Home sweet home

After 5 days and nights in the hospital, Logan is now home! Below is the recap of what happened. A couple highlights and low lights:

Aside from the lack of sleep, the worst part was when he got suctioned. A catheter would be put in each nostril to remove the gunk that was keeping him from breathing. Three of us would need to hold him down to do this while that terrified baby would scream "All done! All done! All done!" I don't know that I will ever forget that.

Silly boy quickly learned how things worked at the hospital. The machines all beep frequently when levels drop and he would try to reach the button to make it stop. Yesterday when they took his blood pressure, as soon as it beeped that it was done, he kicked off the cuff.

Last week at home Logan started wanting to sit on the potty before his bath. Hayden always goes pee pee before bathtime, so little brother wants to mimic his routine. Yesterday Logan started asking to go potty at the hospital. As soon as he would pee in his diaper he would start saying "diaper! diaper!" and grabbing his crotch, then run to the bathroom and want to get on the potty. This is not an easy task with a wiggly boy, no training seat, and a whole lot of tubes to keep clean.

Tonight when I came back with Hayden Logan was unbelievably excited to see him. He kept shouting and pointing and giggling. I hope they are always so happy to see each other.

Now, I'm going to go enjoy sleeping in my own bed, with BOTH my boys nearby.

Here is an email I sent a few days ago:
As most of you know, Logan was hospitalized Thursday afternoon with a virus called RSV. When I took him to the doctor Thursday afternoon his breathing was visibly labored with retractions (sucking in below the ribs and throat in an attempt to get enough air), his heart rate was 170-180, he was dehydrated, a fever of 102, blood oxygen level of 90%, and was so sick he was completely limp. The pediatrician gave him an immediate shot of steroids and a breathing treatment and told me we were going to be admitted to the hospital. Although most kids his age and older don't get nearly this sick with RSV, he was much more vulnerable due to his asthma. He got hit fast and hard. (Anyone under 1 year is hightly at risk when they get this and it is more serious than we would want to consider for infants and newborns.)

Although the last few days have been terrifying, frustrating, exhausting and most of all, sad for Logan, he is making progress. Upon admittance, he was put on oxygen, intraveneous steroids and fluids, and round the clock nebulizer treatments. The poor little guy can't move without being tangled up on all his wires and has had to endure some rather traumatic procedures. The first night, even with the oxygen canule and some very aggressive treatments, he was unable to keep his blood oxygen level above 80-85%. Last night it stayed in the mid 90's, which is so much better. Today the iv meds were discontinued, and the amount of oxygen he is being given will be reduced, as tolerable. Once he can keep his blood oxygen level in the mid-high 90's without the oxygen supplement, he can come home. It is possible that this will be tomorrow, but we won't know until we see how he does. He is still audibly wheezing and has a bone shaking cough. The cough is actually a good thing as it will get all that congestion up out of his lungs.

We have had very little sleep, and more worry than we know what to do with. Logan has truly tolerated this better than we could have hoped, and he and Hayden spend much of their days asking for each other. Even once Logan comes home, we are going to be a bit isolated as this virus is highly contagious, so we will need to see which of us comes down with it and make sure we aren't spreading it around. The incubation is 4-5 days. We do welcome visitors at the hospital and at home, but understand that most people are around kids and would hesitate to be exposed to the nasty little bug.

Please understand my lack of communication as I have been busy literally every minute with Logan, can only call out to my immediate area from the room, and am not allowed to use a cell phone there. There is no internet access, so I am feeling very isolated, but do appreciate the calls I've gotten. Feel free to pass this info along to anyone who didn't get it. I know I missed people on my list. I came home today to spend a couple hours with Hayden while Fillip is at the hospital with Logan. I will update once Logan has been released.

Thank you to everyone for all your support.
Love, Marlo