The other thing about the fluctuating weather means that we get lulled into a false sense of security. Can't get a cold unless it's cold out, right? Well apparently, no. RSV season came into play here during a super chilly week that we had in January.
Aaaand of course Los Bubs got it. I'm not entirely sure why or how. My grandma was visiting that week and she was feeling under the weather. The Tuesday before we got sick, we had gone into the doctor's office for our nine month check up. That Monday we had gone for a run and the weather was chilly (although we had thick blankets and beanies on the boys). Who knows? We could have picked it up any number of ways in any number of places, but the fact remains that we got it and we got it hard, y'all. That's the preemie struggle.
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| The morning of January 13th. Isn't brotherly love just the best ever? |
Bennett started to show symptoms on Friday January 13th. I noticed that he had kind of a wet cough, but he seemed fine otherwise, so I didn't really think too much of it. My mother in law and her husband had come over for dinner. She's a nurse and said it didn't sound like anything too bad. By Saturday morning, his cough was more frequent and it was sounding really gunky. He started vomiting a little bit after eating. I spent the day really worried about it. I tried to manage the symptoms at home. I used our Nose Frida like it was going out of style. I ran our humidifier. I bought natural cough syrup. I took their temps and gave Tylenol accordingly.
That night when the Hubs came home from work, I told him that I was really worried. I thought we should go to the ER. I called the nurse hotline, and after describing what was going on and letting her listen to his breathing over the phone, the nurse told us to get to the ER ASAP.
After four grueling hours there, we were sent home with albuterol breathing treatments. That night Bennett had tested negative for RSV. But I still felt so uneasy.
My mom and I spent the better part of Sunday trying to keep him strong. He didn't want to nurse, which is so unusual for Bennett, my clingiest twin. Nursing is like a religion to him. Seriously, the kid is all about it. We gave him a warm bath. We gave him his breathing treatments. He was miserable. We rubbed his little feet and chest with Baby Vick's and kept him warm and cozy, but his cough just got worse. I could feel his wheezing when I touched his chest. I should have taken him back to the hospital then, but I didn't want to risk exposing him to more.
By Monday morning, we had to take him to the doctor again. His oxygen levels were dipping to 93 and we were told to go to the hospital to be admitted. My mom was with me, the Hubs was home with Beau, and my mother in law was on the road from Little Rock back to Tyler.
Both the grandmothers took the week off work, just in case, and thank goodness.
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| Bennett snuggling with his Nonna |
We spent multiple days in the hospital on oxygen. Poor Bennett was hit the hardest. He started wheezing on January 13th and we were admitted to to hospital to get him on oxygen the 16th. It got so bad for him that he contracted bacterial pneumonia. It was so hard and terrible sitting in that hospital room with him all day long watching him struggle. Poor sweetie couldn't breathe or eat. He threw up anytime he did manage to get anything in his tummy. His IV was just the worst and he hated it so much.
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| Bennett's little IV hand |
Our sweet little Beau didn't fall to the virus until the 20th. He and I got the virus the same day. He was just so miserable once they put him on oxygen. It was so difficult to my big strong boy confined to a metal crib with wires all over him again. Luckily it ran its course with Beau a little more quickly, but it was still just such an awful experience for us and for him.
However, he did really like all of the pretty nurses coming in to check on him every hour. My little flirt would struggle with all his strength to sit up when they would come in so that he could interact with them.
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| Beau being comforted by his Mimi |
The boys had just learned to roll around the living room quickly to get where they want to go, and with all the wires and tubes they were hooked up to, those days were behind them. I could just see them looking at me wondering why they were going through this and why I wasn't making it better. We had to limit the toys that they could play with and the poor dears had to do with just watching Baby Einstein all day. Not that fun for them, and let me tell you, it wasn't that fun for me either.
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| Bennett watching TV in bed |
We had originally brought the Rock n Plays with us to help the boys sleep at night, and it worked great for the first few nights. We would keep the rockers on through the night to soothe them and the inclined position helped them breathe a little better. But eventually we had to transition them back out them. We could tell that the boys missed each other. At home, they share a crib, and I wondered if they might not do better on their breathing if we got them back together. They did start to do better at night when they slept together, and I could tell that it was
just so comforting to them!
Eventually we started looking and feeling better and discharge was starting to feel like a reality. The boys were taken off oxygen support. They thought we would go home sooner than we did, but at night the boys' oxygen levels would dip below 89, and we knew that we were bound for another long day. Brian and I were exhausted from sharing a single hospital bed at night, but we did start and finish Stranger Things on Netflix while we were there. Silver lining.
Another silver lining was that the hospital had these nice absorbent pads that we could lay Bennett on so he could air out his gnarly rash that came from all the diarrhea that his pneumonia antibiotics gave him. He liked the fresh air on his booty and the privilege of being allowed to watch TV with the grownups.
