Our Boy is Home

Well....that was not something I'd like to repeat anytime soon. But what matters most is that Liam is home and on the mend. I've typed out a few of the details of the past few days at the bottom of this post. Like I've said before this blog also acts as my personal journal (and I will print the whole darn thing one day) so it's for posterity!

At home, safe in Mummy's arms.
Loving his puppy.

The hospital room was a tad chilly, hence the coat!

Keith administering the ventalin treatment. We are to do them at home now for 10 days.

He was such a trooper!

On Dec 24th he started with what seemed like an innocent cold which was probably passed along from his older brothers. Each day the cold got just a little worse. Mainly it was the coughing fits that really concerned us. We researched our books and the internet to find that there is nothing to be done for a cold in an infant except humidifier, saline nose drops and lots of TLC. On Dec 27th we decided to take Liam to the walk-in clinic to have him evaluated since his chest sounded a little raspy. The doctor there (with whom I was not impressed) basically told us it was a cold and layed a guilt trip on me for not breast-feeding. Not a fun experience but we were relieved and went our merry way. The night of the 27th Liam grew dramatically worse. He would not settle down and was coughing to the point of gagging and we would tell he was in pain from a raw throat. It just was heart breaking but beyond that really frightening. We decided to call the nurses 24 hour hotline to see what we should do! After relaying all his symptoms to her she told us to get to ER to be assessed right away. So we made one of those dreaded 'middle of the night' phone calls to Keith's brother (THANK YOU MURRAY!!!!) who rushed over to stay with our other children (who were blissfully unaware of any of this night time drama) so we could go to the hospital. This was around 4:00 am.
We made the right decision for sure as we were fast tracked into ER with no wait (unheard of!) and Liam had x-rays and a swab of his nose to test for RSV. The results for RSV proved negative and the pediatrician told us he had a very nasty virus that caused bronchiolitis (sp?) and pneumonia on one lung. And here we thought it was just a cold! We were so upset but at the same time very relieved we were in the hospital now where he could have the proper treatment. He was admitted to pediatrics and has been receiving ventalin, IV, oxygen and antibiotics. Through this entire experience our sweet baby has not fussed or been a cranky sort. Yes he screamed murder through the x-ray, IV and blood test but otherwise he smiles at the staff and basically has had the most lovely disposition. We are emotionally spent and at the same time so utterly grateful for the support of our friends, family. Keith is my hero...he stayed both nights with Liam and let me go home to sleep the night at home. The first time I had uninterrupted 8 hours of sleep since probably early summer and yes...it was fabulous!