Abby's First Hospital Stay

Well, it is true, Abby spent a couple of days in the hospital this week.  So sad!  But she is doing much better and we are all home now and doing lots of rest and recovery!  So here is the story.  Abby had a normal runny nose and cough for a couple of days.  Wednesday night she woke up at about 1 am complaining of tummy aches and then began a marathon of vomit until about 8:30 in the morning.  I was certain she just had a bad flu bug.  I kind of half way noticed that night a rapid heart beat and a little bit of labored breathing.  She slept on and off that morning and I started to notice an increase in her abnormal breathing.  I soon became concerned.  I called our doctor bake home and a PC wife that is a nurse.  There is a pediatrician that is a member of Covenant Life that takes good care of the PC families.  I called and made an appointment for later that afternoon. Jason came home after lunch to look at her.  He told me to leave for the doctor right away in case they could see her early.  I left Katie with the lady we are staying with and headed for the doctor at about 2pm.  Our appointment was at 3:30 so we were really early.  Providentially, the appointment before hers did not show up and they were able to see her early.  Her breathing was really bad by this point and the doctor said that she was in respiratory distress.  He thought that she might have Pneumonia and sent us directly to the hospital for admittance and told us to expect at least a 2-day stay.  That was a surprise!  So off to the ER we went and made a hasty phone call to get Daddy out of class.  Gary Ricucci drove with Jason to the hospital (we only have one car) and stayed with us through the ER process.  That went really well.  They brought her in with no waiting and began to care for her.  After the chest x-rays it was determined that she did not have pneumonia but in fact was suffering from an asthma attack.  Weird I know.  Maddie, Abby's cousin, is the only one in our family that I can think of that has asthma.  But they said that it doesn't mean that she has asthma.  I guess you can have isolated events that are brought on from any number of stimuli.  The most common stimulus is from a virus like a cold, which she had.  So for some reason her body responded this time with spasms and inflammation in her lungs.  Also, these spasms resulted in an air pocket in her lungs where there wasn't supposed to be air.  All of which resulted in her just being really sick!  So why the throwing up?  It is still somewhat of a mystery to me.  They said that asthma sufferers can have stomach pain from how hard their lungs are working.  They also said that sometimes, especially with children, they can just throw up because they don't feel good in general.  So she was admitted to a great pediatric floor.  They showered her with presents, had lots of movies, and a great playroom.  They kept us until her blood oxygen was acceptable, the inflammation in her lungs was better, and the air pocket had dissipated.  We were released Saturday around lunch time.  And... we are SO GLAD to be at our little home away from home.  

When all was said and done...

• Abby was a real trooper!  What we didn't find out till later and would have been helpful to know earlier was that the medicines she was on had some real side effects.  They made her very wakeful and significantly affected her temperament.   Considering all, she really did do well!
  
• We are SO THANKFUL for all the ways in which people served us.  Back home, our families and our home church would have taken total care of us.  And yet, God chose for this to happen across the country at a new church with people we have only built with for two weeks.  He was faithful!  The Schiel family was a HUGE blessing!  They took Katie without a moment's hesitation.  They didn't have any directions about her, her schedule, what things she would need from home.  They just picked her up and figured it all out on their own.  Their borrowed a pack-n-play from a neighbor and I still don't really know what they did without a highchair!  They kept her both nights and took very good care of her.  THANK YOU!  The Ricuccis also spent most of Thursday night with us, brought us dinner at the hospital, and were constantly checking in and caring for us.  Thank you for how you cared for our souls!  Amanda, another PC wife, brought us dinner when we came home and we are still eating it for lunch!  Thank you for caring for us!  Plus we had lots of people praying for us and sending us encouraging emails.  The great part is that I look at all of these examples and specifically see how God took care of us!
• God was near and God was active!  There are many ways in which Jason and I desire to grow and change.  For me, I really want my life to be less about me and more about my great Savior!  I want to see life through the lens of the gospel.  God is answering this prayer for me, slowly but surely, and probably for the rest of life here on Earth, but He is answering!  He uniquely allowed me to see His activity through this little adventure!  I can look back and see so many details that really were Him putting things into place to care for us, provide for us, and sanctify us.  I truly believe that this was no mere random accident.  God has ordained it and He has done it for our good!  

Now for some pictures.  I didn't take pictures until the very end when she was all happy to leave the hospital.  We had picked up Katie earlier that morning and so leaving the hospital was a family affair.

Abby was pretty excited to be going home!

Her hospital room

The playroom


Abby and Katie were so excited to see each other. Abby gave Katie a big hug and said, "Katie! I am so happy to see you!"

Abby showed her the fish tank!

As Katie was sprinting down the hallways away from me, we were counting our blessings that she wasn't the one hospitalized!

This was the device to pay attention to during our little stay. This little piece of tape held something that was able to measure her blood oxygen levels. Isn't modern medicine incredible!

Her Lambies took good care of her!

There is a Krispy Kreme right across from the hospital. It is just like the one that used to be by Arizona Mills. It has the conveyer belt and the drive thru. I had to bring Abby a little treat the morning we left. Let's just say we all enjoyed it!

Well, that was our little hospital experience! Hopefully never to be repeated! But we walk in faith!