Tuesday, October 02, 2007

A night at the ER

Around ten last night little bird woke up and was not breathing very well. We called the advise nurse and he said we should take her into the hospital. Since it was that late the only place to go was the emergency room. We live only two blocks away so I walked down there with her while my husband waited at home for a friend to come stay with the other kids.

I hate emergency rooms. They are gross and the wait is always forever. The later at night the worse it gets. So, I got there and the woman working the counter was not exactly friendly. She told me to fill out the form, put it in the basket and wait. All this time little bird is getting worse and worse and I am getting more and more scared. My husband shows up and sees me waiting and decides this is not happening. He talks to the less than friendly lady and gets her to allow us to talk to the triage nurse. He takes one look at her and admits us immediately. I was so thankful. Once they checked her out they said she did have croup, which I figured but nothing we had tried (hot showers, humidifier) was working. So they gave her some medicine, and started the treatment. She had to breath in this steaming medicine air and then plain steamy air. Around midnight I said that my husband should go home and let our friend go home to his family. So he did that and I waited to finish the treatment. Around two in the morning the treatment was done but she was still not breathing very well.

The doctor decided that she would need to be admited but the hospital we were at did not have a children's department so they would have to transfer her. I called my husband and he called my cousin to come be with the kids so that he could be with me. The ambulance guys finally get there just before three and at this point I am feeling like she is doing a lot better. So, I requested that the doctor come and listen to her again. He came over and listened and said, I think you are right. She does sound a lot better and I would be comfortable sending her home. I was so thankful once again. I was not looking forward to spending the night at the hospital if it was not necessary. So, by the time my husband gets there again they are discharging me. We got home and thanked my wonderful cousin for coming over in the middle of the night.

Of course that was not the end to our night. She was not really going to sleep well after all that and the fact that she is still sick so I went to sleep from 3 to 5 and then traded with my husband so that he could sleep from 5 to 7. It was a long night.

I am so thankful that she is ok. She is still not feeling wonderful but much better. The one thing that I learned from all this is that it is good to ask a lot of questions when you are at the hospital. Things could have gone very differently last night if we had not spoken up and asked for what we needed. I am now hoping for a much more restful night for all of us.

8 comments:

The Secret Life of Kat said...

I just said a prayer for your little girl. I'll be praying she gets better very quickly.

I'm glad you didn't have to spend the night at the hospital.

kddub said...

that is so scary. I am glad that she's okay, I'll pray she gets better quickly.

Court said...

Glad things are getting better...we have learned that too with Doctors/Hospitals...you ahve to ask, sometimes keep asking to get the attention you deserve. Hope everyone is on the road to recovery now. I will be praying:)

Larissa said...

how scary! there is nothing more scary than there being something wrong with your baby and you can't do anything about it/ don't know what exactly is wrong.
i'm so glad she is doing better and that your stay was shorter than anticipated!!
this just got me all teary eyed thinking of a similar situation we were in, that i'm sure you remember.... i'm SO thankful for you guys that everyone's okay.

Anonymous said...

Jessie..Praise the Lord. Glad Little Bird is better and I will continue to pray for you all.
Love you, Barb Weidemann

Anonymous said...

Oh, poor little bird. And poor, poor sleepless mama. I hope she is feeling better! We haven't been so well at our house, either.

Molly said...

i honestly have not stopped praying for all of you and especially for little bird. love you all!

WONDERWOMAN said...

oh what a scary experience, you handled it well, I'm glad she's doing better.