Our hospital adventure

The last five days have been very eventful in the most uneventful way. Our little Navy caught the bronchitis and croup that Aliya and Haydon had. She started coughing just like the others. She began wheezing which is all too familiar in our little house. I took them all to the Dr. who said "just do breathing treatments" which we had been all along. A couple days later Nevaeh was getting worse. I decided to take her to quick care (our doctor was too full, as ALWAYS!). When I was told the wait would be two and a half hours Jay suggested taking her to the ER. They took her O2 levels and listened to her lungs. A quick X-ray. With a baby is NO fun, balancing them on a bar about 2 inches wide with their arms in the air (that's where Mom comes in) and squoze together by two plastic pieces that are buckled together. Naked none the less. She was cold, sick, uncomfortable, and looking at me like "why would you do this to me". I hate baby X-ray's. It only got worse a nose and throat swab and the dreaded catheter. Moments later we were admitted. She had pneumonia. Jay rushed to the hospital as soon as his Mom came to take care of the other two kids. They need to take blood for some labs (unfortunately she not only inherited her Daddy's lungs but his teeny tiny roley poley deep veins as well). The phlebotomist arrived she prepared to poke my sweet little angel in the arm. Well poke she did for 15 minutes. NO LUCK! She decided to try the other arm, no maybe her hand, between the knuckles, that sounds fun! She poked her again for another 15 minutes digging around just like before to find that roley poley vein her Daddy so kindly gave her. Meanwhile we were instructed to pin her down. This is where Jay falls to pieces. He absolutely hates to see his kids in pain none the less to be the bad guy holding her down. You all know Jay my sweet softy. He can't stand it and you can see the tears welling up in his eyes. At this point another phlebotomist comes into help. He gives it a go in the same knuckle, NO LUCK! Hey how bout we try the foot, right here on the side between the little toe and her ankle bone, that sounds like fun! At this point we are desperate for them to get the blood they need and get her IV in. Phlebotomist #2 gives it a try. YUP you guessed it, the two of them dug around for ANOTHER 15 MINUTES, taking turns hunting for that sneaky little vein that refuses to be poked and sucked dry. I have had ENOUGH! Poor Nevaeh, poor Jay! "Mom says we're done! No labs are worth the continued torture of my loved ones". So they pulled that little needle out and came up with another brilliant plan. Hey let's poke her in the foot and get enough blood to fill a vile for a white blood cell count. You know much like the PKU test they give your newborn at their first Dr.'s appointment. Poke and squeeze for EVER! This was another 15 minutes. By the time they were done her foot was blue, once the color returned to normal there was a bruise that was the exact replica of the hand that was squeezing her little foot. They reassured us that the best phlebotomist in the hospital would be in at 5am and would be able to do what they themselves couldn't accomplish. So after putting oxygen on her and dressing her in hospital jammies they gave her a breathing treatment. All the while she is screaming because of the oxygen in her nose it's too big and doesn't leave her room to breath which makes her hyperventilate on top of the mist that's now engulfing her face. Now snot has filled her nose and making it all the more harder to breath. By the time they are almost done with the breathing treatment I look at Jay while holding my baby and he looks like he is going to knock the nurse right out (it's a male nurse)! So I pull the nose thing off which requires more then just pulling considering it's taped to her face and say "we're done with that"! He looks at me and says "well, she needs oxygen". I said "find another way". So we taped the open end of a tube to her jammies so that it blew in her face for the night. At 5am too early for those of us with little sleep our hero phlebotamist #3 the pro arrives. She checks Nevaeh's veins and says "well it looks possible although they blew all the good veins". She pokes my little one who was very sleepy up to this point and pokes around for about 5 minutes and says "we're not going to get any blood or an IV from these veins". She pulls out and leaves unsuccessful and yet another hole in my baby girls body. Later that morning the respiratory therapist comes in and makes it all better. She cuts the ends off of the nose piece so that they don't protrude so far into her nose and helps me tape it on top of her Binky out of her nose. This works great! From this point it's just a waiting game. Nevaeh was such a trooper! I don't recall only a few times she cried after that. We spent our days napping, reading books, watching baby einstein, doing treatments, and taking meds. I thought hospital beds were bad but being curled up at the end of her hospital bed every night was even worse. Jay didn't sleep well either, he had his own bed but was too stressed to sleep well. Every beep he would jump up and watch the monitor. She didn't really improve until her fourth night there. Finally her lungs had cleared and she was almost off the oxygen. On the Fifth day we put her on room air. She didn't do great but good enough to go home that night. YIPPEE!!! Haydon and Aliya were SOO excited to have her home. The next morning Aliya said to me "Mom I lub Abaya home." I said I love Nevaeh home too. She said "I don't lub Abaya sick". I said me neither. She said "I lub Abaya happy!". Me TOO! My heart is so full of love and appreciation for my family. I feel so blessed to have such a great support system. Jay's mom stayed at our house and took care of our sick Haydon and Aliya while we stayed at the hospital. Jay was amazing, he loves his kids so very much and he doesn't hide how they emotionally effect him. He absolutely hated leaving the hospital but wanted to spend time with our other kiddos. We have such great friends! The Ricker's brought us movies, DVD player, books, cards, and an IPOD. All which filled empty time while Navy was sleeping. The Banning's brought us pizza one night and stayed to keep us company for a bit. We had lots of visitors! My family from Utah called several times a day to check up on Nevaeh. I feel so blessed to have those we love near and far put your arms around us, and let us know you love us, and are supporting us where ever you might be. We are thankful for all your love and support! I am so honored to have Jay as my husband what an amazing Dad he is. He's my ROCK!

Jay went and picked up Haydon & Aliya and took them to McD's and then brought them to the hospital to see Nevaeh and spend some time with us.

When I count my blessings I count you twice!

Poor Jay was so tired he fell asleep in a chair and I moved him to the bed, he didn't remember getting there.

She was such a trooper!

All the nurses and respiratory therapists just loved her, she was such a good girl and so easy to work with.

I love every little bit of her. I just loved snuggling with her in the hospital. She has such a sweet spirit.

We're in the hospital jail!

She's so beautiful

A little entertainment to break up the monotony. She loved watching baby einsteins DVD's.

Our friends and family showered her with gifts. I think she loved the tissue paper the most. We are blessed that so many people came to visit and called to check on our sweet baby girl.

Jay took this picture without my knowing, I didn't feel really stressed but this picture would tell it differently. Oh and the scrubs... she threw up on me so many times I no longer had clean pants so our nurse kindly brought me a clean pair.

She loves her Daddy!

Little Miss Navy

It's amazing how much trust and love these little bundles of sweetness come with

The jail cage that was offered for Nevaeh to sleep in... NO WAY she's not going anywhere near that thing! Haydon and Aliya thought it looked like great fun!

She needed more fluids so we tried a Popsicle with no luck :(