Another FIRST - unfortunately

2009 has begun on an interesting note in the Lehr house... Matthew had his first hospital stay lasting from Monday, Jan. 12th through Wednesday, Jan 14th. The end diagnosis was "bronchiolitis," but allow me to summarize the whole story for you. The whole episode started when he abruptly awoke from peaceful sleep on Wednesday, Jan. 7th with a very congested cough - out of nowhere. (He hadn't even had a runny nose or any sign of illness!!) He was normal most of the day on Thursday, but did not sleep well - which, of course, means we didn't either. During the second half of Friday he began wheezing and was running a fever. Sleep was hard to come by in our house that night. Saturday we called our doctor's office and were advised to take him to the ER. We spent half of Saturday in the ER; we returned home with medicine and hopes that he'd be feeling all better by his follow up doctor visit on Monday, Jan. 12th. Unfortunately between the ER visit and the follow-up visit he only seemd to get worse. After just having a breathing treatment at home (his "rescue" medicine is called Xopenex, like albuterol), his oxygen level at Monday's appointment was 94 (should be around 98 and as I understand it if you get below 91, it gets pretty serious and they put you on oxygen). The gave him more Xopenex (all this medicine is breathed in with the help of a machine called a "nebulizer.") and his number was 91. An additional treatment was given at that time, but to no avail - another 91. He was more withdrawn and lifeless than I've EVER seen him. All he wanted was for me to hold him. He was just burying his face in me and even whimpering. If there had been a hole in my chest I think he would've tried to climb right in. He was practially falling asleep in my arms while the dr tried to examine him. The whole thing was somewhat scary, and the dr felt that he should be admitted to the hospital. I called Tim and my mom to take care of legistics on the way home and then I had myself a good cry. I prayed that God would take care of my precious son. After packing a bag at home, Tim met us and the three of us drove to the hospital. When we arrived and they tested his O2 levels again, we saw an 89 and then back up to 93. Thankfully, he never had to be put on oxygen.We had a nice room and even by that evening, after receiving such good hospital care, Matthew was being more active. We were blessed to have Kathi, a family friend, be the nurse that was assigned to him. (I'm amazed, but I probably shouldn't be, at how God works these things out!) Nana & Grandpa "uh-oh" brought him a balloon - still one of his most favorite things. Dispite getting to feel better physically, Matthew was all but hostile toward anyone who walked in the room. It was, "I want Mommy or Mommy" and no one else. This was a wonderful sign that we have a healthy bond now, and yet it was hard for Tim & a bit draining to me.

He slept peacefully each of the nights we were there - sometimes he slept right through checks of his "vitals" and breathing treatments. If he woke up he was kicking and screaming at the "intruder," but he would calm down when mommy came "to the rescue."

And once feeling better, he resumed his normal funny face-making. Here's another look at his "football face." (What a character!)

Of course there ARE good things about hospital life ... like unlimited Disney movies! I kinda enjoyed wathing some of my childhood favorites like: Dumbo, Bambi, Lady & the Tramp, and The Fox & the Hound. Dumbo is definitely his favorite; he asked for it multiple times.

And, what do you know? They even had a train tracks and trains in a bin that we could take back to our room, not to mention a nice play room with a real train table and lots of other things. Wednesday morning, we were blessed to have Steve, one of the pastors at our church, come to visit Matthew (and me), and shortly after Matthew was discharged... out into a winter wonder land. It had been snowing most of the time we were at the hospital, so we came home to some beautiful sights! Too bad, Matthew can't get out and play in it - they say that the cold temperatures can definitely aggrivate breathing conditions such as bronchiolitis or asthma.

Truth be told, once he was feeling back to normal and able to return home Matthew was a bit hard to live with - after being so entertained with videos and trains in the hospital. He has been home just over a week now, and we are finally back normal - Hooray! Thanks to everyone who sent cards and has kept him in your prayers throughout this. We are grateful to the attentive hospital staff for helping Matthew back to health again, and we praise God too because we know that wherever Matthew may be at any given moment, he is ultimately safely in God's hands.