Maes's Stay in the Hospital

I thought I'd document the details of Maes's hospital stay for anyone who doesn't know and would like to hear (or read I guess) all the details.r

Let's just say we've had a couple of hectic weeks around here. On October 12 Maes fell and hit the corner of his eye on the corner of the coffee table. This cut it open and blood got everywhere. I was panicking, but luckily Nadia was home from school that day because she had a bad cough. She was able to help me get my phone so I could call Grandma Becky and she could come help.

Well Nadia's cough turned out to be croup. And as such viruses go it spread to the other two. So when on the following Sunday night (October 16) when Maes began to cough we didn't 

think much of it. We didn't even really worry when on Monday is breathing was funny. We just thought it would go away. But Monday night he was having a pretty bad time. So Tuesday morning I called and got him a doctor appointment for that afternoon. Because of insurance difficulties etc. we did not go to our usual doctor. And let's just say that I am not a fan of the new doctors office.

Our appointment was at 1. I arrived a little early because as a new patient I knew we would have quite a bit of paper work to fill out. The office was locked up tight and no one was inside. So we went back to the car and waited. The doors did not open until 1 when our appointment was supposed to be. So I go in thinking so we'll be a little late, not big deal. I start to fill out the paper work. There was way more paperwork than I had expected, and quite honestly, I thought some of the things they wanted to know rather ridiculous. Well be the time we got called back it was 2. So the nurse takes us back and ways Maes. Then she asks "Does the baby normally breathe like this?" Umm no that's why we're here!

So she takes us back past some people working on computers to one of the rooms and tries to take Maes's pulse. Which he hates and so is crying. A minute later one of the women who was working on the computers comes in (She was either a Physicians assistant or a nurse practitioner). She had heard the way he was breathing and had followed us in. Then she tells me I need to take him to an emergency room right away, and that maybe they should call the ambulance. Then she leaves the room and comes back with the doctor. He also says I need to take Maes to the emergency right away for a breathing treatment, possibly even a breathing tube. But I shouldn't panic. Umm right I should stay calm when I've just been told to rush my son to the emergency room.

So I take him to the emergency room and on the way I call Jeff. Luckily he was getting off work right then and promised to meet me at the hospital. The emergency room was actually very efficient and it didn't take us to long to get back in. The doctor listened to him and then gave him a treatment and a steroid shot. Then we had to wait awhile to see if they would work. Unfortunately, they didn't do much and so we were admitted into the pediatric wing. And there we stayed until Friday night. 

The hardest part was that not once did Maes even act like he was sick. He still just wanted to run around and get into everything, and keeping a 16 month old entertained in a hospital room isn't exactly easy.