Damn You, H1N1!!!

On Monday night, Rowe was having trouble sleeping. She was really congested, had a runny nose, and was kinda warm. Tuesday she woke up with a bad cough, very runny nose, and hot. I called the doctor, who wanted to see her right away. We went in and he said she was on the verge of bronchitis, but she still had energy and was bright-eyed. He sent us home with a script for her to have the nebulizer every four hours and allergy meds twice a day. That was at 10am.

Around 2pm, Rowena was getting bad. She was on fire--except her feet were icicles, her face was very flushed, her eyes were swollen and pink, and her poor nose was bright red. She was becoming very lethargic and lisless, and her fever wasn't breaking, even with tylenol. I called the doctor again around 4:30 or so, and they said they would see her on Wednesday at 10am. When asked if I was comfortable with that, I didn't back down and thankfully stayed with my "Mommy's intuitition." They told me to bring her in right away. Dr. Paul checked her out. Since she hadn't had a wet diaper since 9:30a.m., her fever wasn't breaking, she was super lethargic...sleeping for 20 minutues, then up for 10, and only napping on me (she couldn't sleep in her bed because laying flat made her cough worse). The doctor looked her over, said her chest sounded better, which made him worry because it meant that something else is going on, especially since her fever wouldn't break. So, he stuck a long swab ALL THE WAY UP HER NOSE (for those that know me well, you know how much I can't stand things touching or up the nose). I was gagging, as was she. About 1/2 hour later, they confirmed she had H1N1. So, since she was so dehydrated and the fever was so high, he had us admit her to the hospital. The nurses and staff at St. Joe's were GREAT. When we got there, Rowena temperature was at 103.7 and her heartrate was racing at over 200 bpm. I was a bit nervous, but I held it together well. Had Peter been able to go to the hospital with me, I probably wouldn't have held it together at all. The night was rough. She was up every 15 minutes or so because every time she coughed, she was in pain and would start crying. She did get a good sleep from 2-4am and from 5-7. While at the hospital, her fever fluctuated between 98-104.

We tried giving her a bottle while in the hospital...docs wanted to make sure she was absorbing and keeping down her fluids. However, she seems to be a bit picky with the nipple. They provided the brown rubber ones, and she just got pissed off with them. On Wednesday morning, Pete got Delaney and Katie off to school and headed to the hospital with her bottles...which she was very grateful for! She downed 2 oz. pretty quickly. Since she kept that down, Pete gave her another 2 oz at 1/2 hour intervals. Things were looking up, although she still had a fever of 102. I left to shower and head to Katie's school's Thanksgiving Feast. Pete called me while there and told me that despite her fever, they were discharging her! Whew! Doc said her fever would fluctuate for the next week or so, and since she was hydrated, we can do all the meds and monitoring at home.

We were hoping for a good night's rest last night, but that didn't happen. Rowena was up every hour or so. Probably frustrated because she can't breath through her nose and therefore can't suck her thumb. She's on lots of meds (Delaney and Katie are also on Tamiflu), and is on the mend. Hopefully her sleeping patterns will come back soon. We're just very grateful that she's doing so much better!