Hospital Hotel

As any mother knows, there's nothing worse than a sick baby. That look of misery in their eyes...Their inability to tell you where or what hurts...Waking up in the middle of the night with coughing fits...Our little Sophie was not lucky enough to avoid this vicious cycle this winter. We were treating her typical cold symptoms for about a week when she woke up from a nap sounding like Darth Vader. I expected at any moment for the words "Mommy...I am your daughter" to come out of her mouth. Although she sounded just terrible I didn't want to be that mom. You know, the one that calls the doctor for every sneeze, fever or paper cut. We decided to give it 24 hours with a vaporizer on her before we made a move. But when things weren't any better the next morning, we called the doctor. After about 10 seconds of listening to her on the phone, he sent us to the emergency room. Well, Daddy thought this was no big deal and decided to take a liesurely shower and piddle around the house while I got more and more angry. "It's no big deal. I had things I wanted to do today." No big deal? EMERGENCY ROOM. Clearly he didn't understand what I had said. Maybe I stuttered the first time. Finally, he got his butt in gear and we were on our way. After registering, waiting to get an ED room, and waiting in the ED room for her to be examined, our little bubby was getting a bit irritated.

After looking, listening and poking, they brought in a breathing treatment. Sophie's breathing problems had been narrowed down to asthma or bronchiolitis. It was quite a bit of a struggle to get her inside the contraption, but she was so brave.

After another hour, no improvement could be heard after the albuterol, so the verdict was made that it was bronchiolitis, which incidentally just has to run its course, and we were set to be discharaged. While the paperwork was being compiled, Sophie finally got to take a nap on Mommy's lap. Poor thing was so exhausted. That's where the real fun began. This is a pulse oximeter (or 'pole sox' as I thought they were saying for a while) which reads levels of oxygen saturation.

Normal levels are between 91 and 101. Sophie's levels, when awake were in the mid nineties. Once she fell asleep, however, they dipped all the way to 77. Our emancipation was quickly curbed and we were admitted for Sophie's first hospital stay. Aside from the milk Mommy had packed in her diaper bag and some life-saving cheerios, Sophie hadn't eaten all day. The first thing we did once we got our room was to order room service.
We had to miss Sophie's cousin's dance performance that afternoon due to our adventure, so on their way home, Aunt Michelle and Brooke and Tara stopped by to visit.

Because of Sophie's respiratory issues, the crib was propped at an angle at the head for ease of breathing. Therefore, they had to take some added precautions to keep Sophie contained at times when we were out of the room or sleeping. Plastic sheets hung down from the canopy above the crib to keep her contained. It was reminiscent of both John Travolta's 'Boy in the Bubble' and many jail visitor scenes I have seen in movies. We decided to be a little silly and play with it so she wouldn't be scared.Sophie's congestion was taking a form too thick to be extracted by a regular suction bulb. She had to be vaccuumed out with a horrible contraption attached to the wall. After staying the night with oxygen saturation levels staying in good ranges, the only obstacle remaining was being able to suction her with a bulb at home. With the help of saline drops, it took three more days to get us out of the hospital and back home. We couldn't let her down to crawl around on the floor, so when she wasn't in the crib, she was on one of our laps or in our arms. After a while, you couldn't even tell that she had been sick. Mommy stayed with Sophie all day and night, but the highlight of her day was always when Daddy came by after work to eat dinner with us.

We were finally released a week before Sophie's birthday. Next Up...Sophie turns 1 and big news!!