Oh, What A Night...

Yesterday morning, I noticed that JJ had a little cough. Nothing major - with his now chronic stuffy nose, I assumed it was from post-nasal drip, but it still raised some concern. He seemed to be feeling okay, so I decided not to panic over it.

This is the part where I'll say what I wish I had realized yesterday: I should have listened to my motherly instinct and gotten it checked out RIGHT THEN.

Since JJ seemed to be feeling okay, at 5 o'clock, we packed up and headed to Nana's. He spent the evening there while Jerry and I attended the January Birthday Bash at Sarah and Justin's (January birthdays represent! LOL!) He seemed fine when we dropped him off, and just as fine when we returned three hours later to pick him up.

As I was feeding him after we got home, I noticed that he was having some difficulty breathing. Another "no big deal," it wasn't uncommon for him to have stuffiness when eating. As I started to suck the stuff out of his nose, he began to cry and cough. LOUDLY. He coughed so hard that he vomited, cried LOUDLY some more, and coughed persistently. I tried to soothe him, but by the time Jerry called the pediatrician and left a message, JJ was frantic and I knew we needed to get to an ER. Pronto.

We were in the car and out of the driveway in about 30 seconds. It was 11:00 p.m. Although it seemed like it took years, we pulled into Chippenham Hospital's parking lot eighteen minutes later (I remember staring at the clock in the car). JJ had vomited again in the car and was pretty much asleep by the time we got there. I was in my striped pajamas, also covered in vomit, but I didn't care. The only thing that mattered in the world was JJ.

We were immediately triaged and whisked away the Pediatric ER, which was brightly decorated with yellow fish and rainbow seahorses. I held JJ close to me and prayed as we walked back. JJ was feeling better by the time we were ushered into our room, and after the few minutes of sleep he got in the car.

A nurse finally came in after another 30 minutes and took a look at JJ to make sure he wasn't in true respiratory distress. His lungs were clear, so she left and we waited some more for the pediatrician to come in.

Around 1 a.m., the doctor finally came in and took a look over JJ. Both of his ears were infected (again or still? I haven’t decided), but his lungs were clear. She concluded that he has Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), which has caused bronchiolitis (http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/lung/rsv.html). It’s basically a super-charged cold that has settled in his bronchial air ways, kind of like baby bronchitis. I later learned that this is very common with C-Section babies, especially those who go to day care; although I don’t think he caught this one from daycare… I’m fairly sure he caught it from me. Basically, we’re now the proud parents of a very sick kid.

From onset of symptoms, the worst of the infection happens on day 2 (which is today) and by day four; the disease is no longer contagious. The doctor warned that JJ could be coughing for three whole weeks. Happy Birthday to me.

The doctor decided that JJ wasn’t sick enough to keep him in the hospital but made sure that we were aware of the circumstances in which we need to bring him back. I was reassured that he wouldn’t suffocate himself in his sleep, and that he would let us know if he was in serious distress. He slept in his car seat last night, which seemed to help a lot with his breathing, and I slept (or, at least, pretended to sleep) on the sofa next to him. We got to bed around 2 and he slept until 8, with intermittent bouts of coughing all night. It was a rough one.

JJ’s cough has now transformed into a raspy bark, very similar to the type of cough I have had for over a week. We’re both down for the count today. We’ve had lots of cuddle time, sleepy time on the sofa, and he’s now comfortably sleeping in the swing. The only thing we can do for his cough and cold is the run the humidifier, force fluids, and pray that he gets over this one quickly and stays well long enough for us to regain our sanity.

We need to be sane. Desperately.