The word spread quickly through family and friends of BooBoo's hospitalization and prayer groups from various churches and people who we have never met were praying for BooBoo's life. It amazes me that people I don't even know would be interceding on behalf of our sweet baby boy. The note above was attached to a blanket that was made for BooBoo while people prayed for him. Wow! We also received a note in the mail from Deacons at our church who had been praying for him as well.
We spent the week of Thanksgiving traveling first to my parent's for Brendan (my little brother) and Sarah's engagement, then to Granny and Big Daddy's house in Austin, and then back to my parent's house. Sounds a bit crazy for our family of four, but we just love spending time with our families!
On Saturday, November 26th, we were hanging out at my parent's house that evening. Both kids had a cough and a runny nose and I had been feeling under the weather for a few days, but neither was running a fever. I noticed some subtle changes in BooBoo's breathing. It reminded me of the video I had seen of BooBoo soon after birth when he was in acute respiratory distress. He was breathing quickly, he was retracting (sides pulling in from working hard to breath), his nostrils were flaring, and he was audibly wheezing. He had also skipped a feeding, and wasn't interested in eating, which never happens. My Aunt Danielle was in town and suggested I look up the warning signs for RSV a few days earlier, just to be aware of them since it was RSV season. He was showing a lot of the signs of RSV. We called his pediatrician's nurse on call and she suggested we call 911. We thought this was a bit drastic, since he wasn't blue. I know that a child's breathing can quickly go from struggling a bit to breath to not breathing all together. We did as she said and were whisked off to St. Luke's in the Woodlands. During the ambulance ride, he was given a breathing treatment that really improved his breathing and opened up his airways.
RSV can be as mild as a common cold in adults and children, but can be dangerous in infants. The warning signs of RSV in infants (from the MayoClinic and WebMD websites) include: congested or runny nose, dry cough, low-grade fever, wheezing, rapid breathing, bluish skin color (due to lack of oxygen), decreased interest in surroundings, listelesness & sleepiness, poor feeding, apnea
The first RSV test in the ER came back negative, which we found out later can happen with the quick RSV test. The longer test that takes a few days is more accurate. The doctor admitted us only because BooBoo wasn't eating well and was dehydrated. We stayed for one night and he continued to receive breathing treatments, but by the next afternoon his breathing was only becoming more labored. The respiratory therapist was late coming to our room to give him his treatment and BooBoo was in respiratory distress again and worse this time. The doctor called Texas Children's downtown and organized Kangaroo Care to transfer him to their ICU. We then had 2 nurses and a tech in our room working on BooBoo to help support his breathing. They hooked him up to a c-pap machine, which helped push the air into the lungs so that he didn't have to work as hard to breath. They also pushed over 110cc's of syringes of saline into his IV to quickly hydrate him and they placed a feeding tube.
He was 7 weeks old when he got sick, but his corrected age (taking his prematurity into consideration) was 3 weeks old, so they were able to put him back in the NICU at Texas Children's. From the medical staff and treatment, to the Ronald McDonald House, and the Milk Bank, our care at Texas Children's was amazing. They first ran tests for sepsis and the longer RSV test. The quick RSV test came back negative for the third time, so they started treating him for sepsis while they waited for the longer RSV test to come back. I had been nursing him up until this point and Texas Children's has amazing supports for breastfed babies through the Milk Bank. They made it so easy to get my breastmilk to him. I would drop off my milk at the Milk Bank and they refrigerated and stored my milk until BooBoo's nurse would order a feeding. They really encouraged breastfeeding because it is proven so beneficial for babies. BooBoo receiving my breastmilk was empowering for me (since there wasn't much I could physically do for him) and the antibodies it provided were life-saving during his illness.
"Breast milk has disease-fighting cells called antibodies that help protect infants from germs, illness, and even Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Breast feeding is linked to lower risk of various health problems for babies, including: ear infections, stomach viruses, respiratory viruses, atopic dermatis, asthma, obesity, Type 1 and 2 diabetes, childhood leukemia..." (Women'sHealth.gov)
Another great resource at Texas Children's for families of children and babies in the ICU and NICU is the Ronald McDonald House. It's like walking into a house within the hospital. It has a living room with a television, a stocked kitchen that always had food in it, computers, and a quiet room. There were volunteers there throughout the day and they offered rooms to sleep in. Every day we would sign up to sleep in the rooms and in the afternoons we could sign up to nap. I remember the morning after our first night, the night we transferred, I walked into the living area and saw breakfast laid out for us. I felt overwhelming relief and gratitude.
For those first few days at Texas Children's we just waited, hoped, and prayed that this was going to be the worst of it. Every illness peaks at it's worse at some point and we were hoping that it wasn't going to get any worse. We prayed a handful of verses over BooBoo, but this one stuck out to me:
"I will go before you and level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name." Isaiah 45:2-3
God was fighting for BooBoo all along. God wasn't on the sideline cheering him on, He was doing the fighting. He was revealing to all of us that He is God! After a few days BooBoo began to improve. He quickly started showing signs of getting better! He came off the c-pap machine, and was just taking a small amount of oxygen through the nasal cannula. Soon after that he was able to eat from a bottle, and then was able to nurse. The sepsis test came back negative and the long RSV test came back positive. They were able to stop the heavy antibiotics he was on. It was absolutely amazing to see him struggling to breath one hour to breathing almost normally the next. God has been so good to us and continues to amaze us. Our cup overflows.
so thankful for each prayer offered up for precious rory! love to you all.
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