Illnesses have hit our family...

So in a previous post, I said something about us being relatively healthy aside from a few colds here and there. Well, it has all changed in the last week, especially the last few days. Before the New Year, Cayden had a cold and Bryce had a dry cough. After the new year, Scott caught some sort of flu bug. Then Cayley caught what sounded like Cayden's cold. Then Bryce seemed to have caught it as well. Now Aleah seems to be catching it as well. However, Bryce (and Aleah) are more severe than "just a cold".

On Friday, I got home from work, and one of the babysitters for the day told me that Bryce did not have a good day. He was fussy and not happy. I thought, "Oh, he must be catching the cold that is going around our house." Saturday it seemed to have gotten worse, and he was drinking less than half of what he normally does. Sunday he got a little worse and his chest was rattling as he breathed. I called a nurse friend of mine and asked her what she thought I should do. She had me count his breaths per minute, which in my rough calculations were close to 100 breaths per minute. I called the on-call pediatrician at the hospital and explained Bryce's symptoms to him, and he said to bring him to the Emergency Room. We were brought right into the ER, but stayed there for about 4 hours while they ran some tests and did some X-rays. 11:00 pm Sunday, Bryce was admitted to the hospital

Bryce was tested for RSV and influenza A and B, all came back negative. From his chest X-rays, his lungs were wet, but it is not pneumonia. So Scott spent Sunday night in the hospital with Bryce, and I came back to the house to be with the other three children (my parents also stayed with me to help with everything). Today (Monday), I told Scott when he saw the doctor to tell him that Aleah sounded a lot like Bryce, but not as severe. So the doctor squeezed Aleah into his schedule (he really didn't have any openings until February). She had all of the same tests and x-rays done as Bryce. Same results as Bryce as well, just not quite as severe. He gave us some antibiotics for her and sent us home.

I got to spend some time with Bryce this afternoon, while Scott came back to the house to shower and spend some time with Cayden. Here is Bryce resting peacefully. (he is receiving continuous oxygen, antibiotics, nebulizer treatments, and I don't know what else for sure.)



Scott is again spending tonight with Bryce, and I am home with our other 3 kids (and my parents are spending the night with us again to help out). Through this mess, Bryce is getting better, but they wanted to keep him again tonight to continue monitoring him. When they take him off the oxygen, the level of the oxygen in his blood drops to a level that they are not happy with. (At least that is how I understand things and know how to explain it). We hope he can come home tomorrow. But I was told it all depends on how he reacts when they take him off of the oxygen.

I was worried how Cayden would deal with this as I was gone in the hospital for 8 weeks this past summer. Cayden is handling it pretty well. However, tonight he has asked me a couple of times when does Brycey get to come home? He is ready for everyone to be back in his house again.