The Sick Post

I started to write this under Corbin's 9 Month Post but decided it was a post of it's own and needed to be posted first.  So here is the low-down:

 At 4 months Corbin was sick for the first time.  It was so bad we were send to the Children's ER and then an ambulance to another hospital where we had to stay for 4 days, 3 nights.  He was diagnosed with RSV, which turned to Bronchiolitis.  Meaning his little bronchial tubes were contracting so tight he wasn't getting enough oxygen.  They gave him tons of breathing treatments around the clock.  When he was finally inhaling an adequate amount of oxygen again, we were released.  I was so thankful for these doctors.  We weren't sleeping while at home because he couldn't breathe...I have horrible thoughts about what could have happened if it weren't for every step the doctors took.

4 months.  No sleep for days. In the ER.

Oxygen.  Crying because of the pricking, prodding and face masks over and over again.  On no sleep.

Cat naps in my arms.

After ambulance.  Checked into Unit 31.

All taped up because you kept pulling the tubes out.

This was your crib/cage.

Happy baby!

Sleepy baby.  He just took like 20 min cat naps all day until the coughing woke him up.

Nose is here.

Big boy.

Carter would come and visit but wasn't allowed in our wing.  So I'd meet him in the playroom to visit my buddy.  This was the second time I'd been away from him.  First being the night Corbin was born.

He still talks about this playroom.

Gift basket from the grandparents.  Thank goodness for that food...all I ate during the day because we were stuck in the room.  Quarantine, until John came to visit.

Last Picture from our hospital stay.

Since that episode, he's had a respiratory infection every month since.  They all result in us being sent the Children's ER.  We're told he has "Baby Asthma."  This is a pattern of sickness turing into respiratory infections.  Some people grow out of this and some it turns into the real-deal kind of asthma.  We shall see.  He currently has two inhalers with an air chamber mask.  One is for rescue when he is showing signs of being "air hungry."  The other is used twice a day for three weeks, two more left.  Then we will reassess.

Just another hospital visit.

And the most recent of 5 (I think?) visits.

The doctors say this is usually something that runs in the family.  But we're not sure where it came from.  It may be something that John or I could have had if we too were infants in Canada but that warm humid Texas air was better for us.  It may be better for Corbin too!?  Who knows!!  Something to think about.  We may have to get him to that humid air sooner.  I feel so bad for him when he is sick and I feel so bad for his little body struggling so much.

I know there are much worse sickness, so the stress of this has given me a glimpse into the struggle of parents with major sicknesses.  Just a glimpse, not the same magnitude...I know.  But it can really be hard on Mommy too.  The lack of sleep.  Needing (but wanting, of course) to hold him round the clock and having another baby boy in the house and having a house that just gets dirtier when not touched and having to call Daddy home or finding a neighbor to watch Carter when his breathing gets too bad and we have to head back to the ER.  It is pretty stressful, I breakdown hysterical, not going to lie.  So again, it's hard without any help, but I know it is only a tiny sliver of a glimpse into the lives of a family with a major illness.

I actually called Carter's teacher to let her know I would no longer be sending him to school because I just couldn't disrupt Corbin's naps any more.  Poor baby NEEDS all the sleep he can get and he's 9 months old.  I've dragged him around long enough.  By the fall he should almost be down to one nap.  Also, school is almost done for the year.  The teacher was so sweet and understanding. She said not to worry and just come when we can and even if it's only half the time or whatever.  Then about 2 hours after this conversations another parent called and said that she would be picking Carter up and bringing him home from now on.  She had an extra carseat and would love to help me out!!  What an angel.  The teacher had spread the word and sweet friends chipped in!  That is God helping out!

I'm very thankful that he will most likely grow out of if or that it is environmental.  The likelihood that he is a longterm (meaning past 4 years old) asthmatic is not very high.

Love this boy and, just as I hope after every sick spell, I hope that is the last one.  Ugh. Really, this time, pleeeease?!!!??!

Finally, some sweet Carter comments about all of this:

Is Corvin okay? (while seeing Corbin with tubes all over).
Maybe God can take Corbin's sick away.  (the most recent spell).