A Very Long Day

About a week and a half ago, Little Dude started having issues with eating.  He'd start eating and then pull away from the bottle and start crying.  That would go on for 15-20 minutes before he would finally settle down and eat.  I tried a different nipple on the bottle, gas drops, sensitive formula, etc, but nothing seemed to help him.  Over the last weekend, he started skipping feedings and so I decided it was time to take him to the doctor.  I got an appointment for Monday morning at 9:15 am.  Princess was at school, and Hubby took Little Man to the farm with him so I only had to take Star with to the appointment.  Over the weekend, Little Dude had also developed a slight cough and stuffy nose so I figured it would be a good time to ask the doctor about that too.  The doctor listened to his lungs and was concerned that he wasn't breathing very well.  Because he was only 3 weeks old, she decided that it would be best to have him checked out by a pediatrician at the clinic in The Big City.  She called up there and arranged for me to go straight there to meet the pediatrician at Urgent Care.   

Hubby had to lay down and sleep in preparation for working the night shift that night so I knew he wouldn't be able to watch the kiddos while I took Little Dude to the pediatrician.  I started going down the contacts list on my phone trying to find a babysitter who could watch Little Man and Star for me.  It took about 15 minutes, but I finally found someone who wasn't working or already busy.  I ran back home to pick up Little Man, dropped him and Star off with my friend, and started the 45 minute drive to Urgent Care with Little Dude.
  
We arrived and were quickly checked in and ushered back to a room.  It turns out that when you walk into Urgent Care with a 3 week old baby with respiratory distress and feeding problems, you get priority over pretty much everyone else waiting there.  The pediatrician checked Little Dude's oxygen levels and was concerned when she saw that he was dipping into the low-mid 80s.  She ordered tests for pertussis and RSV (which came back negative) and an x-ray to check for pneumonia (which was also negative).  After doing a nebtreatment, his oxygen level improved, but dropped again when he fell asleep.  He was observed for a few hours and she finally decided that it would be safest to keep him overnight at the hospital.  Right before arranging a room upstairs for us, she listened to his heart and detected a heart murmur that she hadn't been able to hear before due to his raspy breathing.  Wanting to be sure that it wasn't anything serious and wasn't connected to the other issues he was currently having, she decided to send us to a bigger hospital in The Big City where he could have an echocardiogram.

While waiting for the transfer order, I spent a lot of time on the phone arranging childcare for the three older kids overnight since Hubby was working and updating Hubby and other relatives of Little Dude's status.  Hubby's mom took the next morning off of work so she could keep the kids overnight.  She also started the prayer chain at our church for Little Dude.

We headed over to the other hospital around 5 pm and were soon set up in a room there.  Hubby called shortly after we got there to let me know that he'd been able to get the night off from work and would come spend the night at the hospital with us.  I asked him to stop and pick up some supper before coming since I was getting pretty hungry at this point.  I hadn't had time to eat breakfast before going to Little Dude's appointment that morning, had gone almost straight to Urgent Care from there, and then finally ended up at the hospital for the night.  There had been no time to eat at all that day.

Little Dude at the hospital.

While we were at the hospital that night, Little Dude's oxygen levels went up to the mid-high 90s and stayed there even when he was sleeping.  He also started eating better.  The echocardiogram was done the next morning and showed a benign heart murmur which we'll just keep an eye on until he outgrows it.  Little Man also has a benign heart murmur so it didn't worry me too much to hear about Little Dude's.  At 1:30 pm, he was finally discharged and we could go home. 

Little Dude looked so tiny in the hospital crib. 

What was supposed to be a quick doctor's appointment turned into an all-day, all-night affair.  We're very thankful that Little Dude is doing well enough that he was able to come home the next day since they had told us that they would be keeping him until he could spend a whole night with high oxygen levels.  Little Dude is especially happy to be home as he did NOT appreciate being constantly bugged for tests and vitals.  Unfortunately, he hasn't been eating very well again since we got home, but he definitely has a virus of some sort (which he probably caught from a very germy 18 month old he lives with) which we think is making it uncomfortable for him to eat.  We're just keeping an eye on him and will take him back to the doctor if he doesn't start improving soon or starts to get worse.