I was (secretly) excited for a snow day!
A snow day meant.....
R being home,
family snuggle time,
movies on the couch,
finally getting caught up on housework,
having time to do some {cb}h work before 11pm,
and of course, B's first picture in the snow!
After all, this would be the first snow he's ever seen! (Well he may have seen it through the window last year but that doesn't count, right?)
I had B's hat and boots all ready to go for his snow pictures.
And that's about all that went as planned...
Wednesday night B woke up from a nap in obvious distress. He was shaking, having a hard time breathing and his coloring was a purplish grey. I texted R (who was at practice) and called the Dr right away. The snow had already started flying but we loaded up the car and headed to urgent care. The 10 minute drive took about 20 minutes but it wasn't too bad. They checked him over and didn't think it was necessary to do the chest xray our Dr had mentioned. His temperature was around 104 at that point so they chalked up the cyanosis as a reaction to the high fever. They sent us on our way and we were home before the roads got too bad.
Fast forward to Thursday morning. R did get to stay home from work. And we did get a whole lotta snow! Enough snow that R headed out to clear it and it took him most of the morning. B was still feeling cruddy and looking awful but was awake and aware enough to be moving around. I even talked R into bringing in a cup of snow for B so he could at least get to see what all this white stuff was about. (For the record- he wasn't that impressed with it.) We hung out for a little bit and B was exhausted enough that he went down for an early morning nap (highly unlike him to do!). R went to work on the snow removal and before he was finished, B was up from his nap with the very same symptoms as the night before. Only this time he was super lethargic. We called the Dr right away and headed to the ER.
We attempted to head south. We got to the interstate and it was closed. We went back to the highway and got about 7 miles south of town. All of a sudden we were in a complete white out and couldn't even see the car that was 20 feet ahead of us. I've only ever been out in a storm that bad one time before but somehow it seemed a million times more scary to be in it when your sweet baby is also riding in the car. I think I prayed a million times that we not be rear ended. As it started to clear, traffic stayed at a standstill and it started to become obvious we were not going to get to go any further south. After a 407 point turn* we got turned around to go north and the line of cars was backed up to the interstate (about 5 miles). We had almost made it back to town when a semi was facing us in the wrong lane. I was pretty certain at that point we were out of options and we were all going to die on the highway. I may have been just a little over dramatic at that point. (And R might have told me I needed to stop crying. Before you agree with him, I'm gonna remind you that my purple baby was still lethargic.)
*407 might be a slight exaggeration
We didn't die.
The semi got around us. We got north of town and on our way to the next hospital. We made it safely.
I said the magic words when we got there and they got us straight to a room and a Dr. right away. (The magic words are: 'my baby is having trouble breathing.' You may or may not get a lecture about when to call 911 but you will get immediate service.)
We were there several hours (5 I think?) during which time B was poked, prodded, sticked, and restrained. And during which time I only cried once.
I learned a few important things from the visit.
1.) There is a unique form or influenza locally that the vaccine is apparently not working against. (This contradicts what the CDC is saying so I thought it was good to know.)
2.) When you go to urgent care and your regular Dr says they should do a chest X-ray, don't leave until they do it. Even if the urgent care Dr (that acts like he is way better than you and treats you like an over reacting mom) tells you it's not necessary. Just trust your mama gut and insist on it. (B's chest X-ray didn't show pneumonia but did show a respiratory infection.)
3.) ER rooms next to the nurses station are always the most entertaining.
4.) B apparently is every bit of strong and strong willed we thought him to be. Every single Dr, nurse, lab tech, & radiologist that tried to restrain him for tests commented on how strong he was. They even had to call in back up to hold him down. Talk about making a mommy heart hurt!
5.) Our diaper bag doesn't have nearly enough stuff in it to keep a toddler entertained when locked in a small room for an extended period of time.
The car ride home was a lot less eventful. (Though it's still blowing like crazy out there and I'd love a snow day redo tomorrow!) We made it home safely and B is currently sleeping somewhat restfully. He seems to be doing better and we're hopeful he's on the mend!
(In case you're wondering about the trouble breathing, we're still not sure. He does have a respiratory infection which is likely most of the issue but he also had Vicks on his feet the two times this happened. I was questioning if that had anything to do with it and when I got home a friend had posted this link about vicks and babies on Facebook. Worth a read if you have a little one!)
Hopefully you and yours were safe at home enjoying your snow (or other weather) day today!
Did you get a snow day? How did you spend it?
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Update (12/21): For those asking, we did go ahead and have the RSV test done. Mostly because there are babies at every Christmas celebration we would go to and that would be the contagious infection he could have even though he's on antibiotic. As of this evening, our Dr didn't have the results back yet but we're hoping to hear from her in the morning.
Thing I learned #1 was misleading to some readers. B does NOT have influenza. They did want to test him for it though because of his symptoms and because there is an odd strand going around the area they didn't want to miss. I just wanted to share that in case there were other local readers with littles having the same issues.
B did have upper respiratory infection. One Dr thought he had viral pneumonia and another Dr thought bacterial based on his white count. Either way, after his shot of antibiotics and the z pack, his white count is looking much better.
Today he was acting much better. His coloring still isn't great after he wakes up (and no, we haven't been using Vicks) but it's much better than it was and he isn't lethargic. (R says his coloring is fine and I'm just seeing things because I'm paranoid now... So it might actually be normal. I'm not sure!)
Also, B actually played in the basement for awhile tonight and his fever seems to be staying down. All great things!
Update (12/22): B's RSV came back positive. He got steroids and nebulizer treatment. His lips were pink for the first time all week and his color looks so much better! We noticed that between last night and today, he had a tooth pop through so that probably wasn't helping his fever stay down in the night but so far today he has been fever free and acting much better. Thanks for all the prayers for the little guy!
