Friday night we had plans. I worked on Thursday night, so I would likely be up late in an attempt to get back on a day schedule, and Kyle would stay up with me because he had his last final. It was a night to celebrate! We went to Smith's at 8:30 and got ice cream and brownie mix and stopped by Hollywood video for a good flick. Porter would be going down for bed around 9:30 and we would be able to stay up watching movies into the wee hours of the morning. But, our plans were foiled.
We decided to switch Porter over to formula and we gave it to him for his last feeding before bed on Friday. (I highly reccommend not giving your child a new food before bed-time - a rookie mistake). We put him down at a quarter to ten and shortly thereafter he started to scream. It's a little unusual lately for Porter to cry after being put down, he normally falls right asleep with hardly a noise at all. But, he was screaming, and the scream started to change from a "pay-attention-to-me" cry into a panic cry. I went in to see what was wrong, Kyle was right behind and I picked Porter up from his crib.
His lips were swollen, they almost looked like they were blistered. He had snot and mucous and vomit and all manner of secretions everywhere and he was struggling to breathe with the thick mess of junk in his mouth. I grabbed the bulb suction, but the secretions were too thick to suction out. We scraped as much crap out of his mouth as possible before hopping in the car and heading into my work. I called my work to give them heads-up that we were on our way in. I sat in the back with him, clearing out his mouth every 5 seconds before it would fill right up again and he would shake his arms and legs while struggling to get air into his poor little body. Hives were starting to appear. Kyle drove and, by the way, he should be able to make a very profitable living as a stunt driver. (Just so you all know, we can make it to the hospital from our home in under 3 minutes, if you don't worry about laws and don't have a problem with breaking them.)
I rushed Porter into a room and I started suctioning him while my co-workers started an IV.
It took several pokes to get one started on him, 5 to be exact. But, thanks to the great staff we have, John got an IV in his foot and Nate was able to get some benadryl and steroids into him. It took about 15 minutes and a breathing treatment for him to start breathing better, but he was breathing and that's all that mattered.
As a reaction to the formula, his uvula had swollen and was taking up a good portion of his throat, making it difficult to breathe and swallow his own saliva. On top of the swelling, he has a viral pneumonia, or possibly an aspiration pneumonia from him inhaling the secretions. Either kind of pneumonia was not helping with his struggle to breathe or to thin out the secretions he was rapidly producing.
Within 20 minutes of getting the benadryl, the swelling of his lips had gone down. The hives that had erupted all over his tiny little body were going down in size and redness. His breathing wasn't as noisy and he was sleeping. Kyle and I could now breathe. This is not the kind of adrenaline rush that I had signed up for. It's a completely different kind of thing when I'm taking care of someone else's child.
We were able to take him home an hour later. Kyle and I stayed up until his next dose of Benadryl was due. He then spent the rest of the night sleeping in our bed with us. I have never been more scared in my life.
The next morning, you wouldn't even know that anything had happened. He is such a happy kid and he's breathing well. No signs of a visit to the ER other than the bruising from the multiple IV sticks, and that he seems a little drunk from the benadryl. The bottom lip was still slightly swollen until Sunday, but he's doing much better.
I'm so grateful to the staff that was there in our ER that night. I'm grateful for Nate, John, Sheridawn and Dr. Bleazard for all of their help.
I'm grateful that they all remained calm while I almost lost it.
And, I'm grateful for the stunt-driver of a husband I have, who also remained calm and held our little boy all night.
I'm so grateful that we went to check on Porter; we normally let him cry-it-out at night to go to sleep. I'm grateful for that still small voice that kept pushing me to go take a look.
I'm grateful for a happy healthy, breathing little boy.
I'm just grateful.
6 comments:
Holy cow! That is so terrifying!!! I'm so glad he's OK, I can't even imagine that feeling....wow.
That is so scary. I'm glad that everything turned out o.k. Porter is lucky to have such loving parents that take such good care of him, even if it means running red lights :). I'm glad Porter is doing better.
I'm glad he's okay now! You and Kyle are great parents to that little boy of yours!
Oh, my, goodness. That is my biggest fear, that Aiden will actually need my help some night, and I'll just let him "cry it out" thinking that he just needs to go back to sleep. Good job, you guys are so lucky to have caught it so fast! You prabably better find out what it is in the formula that he is so allergic to, as next time it will be an even worse and faster reaction!
That's my boy, driving like a speed demon, running red lights. Actually, that's Dave's boy - he is so proud! When Kyle was younger Dave would throw him the truck keys and say, "Go as fast as you can without getting caught." And whenever Kyle came home with a speeding ticket I would look at Dave and say, "This is YOUR fault." and Dave would say, "No, I told him not to get caught!" So Friday night Kyle did his Dad proud. He "went as fast as he could and he didn't get caught!" Good job, Kyle, good job, Michelle for taking care of Porter while Kyle drove, and good job Porter for screaming and not giving up!
That is so scary. I'm so glad that Porter is OK now. He was so darling at the wedding...the kids and I went crazy over him! We missed seeing you though.
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