Claire and Hospital visit #2

Poor Claire has had bronchiolitis (what is bronchiolitis? info) for a couple of weeks now.  We were at the ER and doctor last week and we thought we had it under control with treatment.  However, Saturday she started to get bad again and Friday night I had her sleep with me (well, we didn't really sleep) and she struggled to breathe all night.  We gave her three breathing treatments but they weren't doing any good.  I took her into the doctor Saturday morning and they gave her one extra-strength treatment with "added" ingredients and then another regular treatment back to back and she didn't sound any better and her stomach was still retracting.  However, her oxygen levels rose so the doc sent us home to try to keep her stable with breathing treatments.  This was of course right before Connor's b-day party.  So we went home, tried to have a birthday party (which looking back now I don't remember much of it b/c I was in a panic about Claire's condition-it was like a series of automatic motions).   When Claire woke up from her nap, her breathing was rapid, her stomach was retracting and she was really working to breathe.  She also was very lethargic and as we gave her a treatment and usually she screams and squirms.  We called doc, who had us admit her to the hospital. 

We had an AMAZING Dr. in the hospital.  She plopped herself up on the counter, sat criss cross applesauce, gave her pager to the nurse and closed the door to giver us her full attention.  She took Claire out to the desk area to help her "work" and answer phone calls from the ER that she was getting.  She was simply amazing.  As soon as Claire's steroid and breathing treatments kicked in, they were prepared to send us home but she wasn't able to make it long enough between treatments to they decided to keep her overnight to monitor her oxygen levels and deliver more frequent breathing treatments (every 3 hours).  She was a CRAZY girl on steroids...it was so freaky. But, I am not complaining because she slowly got better, increasing her time to 4 hours between treatments.  We were released Sunday afternoon. Although I had to have my mom come up there with her because Connor had another birthday party I had to be at!  The nurses, doctors and respiratory therapists were amazing!  I am so thankful that Claire was sick with something that required a small amount of time in the hospital.  There were many sick children there when we were and I can't imagine what their parents were going through.  My heart goes out to them all and I pray for them to get better. 

Apparently God thought that the circus and two birthday parties were not all I could handle in one weekend, so He decided to throw in a hospital visit, just to keep me grounded.  :)

OH ya, almost forgot, I had to sleep IN the crib with Claire. Yes, I said IN, not next to. I tried to rock her to sleep and put her in there but she was not having it.  So, finally, exhausted from no sleep the night before, I just climbed in and pulled the other side up and was in for the long run.  Comfy?  NO way!  But my baby girl slept and she needed it, so whatever it takes as a momma to take care of my babies!  So happy to have her home.  She is doing TONS better! So thankful!  Thank you to all my friends and family who either helped us out or offered to help us out this weekend.  We really appreciate you all!

This is not Bear, this is a picture of a little guy that had the same sickness as Claire, this is just to show you the bed that we slept in together. 

Poor Bear right before we took her to the hospital