We spent several hours at the hospital last night with Sam wheezing and coughing and just generally having a rough time breathing. Bronchiolitis they say... After a chest x-ray they sent us home because he wasn't showing signs of distress - he kept laughing and smiling at the nurses when they put the stethoscope on his chest! They would'nt listen to us in that Sam was very subdued and lethargic for him, they kept following the line of if he's smiling then he's not that unwell. Grrrr... I'm just so frustrated that because our baby is so relaxed and laid-back normally, nobody will believe how sick he is!
Now I'm at home with a sick bubba and I can't do a damn thing to help him breathe, and I'm supposed to take him to the GP this afternoon - will be interesting to see if I can get an appointment at all!
Bronchiolitis truly sucks! I hope everyone else manages to avoid it.
Bronchiolitis DOES suck. DS had it 6 times before they FINALLY diagnosed it as asthma at 18 months old. Hopefully it doesnt develop into asthma for Sam. xx Did they check the oxygen in his blood. Thats when they put the little clip on their finger or toe.
Dr's dont usually diagnose it as asthma until they are 2 becasue asthma medication doesnt seem to work on children younger than this age.
PS- DS got to have an emergency ride in an ambulance for his 2nd birthday. They gave him 6 adult doses of ventolin on the way to hospital and because of this he was buzzing off the wall! I thought for sure they will send him home, but instead kept him in for a week cause his oxygen sats (amount of oxygen in his blood) was 85 (normal is 97 and above).
Also, kids are great at showing how 'well' they look when they are 'unwell'. Could you imagine how exciting it would be to be a little kid seeing new smiling faces, bright lights and new noises?
The nurse also told me when we took DS in one time that kids learn to deal with their ilnesses, like not being able to breathe properly.
Please take him back if he doesnt get any better or gets worse.
They had a few issues getting his O2 levels, but managed it in the end. He was sitting at 99 or 100 most of the time, just a really high respiration rate, but that had calmed down when they sent us home (he was asleep!). DH has asthma and he was really concerned by the sound of his wheezing last night and was the one who insisted on hospital.
We're praying like mad that this isn't the start of asthma for Sam as DH's was quite bad as a child and would usually result in a hospital admission every time the season changed!
And here was me thinking it was "just" teething! Which we also have going on along with this!
I have an appointment at 12:45 today (most impressed!) with the GP so we'll just take things from there. Meanwhile, Sam is staying very close to me and if there are any more issues I'll take him to Nepean rather than Hawkesbury... at least that's where his paed works and we might be taken a little more seriously.
I was pleased to note that they took things a little more seriously when they were told he was born at 36 weeks rather than full term.
BW - the things for you to be looking for are using extra muscles to breathe - at the base of the throat (tracheal tug), between the ribs (intercostal recession) and the tummy and the chest moving opposite to each other when he breathes. Because he is still little he also needs to be watched to see if the middle of his chest sinks in with breathing (sternal recession). I have given you the technical words as well as what to look for so you can either understand them talking or know the words to say when you have him assessed if they occur.
They usually breathe fast and sound noisy but ventolin tends not to be terribly effective with bronchiolitis. They will admit if they have signs of increased work of breathing (the stuff above), decreased oxygen saturations or the inability to feed (because breathing is more important than feeding). Yes, a happy bubba is a *good* sign (you know if your baby looks well or looks sick) but the other things are added to it and if they are a problem then they get admitted - usually on oxygen. Hawkesbury tends to have a very experienced group of Emergency nurses - particularly at night who know what to look for.
And the asthma - unfortunately difficult to assess in the little ones but bronchiolitis can be a precursor for some of them. Call me if you want to ask anything or just for a sanity chat
Thanks, Michelle... And it's nice to hear that about Hawkesbury. I got a little disturbed when the doctor who saw us couldn't even call the right on-call paed! He's breathing fast, but not really struggling too much.
It seems the warmer I can keep him, the easier it is for him. He seemed so much better this morning when I got him out of our nice, warm bed (he's sleeping in with us overnight while unwell - we can hear any breathing issues and get to him much faster if he wakes up with a cough), but was sounding pretty awful once he'd taken as much of his bottle as he would tolerate this morning.
Is it ok to let him sleep if he wants to sleep longer, or should I be waking him to feed a bit more regularly? He's been drinking close to 240mL each bottle while well, but is sometimes struggling to get through 120mL with some feeds now. I'm offering less more often, but don't know whether to wake him for it or just wait...
Urgh... I feel for you hun. We're all just getting over it here with thanks to anti-biotics (which I never usually allow the kids to have, but desperately needed this time around)
I hope the Dr is better at treating your DS and I hope he is well on his way to a quick recovery real soon
Bronchiolitis sucks!
Reply With Quote
And here was me thinking it was "just" teething! Which we also have going on along with this!
Bookmarks