This was originally going to be an entirely happy post celebrating some of LM’s lovely firsts this week… and I am going to include those but I can’t not mention another first which is less happy.
LM had her first trip to A&E :(. She has had a horrible cold all week and Saturday afternoon she seemed to get worse and was not feeding well at all. Sunday morning her breathing was a little laboured and we noticed a distinct wheeze. She was also hardly eating at all, barely drinking 40ml (about 1 oz) of her milk compared to the 140 ish she usually has in the morning. Being the bank holiday weekend we didn’t want to wait until Tuesday so called the out of ours GP service who wanted to see her because of her age and let’s face it, you don’t mess around with breathing! We wondered if it was a chest infection and assumed we may be home with antibiotics or something.
The out of hours GP wasn’t happy with the way her tummy was sucking in when she breathed and the wheeze and crackling he felt. He called her a “happy wheezer” as she seemed ok in herself but there was definitely something going on. At the point where I thought he would give us a prescription and send us on our way, he surprised me by saying he thought she needed to be observed by a pediatrician for a few hours and that we were to go straight to A&E.
I have to say I wobbled a bit at this as I suddenly worried that it may be more serious than we had considered. Up until this point I still had that vague guilty feeling that she was fine and we were being overly worried parents wasting their time. Definitely not the case though! We called in the troops (family wise) to help look after Monkey for the day and headed in.
Most of the staff were great, but a consultant breezed in, said some things that were barely intelligible about admitting her and having a test for Bronchiolitis, giving her a feeding tube and isolating her and then breezed off again leaving a couple of confused and worried parents in his wake. Thankfully the nurse we were with said she couldn’t do anything as he hadn’t written anything down, and that she would get one of the junior Drs to be a bit more thorough. The junior Dr came and she was great and much more helpful!
To cut a long story short LM has Bronchiolitis which is apparently very common and viral so there is very little they can do about it. They gave her a nebulizer to see if it could help clear her airways (apparently it can help some babies so is worth a try but is usually more effective in older children) which was a bit traumatic for her and it didn’t make any difference. They felt confident she would get better naturally though and actually the biggest concern was that she was eating less than half what she would normally and she had lost a little bit of weight since I last got her weighed a couple of weeks ago.
If her feeding didn’t improve then she would need to be admitted and have a feeding tube inserted and to be honest we really hoped that didn’t happen, obviously we wouldn’t have fought it as we worried about her but we just hoped that she ate a bit more on her own. They advised the minimum she needed to eat at her next feed was 57ml (don’t ask me how they worked that out!) and thankfully she ate a little over 60ml! Hooray! We spoke to the registrar who said he was happy for us to take her home but that we needed to keep an eye on her feeding and if it didn’t improve or her wheezing or anything seemed to get any worse, that we should call them and go straight back in.
Thankfully this evening she seems to have got her appetite back and is feeding much better – so these are two very relieved parents! She is still poorly and they said her wheeze may get worse before it gets better. Her cough could last up to another two weeks and she may get wheezy more frequently from normal coughs and colds as a result of the bronchiolitis but that that is normal and will go away eventually.
We are a bit shattered and wibbly if I am honest, nothing like seeing one of your kiddies very poorly to remind you how lucky you are. I make no secret of the fact I don’t hugely enjoy the difficult baby days but the thought of anything happening to our baby just doesn’t bear thinking about. So despite being horribly poorly this week, culminating in her first trip to A&E, I also want to celebrate a few of her more ordinary, very happy little firsts.
So, first up, she has had her firsts tastes of solid food! I tried some a few weeks ago and they all came straight back out, but this week some instinct kicked in and I started making purees. She has also been drinking a bit less milk this week, possibly because she is so congested, so on Thursday I just decided to see if she liked some of the roasted sweet potato puree… and she scoffed it down. The next day she tried carrot and scoffed all of that so I also gave her some baby rice, which again she couldn’t get enough of.
I had to get Daddy to watch as she was literally diving forward with her mouth open to eat more and it was lovely to see. We haven’t ever really got into a good routine with her formula she eats little one feed, loads at a next and it varies massively from day to day and has been quite stressful at times. The HVs always say it’s fine as she is growing well and taking what she needs but it does make things difficult.
For some reason I really haven’t been looking forward to weaning (probably all the pureeing, mashing, the mess ;)) but now that it is here I am finding myself so excited. It’s just lovely seeing her enjoy her food so much I think and she has been such a happy baby after she has eaten it. Maybe I am holding out too many hopes on weaning. I think I am secretly hoping that food and mealtimes will help us finally get her to settle on a routine and maybe it won’t but I do hope we are turning a corner. I really, really hope so!
She also had another lovely first on a little family outing to the park and had her first ever go on a swing! She can’t really sit unsupported yet so she did very well not to flop over and she really enjoyed being swung, so it was a lovely, lovely moment 🙂
Sorry to hear you’ve had a scary weekend, little 1 went through something similar when she was a toddler but luckily we just about avoided a hospital stay. I really hate it when they are ill, as you say it does make you feel quite wibbly! Love the look on her face in the swing, she looks like she was having fun. Good luck with the weaning, I loved seeing my two girls enjoying new food.
Aww! Bless her…I hope she is feeling better soon!
It sounds like she’s really enjoying her food x
Aw, sorry to hear about your bad first! It is awful isn’t it seeing them in the hospital? A has been in a handful of times over the past year and it’s definitely something I wish to forget! Glad she’s on the mend though and you had some happy firsts too! #sharethejoy
Goodness that must have been so scary for you! We had a similar situation with the Little Man with a trip into hospital that I thought might last a couple of hours and ended up with me and him staying in overnight – it makes you so thankful for our NHS system doesn’t it? And good for you for finding the happy too – lovely that she is weaning so well! Thanks for linking this up at #sharethejoy this week x
Oh bless her that does sound scary, glad everything is being sorted though and fx for a speedy recovery! Aw I remember indies first tastes, it really is such a memorable moment, so exciting 🙂 xx
oh the poor little mite, that hospital photo is heartbreaking. Glad she’s on the mend and I hope that was you first and last trip to A&E. #maternityMondays
Oh gosh – awful to have one in hospital. Well done on coming out the other side #sharethejpoy
That must have been so scary for you, Archie had a bad case of Croup recently (his fourth!) and when we phoned 111 they sent for an ambulance, it was terrifying. But all was all right in the end. He’s still prone to wheezing/coughing but as you say it should improve as he gets older. I hope she’s feeling much better now & the weaning continues to go well 🙂 #MaternityMondays
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Oh gosh – awful to have one in hospital. Well done on coming out the other side #sharethejoy
Awww I hope LM is feeling a lot better really soon. This reminds me so much of what happened with Boo just before her first birthday, when she had Bronchiolitis and Tonsillitis – it took 4 trips to the drs (and one trip to the hospital) to convince them she was poorly as she kept perking up when we got to the drs! But I knew something was wrong …then she slept for about 22 hours out of 24 so I took her back again and this time dr sent us straight to the children’s ward and we stayed overnight for some IV fluids and antibiotics. It’s so scary!
Lovely first though, weaning is great fun, though very very messy! And I love the photos on the swing =) So cute!
Oh no poor little miss 🙁 so pleased she was ok, what a scare!! Gorgeous photos hon, she’s doing so well xxx #sharethejoy
Gosh how scary but glad she is on the mend! I love the swing shots!!xx
Oh goodness, it’s always very scary going to hospital, especially when they are still so tiny. Glad she is on the mend now. The swing photos are just gorgeous.
awww bless that picture of her in the hospital is heartbreaking. Felt all choked. So glad she is ok and managed to come home. A friend of mine, her little had that bronchiolitis and was sent home too. Nasty virus. Glad she is eating a bit too and enjoying the food. Hopefully you are right; she is turning a corner. She does look quite edible on the swing though 🙂 xx
Oh, that must have been so worrying Caroline, so glad she’s getting better. Absolutely love the photos on the swing 🙂
Sorry to hear she was so poorly – what a worry. I hope she’s all better soon.
Lovely to hear the weaning has started so well and the photos on the swing are gorgeous!
Popping over from SS Amazing Achievements.
So sorry to hear the week started out on a worry, but glad to hear she is better than she was. Happy that the weaning is going well, one thing I get to look forward to doing again in a few months (woohoo). How cute is she in that swing though? Ooooh #maternitymondays
Thank you and yeah the weaning is going great which is lovely, especially now she has her appetite back! xx
O my, so sorry about your A&E scare. I can’t even imagine how heart flipping that must have been. So glad it’s all sorted out. Oh, the joy of weaning; another milestone, another journey. Glad you’re enjoying it and hope it helps with sorting out your routine. Love her knitted gear! #MaternityMatters
Thank you, it was pretty darn scary I have to say, really hope we don’t have a repeat of that anytime soon! xx
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Awww, poor wee girl. I am so glad that she is better now.
Oh bless her! I’m so glad she’s getting better. It scares the living daylights out of you when something like that happens.
Thank you, it really does, so glad she is doing better!
I’m so sorry to hear you had to experience an A&E visit with Little Miss being so young. I’m glad she didn’t have to stay in and I really hope she is feeling better now. I’m so glad she is enjoying food, we started Little E early with baby rice and first tastes and it really helped getting her into a routine. I love the photos of Little Miss in the swing.
Thanks for linking up with Small Steps Amazing Achievements :0)
x
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