Our Trip.... To the hospital

Well, last weekend Maddox was sick. We didn't know how sick though. We thought he just had another cold. Whatever. His temp was around 103 all weekend. Tylenol would bring it down to 100 or 101 but once it wore off it shot right back up. He seemed a little more down than he usually is even when he is sick. So Saturday we decided to just stay home and let him rest. Sunday morning he seemed to be in okay shape, not any worse but definitely not any better. Sunday afternoon I noticed that he had been SO tired and was trying to sleep but his cough kept waking him up. Then I noticed as we were snuggling on the couch that he could hardly keep his eyes open. I thought we had done a pretty alright job trying to keep him hydrated but its hard to make a 2 year old drink something he doesn't want to. I also noticed how hard he was breathing. His nostrils were flaring and his little tummy was going up and down so hard and fast. He was working so hard to breath. Since he has asthma, I had tried doing some of his breathing treatments but they weren't helping. So, Tom and I went back and forth deciding whether or not we should take him in. We HATE ER's so we thought if we could just get some fluids in him then I could wait until 8am when I could call the pediatrician. Well, we were worried about him so we let him sleep in our room with us.I knew I would not get a wink of sleep as a watched him to make sure he was alright. He maybe slept for about 45 minutes and then woke up. I thought maybe he would be more comfortable in his bed so I went and slept in his room. He maybe slept for a half an hour. I picked him up and tried to give him more to drink and snuggle him. I felt his little heart racing. I said I prayer. I immediately knew we needed to get to the emergency room. I went and woke up Tommy and we were on our way. We got there and of course WAITED and once we got back we did chest x-rays and they started him on albuterol treatments and tested his oxygen levels. The doctor came in after we had tried to get him better and he decided it would be best to admit him for 24 hours or so to keep him under observation.WHAT!? We did not think Maddox was this sick. I hate to admit, we kind of fought the doc on this one. Well, Maddox was in pretty bad shape and we wanted our baby to get better so, they started his IV (one of the most heart wrenching experiences EVER) and then Maddox and I had to ride in an ambulance to another hospital that had a pediatric unit. The ER doc wanted him in the PICU but once we arrived there the doc didn't think Maddox was quite sick enough to be in the picu so they moved us down to the pediatric floor. We spoke with the nurses and doctors and got settled in... but not too much cause we were only going to be there for 24 hours. HA. Anyway, our little boy was extremely dehydrated, had an upper respitory infection, and an ear infection. The nurse said according the the chest x-rays he was probably starting to get pneumonia. Anyway, I went home and showered and grabbed some clothes for the night and a few things for Maddox.. His favorite toys and books. Well, the next few days are sort of a blurr. I just remember the nurses called Maddox a "wet noodle" because he just layed there and slept almost all of Monday and Tuesday. It was so sad to see him so worn out and not up and playing. I remember people coming in every so many hours to give him breathing treatments and his other medicines. Early on Tuesday morning his O2 levels were so low we had to put him on oxygen. We thought we would only be there a day but each day passed and each day the doctor felt he was not well enough to leave. That was hard. We just wanted to go home with our baby. Finally Wednesday night Maddox was starting to act more like himself and we tried taking him off the oxygen. His levels struggled at first but he was able to sleep through the night without dropping too low. Yay! The end was in sight! The doctor came in on Thursday and gave us the okay to go home!!!! We were SO glad to hear that! Maddox was doing so much better!

This is while we were waiting in the PICU... I hate seeing him hooked up to all those wires and tubes!

Everyday someone brings there dog in to help lift the spirits of the kids in the hospital. Maddox loved this little puppy!

Once Maddox was feeling more like himself, he loved to go on walks around the halls and see the fish tank and ride the cars/wagons around. 

Thank you to all of our friends that came to visit us and thanks to everyone else who kept us in your prayers. The power of prayers is amazing. I wonder what would have happened if I didn't say that one little prayer Sunday night. I wonder if Maddox would have been MUCH worse off if we had waited until the morning. I love the gospel and I love my family. Tommy was a trooper and always brought be yummy food (heaven forbid I had to eat that hospital junk!) Just kidding, but he was great, I couldn't have done it without him! Now we have our Mad-dawg back!!!!!!

(Sorry this was so long!)