Respiratory Something Virus

That's what husband and I called it for a few days before we finally looked-up the pronuciation guide online.  Resiratory SIN-SI-SHUL (Syncytial) Virus put my sweet boy threw the ringer. After a week and a half in daycare, Liam got sick. I was prepared for runny noses, but I was NOT prepared for this.

 It started with a small cough on Tuesday morning.  When he got home from daycare, the cough had turned wet (that's the only way I can think to describe it).  When I was burping him that night, and I heard/felt a vibration in his chest.  Knowing better than to mess with the lungs (especially when those longs are 13 weeks old), we decided to take L to the pediatrician the next morning (by we, I mean Husband was on daddy duty that day).  That night he coughed and snotted, coughed and snotted.

Following directions, Husband turned-off his phone while he was with the pediatrician (most of us would have turned our phone to vibrate, I'm just saying). After an hour and a half at the Peds, and after getting a million panicked phone calls and texts from me, Husband finally calls me with the news.  RSV.  To which I said, "Whaaa?" 

The Peds sent us home with a nebulizer and instructions of what to watch-out for.  The next couple days of my life consisted of watching Liam breathe, listening to him breathe, and trying to watch him breathe through our video monitor (which is really hard, by the way).  More often than not, he was wheezing when he breathed.  If we weren't using the nebulizer (which was every four hours when he was awake), we were sucking snot out of his nose.  Liam was remarkably cooperative with the nebulizer.  Each treatment took about 11 minutes.  By minute 9, his attention span would wane and one of us would dangle a toy in front of him or dance around like an idiot to keep him from melting down.  A couple of times, he had a meltdown anyway.  It broke my heart to see him so upset, but I figured he was taking-in extra medicine with all the wailing. Worse than the nebulizer was the snot by day three.  He was SO snotty.  Half the time he couldn't breathe out of his nose unless we used the bulb (my super technical term for it).  After a few days, his nose was so raw that he'd scream when we used it.  It was awful.  If we didn't use it, he couldn't breathe.  If we did use it, he screamed. 



Grammy trying to distract him.

After two nebulizer treatments on Saturday, he was still wheezing (the treatments usually made the wheezing go away).  It also looked like he was working breathe. We called the on-call nurse, who had the on-call doctor call us.  After five minutes of conversation, the doctor said, "I hate to do this to you, but I think you should go to the emergency room."  My heart has never hurt so badly in my life.  We got ourselves pulled-together, and headed to St. Mary's.  I guess they don't mess-around with babies because we didn't have to wait (as in, we never even had a chance to sit down).  After three hours in Peds (they really did call it Peds. I felt like I was inside Grey's Anatomy.  Minus all the sex and drama), lots of smiling and talking to the nurses and doctors, lots of crying because he was super tired by couldn't call asleep, and lots of refusing to eat because he was too tired, Liam was discharged.  We were now doing the nebulizer every two to four hours AROUND THE CLOCK. 


FINALLY fell alseep

I don't know if you've ever heard a nebulizer, but it's loud.  The Peds doc said we could do the night treatments while he was sleeping (just hold it over him face).  Right.  We'd turn-on the machine and Liam would immediately startle awake.  Who needs sleep anyway.
RSV is very contagious, so we obviously had to keep him out of daycare.  I worked from home some, Husband stayed home some, and Liam's Grammy (my mom) watched him some.  Between the three of us, we were able to keep him out of daycare through to Christmas.  And Husband was off the entire week after Christmas. 

By the Thursday before Christmas we were finally noticing some positive changes.  By Sunday we were cutting back the nebulizer treatments.  By the next Thursday his appetite returned (and we actually think he was in a growth spurt - 7 to 8 ounce bottles every time he ate), we didn't need to use the bulb, we weren't using the nebulizer, and we got our amiable kid back.

Throughout this whole ordeal, Liam remained remarkably happy.  It was amazing. Through all the snot, he'd still smile.  After a coughing fit he would immediately start talking.  He'd COUGH, COUGH, COUUUUGH, and go "UUUURGH!!!" in the cutest little 14-week old voice.  I'm so proud of how he handled it.  And I'm proud of how Husband and I handled it.  We leaned on each other, and we survived. 

Let me leave you with this:  Being a parent is NO JOKE.  You start worrying the second you find-out you're pregnant, and it only gets worse after they're born.  But there is nothing like it. 

So glad to have this kid back to normal!

Wait, It's 2011?!?!

Wasn't the world supposed to end 11 years ago?  Boy am I glad it didn't.

There are a lot of New Years resolution posts circulating the blog world.  In the past, I've never been much of a resolution person. When I was in high school I'd make a resolution (or ten) for something impossibly attainable for no reason other than to make a resolution because everyone else was.  It's been years since I've made one. 

There's something about being a mom that changes you.  Not in a "I gave birth to a baby, and my new name is Mom" kind of a way.  We're talking alters you to the core kind of a change.  I want to BE better.  I want to LIVE better.  I have a big reason to do everything better.  Well, two.  Which added together equal one family. 

In the spirit of being better, I've (we've) decided to make a few resolutions this year.  And I use "resolutions" loosely.  These are more like goals.  I won't hate myself if I haven't achieved them in 365.  These are aspirations of being BETTER. For him, him, and Him.  Oh, and for me.

Family goal:

No fast food for a year.  We eat fast food about once a month, so this shouldn't be too hard.  The point of this for us is to make ourselves choose healthy, more real options, even when we're in a hurry.  I want fast food to be a MAJOR treat for Liam, not something we grab every Saturday when we're out running errands.

Personal goals:

Make taking care of myself a priority.  I haven't been exercising.  I have been eating all that well.  I haven't been taking time to just see and be, read a book, just tune out.  I haven't gone shopping for clothes that fit me and make me feel good. As much as I want to spend every waking second in my son's presence, I HAVE to do things for myself.  For both of our sakes.  Also, I miss running.  But I miss RUNNING.  Not this Couch to 5K crap I have to do right now.  But to get back to the running I love, I have to get through the first weeks of getting back into shape.  I also need to get a REALLY good sports bra.  I'm thinking the Ta Ta Tamer. 

Take more pictures of our life and make sure that I'm in them.  I'm one of those people who loves to take pictures when we're home, but I forget to take pictures when we're with family or out doing something fun.  Since I'm always taking pictures, I'm rarely in them.  I don't want to look-back in 18 years and realize that I was in five pictures a year.

Find a church home.  We want to find our "fit." Somewhere look forward to going every weekend.  Part of this goal is to also get in the church habit.  I want my son to grow-up going to church, participating in Sunday school, and kids choir.  Those are some of my fondest memories from my childhood. 

Make new friends.  Making new friends is hard for me.  I'm a naturally shy person.  But we don't know many people with kids, and we want play dates and sleep overs (not for us, Silly, for Liam). 

Blog more.  I miss my blog.  Just saying that makes me feel sad.  It has been a source of such joy for me since it's inception  (good movie, by the way).  But it's hard to make time for it when you have a household to run, a family to feed, a job, and two great guys to spend time with.  This goal will be hardest over the next three and a half months (during busy season), but hopefully I can do it.  Even if I just do a picture dump.  Or bullet points about our week.

Husband's goal:

Take more pictures.  For Husband, life gets in the way of taking pictures every day.  It's his passion, so this year he decided to make it a priority. 

Do you think the Big Guy would be willing to add a few extra hours to every day?  I'll let you know what he says.