Hospital Stay

We've had a rough couple weeks in the Ramsayer house.  On March 4th, we all went out for my parent's 30th anniversary.  After being at Mitchell's for approximately 5 minutes, M slipped and slammed her face into the edge of the table.  She went ballistic and we saw she was bleeding from her mouth a little bit.  Initially we should she probably bit her tongue, but after she wouldn't settle down we tried to see what was up, but she refused to let us look at her mouth.  Eventually we we able to see she had knocked her tooth forward.  After a trip to the dentist on the 5th and a ton of xrays, it was confirmed that she broke her tooth and it would have to be extracted.  Under the assumption she'd be sedated, we had to keep her from eating or drinking for several hours.  We showed up at the oral surgeon and it was determined that her lungs sounded too bad to be sedated.  Instead, he gave her a numbing shot and I got to hold her down while they yanked out the tooth.  You can see clearly in the previous post which tooth is now missing.

Within a couple hours of getting home from the oral surgeon M's breathing took a turn for the worst and Albuterol couldn't maintain her...so off we went to the Urgent Care.  After several breathing treatments, oral pred, and a lot of monitoring it was determined a chest xray was needed to rule out pneumonia.  Poor sick baby passed out waiting for the results of her xray to come back and was unable to maintain her oxygen levels in the 90's.

It was quickly determined that pneumonia could not be ruled out....because she most likely had pneumonia.  So, the urgent care called ahead to the main hospital, wrote up transfer paperwork, and sent us on our way to Ann Arbor for probably admission.

We got to the ER and the on-call ped confirmed pneumonia.  M's breathing worsened while we were in the ER and she was put on blow-by oxygen to bring her stats back up.  It was determined that she was going to need an IV for fluids and go administer antibiotics and steroids.  I thought it was bad holding her down to have her tooth extracted...that was a piece of cake compared to inserting the IV.  We'll just say that I will never, ever, EVER do that again.  If she ever needs another IV a nurse is going to have to restrain her.  After getting the IV she threw the mother of all fits.  I learned later that these fits were steroid induced, but oh.my.god.  Honestly, this thing could have gone in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most ridiculous fit thrown by a toddler EVER.  I was sore, bruised, and exhausted when she finally calmed down TWO HOURS later.

After being in the ER for several hours we were finally taken up to her room.  It was 3 am and I was exhausted from not sleeping at all the night before (because of her tooth) and barely sleeping the night before that (my husband snoring).  I was ready to drop.  M was exhausted and sick.  But, unfortunately she would not let me lay her down in the crib.  Every time I tried she went ballistic and threw another fit to end all fits.  I was at the end of of my rope and the hospital had a "rule" that parents aren't allowed to sleep with the kids in the recliner.  Well, M wouldn't let go of me and I was not capable of staying awake.  So, the nurse kept coming in every 5 minutes, waking both of us up and setting off another fit to end all fits.  By the time 6 am rolled around I was ready to punch that nurse in the face.  They tried to lay M down themselves...same thing.  No one was getting any sleep.  It was horrible and I was ready to throw myself out the window.  I ended up calling my mom at 7:20 and begging her to come give me a break.  However, before she got there the day nurse came in and offered to bring in a regular bed that we could both sleep in.  I wanted to hug her.  I almost cried.  The bed arrive and M and I promptly passed out and were dead to the world when my mom arrived.

When we woke up, my mom got to experience one of M's steroid induced fits.  During this fit she tore her IV out of her arm.  The nurses commented on her Hulk-like strength.  Here she is proudly walking around the hospital room no longer restrained by anything.

M also refused in any way to cooperate with a nasal cannula to deliver the oxygen she needed to breathe.  Instead, we had to do blow-by...which meant holding and/or positioning the tube by her face while she was sleeping to keep her O2 levels in the green.

The day after M ripped her IV out was a bit better of a day.  She was in better spirits, received some gifts, and conned mom out of some doritos.

I was completely shocked and also so very grateful for some of the gifts she received.  Some of the mommas I met online while pregnant sent M gifts (a balloon and fish; and a stuffed puppy and gift certificate for dinner out for us).  It was so humbling to know that these women have become close enough friends and care enough about us that they thought to send Get Well Soon gifts.  I was also completely shocked to find an Edible Arrangement arrived at the door from Goddard.  You know you have an amazingly caring daycare provider when they go to the trouble to do something like that.

The following day came what I would assume was M's favorite gift and the nurses as well:

COOKIES!!!  These came from a group of January mommas I've become incredibly close to and that I talk to on a near daily basis.  I'm truly blessed to have met these women and found love and support from all of them.  We definitely enjoyed nomming on those delicious cookies for the remainder of our stay in the hospital.

At some point one of the respiratory therapists brought Maddie a dinosaur mask and she instantly fell in love with it.  She liked it so much that she wanted to give herself breathing treatments (and has continued to use this mask every.single.day at home):

Friday, Maddie took a turn for the worse and started needing oxygen while awake as well because she was unable to keep her oxygen above 87 during any time of the day.  Ryan so wonderfully offered to take hospital duty over the weekend so that I could get out for a little while and rest.  I hesitated to leave since she had been doing worse, but I knew I needed it and I knew Ryan would take care of her.  On Friday night I headed home, had dinner with my parents (which included wine!) and then went straight home to get a much needed night of sleep.

When I arrived at the hospital on Saturday, I found the loves of my life like this:

Saturday was the same.  No better, no worse.  Saturday night my parents came to the hospital to hang out which M so that Ryan and I could go out and have dinner together.  We did and it was nice.  Saturday night Ryan stayed with M again and I went home to grab a shower, do some research on pneumonia and the standard of care for toddlers, and to get some sleep.

Sunday I arrived back at the hospital more tired than when I left on Friday.  I'm not sure why, but I was drained.  Ryan stayed until around dinner time and then headed home to get some laundry done and get some sleep. 

I settled in hoping and praying that M would start showing signs of getting better.  We both went to bed around 9, but for some reason I woke up at 11 and noticed she had knocked her oxygen tube away buy was maintaining stats like this:

I hurriedly told the nurse so they could keep track.  Amazingly, M was able to hold her O2 levels in the 90's all night but for a few dips into the 80's that she self-corrected.  So, Monday the doctor decided that she was good to go home and we were to follow up with the pediatrician in 1-2 days, continue her antibiotics as well as her breathing treatments.  YAY!

I got home Monday, did a ton of laundry and disinfected basically the entire house...but I started with everything that was at the hospital with us.  Later in the afternoon a gift from M's brother from another mother, John arrived and she was a HUGE fan!  

She's been slowly, but surely getting better.  On Thursday we had the follow-up with Dr. Becker.  M was given the preliminary diagnosis of asthma and referred to a pulmonologist.  We meet with him on April 9th to get a better understand of what is going on and the best plan for maintenance so we can hopefully avoid another hospital admission.  She qualified through some state panel to received a case manager to coordinate her services.  She's lost some weight and has a bit of catching up to do.  But, she got a sucker at the end, so it was a win for her.

Today we're near 2 weeks past the first days of issues and she seems to be a lot better.  She's still a bit congested but her lungs sound a LOT better. 

We received so many gifts and encouraging words from friends and family.  She truly is blessed to be cared for by so many people.  It warmed my heart to know that so many people were pulling for her to get better and get home.