Bronchiolitis, you suck

HI friends,


A part 2 to our "awesome" thanksgiving adventure, lol!


After our ER visit, Rowan was "diagnosed" with croup. We were set up with a follow up appointment the next morning. Rowan was still not well. She was pale, pink around her eyes and just didn't seem like her cheerful self. We were drilled in the ER to check if she was turning blue/labored breathing, so then came the obsession of staring at her, making sure nothing was wrong. It was beyond stressful. The thing that frightened me so much was her little chest kept caving. Those are called retractions and they are bad. It means she isn't getting enough air in her airways so her body was working overtime to help to breathe. If no interventions take place, she could lose oxygen and go into distress. She kept doing that in the morning, despite our treatments, etc. The doctor checking her, Dr. Sanchez, was very concerned. I literally felt like I was going to barf and cry at the same time.

He quickly checked her out, asked us questions, and immediately started the breathing treatment of abuterol and she also drank an oral steroid as well. Rowan HATED the breathing treatment. It was basically a machine with a mask hooked up, which one of us had to hold to her face. She screamed, cried, howled, kicked, you name it. I literally felt my heart ripped in 2 seeing her that way. After the treatment, she was much better. Dr. Sanchez said it DEFINITELY wasn't croup, but  bronchiolitis. Basically, its a cold gone very bad. It constricts their airways so babies struggle with breathing. There isn't any medications, since its a virus. Its treated with breathing treatments and time (UGH). What is very scary is breathing distress, and a small percentage are hospitalized. It can also turn into pneumonia. Preemies are extra succeptible to getting it, because their lungs not being fully developed at birth. This is where it was VERY apparent of Rowan's premature birth. SHe was having  much harder time because of her preemie lungs. We were sent home with that machine, oral meds, etc. We came home and we were so sick with worry over our little girl.

The next few days and week turned into daily doctors appointments, treatments, chest retractions and crying. Rowan hated her treatments so  much. Could you blame her? It was horribly loud, scary machine and we were trying to shove a mask of steam/medicine in her face. ONe afternoon, I happened to be by myself and  I had to do the treatment on my own. Her cries were breaking my heart. I couldn't stand seeing her this way, and I felt like we have all been through enough. I broke down in hysterical tears, my tears falling all over her head. I cradled her in my arms and spoke to her between sobs, basically saying how much I loved her. That  I wasn't trying to hurt her, this was for her own good. I basically poured out my heart to my 7 month old, which was kind of funny/crazy now that I think about it. HOWEVER....she actually stopped crying, calmed down, and intensely stared at me in such a way that it almost freaked me out. I thought I was imagining it till my mom quietly walked in and witnessed the whole thing. She said it was though Rowan completely understood what I  was saying. My mom even cried because she felt like it was such a powerful moment between mother and baby. What was crazy was Rowan stopped her tears and finished out her last 15 minutes of treatment with no fuss. From that point on, she tolerated her treatments and no longer put up such a fight.

As the days went on, Rowan started to improve. We tried to be "normal" and took her to our town's light parade! The night air definitely helped and it was so fun to be part of the town's Christmas festivities! Hubby took the whole week off so he could be with her, as I have very little sick leave left. Rowan handled this dumb bronchiolitis like a boss. Despite being sick, she had NO fever the entire time , and was trying her darndest to be the happiest baby on the block. She was dealing with it much better than me. She was sick for a week and 2 days to be exact, which is great because this type of sickie can even last a month!

What did we learn:

-My daughter is my hero. She always has been, but man, this girl proved once again she is STRONG and MIGHTY. She is one tough chubby cookie!

-Bronchiolitis is ONLY managed through home care and breathing treatments (albuterol and saline water). No medicine will take it away, and goes away in TIME, which sucks because I am impatient.

-You have to become very aware of their breathing and color. This is where I felt like I was about to die from stress.

-Hot steamy showers and cold air also helps. This is a must for croup. Rowan is now addicted to showers, LOL!

-I can handle her being sick now. This bout of sickie HAD to toughen me up. Sure I cried, overly worried, let my mind get carried away to awful places, etc. But at the end of the day, I had to toughen up, and take care of my daughter. We came out of it just fine, and now I feel like I can definitely handle her getting a cold. Thank God for my hubby, my rock. He never once lost his cool and was a  HUGE support for me.

-Not every cold will turn into bronchiolitis. It just happened that this time it did. However, it can happen again. Now we have a full blown arsenal of tools if does strike.

-My faith grew stronger. I had to majorly lean on God more than ever. Through this experience I had to majorly put everything in God's hands.

Thank you Jesus my little human is better! And of course, this post isn't complete with my crazy documentation of this whole experience. Just so thankful she is better:

From left to right: my exhausted babe//wow, those thighs!//pensive daddy and baby//my little girl trying to be happy//daddy and daughter snuggles//trying to reach my phone

 

 

From left to right: Getting ready for the Elk Grove light parade!//Daddy showing Rowan a metal horse lol//Rowan got a pair of Minnie Ears from a shop owner because she thought Ro was so cute!//Drinking a bottle with daddy, starting to feel better//selfies with mama!// Ro at millionth appointment, holding tight to Molly the Dolly!