I knew having a winter baby was going to be hard. You hear all about RSV and all of the other terrible things your kids will get. I did everything in my power to keep him away from strangers, not let anyone sick near him, and use hand sanitizer like it was my job. He got his first cold around Christmas that wasn't too bad. A few weeks later Brooklyn got really sick. We tried everything to keep them separated but Davis still got sick. I took him to the doctor and they asked "have you heard of RSV"? My response was "yes, that thing I am supposed to keep my kid safe from!" The test came back negative and they sent me home with instructions on how to suction him and all other sorts of tid bits. He got a little better then got worse again. I was texting my doctor and she said to watch his breathing, that was the most important thing. I sent her a video of him breathing once Trevor got worried because it takes a lot to worry him. He was SO congested he just could barely breathe. She said his breathing looked labored and to bring him in. They put him on oxygen and it didn't really help much. His levels were fine, so they said to take him home and watch him again. Winston came over and listened to his breathing and said it didn't sound good but once again to keep watching him. That next day I could tell he wasn't doing well. He was so congested he would cough to try and breathe. I called Winston and he said to take him to urgent care. I assumed they would deep suction him, give him some medicine or something and then send us home. They hooked him up to the pulse ox again his levels were low and they immediately put him on oxygen. I thought we would just go home with oxygen for a day or something. His levels were so low they said if they didn't go up he would have to stay over night and be admitted. I started panicking. I text Trevor and just said " we are staying the night." We both thought it was a little ridiculous but we really didn't have a choice. They did an x ray on his chest and it was so sad to see him like that. We kept thinking that he really didn't need to be there and were actually pretty annoyed they were forcing us to stay. We got into the hospital room and I immediately had anxiety. The crib looked like a tiger cage and was so protective of him. Brooklyn wasn't allowed in the room so my took her and Trevor and I stayed with Davis. The nurse was so sweet. She put me at ease quite a bit. He was constantly hooked up to oxygen and he was being deep suctioned as much as needed. He was so tired and sleepy and he and I just sat in the chair and he slept for quite a while that afternoon. The doctor came in and she immediately annoyed me. I honestly felt like she didn't really know what she was talking about. We kept saying "well we want to go home tomorrow". At some point that day Trevor went home to be with Brooklyn and I stayed with Davis. My mom stopped by later that night and I just cried cuz I was so scared to be alone in the hospital room with him. It was so creepy. It wasn't that bad and the nurses came in throughout the night to check on him and deep suction him. He had a coughing fit that lasted almost 45 minutes. He literally couldn't stop coughing no matter what I or the nurses tried. They weren't going to let us go home until he only needed the bulb suction. That next morning we were hell bent on going home. They said maybe later that afternoon. I don't remember much about that day but I remember the doctor gave us some sort of steroids for him and eventually agreed to let us go home on oxygen. It was a serious hassle to carry that around! We went home that night and I made a bed on his floor cuz I was so worried he would stop breathing in the middle of the night. He slept ok that night and in the morning he had another coughing fit and stopped breathing at one point. Trevor and I just started yelling. Not at each other, but we were just freaking out. We started pounding on his back and he finally started breathing again. Trevor left for work and my mom and I got in the car and were heading to the urgent care while I was calling my pediatrician. She immediately got me in and took his pulse ox. His levels were getting so low, almost 70 without the oxygen. She gave him a breathing treatment that he HATED. His levels kept dropping and she said " I know you don't want to, but you really have to go back to the hospital." Once I heard it from her, I knew we needed to go. So we checked back in and got settled in another room. We knew we would be there for a few days. The next couple days they kept deep suctioning him and he just kept getting more and more congested. It was thick mucus in his lungs that were making it so hard for him to breath. I watched the oxygen monitor all day long hoping it would go back up but even on Wednesday he still couldn't breathe for more than 5 minutes without the oxygen. I remember anxiously waiting every time they listened to his lungs and they would always say "still crackly." I thought we were never getting out of there. My mom was a saint and brought me food and hung out with me when she wasn't taking care of Brooklyn. My dad always stopped by to see Davis and hold him before bed. My friends brought me cafe rio and sat and talked and kept me company for almost 4 hours one night. By the end I really enjoyed the quiet time at the hospital with just me and him. I would listen to his oxygen and watch his tiny body breathe. He stayed right on his sleeping schedule the whole time and just went right to bed whenever the was supposed to. He was the sweetest little guy and it broke my heart. He finally started to get better and on Wednesday night only had to be suctioned once. We had to get all set up on the oxygen again but we finally got to go home. I have been the most paranoid parent now when it comes to illness!
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