In my life as a mom, I have definitely learned two things. They are first; my children always have ways of surprising me, and second, to trust my instincts. Yesterday (Sunday, November 2, 2007) brought both of those things to the front of my mind.
Our littlest angel, Dawniella Joan (18 days old), got a stuff nose on Friday (Nov. 30th) and by Saturday night was very fussy, starting to cough a bit, and basically just not feeling well, meaning that I was up all night. At about 3 am I laid Dawniella down so I could go use the bathroom and as I was walking back to pick her up again I thought her face looked very dark colored. When I got over to her and picked her up, she started to cry so I figured that I had been seeing things because of the bad lightening and my fatigue. I put her on my chest and the two of us fell asleep sitting up in my rocking chair.
The next morning I noticed that her complex didn’t look exactly right, but couldn’t really put my finger on what it was I was seeing. We went to sacrament meeting after which I came home and the two of us fell asleep for a couple of hours. When we woke up, Brandt commented on the fact that he thought Dawniella looked a little gray. At that point, I realized what had been bothering me all morning and decided that we needed to go to the walk in clinic. My statement was something along the line of it’s probably nothing but I want a doctor to tell me I’m seeing things. We got Dawniella into her car seat, got our coats on and headed for the car. I don’t usually ride in the backseat with Dawniella because we usually have a couple kids of there and they keep an eye on her for me, but Brandt suggested that I ride in the backseat with her. As we started to pull out of the driveway, I looked out the window, then back at her and just that fast her face was a purple black color. I was scared to death, but I pulled her out of her seat and started to stimulate her and talk to her, until she started to breath, maybe about 30 seconds to a minute. I can now understand the concept of a minute lasting a lifetime, because that was what it felt like in that moment.
When we got to the clinic, the nurse almost immediately noticed that Dawniella was grey looking and immediately called in a doctor. Her blood oxygen levels were extremely low, but she was responding so the doctor thought she might have reflux. At that point, he had us keep her upright and decided to do a chest x-ray to make sure she hadn’t aspirated anything into her lungs. A chest x-ray in a bitty one is quite interesting, picture a clear cylinder that has been cut in half and set with hinges and a clamp to hold it closed, mounted over a kind of chair that the child can straddle. Stripped down to her birthday suit, set on the seat with her arms over her head, they then close the cylinder around her. Dawniella slept through all of this, but then the tech had to get her to cry, which was quite a feat. Dawniella went immediately back to sleep and we went back to the exam room. I had Brandt hold her so I could duck out to use the bathroom and as I walked back into the room, Dawniella stopped breathing. We called out and the room was suddenly full of doctors, nurses and equipment. They were absolutely great and kept reassuring us even as they brought her back around. At that point, it was decided that she was going to the hospital by ambulance and they called 911. I went into the other room to call mom and dad to ask them to come and while I was gone, she did the same thing again. By now, I was scared to death!
At the hospital, they literally had more people working on Dawniella than there was baby for them to work on. After a number of tests, including a lumbar puncture, we found out that Dawniella had RSV. The simple explanation of this is that it is a cold virus, which even adults can get, but it is the kind of cold that continues for a long time in adults. In an infant, especially really little guys, their lungs and sinus passages are just to little to deal with the mucous and stuff and it can cause apnea episodes. At that point, the decision was made to send her to Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital in Spokane, Washington. The next question was how she was going to get there, because it was a rainy, yucky weather night. Finally, we found out they were sending a fixed wing aircraft to pick her up and that I would be able to ride with her.
Now understand I have never flown in my life that I can remember. Mom tells me that I flew when I was little but the remember part is the key word here. Knowing that I was going to have to fly eventually with my classes, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about if I could handle flying or not, but I really hadn’t counted on this. We flew out in a small plane, with two medstar nurses and a pilot, it was interesting and a little bumpy but overall the flight was okay and I am happy to say that my stomach stayed where it was suppose to! At the hospital, Dawniella was admitted and spent the night in an oxygen hood with IV fluids.
So, I am now at sitting at Children’s Hospital playing the waiting game. Today (Monday, December 3, 2007) Dawniella is holding her own. They’ve taken her off the oxygen. They also were going to remove the IV fluids, but found that a certain clamp had been removed so they’ve turned it down to the minimal dosage. They are hoping that she will maintain her stats through the night with no apnea spells and tomorrow we can begin to consider taking her home. She’ll probably have an apnea monitor, but at least we’ll be home.
Now back to my title and first paragraph. With every pregnancy and the birth of every child, I’ve learned that each of these little ones is a gift from Heavenly Father and they are definite individuals in their own right. Each has given me special blessings as their mother and each has done their share to give me gray hairs. At the same time I’ve learned that as their mom I usually am pretty good about knowing when something just isn’t right and when I need to act. In Dawniella’s case, I have to say that she’s used up her mom scare factor for at least a few years and I am so thankful that I decided to take her in when we did.
Our littlest angel, Dawniella Joan (18 days old), got a stuff nose on Friday (Nov. 30th) and by Saturday night was very fussy, starting to cough a bit, and basically just not feeling well, meaning that I was up all night. At about 3 am I laid Dawniella down so I could go use the bathroom and as I was walking back to pick her up again I thought her face looked very dark colored. When I got over to her and picked her up, she started to cry so I figured that I had been seeing things because of the bad lightening and my fatigue. I put her on my chest and the two of us fell asleep sitting up in my rocking chair.
The next morning I noticed that her complex didn’t look exactly right, but couldn’t really put my finger on what it was I was seeing. We went to sacrament meeting after which I came home and the two of us fell asleep for a couple of hours. When we woke up, Brandt commented on the fact that he thought Dawniella looked a little gray. At that point, I realized what had been bothering me all morning and decided that we needed to go to the walk in clinic. My statement was something along the line of it’s probably nothing but I want a doctor to tell me I’m seeing things. We got Dawniella into her car seat, got our coats on and headed for the car. I don’t usually ride in the backseat with Dawniella because we usually have a couple kids of there and they keep an eye on her for me, but Brandt suggested that I ride in the backseat with her. As we started to pull out of the driveway, I looked out the window, then back at her and just that fast her face was a purple black color. I was scared to death, but I pulled her out of her seat and started to stimulate her and talk to her, until she started to breath, maybe about 30 seconds to a minute. I can now understand the concept of a minute lasting a lifetime, because that was what it felt like in that moment.
When we got to the clinic, the nurse almost immediately noticed that Dawniella was grey looking and immediately called in a doctor. Her blood oxygen levels were extremely low, but she was responding so the doctor thought she might have reflux. At that point, he had us keep her upright and decided to do a chest x-ray to make sure she hadn’t aspirated anything into her lungs. A chest x-ray in a bitty one is quite interesting, picture a clear cylinder that has been cut in half and set with hinges and a clamp to hold it closed, mounted over a kind of chair that the child can straddle. Stripped down to her birthday suit, set on the seat with her arms over her head, they then close the cylinder around her. Dawniella slept through all of this, but then the tech had to get her to cry, which was quite a feat. Dawniella went immediately back to sleep and we went back to the exam room. I had Brandt hold her so I could duck out to use the bathroom and as I walked back into the room, Dawniella stopped breathing. We called out and the room was suddenly full of doctors, nurses and equipment. They were absolutely great and kept reassuring us even as they brought her back around. At that point, it was decided that she was going to the hospital by ambulance and they called 911. I went into the other room to call mom and dad to ask them to come and while I was gone, she did the same thing again. By now, I was scared to death!
At the hospital, they literally had more people working on Dawniella than there was baby for them to work on. After a number of tests, including a lumbar puncture, we found out that Dawniella had RSV. The simple explanation of this is that it is a cold virus, which even adults can get, but it is the kind of cold that continues for a long time in adults. In an infant, especially really little guys, their lungs and sinus passages are just to little to deal with the mucous and stuff and it can cause apnea episodes. At that point, the decision was made to send her to Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital in Spokane, Washington. The next question was how she was going to get there, because it was a rainy, yucky weather night. Finally, we found out they were sending a fixed wing aircraft to pick her up and that I would be able to ride with her.
Now understand I have never flown in my life that I can remember. Mom tells me that I flew when I was little but the remember part is the key word here. Knowing that I was going to have to fly eventually with my classes, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about if I could handle flying or not, but I really hadn’t counted on this. We flew out in a small plane, with two medstar nurses and a pilot, it was interesting and a little bumpy but overall the flight was okay and I am happy to say that my stomach stayed where it was suppose to! At the hospital, Dawniella was admitted and spent the night in an oxygen hood with IV fluids.
So, I am now at sitting at Children’s Hospital playing the waiting game. Today (Monday, December 3, 2007) Dawniella is holding her own. They’ve taken her off the oxygen. They also were going to remove the IV fluids, but found that a certain clamp had been removed so they’ve turned it down to the minimal dosage. They are hoping that she will maintain her stats through the night with no apnea spells and tomorrow we can begin to consider taking her home. She’ll probably have an apnea monitor, but at least we’ll be home.
Now back to my title and first paragraph. With every pregnancy and the birth of every child, I’ve learned that each of these little ones is a gift from Heavenly Father and they are definite individuals in their own right. Each has given me special blessings as their mother and each has done their share to give me gray hairs. At the same time I’ve learned that as their mom I usually am pretty good about knowing when something just isn’t right and when I need to act. In Dawniella’s case, I have to say that she’s used up her mom scare factor for at least a few years and I am so thankful that I decided to take her in when we did.
(Pictures: Lyra and Dawniella, I like to call it "Hi Sissy!" and the other one is Andrew and Dawniella, which I title "Ugh another sister, but okay she's kind of cute")
2 comments:
Good job. Good way to let off a little excess steam. Love, Mom
Hi Julirae! My mom gave me your blog address. I'm so glad you guys are into blogging - it's such a good way to keep up with the fam.
I'm glad to hear that little Dawniella is doing better. Sounds like you guys had quite a scare.
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