Well, I figure there is no better way to begin a family blog then to tell of a hiccup in our family. Reese recently had to visit the hospital with a severe pneumonia. It was a pretty scary thing at first, but she slowly began to show improvement. She has been sick most of the month of March and on the 20th she developed a high fever of 105. It was a Sunday morning and she just went downhill from there.
We took her to see Dr. Baker (he is our family doctor) on Tuesday morning. Well, we ended up seeing a PA student and he ran a test for RSV. I was pretty sure she had it and there isn't much you can do for it. The test came back negative and he figured she had some kind of virus. He told us to do the Tylenol and Motrin thing to keep the temp down and if she wasn't improving then to come back in on Friday. The next 3 days were rough. So on Friday morning Jeremy and I decided to take her back in. She was getting worse so they checked her oxygen and it between 77-83. They like it to be above 90. Dr. Baker came in and listened to her lungs and said he was pretty sure she had pneumonia and she probably needed to go to the hospital. Reese didn't eat or drink anything for almost a week. He also ordered a chest x-ray to confirm the diagnosis.
Melissa and Reese waiting for the IV and X-rays
This is Reese after she got her IV. The nurse poked her foot twice and another nurse finally got it in her hand. She was so sick!
We watched Shrek 3 & 4 over and over and over and over...........you get the idea.
Her oxygen was so low when we got there that she had to have a canula up her nose and a mask on top of that. She was so out of it that she only fought it for a minute.
Uncle Aaron, Aunt Brittany, and Brynn came to visit and brought this cute bear that sings. It was the first smile we got out of her in a long time when she heard it sing.
Brooklyn and Piper got to visit Reese a couple of times. They would have stayed at the hospital with us if we had let them. They had a fun time with their baby sis. They got her to do things that the nurses couldn't.
Reese and Stockton are such cute little buddies. As Reese started to feel a little better she wanted Stockton to lay beside her in her bed. They were so cute together. I had gone home one night while Jeremy stayed with Reese in the hospital and she kept asking for Stockton. I love this picture of their hands!
Reese was started on antibiotics through her IV and was kept on oxygen the whole time. On Tuesday, March 30th Dr. Baker started her on some steroids. We were there for a total of 5 days....5 long days(she was there from March 25- March 30).
She had to have breathing treatments, steroids, antibiotics, CPT (a respiratory thereapy), and oxygen. The day we were getting ready to go home she had a hard time taking the steroids and threw up all over the bed. She had to go home on oxygen and I had nightmares in the hospital about taking her home before she was ready. The pediatric floor was overflowing with children mostly with RSV, but she had good nurses who took really good care of her. I am so thankful for modern medicine! She had it so bad that Dr. Baker told us that if she didn't get antibiotics she would have died within a week. I am so grateful that she is showing improvement each and every day. It will take about 6 weeks for the pneumonia to be gone, but we are so thankful we have her and she gets back to the sweet but sassy little Reese every day :)
