This time he is for real sick.

So I have not blogged for a while, but since my last post where we discovered Riley was likely teething, we have been to the big city of Dallas for girls weekend, and we have started to celebrate Father's Day. I will post about both of these later. But first I will tell you that the last 24 hours has been horrifically long. The only bright spot, other than Riley, is that my parents are here. If y'all read recently you have heard me go on about how I do not make a decision without them and need there continual guidance, so this weekend I really needed them and I tried not to ask, and they were super smart and came without my desperate pleas.

So why would I have had desperate pleas you might ask? Because my precious little bundle of joy was admitted to the hospital last night. For those of you getting worried, please know he is doing really well. But on Friday at 4:15 or so ECDC called Michael (the only parent they really know bc he drops him off and picks him up) and said Riley has stopped taking the paci and he is not acting like himself, and he has a fever. Michael went straight to daycare and called me to see what to do next. I called my Dad and paged the doctor since it was after the office had closed. My Dad said we needed to take him to the doctor or the ER and have him checked out and then Dr. Morrison said the same thing. Both of them were concerned it could be pneumonia. Michael to Riley to Baptist South, the ER suggested by Dr. Morrison and I (without a car went to ask Angela to take me to the hospital. I of course was a mess, though I was sure he would be fine the idea of going to a hospital is scary.


When I got to the ER Michael was in the back with him doing a check in process, after that screening he brought Riley to me and I held him in the waiting room. He was so lethargic and hot, he just laid on my chest and panted. It was totally out of character for him, normally at this hour he just plays and plays, talking and squealing. A few minutes later he was taken into the ER and Michael and I were swarmed by at least 6 different PA's and nurses. (shout out SK, our PA, Benny, was very nice and now I have a better idea of what you do everyday) First they took blood, that took two sticks, then they tried to get a line in for an IV and that took four more sticks over the course of several hours. All while he was being stuck repeatedly they were putting a tube in his face and were doing breathing treatments. They did a chest x-ray, and then came back for a neck x-ray of the soft tissue. After the x-rays came back and after being in the ER for two hours they told us he had "a little bit of pneumonia" and that he would be admitted. I had been a bit teary eyed as my baby screamed while they pricked him, but you can imagine that I could not hold the tears back when they said we would be staying in the hospital. I got Riley to take a nap, though it was a goof hour past his bedtime and we settled into our ER room waiting on the last try at an IV.


**Note: The floor of an ER, where they are constantly pushing people through and doing a quick clean in between, is SERIOUSLY nasty. I had at least 3 different nurses say they would not hand their child something that had been on the floor.


So after the nurses came back in and got his IV in and he had thrown his paci a on the floor for the last time. One rattle and two paci's were in the garbage and Michael was on his way to the store for more.

By that time it was 9:00 pm and Chappy's at the hospital had closed, so then Michael went to grab dinner. He was out and Riley was sleeping on the hospital bed. I watched TLC in the ER while I watched his every move until we got moved upstairs into the Pediatric unit. That was about 10:00 and shortly there after Dr Morrison came in to check on him. He got all hooked up and he was wide awake from his nap until Grandcoy and Gie Gie arrived, and my Mom got him back to bed around 12:30. I made my bed on the roll away cot, and Michael brought me my pillows and my luggage (we were on our way to Brewton) and I got settled in.

He did not sleep real well , he was back up at 2:30, and 4:30 and then 6:30, and I slept even worse, getting to bed at 2:00 and watching him every time I put him back to sleep. Today he was really happy and Dr. Morrison came in and said he seemed to be doing well and is likely to get out tomorrow. His temp was lower this afternoon and Dr Morrison listed and timed his breathing. He was taking about 40 breaths per minute and it should have been at least half of that. So hopefully his progress will continue.