Aryssa's Hospital Stay Christmas Night

Above was taken the day we brought her in (several hours later) 12/26

Below was taken the next day 12/27, she was feeling much better and wanted out of her crib

Aryssa's first Christmas was anything as we had thought it was going to be. She woke up just not feeling good at all. She slept off and on till about 1:30. She was very fussy and was coughing more and more. We had called the on call pediatrician and told him what she was doing and he said to start doing her breathing treatments every 2-3 hours as needed if she was breathing good. Told us what to look for if she wasn't breathing well  as far as when she takes a breath and her sides sink in around her ribs or if her skin sinks in around her clavicle. She was doing well after her breathing treatments but seemed to not last as long so she was needing them even more frequent than 2 hours. My mom and dad came up to visit and have dinner and exchange gifts. We caught Aryssa in a few good moods so we opened up her presents which she was at all interested in. Got a few good pics of her playing. Then off to bed she went but she would wake up every 1-2 hours crying. We had already discussed with the doctor when we called that we were going to bring her into their office saturday morning to get her checked out.

Well needless to say we didn't make it to morning. Around 1 am she woke up crying and coughing as she had done through out the day and I went to pick her up and she didn't seem right. We turned on the light and she was turning blue, her breathing was so labored. It was the scariest thing ever. I just stood there in a panic unsure of what to do. Something inside of me told me to grab her nebulizer and put it on her face while we got dressed and put our shoes on. We rushed her to the emergency room. We told them that she was turning blue so they took her right back. Her oxygen levels were in the low 80's (they are in the 70's or below when babies turn blue). They immediately got her on oxygen and a nebulizer. Doctor came in and listened to her and had them come take an x-ray of her chest as well as ordered blood tests, urine test, and RSV and Flu tests. All of which came back negative thankfully. The doctor came back and said that she has pneumonia. I had a gut feeling that is what she had since I had been looking up the symptoms online just an hour or so before. He said she was very very sick and her white blood count was very high. He was concerned that we may have to fly her down to Vanderbilt Children's hospital but was waiting on a call back from the pediatrician to make the call. Dr. Johnston who was on call that morning when we had called came rushing in to evaluate her status. He felt confident that she could be taken care of at Gateway (where we were already). So they sent us up to the pediatric floor and gave us a huge room with two beds and a crib. I was actually very impressed with the nurses and doctors at the hospital, much more than the other 3 hospitals we had to stay in since she was born. Yes you read that right this is her 4th hospitalization in 4 different hospitals in her short 11 1/2 months she has been on this earth.
 She was on some hefty oxygen until about 2 pm on Sunday. She was getting breathing treatments every 3-4 hours from a respiratory therapists continuously. By Saturday night/Sunday morning she was a totally different baby, much happier and ready to get out of bed. She was finally getting some color back in her skin. She was so pale that all the nurses kept saying how much she looked like a porcelain doll. We got discharged Monday morning. So not exactly the Christmas we were hoping for but at least she is better now and things could have been worse than they were.

Thanks for all of the prays and thoughts.... they really got us through this. I am so happy that I went and got her when I did and not just let her cry herself to sleep, I am so happy that I knew to grab the nebulizer for her, I am so happy Rob was able to drive us to the ER. SO many things could have gone wrong and thankfully they didn't. For this all, I am very thankful and blessed.