Halle started to cough on Christmas Eve. I tried to ignore it because a kid shouldn't have to be sick on Christmas. She woke up Christmas morning with a mild fever and continued to cough. After some cough medicine and Tylenol, we went about our day. After opening presents at the Raabs, she asked to take a nap. We gladly obliged. She woke up from her nap with a fairly high fever. We gave her more medicine and a cold bath that she very much disliked. Shortly after that, she experienced a febrile seizure which is caused when a fever climbs up or down rapidly. She has had one of these before so I was panicked but knew what to expect. The fever lasted about 2 minutes. She was very lethargic afterwards but had moments where she was alert. By the end of the day she perked up a bit.
She continued to cough and run a fever throughout the weekend. I took her to the doctor on Monday and after a chest x-ray, he said she has bronchitis and told us to increase her breathing treatments. Tuesday rolls around and she is worse. She slept the entire day and wouldn't eat or drink. I packed a bag for the hospital just in case as we left to see the doctor again. He sent us back home and said to wait it out. She continued to get to worse so we saw the a different doctor on Wednesday. He looked at her and said, "That is one sick little girl." He checked her oxygen saturation and told me that we will probably need to head to the hospital. An hour later, we were check in at the hospital where they put her on oxygen and fluids. After a chest x-ray, they said that she had bi-lateral pneumonia. They also did a swap that determined that she had RSV too. They nurses told me to get comfortable because we were going to be there a few days. She wasn't a big fan of the oxygen in her nose but she definitely needed it. It was actually a relief to be in the hospital and know that she was getting fluids and help breathing. She slowing began to recover. Our hospital stay came to an end on Monday afternoon, our Anniversary. We were so glad to be home. Shortly after we got home, Halle threw up a few times. Luckily, she kept eating and drinking and eventually stopped throwing up and continued to feel better.
How is she now? She is totally fine! She is still a little bit clingy but she rarely coughs and has finished her antibiotic. We are trying to keep her away from other sick kids just to protect her immune system.
What did I learn from this? It's not easy to stay calm while a nurse puts an IV into your screaming sick baby. It's not easy to sleep at a hospital when people come and interrupt you every 30 minutes. It's not easy to tell your 5 year old that you can't come home to play because his sister needs you more.
It's over now and we are so thankful that our lives are back to normal.
The End!
