in the hospital

11 days ago we went somewhere we did not plan,
somewhere we thought we wouldn't see again for a long time.
We went to the hospital with a sick little girl.

We had been fighting off colds and coughs for a few weeks.

Remember all those friends and family we saw...

we picked up all the germs we could apparently

and it was just too much for the girls little immune systems.

18 hours after Nolia was admitted to the hospital with bacterial pneumonia,

her sister followed along and was admitted as well.

It was twice the iv's, twice the blood work, twice the x-rays, twice the vital checks, twice the hospital food, twice the crying and twice the healing.

The paramedics, doctors, nurses & everyone at the hospital were wonderful.

They let Paul and the boys camp out in the hospital parking lot while we were there.

Can you see them?

Within one dose of antibiotics they girls were feeling SO much better.

Their fever never came back, they never needed O2 and were only on fluids for one night for good measure.

We did however have to stay admitted until we received the girls blood cultures, which took nearly 72 hours.

Which left us with lots of time to play!

We colored and covered our cups in stickers.

We played candy land & stuffed animals.

We watch cartoons & videos.

The boys came to visit everyday

and had fun riding the bikes around the little town and down to the beach.

It wasn't great but it wasn't horrible.

Our hospital stay included quite a few special dates...

it was my birthday, followed by Vances 10th birthday & then mine and my husbands 15th anniversary.

We celebrated the best we could and praised God it was only as bad as it was.

It all felt so surreal, and even today it almost doesn't feel like it really happened.

But it did and we are so thankful to be feeling better and back to full health!

Thank you to all who prayed for our family and reached out with encouraging words.

So many of you have walked such a similar road and we are so blessed to share and connect through it.

let's clear things up

One of the things I can't stand about email, blogging, written communication, is that you sometimes have a hard time getting the true feelings across. Interpretation can be different to different people.

With that said.... I want to make sure that some of the things I said are clearly understood.

I WAS annoyed that we were at the hospital, I would much rather that my daughter WASN'T sick and didn't NEED to be in the hospital receiving oxygen. But I did not disagree that she NEEDED the oxygen. The nose tube was annoying but NEEDED.

I DO NOT think the staff was there to torture my daughter or any other kids... that is completely absurd. Most of the staff is there because they LOVE children and WANT to help them. There are a few hard and callused ones, but that happens in any profession. What I said was torture was the alarms that kept going off every few minutes that would startle, the babies and myself every time I began to nod off. It was like an alarm clock that went crazy. That WAS torture... not the staff... the inability to get any sleep because of being continually startled by a sudden noise.

The crying, screaming, hollering children were REAL, they were sad and upset, they were sick, they were in need. And I never implied that they were being tortured on purpose. Although, one could say that the poking and prodding {necessary or not} is torture to a little child and their parent. I DO believe that the staff was taking care of all of the children the best they could.

And as for the IV... IF my daughter truly need it... she would have had it. I would NEVER deny my child care that is needed. NEVER! I am NOT a doctor but I do have common sense and I ask questions... it WAS concluded by myself, my husband AND the nurse that Nolia did NOT need an IV. Some nurses just do what is protocol, for many reasons, I'm not going to get into that. So we had one nurse who said she had to be on an IV and once I calmly asked questions and presented my side of why I believed that she did not need an IV she checked with another RN who agreed that she did not need an IV. I did not turn down any tests, they did not ask to do anything, it was an answered prayer. They did an XRay of her chest and that was it.

As for all the people who were there to check out my daughter in the ER... it WAS annoying. It was one person after the other. And some of them were rude, and doing the exact same thing as the person 2 minutes before them. BUT i know it was a learning hospital and I do appreciate their interest in caring for my daughter. I was only stating that I was annoyed. Sometimes necessary things in life are annoying!

Breastfeeding IS what is best BUT if my daughter wasn't able to nurse well, because she couldn't breath {which wasn't the case} or if she was too sick to nurse or any other reason I would not have forced her to be only breastfed.

I was never mean to any of the staff, I never accused them of doing anything wrong. I asked questions, to learn, to understand and to help my daughter. THEY did go to school for this... not me and I know that.

The best thing that any of us can do is to educate ourselves, ask questions, have faith, be kind & pray! Doctors, nurses, and all of the staff ARE there to help, but it is our job to be our own or our childs advocate. To know, to understand and to work together with the staff.

Now I hope that clears a few things up! And thank you for those of you who left a comment, even in disagreement, without being attacking or hateful.

ahhhhhh.... now off to post the Random picture Challenge!

Oh Dear... my little girls

Thank you SO much for all of your prayers... it was so comforting to know prayers were being lifted to God from all over the world. I can not tell you how much it touches me and my family to know so many of you care so deeply for our family.

We are home now... we were discharged from the hospital yesterday afternoon and made it home just in time for the dinner crazies! Lucky for us Papa Jeff bought us Chipotle and I didn't have to worry about making dinner. I'm trying to catch up today and hopefully get so sleep. Up for 40 hours is TOO much for me. {grin}




:The Story:
it's long

After a tough night with Nolia... she was obviously uncomfortable, had a slight fever, a cough, a wheeze and was not sleeping soundly, I called the pedi first thing in the morning. He was out for the morning and couldn't see us until later that afternoon. I made the appointment for both girls because they are both sick, Nolia was just worse. We weighed and measured them {they are the SAME size... within 2 oz.} talked with the nurse a little bit and then waited for the pedi to come in. While we were waiting Nolia fell asleep so I laid her down on a chair on Ozzie's coat {I brought her in in the pouch} while I sat there and dressed Eliza. When the pedi walked in she was still sleeping and he started checker her out which woke her up and apparently started her because she began screaming. I couldn't pick her up yet because I was still trying to dress Eliza, he gave her 'sugar water' which PISSED her off. I laid Eliza down and picked Nolia up trying to calm her down but she was really mad {this is completely unlike her}. He told me that I had to calm her down so we could check her o2 levels so I started to nurse her and she quit crying right away. He did the o2 right then and it was 85%... which sent him in a flurry of action... getting oxygen into the room, instructing me to hold it up to her nose while I was feeding her and then calling squad. He told me to get someone to take the other kids now because squad was coming and they couldn't come with so if someone wasn't here to take them Nolia was going on her own. I was in complete shock... what the heck just happened. I mean I thought she was sick, not horrible, but sick, but I never thought that we'd be going to the hospital and by squad at that.

My amazing friend Shelly, who already had Grayson, Vance, Gavin and her own 3 kids rushed over to pick up Eliza and Ozzie so I could go with Nolia. She arrived seconds after the squad did. It was all such a rush, everyone else was so panicked it made me panic. Once I was in the ambulance I was able to calm down, call Paul, call my mom and start making arrangements. Nolia fell asleep in the ambulance.. it was 35 minutes down to Childrens hospital. They kept her on o2 {by just taping the tube to her car seat strap... which is MUCH better than what the hospital was about to do} and gave her a breathing treatment that did nothing because it was for asthma mainly. Paul met me in the ER and we began our 4 wait in the ER. They put a nasal o2 tube on her {which she HATED} and was checked out by NO LESS than 15 people. Like learning hospitals... not so much!

Meanwhile Shelly was making her way to us with Eliza because I knew I needed to be with both of them. They have never taken a bottle, I don't pump and they do so much better together. While in the ER they gave her a different kind of breathing treatment and it really seemed to work. She kept rubbing the o2 tube out of her nose so Paul and I let it stay out and see how she was doing. {she was on monitoring so we could see her o2 levels. She was holding her own at 92-97% so we had hope that we might be going home. Unfortunately the doctors didn't think so... she tested positive for Bronchiolitis which is caused by the RSV virus and they said that RSV can turn for the worst very easily and they wanted to keep watching her. They then told us that she would be admitted and Eliza wasn't able to stay. UM WHAT? That wasn't going to fly so after begging and pleading and lots of checking they said that Eliza could stay too. Thank goodness! Finally at about 10:30 we were admitted into a room upstairs. I did NOT want to stay there, I was feeling very bitter and upset. I didn't think Nolia was that sick, she had pulled out her o2 2 hours ago and was still on room air and holding her own just fine. We really thought about just leaving but didn't. What if she dropped low again... I would have felt horrible if we left and then had to bring her back.

At 1am they made her go back on o2 because they wanted her to stay above 93 and she was staying at 92 while sleeping. I was annoyed, I was alone, I was tired, I had no food or water, I had 2 sick babies to take care of and I just wanted to go home! Earlier I had already fought the battle of the IV and I was just worn out! IV was protocol... but she didn't need it. She was still eating wonderfully, her o2 actually went up to 97-100 while nursing, and an IV was just going to make her even more upset. So they agreed that they would leave it alone if I kept track of all of her feedings and weighed all of her diapers to make sure she was getting enough... WELL worth the extra effort! And she indeed was getting enough fluid. Oh the other deal with IV was that I wouldn't be allowed to nurse if she was on IV because they supplement through that. Tell me that is BETTER for her... ummm NO!

So I spent a long night alone with hourly checks and bells and alarms galore {this is pure torture... seriously... torture!}. There was a child next door that screamed ALL NIGHT... no exaggeration. The environment was really making me feel down. I spent a good 2 hours praying for the children there that night... I could hear so many cries, screams, yelling to stop, hollering for mama, it was so humbling. Here I was annoyed and whining about being there with my hardly sick daughters... one of which who was only on O2 and there were so many other children that were REALLY sick, children that were dying, it could have been so much worse.



If you have a moment, please pray for all of the sick children... there are so many... so many hurting children. And they need our prayers, their parents need our prayers, and the doctors need our prayers.



So now we are home... Nolia and Eliza are both still sick. Nolia is on the better half now and Eliza is probably peaking right now and should be getting better soon. Please pray that Eliza doesn't get worse and we don't have to repeat this all over again! Mama just can't do that!!!!!

The doctor at the ER did say that Nolia was most likely having trouble getting enough O2 because of being premature... her airways were smaller when she was born because they didn't have more time. Just another piece to throw on the pile of accident crap!

I am sorry that the winner hasn't been announce... we are picking today and will announce tomorrow at the latest!

and don't forget Random picture challenge tomorrow! {grin}

Urgent Prayer

Hi, everyone. This is Shelly, Brittany's friend.

We are requesting urgent prayer on their behalf for Nolia. Brittany rode with her in an ambulance a few minutes to the local hospital due to a decreased oxygen level in her lungs. Nolia has had a cold for a few days, but developed a fever and wheezing last night.

Please pray that Brittany and Paul will have peace, that Nolia will be calm, that Brittany will be able to continue to breastfeed her through the treatment, and that unnecessary procedures will be avoided.

Thank you all for your support. I will update you when I can.

Sick Day...

What do you do when you are sick... your babies are sick... and you don't feel like getting out of bed??? You take pictures and tell the kids the weigh themselves. :)

Grayson 69lbs.
Vance 46lbs.
Gavin 41lbs.
Ozzie 231/2lbs.

That's 179.5lbs. of kids! To think I carried them all in my belly at one time. I do have to mention... I think they are the cutest lil' boys I've ever seen... I know I'm a bit biased but really here... I think Paul and I make some dang cute lil' men!

more sick day pictures... me just up from my nap with my babies... O.Z. drinking his echinachia tea daddy made him and my sleeping babies. I love sleeping babies. :)

Love him!

Looking at these pictures... you see a cute, adorable, sweet, silly & fun little boy... BUT... I feel for his future wife... oh boy can this kid whine when he's sick. He moans, cries, gags and gets just plain annoying. Then when he's all better he smiles and hugs you and makes you forget just how much a pain in the rear he was the day before. That's why I love him... he's just the way he is and he fits just perfect!

I'm glad he was only sick for one day... :)

 

Just one...

Vance had to go back to the doc again yesterday because his cough was so bad. It's just a virus so nothing we can do but he's contagious so we can't do anything with anyone so I decided to take them up to the park. It was an after thought but I did have my camera. However after a few shots it went dead... The boys were having a blast on the tunnel slides. I wish my batteries hadn't been dead! Oh well there is always tomorrow.

Grrr Grumps

This is what we call the 'Vance-a-tude'. I asked him if I could take a few picture of him and he said yes but once I started taking pictures he wasn't too excited. I should have known better... We've all been fighting off the bodyache, headache flu the past couple days. Needless to say I only took a few and even though he isn't smiling in ANY of them I thought I would share the face I see so often. He's lucky he's so cute!