Bens Hospital Trip

Remember back in December when Ben got croup? Well there was a couple times between that day and the day all of this happened where I took him to the doctor because he sounded weezy or short of breath again and every time by the time I got there they would say he sounded fine well...

Here he is in the ambulence, yes the ambulence. It was a crazy day. Here is how it started. Well I guess it started more...in the middle of the night. He just kept waking up and crying and I would go give him his blanket and tell him it was ok and go back to bed. I didn't really notice him having a fever or anything else. Finally around 5 in the morning after numerous times waking up with him. He and I just sat in the rocking chair and cuddled. That's when I noticed how fast his chest was moving up and down and how short his breath was. I called the doctors office right then to make the earliest apt possible to get him in. They didn't open to take apointment til 7 so I had to call back. They had an 8:15 available. So we got ready and headed in. I guess I didn't realize how serious or how bad it was for him until my doctor came in and at first sight ordered a breathing treatment, looked me straight in the eye and told me "He is at the point where he is just about to give up. His little body just can't take it a anymore" Which just brought tears to my eyes and made me feel so so horrible. I literally felt like the worst mom ever. I didn't know what to expect or know how bad it was I figured it was like the other 2 times I had taken him in and they said he sounded just fine so I didn't know I needed to rush him in. She then reassured me and told me it was ok and explained how he must feel like there is a rock crushing his chest and he can not catch his breath. And told me if it ever happened again just to know to take him straight to the emergency room. (I now have medicine for him so I used that first and if it doesn't work then I take him to ER)  So after 3 breathing treatments and some steroid shots resulted in only slight if any improvement Dr. Matza wanted to admit him to the childrens hospital. Well you can't admit them to the hospital under respiratory distress unless they are taken by ambulence. It was kindof frustrating because it's like across the freeway, literally not quite 2 miles down the road but if he didn't go in the ambulence we had to take him to the emergency room there and then wait to be seen and he just wasn't in good enough condition to do that. I had the baby with me (had dropped Sadie off at Jessica's down the road before going to the Dr.) and was kind freaking out not knowing what to do with him or if I could take him in the ambulence with me (Eli was at work but I had called him and he was on his way as fast as he could be from Killeen) and luckily Jessica had taken the girls to Vanessas for preschool group and was in town able to come pick get Briggs. I felt bad because the ambulence people had Ben loaded on the cart thing (can't think what it's called right now) and they like started wheeling him away and I was trying to get things for Brigg's figured out and worrying about how to get the diaper bag and Bens blanky out of the van because i had only taken my purse in and I could tell Ben was so scared and didn't know where they were taking him. So finally sweet Dr. Parker she must have known how frazzled I was, just looked at me and told me she would sit by the baby to go get whatever I needed from the car. So I told Ben I was going to get his blanky and then I ran for it. Meanwhile they are loading Ben into the ambulence and Jessica is still nowhere to be seen. So I have Briggs sitting in there with me now. I remember feeling so frustrated because I felt like the ambulence crew was frustrated with me but hello this isn't something I do everyday I was stressed to say the least. At last Jessica made it (I say at last but it couldn't have been 10 minutes since I called her it just seemed to take forever under the circumstances) she took Briggs and off we went.

Here he is in the ambulence. He was so nervous the whole time.

 At the childrens hospital ER (which is why we road in the ambulence anyway... avoid the ER) Some one didn't get the memo and sent us there before realizing they already had a room for us upstairs.

Ben was much more relaxed by this point and I was trying to entertain him with his new batman sunglasses.

 Really mad about the IV he was not a fan and kept trying to get

"dis' off me"

 So worn out after such a long night and finally breathing well enough to at least sleep.

It was finally up in the hospital room where they diagnosed it as asthma. They figured with his deal in December and the fact I had brought him into the Dr. twice since then for shortness of breath that, that's what it is.

 

 Eli, Sadie, and Briggs made it over and it gave Ben some entertainment. They had fun coloring in books and playing with playdough and playing cards from the hospital.

 Our tuff little guy!

 Still not liking that IV

All those steroids were just making him hyper but he was still breathing hard. Finally we got the ok to take him for a walk in the hallway.

I stayed with him while Eli and Sadie went to get dinner and then Eli stayed the night since I was still nursing the baby and had to be home with him. It was so hard to leave my little Ben at the hospital. I knew Eli was ther and would take good care of him. But it just broke my heart, must be a mom thing.

I think something like this is such a big eye opener. It could have been much more serious. We did a lot of praying and thank all of our family and friends who were praying for us to. We know it helped.

Our kids got an awful lot of extra hugs and kisses for a few days. I hope I can always remember how sweet and precious they are and to just take time to spend with them!

I'm writing this in mid-July and so far he has only had one more asthma episode at the splash pad at the end of May. I now keep his medicine with me all the time and he has been doing really well. The rest of us have been more cautious as to what to watch for to know when he is having a reaction or if we notice something that triggers it.