year, and I swear that as soon as the decorations are out, cold and flu season hits.  I have been dreading this season more this year than ever before.  With 4 times the risk of RSV (Respiratory syncytial virus, which causes infection of the lungs and breathing passages, is a major cause of respiratory illness in young children.

In adults, it may only produce symptoms of a common cold, such as a stuffy or runny nose, sore throat, mild headache, cough, fever, and a general feeling of being ill. But in premature babies and kids with diseases that affect the lungs, heart, or immune system, RSV infections can lead to other more serious illnesses.), the chances that we will have to spend some time in the hospital between now and spring are pretty good.

Poor Sick Little Guy

In fact, it's already struck the Stewart household.  This past weekend, all of the kiddos (Lilya included) came down with runny noses.  By Sunday, we were running two vaporizors, using nasal spray and lots of kleenexes, and using the suction bulb often.  While everyone had it, Lilya and Benjamin were the only two that were coughing, and it sounded pretty bad.  I called our doctor on Monday morning, and because of the fact that Benjamin was a preemie, she decided it would be best for her to see him.  I really didn't think much of it.  He has always sounded a little raspy, and when I had asked the doctor about it before, she said that his tonsils were big, so it caused him to breathe a little harder than the others.  After stripping him down to a diaper in the dr.'s office, I watched his little diaphram work as he took breaths in and let them out.  I felt terrible...I hadn't realized that he was working so hard to breathe.  His oxygen levels did register low, and even after a treatment with a nebulizer, the dr. decided that it would be best for him to get a little extra attention from the folks at Riley.  I was in shock when she said that they wanted me to take him to the ER, and they would send a transport team to get him. 



It was so hard to see him in that big hospital bed with the oxygen canual on his face.  Thankfully, after a few hours of oxygen, a steroid shot, and a few breathing treatments, the dr.s felt like he would be okay to come home.  We are still giving breathing treatments every four hours, but it is nice to be back home with the rest of our family.  Praying that is the last of our stays at Riley.



Happy to be going home!