A New Year's Eve to Remember

Your love, Oh Lord, reaches to the heavens.

Your faithfulness stretches to the sky.

Your righteousness is like the mighty mountain.

Your justice flows like the ocean's tide.

And I will lift my voice

to worship You, my King.

I will find my strength

in the shadow of Your wings.

~ Third Day

Christmas morning (Sunday) Jacob woke up with that nasty, seal-barky kind of cough. As the day went on though, it seemed to clear up and even go away completely. Thought maybe it was...well, I dunno, just a weird something-er-other.

On Monday morning, he woke up with that same cough again. This time he coughed and coughed and coughed all. day. long. But the seal-barky-ness (actual medical term) went away and it was mostly just a dry, hacking cough.

Monday night I went in to check on him around midnight, and he was just moaning and moaning in his sleep. I felt his head and sure enough, he was burning up.

Tuesday I stayed home from work with him, and he continued to run fever all day, cough his little head off, and generally feel awful, so I took him to the doctor (for the cough, mind you) on Wednesday. He tested positive for strep, and that seemed to be the end of it as far as the doctor was concerned (not our regular doctor, mind you. HE, of course, would have been MUCH more diligent. ;)) She said, "Whelp, he has strep." And that was that.

Ok, he'd had no symptoms of strep, but I know sometimes it can be sneaky.

I asked, "Um, what about his cough?"

She said, "It's probably just from the drainage and the swelling. It should clear up in a few days."

I was completely unconvinced that it would, but who am I to argue with a doctor, right?

Well guess what. It didn't. He continued to cough his everlovin head off, lie listlessly on the couch, and run fever throughout the day Wednesday, Wednesday night, all day Thursday, and Thursday night. We kept asking him over and over, "Does your throat hurt? Does your head hurt? Does your chest hurt when you cough? Does anything hurt?" He kept saying no, no, no, nothing hurts, but "I'm just so tired."

Sick, sick little boy. :(

He was mis.er.able. during the night Thursday, coughing and moaning and whimpering, sweating like crazy...just all around MISERABLE. I decided I would take him back to the doctor on Friday.

For the cough.

But then, on Friday morning he woke up feeling better! Not WELL, but better. His fever seemed to be breaking, he was sitting up, having conversations, laughing at TV. I thought ok, maybe he's starting to get better.

Friday night was worse than Thursday night. In fact, I stayed up almost the entire night just sitting by him, trying to keep his head elevated a little to help with the cough, toweling him off when he got soaked from the sweating....it was another looong and miserable night. During the night something happened that convinced me we were going to the doctor on Saturday no matter how he felt....I noticed his fingernails were tinted blue.

Scared. the. bajeebers. out of me.

Saturday morning was just like Friday. He seemed to be feeling a little better, fever was down, talking more, blah blah blah. I almost changed my mind about the doctor. But PRAISE GOD He wouldn't let that little niggling in the back of my mind go away. (Praise #1) Thinking about the fact that everywhere would be closed on Sunday, or for that matter much after noon on Saturday, I finally dragged myself around and started getting ready to go.

By the time we were ready to leave, Jacob was lying on the couch again, running fever, and quickly heading back to a state of miserableness. I picked him up (all 51 pounds, 4 feet 3 inches of him) and carried him to the car.

We went to the only clinic I could find open - one I don't particularly love - and sat in the waiting room for about an hour and a half. The whole time I prayed, "God, please let us get a doctor who will take this seriously, who will listen and pay attention and not just blow this off." Because THAT would be the reason I don't particularly love that particular clinic in the first place.

When it was finally our turn, the nurse put an oxygen monitor on Jacob's finger, and as she asked questions and typed info in the computer, she calmly kept glancing at the number on the monitor. Finally, she got up, said, "That number's just not going up," and left the room.

A few seconds later the doctor walked in with a determined, focused look on her face, looked at the monitor, and started listening to Jacob's lungs. She asked me about 2 questions, almost not waiting for my answers, moved to the computer, moved back, and said, "I'm gonna go ahead and call an ambulance."

Um, WHAT?

She continued explaining "oxygen on the way there" and "his body working too hard" and something something something. I don't remember anything else she said. It was sort of like how the adults sound on Charlie Brown.

Because my mommy ears stopped functioning properly at "ambulance".

I would say she took us seriously. :) Praise #2.

For one brief moment I felt it coming. The panic. The fear. The tears. I really thought I was going to break down right there while the doctor was explaining what was going on.

And then I just....didn't. I thought, "No, STOP, I'm not going to do this." And I didn't. If you know me very well at all, you know that is huge for me. Huge. It wasn't a big, dramatic, spiritual-fight moment where I was frantically grasping for that peace I claim Jesus gives me (like usual)....I just stopped. Praise #3. God was so gracious.

And in the blink of an eye - a blink - the EMTs were in the room. (Praise #4) Like, I almost wondered if they'd actually driven there or if they just stay at the clinic all the time. And just about as soon as one EMT started talking to Jacob, there were suddenly three FIREMEN walking in! (Does the fire department respond to ambulance calls where you live, too?) When I saw them I started to panic a little. Just for a second. But then they left, and I was good.

The EMTs were so calming and reassuring and all-around awesome. The ambulance was in terrible need of some new shocks, but otherwise awesome. :D If it hadn't been so scary, I think Jacob would have thought it was really cool. :)

Yes, I took a picture in the ambulance.  Does that mean I'm a bad mom?

When we got to the ER (which is actually called ED now, did you know that?) we were whisked right into a room, greeted by three (!) wonderful, kind, attentive hospital staff (2 nurses and a clerical person), and well....the whole experience was wonderful. If an ED visit can be wonderful.

Between the clinic, the ambulance, and the ED, Jacob received four breathing treatments and two rounds of steroids. Nothing was budging his blood oxygen level, so they decided to admit him to the hospital. Poor, sweet baby, he was so scared. :(

And so Jacob rang in the new year with a toast of 4 liters of oxygen per minute, an O2 monitor and an IV port.

E.T. anyone? :)

And I am praising God that he did! WHAT if I had not taken him to the doctor yesterday?! (Praise #5)

Whew! I just thought Thursday and Friday nights were rough! Last night we had his O2 alarm going off what felt like every 30 minutes, nurses and residents and respiratory therapists coming in at ALL hours of the night taking vitals, listening to his lungs, changing his oxygen, putting him on a mask.... Good grief!

So...here's the low down. They don't know what caused it. Well, yes, it was whatever virus he had last week, but they don't know WHY it caused such a bad reaction. He doesn't have asthma, his lungs are clear, no wheezing, no pneumonia, chest x-ray is good... They can't find any reason for his low oxygen.

And it's still low. Even right now he's getting 3 liters of O2 per minute, and his saturation rate is only 89% (it was 84% at the clinic yesterday - should be 100). They've done bloodwork and an x-ray and a viral panel, and everything they test for is negative. Which is GOOD, but....

The doctor says we can't go home until Jacob's saturation rate stays above 92 for EIGHT HOURS while receiving no oxygen. Right now we can't keep it above 92 for eight SECONDS without receiving oxygen. (ok, maybe a minute or two)

He is feeling SO much better, was joking and laughing hysterically at his sister today, and even got up and went for a walk, but we just can't keep his O2 rate up.

Would you pray for him? He looks healthy, he feels good, but something's just not working the way it's supposed to. It could just be that his body got so worn down during the time he was sick last week that it's taking some time to recover. I'm praying that's it, and that God will strengthen him and restore him. We're HOPING we'll get to go home tomorrow.

In the meantime, he's eating up all the attention he's getting here. He actually gets to order his meals off a menu from room service. He's been having a blast with the electric bed (up and down and up and down, feet up, head up, feet down....) He gets to watch non-stop Phineas and Ferb and Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner. My mom brought him a whoopie cushion (ohmygosh) and he's received balloons from two family members. What more could a boy want? ;)

I think we're on the downhill side, but please pray the Lord will fill up Jacob's lungs and saturate his blood with oxygen, and then strengthen his body to maintain it.

We've been so blessed by all of our wonderful friends and family. I've received text after text and phone call after phone call from friends offering their love, help, support, and prayers. You all can't know how much that means to us and how much it helps me stay at peace. I'm SO very thankful for every one of you!

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P.S. Another gift from God just for me? Look who's right outside the door to Jacob's room :

*Smile*