One Sick Chick

Well we have been so fortunate that Betsy has never gotten sick. We always said that the four months she was in the hospital after birth should make up for any sickness she should ever have! Well, I suppose it was inevitable. Betsy finally got sick.

Monday she developed a cough and runny nose. She has had a bit of a chest cold before which was easily treated with a humidifier and plenty of liquids. By Tuesday her cough seemed worse. She was breathing very heavy and that evening she developed a fever up to 101.2. This was scary for us since Betsy has never had fever. She was obviously not her little bubbly self and was pretty cranky. She just did not feel good. By 6:00 in the evening she had fallen asleep. I called her pediatrician and while awaiting a call back Betsy woke up and seemed to have a second wind. She was playing a little and we even shared a popsicle.

When the pediatrician called me back she could hear Betsy playing in the background. She said since Betsy wasn't lethargic it wasn't necessary to take her to the emergency room but she wanted to see her first thing in the morning to make sure it wasn't something serious. Tuesday night before bed Betsy's fever had gone down a little but was still at 99.8. I dressed her lightly and put her to bed. She coughed and fussed until 11 pm. I was just going to pick her up and hold her but she was asleep so I didn't want to disturb her or make things worse. I took her temp again and gave her another dose of Tylenol. She slept peacefully after that all the way up to almost 9 am Wednesday morning.

I loaded her up and took her to the doctor. I felt so sorry for her because she wanted so back to play and laugh but just didn't feel good at all. She did nothing but lay on my shoulder and kinda whine. My heart just broke. It sucks when your baby is sick and you are so helpless.

First thing the doctor tested her for was RSV. As a preemie, RSV is a very dangerous thing to have and she was vaccinated for it last year. Unfortunately she didn't meet standards for qualification this year and didn't get the shot. Anyway, her RSV came back negative (thank you God) and also her flu test came back negative. Her pediatrician checked her over and found she had a double ear infection! Are you kidding me!?! One of my ultimate fears for Betsy was catching an ear infection and I felt I did everything to prevent one. No laying down to drink, elevated bed, covering ears everytime we are outside. Who knows how she got it but she got it. Yuck.

The next thing she did was check her pulse ox. Betsy was only saturating between 90 and 92 percent on room air. Not so good. She got a breathing treatment with albuterol and Pulmicort and like the snap of my fingers she felt better. I imagine that felt really good and helped her breath tremendously. She referred me to the radiology clinic to get Betsy a chest x-ray. She didn't suspect pneumonia but just wanted to make sure that she didn't have it and we needed to be treating her more aggressively.

Before we left the office Betsy got an antibiotic shot to help with the ear infections. So now I have a baby girl who already doesn't feel so hot who just got stuck with a big needle. Ugh...could she please just catch a break.

Next we went to get a chest x-ray. That wasn't much better. She was very cooperative and sat very still but she was scared and she cried and reached out for me the entire time. I was almost in tears. If this girl was old enough to go get ice cream I would have bought her 10 scoops.

So, end result, Betsy does NOT have pneumonia. She does have bronchitis and there was a hazy spot on her lung that they suspect may be the beginning stages of pneumonia. The medications that the doctor gave me will take care of all of this and it won't get worse. Betsy has to take two breathing treatments a day and then an antibiotic.

Today, Thursday, Betsy seems to be feeling better. This antibiotic did wonders for her and she is ALMOST back to her normal self. She is a little crankier than usual and she hasn't been eating very well. You can just look in her eyes and tell she isn't herself.

So now I know what it's like to really have a sick kiddo. I know it would happen eventually but I sure thought we would have a "free ride" card after all we have been through and that Betsy would just magically never get sick. Hahaha..I'm sure God is laughing at that!

Here is a picture of Betsy seeing her Get Well balloons and teddy bear from her Grammy and Grampy. They were delivered while she was napping and she was happy to discover them!



This is my sweet baby receiving her breathing treatment. She is such a good girl and just sits so nicely during her treatment.