Brandon's 1st trip to the ER

Let me first say, Brandon is just fine! Here's what happened...

Thursday morning, Brandon started throwing up at his 3 and 7 am feedings. I called the pediatrician and was told to give him Pedialite for 24 hours, then institute breast milk back in at every other feeding. On Friday, I packed up both boys and headed to the pediatrician's office to have Brandon looked at before the weekend. He started a nasty cough and had green stuff coming out of his nose and mouth. With him being a preemie, I didn't want this to turn into RSV! The home health nurse that comes to check on Connor told me there is a nasty respiratory virus going around and there have been NICU babies re-admitted to the PICU floor and actually put on ventilators. I DEFINITELY didn't want Brandon to get that sick! Anyhoo...the pediatrician checked him out from head to toe. His blood count came back normal, so whatever he has is viral and all we can do is wait it out. His lungs were clear, so no worry about RSV. He started to keep breast milk down, so I thought we were on the up and up. Today, he started throwing up again, only because he was coughing so hard that he would choke himself. I put him back on Pedialite, but his coloring got really pale and he looked blue around his mouth. To play it safe, I packed him up and headed to the Children's ER. Luckily, we were put in a room and seen by the doctor really quickly! That's one benefit to having a preemie. He listened to Brandon and determined that his lungs were still clear. He ordered a chest x-ray to be safe and also a breathing treatment for him. A respiratory therapist came in and administered the breathing treatment. What a difference that made! It seemed to calm him down and he seemed to feel better instantly. X-ray was backed up about 3 hours, so we decided to cancel the x-ray. The doctor said his lungs sounded even better after the breathing treatment and felt confident that he could head home. So, we were sent home after 4 hours with a nebulizer so we can continue breathing treatments at home 3 times a day until this virus clears. I just fed him his normal feeding and he has tolerated it really well. We've done everything we can to keep the two boys apart to prevent Connor from getting this, but since it's viral it's hard to keep it from spreading.

Because of this virus and other viruses going around right now, we're going to have to keep to ourselves and not allow visitors for a while. Sorry to seem like overprotective parents, but we can't afford for these boys to get sick right now. I'm getting over the flu and another case of mastitis myself, so we're just going to be hermits for a while so we can all get better. Feel free to call us anytime though.

Keep Brandon in your thoughts as his little body fights this virus!