Brynlee at the ER

Wednesday...I think.

Here I am just staring at the blank screen saying, 

"think, brain, think!"  

{Un}fortunately my brain listens about as well as my kids some times.  

Anyone else been there?

As one of those {blessed} moms who's kids are hardly ever sick, it is a new experience for me having Brynlee admitted to the hospital in Baton Rouge.

While here saying our last "good-byes" to our Southern family, ALL of the kiddos (mine and the cousins) came down with a yucky cough.  That's a problem with big families, and because they all like to give the new baby "lovin's"......the germ was shared also.

Tuesday night I noticed that Brynlee was coughing a little, but she had no other symptoms.  By Wednesday noon, her cough had become more pronounced and sometimes when she started to cough she would pause like her little lungs couldn't push it out.  Also, she had vomited 2 or 3 times and wasn't keeping her milk down.    With the urging of my family, I decided to take her to the emergency room....another first time experience for me.  Also a hard decision to make with my husband in another country.

My sis-in-law Christine went with me.  I've said many times that I think she is one of the smartest young women I know, and due to combined stress and sleep-deprivation I needed an extra brain really bad.  When we got to the super crowded ER we were taken in a little side room almost immediately because of Brynlee's age.  The little nurse lifted her onsie up and I was surprised to see how much her little belly was "pulling" (a new term for me), she was obviously struggling to breath.  They checked her oxygen level and it was reading 85.  They immediately took us to a back room and hooked her up on big machines.  My tiny 7 week old, looked so lost laying in the middle of the hospital bed and for a couple hours they wouldn't let me pick her up. (sniff...double sniff)

They were short on nurses so Christine and I had to hold Brynlee {tears}while they put the IV into her little arm and took the blood samples.

Long story....short.  Baby princess was very congested and they did a lot of tests.  The nurses used this really amazing nosie suckie thingie to clean out her nose every half and hour or so and it did wonders.  It was like this tiny tube coming out of the wall that pulled like a vacuum.  No home with little kids should be without one of those wonders.  I wonder if they sell them at Wal-Mart?  Just kidding.

We had a little scare when she spiked a temperature of 101.something on us.  Then the doctor did a spinal tap on my baby!  {more tears} They checked her for meningitis but so far the testing has all come back ok except she tested positive for RSV.  So they admitted us into the hospital for the beginning of a very long night.

My mom is visiting us from Missouri so she watched the other princesses.  Such a huge relief off of my mind to have my other girls taken well care of so I can focus on my sick baby.   Christine has been so wonderful.  She explained to me very clearly what the doctors were saying and ended up staying the night in the room with me.  She also has been calling keeping Daddy and all the rest of the family up-to-date on what's happening.  By this time I was having trouble thinking completely clear because my mind was rushing around, and if thoughts were paper it would have been sticking out my ears. {tired smile}