Ava & Mila

Our little Ava is now 54 weeks old. This week has been difficult for us, physically and mentally. Here is the story of our road trip hiccup.

It all started on the Wednesday morning of our southern Arizona road trip. Ava had a rough night… fever, wheezing, restlessness… and on top of that she was having difficulty breathing. Her entire stomach was expanding and contracting with each breath she took. Bad sign. So we packed up and headed for Oro Valley Urgent Care, just a mile up the road. As soon as the nurse took her vitals, we knew something was very wrong. Her respiratory and heart rate were off the chart and her blood oxygen levels were very low. They whisked us away to a private room and immediately gave Ava oxygen through a mask, an IV, a steroid shot thru the IV, and several nebulizer breathing treatments. Ava was in respiratory distress. Her low oxygen levels were not healthy for her organs. The urgent care was not equipped for Ava or for her ailment so they sent an ambulance to pick us up and we headed for the nearest ER until she could admitted to a room at the Children’s Hospital. The Tucson Medical Center’s Children’s Hospital would not accept Ava in their ER even though we were on a waiting list to get admitted to their pediatric wing. Politics. So, we spent most of the day at the Oro Valley Emergency Room, where I held Ava on a hospital bed, watched her vitals and held an oxygen mask over her face. Dan and I did our best to be strong for Ava’s sake… until this one nurse kept repeating how hard it must be for us to have a sick baby. No kidding.

After about 8 hours in Urgent Care and the ER, another ambulance picked us up and dropped us off at Tucson Medical Center which had a whole wing devoted to pediatrics. Actually, Ava couldn’t have gotten sick in a better location in terms of children’s hospitals if she tried. They immediately hooked her up to their machines to continue monitoring her vitals and administering oxygen. They actually stopped giving her an IV because she didn’t seem to be dehydrated… but they kept the IV in place just in case. The nurses actually had a difficult time locating a vein on Ava because of her chunkiness . The needle was located on the back of her hand and wrapped with that blue splint to prevent her from pulling it out.

Ava had one of their private rooms because she was considered highly contagious. Her breath rate was between 60-80 breaths per minute instead of the norm of 20-40. Her heart rate was between 165-200 instead of the normal 120-140, and her blood oxygen was in the low 80s instead of the high 90s. The doctors expected us to be there a night or two… but we weren’t… we were there for 8 whole days. Yes, I said 8. The doctors diagnosed her with bronchiolitis which was caused by the RSV virus. It is a common virus this time of year and she probably got it at daycare or from any of the numerous people that are coughing right now. But when babies younger than 2 get RSV, it can settle deep into their lungs instead of concentrating in the sinus or chest area. About 1 out of 100 babies get bronchiolitis bad enough to be hospitalized and Ava was the lucky winner. Too bad Ed McMahon didn’t run in with his microphone as balloons and confetti fell from the ceiling.

Ava had three electrodes on her chest for her heart and breathing, and a pulse oximeter on her toe to measure her blood oxygen levels, which glowed like E.T. Phone Home.

And a cannula for oxygen instead of a mask. At first, Ava hated it and tried to rip it off. Then she forgot about it. And then it made her itchy and she hated it again. All in all, she did better with it on than Dan or I would have. The reason we were not released in the predicted time frame was because Ava could not hold her oxygen up. As soon as they tried to wean her off of it, she would dip down below the acceptable levels and they would have to turn the flow back on. This lasted for 8 days. Did I already say that? She could not be released from the hospital until she could hold her own for 24 hours.

Ava also couldn’t be released until she was fever-free for 24 hours. Her fever ranged from 100-102.5 during our stay and disappeared around day 6.

Ava was confined to her cage crib for the majority of the time. Once her energy levels started to rise, we let her take a few steps around the room. But, she couldn’t get too far because of the wires. And she didn’t venture out of her room for fear of catching a new illness or giving hers to another kid.

During Ava’s stay, she lost a noticeable amount of weight. Her leg rolls, rubber band wrists and stomach shrunk. Her previously tight shirt was now a little baggy.

Ava’s appetite plummeted during her illness. And the hospital food did not help.

At first, her meals consisted of solid table foods, which she either pushed away or played with, like this green bean flute.

And then we switched to a puree diet, which is normal food, like french toast, placed in a blender and reformed to its original shape. So gross but she ate some of it.

I don’t even want to say what this pureed sausage looks like…

Ava also used her new straw skills to drink juice for the first time… but water is still her drink of choice.

There were two things that saved us from frustration and boredom… her binky and TV. She loved watching Elmo, some penguin cartoon and Hip Hop Harry.

She even enjoyed watching President Bush’s State of the Union and clapped with the audience. No joke. It was a long 8 days.

If you think that a hospital is a great place to rest, you are in for a big surprise. Nurses, techs, and doctors visit all day long and all night long too. We were lucky to get two hours of sleep in a row. Her breathing treatments began every hour and eventually tapered off to every four hours. Ava protested through most of them. She also got her nose suctioned by a wall vacuum several times a day. And her temperature and blood pressure were monitored constantly too. I think she hated the less painless, temperature and blood pressure cuff, more than the suction or breathing treatments. Go figure. During the night, I slept next to Ava in a fold out chair bed. And Dan slept in our trailer in the parking lot with Yoda.

After a day or two, Ava was getting antsy and tried to escape.

To keep her (and us) entertained, Dan bought her balloons so we can hear her say ‘goon’ over and over again… but she didn’t say goon… she just pointed instead.

Ava passed the time by brushing her new monkey friend…

…reading books…

…over and over again…

…kicking soccer balls in her book…

…and pretending she was a bracelet model on QVC.

She also spent just as much time throwing the toys out of her crib as she did playing with them. She must have said ‘oh-oh’ at least a hundred times each day.

Silly Ava would visit sometimes too…

…on more than one occasion.

Ava became more clingy to us during her stay. As soon as someone walked into her room, her arms would fly towards us and she would let out a little shriek.

Poor Yoda. She spent 8 days pretty much alone in the tiny trailer. Dan brought her for a visit outside of Ava’s window when Ava was feeling better. You should of heard her giggle.

After 8 long days, Ava was more than ready to leave. She even helped put on her going home socks…

…and brush her crunchy hair. It really was crunchy. It was impossible to give her a proper bath while she was plugged into the wall.

Bye Tucson Memorial Center. Thanks for letting us stay at the most expensive place in town. Cha-ching.

We made the long trip home in one day. No one complained. Well, no one complained until it was breathing treatment time.

We passed the time by reading books. I wonder if Ava needs glasses.

And we passed the time by taking breaks to see cactus.

One of the goals of this and future road trips is to take Ava’s picture with something that represents the state we are in…. and for Arizona, we thought that the cactus was a pretty good object. We almost did not get this picture. We were exhausted and had home on our minds. But luckily, we pulled off on the last exit before the California-Arizona border, stopped at a historic graveyard and got this shot. Bye Bye Arizona. Thanks for having us.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 at 6:10 pm by marlene and is filed under News, illness, trips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.