Sept 23 2014
My Dad helped take us to the airport. But first he got some good smiles from My Anna girl.
Mimi was there too, and helped feed this girl, while we re added her to our tickets. Her ticket (baby in arms) somehow was not showing up since we had to change our flights headed home due to the pilot strike. It wasn't starting out how we had planned.
But alas, there was more, we just didn't know it a the time. Our time trying to get through the security check in little Mississippi took about 45 minutes, four of us were flagged for heavy searching, and we were taken aside and thoroughly searched and they went through everything in our carry on luggage (when I say everything, I mean every page in our books), but by Mississippi law they are not allowed to physically touch your children in Mississippi, so they had to call someone very high up to get permission to clear them. We made it through and headed straight on the plane as boarding was well under way.
The kids were great on all the flights, although they were tired and ready to be home. We flew through
But on our last leg (an hour and a half plane ride) the plane was delayed an hour before take off for a storm. Once on the plane, the kids dozed and the last 15 minutes, Anna got really hot, started coughing, and had trouble breathing. She eventually threw up and we de boarded. The hour ride home was spent listening to her breathing.
We were in our house about 20 minutes before we decided to head to the ER. It sounded like Croup to me (Noah and Luke have both had bouts with croup), so I decided to deal with it head on, since she was so young. They gave her a breathing treatment, with a brochodialator, and steroid and sent us home. That was about 2:00 a.m. We managed all day the next day and then the night came.
And with it.......came the labored breathing. We were doing neb treatments at home, but about 3 a.m. I just felt like her breathing difficulty was more than I could handle. She wasn't drinking any milk and would only eat a little fruit. Drew took her to the ER once again. They told us at the small private hospital, that he needed to take her across the street to the big government (devlet) hospital. They admitted her and about 9 a.m. I went to relieve Drew.
When I walked in this is what I saw.
My 9 month old. DISCLAIMER: After this experience I have a whole new respect for parents with sick children who have to spent many days.........weeks..........months in the hospital.
Yes here there is a language barrier here, and cultural differences, but seeing your baby and not being able to care for them carries so much stress, and you feel helpless. Sleep deprivation, and jet lag didn't help either.
This day Anna was put on fluids via IV, 2 antibiotics, steroids via nebulizer, and broncodialtor via nebulizer. She wasn't responding to the meds and breathing really didn't get any easier. So the Dr.s thought that she should be transferred to another hospital better equipped to handle her symptoms if she got worse at night, as croup tends to do.
There wasn't bed in the hospital an hour away, so the decision was made that we would travel 6 hours away. They initially wanted there to helicopter there, but would not let me ride along. We as parents vetoed that option quickly, and then they choose ambulance transfer. They didn't want me to go along with her in the ambulance either, but eventually agreed when we didn't give in. There was no way I was going to let her be transferred with out me.
So into the ambulance we went, 5 hours (in the end, they sped the whole way, but conveniently stopped twice for cigarette breaks).
From there, my friend met me at the ER to help me with language and for moral support. And I sure did need her. They took us to the only open bed they had, in the NICU. Anna had started responding to the meds on the Ambulance ride, but the hospital didn't allow parents in with their children. Yet another barrier, that I challenged and they eventually relented and let me sit in a chair beside her all night.
By in the morning, her O2 stats had stayed around 98-100 for hours and her breathing was almost normal. She still had a rattle in her chest, and coughed sometimes. They moved us to a shared room on the pediatric infection floor, and we waited and waited and waited. They hadn't given her meds in six hours and I finally decided I could continue her meds and nebulizer treatments at home. Part of my decision was based on my lack of sleep but I ended up telling the Drs. that I would take the IV out myself and leave if they didn't discharge her. Their response was that they wanted her to stay a couple more nights and see and Allergy DR. NO THANKS. I had to sign a waiver and we went home with prescriptions and our baby girl. I was one happy Momma. It was so evident how GOD provides through this whole ordeal, and as helpless as I felt, I know He was in control the whole time.
