Cutest Sickie you’ve ever seen

It seems my sweet Aleesia often gets the worst of any germ that crosses our doorstep.  She is pretty regularly fighting some kind of stuffy nose or sniffle.  Right before her birthday she had a long week of high fevers which (thankfully, actually) ended up being Roseola without a presenting rash. 

And then, the latest medical drama began after Gianna brought home a set of her own sniffles from preschool.

Miss Aleesia started off with the same set of sniffles and a cough, but she wasn’t eating and was randomly throwing up. (she’s my puker, she sort of throws up randomly for no real reason) She didn’t eat much on Thursday, started coughing and had a rough nights sleep that night.  Friday was no good at all, so we actually took her to the doctor where they diagnosed her with RSV. Which stinks, but shouldn’t be a huge deal in the end considering her age and that she had no risk factors.  Except Aleesia had some pretty serious work of breathing but worse than that, she stopped eating all together and continued with the throwing up. 

I decided that it would be best to take her to the ER late Friday night because it had been too long since her last wet diaper and I’ve never seen a baby so lethargic, I knew she was dehydrated and my rehydration attempts ended in immediate vomiting.

So, off we went thinking we’d be headed home in 12 hours or so after she started to look up.

Except we ended up staying in the hospital for FIVE DAYS!

It turns out her dehydration was very severe (like, VERY) – which is a little scary because it was really a quick onset. They were going to admit her for observation, mostly because of the time (it was 3am at that point) and that was fine.  Except her bronchiolitis was at the beginning of the disease path and only got worse over that period, leaving her working very hard to breathe and not helping the dehydration situation.  And, add to that her literal refusal to take anything by mouth which continued for four days. 

She ended up with an ear infection and a few moments of energy here and there.

Eventually, when her breathing continued to remain difficult, we figured out that pneumonia was the culprit.  She started eating some (I never imagined I would cheer so much when my 12 month old took 2 ounce bottle in my life!) and things were finally looking good!

This little one has spent 7 nights in the hospital over the past 10 months, which I believe exceeds her lifetime parent-allowed maximum of nights in the hospital.  Both times for pretty random medical issues.  Thankfully, she seems to be no worse for the wear now that her antibiotics are all gone.  I knew she was feeling like herself when she threw some toys in the toilet the other day.

I am so grateful to have such amazing parents and sisters though who helped us take care of the biggest girl in our house – she knew Aleesia was sick and she was sad, but they did a wonderful job of keeping her occupied enough that she didn’t get TOO sad.  And she got a mommy-gianna date to the mall! Facebook, as much as I dislike it (but can’t quit it…), was also a great source of support – it was nice to check in and know that friends and family were thinking and praying for our little peanut.

We had quite the little adventure to end her birth-month and she won the hears of many doctors and nurses, for sure – but next time we visit the hospital I hope it’s to bring some volunteer cheer and does not include an overnight visit!