On October 15th, it was a normal Thursday. We spent the day making cookies with some friends, Grandma stopped by while she was in town picking up my nephews and we were all healthy, happy, and enjoying the day and looking forward to the 3 day weekend the boys had from school.
Phil gets home from school about 4:30 that day and we noticed Ellee was coughing a little and her nose had started to run. We took her temperature to find out that she was indeed running a slight fever. We thought that it was better to stay on top of things due to all of the illness that has been going around not only the school where the boys go, but the school where Phil works and we decided that we should take her into immediate care. I gave her some Tylenol and Phil and her headed out the door to immediate care. Of course by the time they got there the Tylenol had kicked in and she was acting like nothing was bothering her. They saw the Doctor on call and he told Phil that it was a seasonal common cold and she would be fine with a little rest. GREAT NEWS!
By Friday morning at 4:30 in the morning Ellee had a horrible cough and was running a fever of 104 so I called the the clinic as soon as they opened and they said they would see her at 1:50 p.m. and if anything changed or she got worse to call them back and they would get her in sooner. At 9:00 she started throwing up and we were at the Doctors office at 10:00. They immediately did a chest x-ray (due to the pneumonia that she just had a month ago) and blood work. The chest x-ray came back showing that she had pneumonia and Dr. Soltz immediately said she need to go to the hospital because he feared it could be H1N1 and in babies it causes them to become very ill and with the pneumonia showing up he didn't want to risk her getting any worse by waiting 12 more hours.
We checked her into St. Francis hospital where they soon discovered that she was very dehydrated. The started her on IV's and did the necessary blood work and swabs they needed to determine if H1N1 was indeed what was making my baby so ill. Ellee was a very sick little girl at this point and didn't want to do anything but sleep and be held. So that is exactly what we did. Sat, rocked and held her close.
Grandma came back to town when she found out that they were going to be admitting her to do what needed to be done and to help out with the boys. When Grandma arrived at the hospital Phil decided that he would go and pick the boys up and spend the evening with them. They went to eat supper and then came to the hospital cafeteria to have ice cream and cookies with Grandma and I since they weren't allowed on the pediatric floor to see Ellee. It was good to see them and it was good to laugh with them, but it was hard to see them leave and go home with Phil for the night.
Grandma ended up staying at the hospital with Ellee and I and it was a very long night. At 4:00 a.m. her fever finally broke and she was a completely different kid. She wouldn't leave her IV alone, she wouldn't leave her oxygen monitor on her toe and she was setting off every monitor alarm that she had in her room. They made the decision to remove her IV since she had taken in nearly two bags of fluid and manged to have enough wet diapers to consider her hydrated. She was a completely different kid and wired for sound. At 6:00 a.m. she finally settled back down and slept until about 7:30 a.m. The doctors made their rounds and after seeing that she seemed to be feeling better they decided to go ahead and dismiss her even though she wasn't 100% and they didn't have the H1N1 results back. They told us there wasn't anything that could be done for the pneumonia because it was viral and that since she wasn't vomiting and her fever was staying under control with Motrin that there really wasn't any need to keep her. We were given instructions as to what to do if the vomiting started again, if the fever spiked, and if she stopped eating and drinking and we were on our way home shortly after lunch.
Phil and the boys came to pick us up and that little girl just lit up when she saw those two brothers of hers. They were so excited to see her and she was thrilled as punch to see them.
We got home and Ellee became very fussy, her eyes started looking glassed over again and she just wasn't herself. I called back up to the hospital and they soon informed me that they had her test results back and she had tested positive for full blown H1N1 and that there wasn't a darn thing they could do for her except let her body fight it off and if anything infection set in or her pneumonia turned to bacterial then they would start her on antibiotics. Now that is one tough thing to swallow when you know your baby is sick and they tell you she is just going to have to fight it off. How is my 9 month old suppose to do that? They told us what to look for and what to expect and that she would continue to run a high fever for the next few days.
So that gets us to today. Today is October 19th and I still have a very sick and fussy baby girl. She went back to see her Pediatrician today and he couldn't find any infection that had sat in and said that her body just aches and it's going to take several more days possibly a couple more weeks for her to completely rid this from her body. If she starts breathing rapidly and we can't break her out of that then we are to take her into the emergency room immediately but other than that just to be in touch with him over the next several days and let her know her status.
So we wait! Right now she is asleep with Grandma in the rocking chair and Grandma doesn't seem to mind a bit. It's been a long few days and it's been hard to watch but she is at home and so far she is doing pretty well considering all that is going on in her little body.
Thanks so much for all of the thoughts and prayers that have been sent straight to Heaven for this little girl. We couldn't be more thankful and grateful for all of the wonderful people in our lives that care so much. We truly are blessed beyond measure!
