A New Family Member

Iron Man Becomes a Fighter Pilot

Just when we thought Joey was over RSV, he started becoming a little lethargic.  On Monday he slept almost the entire day and only had two bottles in a twelve hour period.  This is not like our baby.  Usually he is awake all day and eats every 2-3 hours.  I took him to the doctor and his ears, glands and lungs checked out.

By Tuesday he had started hacking.  It was a wet cough at first and I thought that maybe it was the weird weather changes.   During the massive rain and thunder storms Tuesday night we rocked and held our baby boy while he hacked and hacked and hacked.  When he wasn’t hacking, he was crying.  We tried to fill up the bathroom with steam.  We gave him a little bit of ibuprofen.

Wednesday morning we were back at the doctor’s office.  That’s when Joey’s doctor told me that because he had RSV a few weeks ago he would now have a much more difficult time when he got colds or got sick.  He said this would probably be the case for the next two years.  That’s when he told me about the nebulizer.

Enter, Peter.  The penguin.  Tommy chose the name and that’s our newest family member.  Within just seconds flat of seeing Peter Penguin Tommy had taken him apart and also provided him with a new hat.  This Penguin does not stand a chance!

This penguin needs a hat.

His hat won't stay on!

Note the face and body covered in flour from the cookies we made Daddy.

At the rate we are acquiring new drugstore items (thickener, helmet, nebulizer) we are going to have to rent a U-Haul to drive to Hilton Head.  

Until the cough goes away Joey is getting his treatments every four hours.  Just when we thought he was good with rocking his Iron Man style he became a fighter pilot and I started talking like Darth Vader (something about steam and a gas mask that just makes you say, “Luke, I am your father”).    Looking good, Joey!

Why does it look Joey's giraffe is coming out of his ear?  I have no idea. 

Ultimately, I just hope that this helps him breathe better and makes his cough less stressful.  We’ve now had two cough so hard you puke episodes.  So far I’m beating the puking (knock on wood)—LoLo got the first puke bath and Tom got the second.  But puking and coughing aside, this latest bout of illness stresses me out.   We are supposed to finally go on our family vacation next week and do our getaway before we have to go on lockdown before his heart surgery.  Because of the type of heart defect he has, one of the main problems is the extra pressure from the blood flow from his heart to his lungs.  Without the surgery the damage to his lungs would be irreversible.  The concern with him having had RSV and croup and upper respiratory infections is that it will make intubating and extubating him more difficult.

This week’s illness just really hits home and makes me realize how truly important those four weeks before his heart surgery will be and how important it is that I protect him and keep him healthy. 

Until then, we have Peter Penguin.  Welcome, sir.