Weekend Getaway?

On Friday, even while at the park on the beautiful day I just posted about, Jillian had a cough. It was pretty consistent, but seemed like it was probably one of those annoying coughs. We headed home for naps, but Jillian coughed herself awake pretty early. She seemed to be ok though...a bit later my mom came to get both girls, so I could go to my friend, Shelley's, rehearsal dinner. I told mom that I would call when it was over to make sure Jillian was sleeping ok, and if not I would come get her. Instead, my mom called me in the middle of the dinner. I knew that she must be concerned. She said Jillian kept coughing, seemed to be having a hard time catching her breath, and just wanted to sleep, but couldn't. I had her try to see if her chest was sinking when she breathed, but she didn't think so. I told her that the dinner was almost over and I would head over to check on her. A few minutes later, as I am toasting my good friend, I felt my phone buzz in my hand, then see Neal check his phone, that was also buzzing, from the corner of my eye. I finished talking and knew I had to leave.

I got to mom's and Jillian was in pretty bad shape. Her little heart was racing. Her chest was now sinking and her tummy was sticking out every time she breathed. She just kept crying to "go nigh-nigh" and I couldn't get her comfortable. I called Neal (who was in a separate car) and asked him to run by the house to bring me non-rehearsal dinner clothes so we could head to Cook's. When we checked in, the nurse asked why we were there, and I told him "She is having trouble breathing" He listened to her for barely any time and said "Yep!" and had us wait very briefly to then be sent to triage. They quickly figured out that her oxygen level was too low and had us back into a room even more quickly. Now, this is the third time Miss Jillian has asked for a weekend trip to Cook's ER and this was by far the quickest experience - they even brought the payment people to us! (How kind! :)) I laughed with the lady telling her that I was trying to not let their urgentness freak me out too much.

Throughout the night (starting about 10pm and lasting until we were admitted at about 3am) Jillian was given a breathing treatment, which meant I was physically restraining her because she hated it and then when that did not seem to work, they put her on oxygen. She was given an IV to give her fluids, they did blood work, and a chest X-ray to look for pneumonia. Throughout this time, Jillian really was a trooper. She hated the parts that made sense for her to hate and she would stand up and say "All done!" complete with the hand signs and then ask to go to the car, but all in all, it was the middle of the night and she was sick. I was really proud of her.

The doctor didn't see pneumonia on the x-ray but thought that it might be found when they could look further, so she put her on antibiotics, and said we would be admitted since her oxygen was still low.

We finally got to our room around 3 am, and we were all beat. Neal luckily was coherent enough to answer the nurses questions while I was passed out on the couch. The next day included more breathing treatments (which she continued her dislike for), further confirmation that she did not have pneumonia (so removal of the antibiotics) and further testing - this time for RSV and the flu. She was doing better, but was still on oxygen, so we knew we would be there a bit longer, which meant I had to make a decision about my friend's wedding. I was a wreck. Luckily, our kind respiratory therapist listened to me blubber about how I couldn't imagine missing Shelley's wedding and she convinced me that I needed to go. So, I did. Neal stayed with Jillian and my parents came up to join him. Throughout this time, Jillian kept declaring that she was "All done!" And telling us to "go bye-bye in the car" and when she would see her shoes, she would get so excited! I also tried not to snicker when the nurses would come in, they were so kind and would say "Jillian, can I take your temperature." And she would look down sheepishly and say "No, thank you." The nurses tried so hard to be Jillian's friend, she just really wasn't interested if they were in there to do any sort of prodding!

Luckily, Cooks has some good TV, and we got to watch Tinkerbell about 11 times. She even requested it Friday night, I guess she remembered watching it back in January. Yikes - your toddler should NOT know the Children's hospital TV line-up. Luckily, Neal recently got an iPad for work, so when he ran home for a shower, he downloaded some Sesame Street episodes too.

While I was gone to Shelley's wedding, we learned that she did not have RSV or the flu, but again, she still had to stay because of her oxygen levels. Luckily, that night, she was doing better and they let her sleep without oxygen - and she did great! The next morning, we talked to the doctor, who diagnosed her with a virus and told us we would just need to make sure she had an inhaler every few hours until her cough goes away. So, it was an altogether pretty scary and stressful weekend that wore us all out, but in the end, we got our little girl well taken care of and we were home late Sunday afternoon (and my sweet friend is now Miss Shelley Ford!). Praise God!

Sunday morning with no oxygen tubes - yeah!
Hospitals aren't all bad - did you read how much Tinkerbell and Elmo this girl got to watch? Plus, mom didn't even care that she had a constant diet of a mix of Fruit Loops and Trix. I had been trying to hide these cereals from my girls, but that was thrown out the window this weekend and I was just excited she would eat. She took every opportunity to ask for her "snack" and show off her love of naming colors!

Sunday morning, the nurses unhooked us from all the machines so she could go walk and we were given permission to go to the playroom, so we turned off the 10th run of Tinkerbell and headed down to play. Glad we did, because while we were there, the doctor came to visit us and at the end of filling us in on her condition, he told us they made a mistake and that she shouldn't be in there b/c she has a virus. I felt kind of bad, but then was just excited that we all got to escape and have a little fun.

Basketball with Daddy
Peek-a-boo!
Having a little fun with mama's phone

We headed back to the room for a little more TV, gave Jillian a bath, and got all of our stuff packed up and waited and waited to see the Respiratory therapist to learn how to use the inhaler. Jillian was more than ready! Finally we got our walking papers, and there was no one happier than this little girl! She got her new baby that Gigi brought to her to make her feel better, my purse, and the books Daddy brought up to her and was standing at the door tapping her little toes (that finally had those shoes on!!)

Bye-Bye!!

At home, Jillian is doing great - she is sleeping well and is acting like her old self. She still has a pretty gross cough, but that is what they said to expect. She is getting used to her inhaler. Even last night, Neal gave it to her by himself and he reported that she was actually laughing with him while he did it. Meredith told him "Daddy, when Mommy does it, she cries!" She was up and down with how she felt about it today, so I am hoping she will get to the point where she can have fun with it every time, but if not, who can blame her!

We are so blessed that we had so many people praying for her and for us - even down to the sweet second graders that we teach on Sundays, Meredith's soccer team, and Meredith's Sunday School class. It was so abundantly felt and we are just thankful for our friends and family and of course to God's hand in healing Jillian - now on to getting ready for this girly to turn 2!