Raegan- Nine Months and Pnuemonia

The end of April and beginning of May were a bit rough at our house. It was so much fun having family come to visit but unfortunately while they were here the kids all passed around a stomach bug. We were cleaning up so much throw up! And poor Raegan got hit pretty hard. She was sick for about 5 days, eating less and less by the day. Then she developed a nasty cough. She's already so small that I knew she didn't have much weight to spare. So, I took her in to the Dr.'s and he said she had bronchiolitis in both lungs and gave her an albuterol treatment, which didn't help. He said if her breathing gets labored to take her to the ER. That afternoon, she was breathing so fast and working so hard, I didn't feel comfortable keeping her home. So, we went to the Children's Hospital in Denver. After a chest x-ray she was admitted for bilateral pneumonia. They told us she'd probably be out in 2-3 days. Patrick's parents happened to be visiting that weekend which was so helpful with the other kids at home. But even after her IV antibiotics and easy pap breathing treatments every 4 hours, she was not improving. In fact, after a few days they were considering moving her to the PICU. She was on a heated high flow at it's maximum setting and still not sating very well and breathing extremely fast. She could not tolerate every time they tried to wean her. However, after about 5 days she had a sudden turn around. She started doing much better and they weaned her quite quickly off the HHF and onto wall oxygen. The next day she came off everything all together. She even started eating small amounts again. We were there for 7 days. I stayed with Raegan at the hospital. It was a humbling experience seeing all the other sick kids in this massive hospital, many of them who will never go home. I felt so blessed knowing our stay would be relatively short and Raegan would have a full recovery.

 She hated the albuterol treatment which probably just broke up all the crud and made her breathing worse.

 Poor girl in the ER. She was so wiped out from not eating in over a week on top of everything else.

 After 2 days, she was at least sleeping better and keeping down an ounce or two of pedialyte every few hours.

 Ayden sent in a stuffed animal for Raegan.

 And she also used her breathing tube as a lovie.

 So tired! It was hard for anyone to get sleep with all the meds and treatments which continued all day and night.

 And then one morning, I woke to this beautiful smile! It was a welcomed sight after almost 2 weeks of being sick.

 She finally had the energy to sit up and play. Such a tiny girl in such a big bed with so many tubes.

 Little footsie poking out during a nap.

We had a lot of bonding time.

It was the highlight of the day when Daddy visited after work.

 And Ayden and Gavin came a few times too. Thanks Nana and PopPop.

 Finally, on Mother's Day weekend, she was ready to go home. No more tubes and wires!

 Ayden sent in many decorations for her little sister. The kids missed her so much.

 This amazing hospital transports their patients in these cute little red wagons. It created such a different environment than seeing wheelchairs and stretchers everywhere. It seemed like I had lived in an alternate universe up at the hospital that week. I was so excited to get back home and sleep in a bed!

 I was beginning to wean Raegan anyways, so when she didn't eat for a few weeks, that pretty much took care of that. Now I have willing helpers to lend me a hand. I certainly do not miss nursing.

Raegan lost quite a bit of weight during this ordeal which took her completely down off the charts. She got her second tooth while in the hospital so I've put her in the highchair in hopes some table food will help gain the weight back faster.

But before all this happened, about a week after her 8 month bday, Raegan finally crawled! It's a whole new world. However, she crawls so slowly, she doesn't get very far, which spawned her new nickname: Turtle Babes.

(April 8, 2015)

While in the hospital, so many people were coming and going she learned to say Bye Bye.

Although this experience was challenging and stressful, it would've been a complete nightmare without the help of family. My family helped so much before they left and the Reilly's picked up right when they arrived. Nana stayed longer than planned to help with kids and keeping the house up. Knowing everything was well taken care of in my absence was very comforting so that I could concentrate on Raegan getting better. It sure is nice being home.