About a week and a half ago, Sawyer had a dry cough, but was happy playing. The next morning, he woke up having trouble breathing. I worried immediately because I had asthma since I was little and worry that Sawyer or Eleanor will inherit it as well. We got him in to the first appointment at a clinic a short walk away from our apartment. The doctor said it look liked he had bronchitis and gave him a breathing treatment. He perked up for a little bit after the breathing treatment. We went home with the nebulizer, but Sawyer wasn't improving. He continued to whimper all day and his breathing was still rapid. I gave him another treatment and it seemed to help, but only temporarily.
We weren't convinced the breathing treatments were doing much, so we went into a different clinic for foreigners. The doctor there also assumed it was asthma since Sawyer did not have fever or cold symptoms, just difficulty breathing. At this point, Sawyer was struggling so much to breathe we could see him sucking in his tummy below his ribs and he was barely speaking. They gave him several breathing treatments, oxygen, and also injections of steroids to try to improve his breathing since his oxygen levels were dropping to the low 90's/high 80's.
The doctor said it would be best if Sawyer would be hospitalized in Hong Kong (again at this point we all still thought it was an asthma attack). They had to assemble a doctor and team to come from Hong Kong to pick us up and cross the border in the ambulance. This took almost six hours! I was a complete mess at this point. Sawyer was just laying on the doctor's table, struggling to breathe and I felt completely helpless. I suddenly realized how terrifying it is to be a foreign country so far away from everything familiar and from our family. We asked if we could just get in a car and cross the border, but it was not possible since Sawyer would be considered "too sick" to cross. They continued giving him treatments, he threw up from all the meds and was just lifeless. Kurt ran home to grab all of our passports and pack haphazardly for the hospital. We had no idea how long Sawyer would need to be admitted in Hong Kong.
I rode in the ambulance with Sawyer. There was both a doctor and nurse on board as well. His oxygen was stable during the ride to HK. Kurt and Eleanor followed behind us in another van. I felt so relieved when we made it to the hospital. It was comforting that we were at the same hospital that I gave birth to both Sawyer & E.
He got checked in right away and given more breathing treatments. The doctor ordered an X-ray immediately and we found out that he had a severe case of pneumonia. From there, he started an intense round of antibiotics along with several breathing treatments each day. We stayed for 6 nights in the hospital and Sawyer was such a trooper, especially for having an IV of antibiotics. We were supposed to travel to Thailand with our friends for vacation (we have off of school this week). But obviously, we had to cancel our trip (so glad it didn't happen while we were traveling!) We're just trying to take it easy the rest of vacation before we go back to school.
Sawyer is back to his old, happy + energetic self. We have a lot of meds for him to take through this week, continuing the breathing treatments and a follow-up appointment in Hong Kong this weekend. The doctor said he will need about 2-4 weeks for full recovery. We feel so lucky that we got to HK in time and that he was able to receive such wonderful care. The nurses were all incredibly sweet and adored Sawyer. We're all very relieved to be back at home (everyone was getting stir crazy in the hospital room!)
In the midst of all of this craziness, our sweet girl is already five months old!
Eleanor, you are such a spunky and sweet little lady. You are so smiley and usually wake up beaming every morning (even before the sun comes up). Daddy and I can't help but melt at your smiles and coos. You fit in so perfectly to our little family, I couldn't imagine our lives without you!
Weight/Height: At your four month checkup, you were about 14.5 lbs (you're a peanut, the 15% for weight)
I forgot exactly how long you were, all I remember is you were the 85% for length right now.
Eating: You've been nursing every 3-4 hours and once or twice at night. It seems to be going well when I'm with you. It's a bit tricky to pump at school, I'm still trying to figure it out to make enough #workingmommaproblems
Sleeping: You don't' want to miss anything and struggle to take solid naps during the day time. At night, you go to bed around 7:00 (same as your brother) and wake up once or twice during the night. Lately, you've been waking up more frequently and I think you just forgot how to put yourself to sleep. I'm sure it won't last too long (or at least hope!)
Clothes: You're in 3-6 month clothing right now. I just packed up all of your 3 month clothes (tear). It goes by too fast!
Likes/Dislikes:
Likes:
- being apart of whatever is going on (you don't want to miss anything!)
- baths
- music
- your jumperoo
- scooting all over the place
- watching your brother and the dogs
- rolling over
- your pal, Sophie the giraffe
- balloons (obsessed)
Dislikes:
- being "forced" to take naps/sleep
- getting stuck in your crib rails
- not being able to eat "real" food
... still working on getting all four of us to look at the camera ;)
