A Very Sick Holiday

I've been meaning to write this post for a minute or two but kept getting distracted with...life. It's funny- you want to write about life events but more life events happen to prevent you from playing catch up! The holiday season of 2017 was a rough one for the Moran family. It was rough. Seriously rough. Matt's parents came by for Thanksgiving and left with the flu that turned into pneumonia. So that already had me on edge. We live in a small house and it's cramped for our family of 5, add two more adults and it's basically impossible to have any personal space. My children go to daycare, and that place is horrible for sickness. They do what they can with the handwashing, sanitizing, and requiring immunizations but they can't catch every moment a kid touches their mouth then touches a toy. And the rules don't require that kids with runny noses or colds stay out because, well, then they wouldn't have a business right? So the series of events that lead to what was a horribly exhausting holiday season started with Charles throwing up at school and requiring a pick up. Then he threw up in the car on the way home. I took him to urgent care and they said that it was most likely something he ate because he showed no other symptoms of concern. That week at daycare though, at least half the kids in his class had thrown up at some point or another and whatever that bug was, was spreading throughout the 3 and 4 year old rooms.

Right before Christmas, Charles had a fever of 103.8 so I picked him up from the daycare. I took him to the ER because the hospital is 2 minutes from the daycare and they gave him the whole gambit of meds and a chest xray ultimately saying, he has a virus, here have some amoxicillin because his fever is high and maybe this will help. He fell asleep on our drive home and we put him in bed and he continued to nap. This was my first clue something was wrong- Charles gets re-energized after a cat nap. He doesn't stay drowsy and definitely doesn't nap in the late afternoon. I took his temp and it said 95. That didn't sit right in my stomach. I continued to check his temp every 20 minutes and it kept registering low. Matt didn't seem concerned, his temp was registering at 97. But something in my stomach was gnawing me, I didn't like what the thermometer was saying. I called the nurse advice line and they recommended an urgent care visit within the next 8 hours. Well, I wasn't wasting time. I woke him up and he could barely walk down the stairs, he was so off balance. I put him on the couch and he couldn't stay awake and was extremely pale. Matt jumped on board and the two were off to the children's urgent care facility lightning fast. From there, they took Charles to the children's hospital, loaded him up with warm IV fluids, put him in a heated blanket, and there he stayed for 3 days. They ran blood tests, urine tests, a CAT scan...so many things. He tested positive for rhino virus but they said that shouldn't make his temp drop like that. They were at a loss, he was consistently reading a low temperature. On day 3 he improved and was able to maintain a temperature above 96 without aid. They still didn't know what happened to cause it but were optimistic because he recovered well on his own.

They came home on Christmas Eve and Matt had a trunk full of Christmas gifts for Charles and his brothers, courtesy of the wonderful people at the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughter (CHKD). So many great presents donated by so many selfless community members. It was a beautiful sight to see, my son finally home and the generosity and kindness of random strangers. Charles coming home was present enough. I was still on edge though. I checked his temperature every 10 minutes for the next two days. His temperament was good though, his color was good, his appetite was good...he seemed back to normal. When Matt came home, he quickly showered and ate and then I sent him back to urgent care with Thomas because he had been running a fever the last few days and his cough sounded suspicious. My mommy gut told me something wasn't right. And low and behold, they did a chest xray and he had pneumonia. One two punch right? That left us with 2 out of 3 kids getting sick, I held my breath for Henry.

Shortly after Christmas, Henry got a fever and a rash. I didn't waste any time and took him to the ER. Poor kiddo was diagnosed with bronchiolitis per a chest x ray and hand foot and mouth disease because of his rash. A few days later, I noticed his rash had little red pin prick looks to it and they weren't blanching. Again, I took little man to urgent care this time and they confirmed the tiny red dots weren't blanching. For your mamas, a rash that doesn't go away when you push on it is a warning sign. They did a blood test to make sure his blood was clotting and acting normal, and that came back ok. Are you still following me? Ok, yes, there's more. On NYE, his fever came back (after going away for a few days, and again, this is a get your kid checked out sign mamas) so I took him back to Langley ER where they again said bronchiolitis, keep an eye on him, he's extremely congested, and they did a catheter in his nose to help clear the junk. New Year's Day.....i felt as though his breathing was too rapid and concerning so I took him back to the ER but his stats were checking out ok and they sent us home. Then, that night, those mama hairs, that mama gut spoke to me again. His breathing was fast, he was cranky and he didn't want to nurse (so not a Henry thing to do), and I just didn't feel comfortable. Throughout that day, I kind of felt like a little boy who cried wolf and was perhaps overly cautious of my kid but I didn't care when I heard his crying. Something wasn't right and my gut was talking to me. So off we went to urgent care again. His breathing continued to be rapid, I could feel every breath, it was clearly labored and I could see retractions (but the retractions were pretty common the last few days). Something about this particular moment just didn't feel right. And I was right. The doctors said the words "911, transport, hospital..." and I knew what was in store for us. Henry was taking 100 breaths/minute and at that rate, could eventually tire himself out and stop breathing. Mamas, 60 breaths/minute is concerning. This was almost twice that. They put him on oxygen and did some more deep suction. Matt switched out our cars so he wasn't stuck at home without the van/car seats (lesson learned from our first hospital experience) and Henry and I were off to CHKD. They did more deep suction, kept him on oxygen, and just monitored him for 24 hours. When his breathing showed that it was pretty regular again, they let us go. The rapid breathing was caused by too much gunk in his airways which indicates the more extreme end of bronchiolitis. Most of the time, that doesn't happen.

It's been about 2.5 weeks now and I'm still on edge. Every cough has me perked up, every "he feels kind of warm" has me taking the thermometer out...It's exhausting being this concerned all the time, but it's also called mom life. Mom instinct, mommy gut, whatever you want to call it, IT IS A THING. Trust you gut. Trust your instincts. Don't worry about that doctor giving you the look like...you're wasting my time. That look means nothing mamas. That look is just judgement and it can go away, it doesn't have to follow you when you leave that hospital visit. Don't let it stop you from getting your children checked out just to be safe. Our babies are OUR BABIES. They are the most precious, the most valuable, the most wonderful gifts from God and we have to protect them with every atom in our bodies. Trust those atoms when they perk up and try to tell you something through uneasiness. Trust yourself. Fight for your babies. Let nobody judge you because you are mama and you're doing the best you can.