Soooo Sick

So the day that we were leaving to go to the wedding in Utah Emily had a little runny nose. It was clear, no big deal. When she is out of town she doesn't eat very well and just exhausts herself playing as much as possible before we have to go back home. So that's exactly what she did. She played her little heart out and was such a good girl although you could tell that she wasn't feeling 100%. The wedding was on Monday. Still not eating but was keeping up and being a good sport. She was beautiful in her dress, my favorite little flower girl, sang her heart out (which there wasn't much left of at that point.) She wouldn't touch her dinner so I sent Dylan to go get a happy meal. Wouldn't have anything to do with that either. If she sat still for very long she would almost fall asleep until she realized she was sleepy and would go find something to keep her busy. By the end of the night we knew that she was not feeling well at all. We called it a night and went back to the hotel where Dylan, Grandpa, and Uncle Jason gave her a blessing. I slept beside her almost all night because she would wake up miserable asking for me but if she saw me in the bed she would just close her eyes and go back to sleep. While she slept her breathing sounded short and she would wake up coughing. By morning we looked at her and decided to take her to the hospital. She had zero energy was really working hard to breathe. We were immediately seen and the doctor turned to me and said, "This is going to be hard for you but we are going to have to move fast on this one." I just nodded my head because I was already crying. They then started an IV and put her on oxygen because her sats were dipping down to 85%. It should be safely between 90-100%. They had to run a bunch of tests that were not very comfortable to say the least, and then they took an x-ray of her lungs which was terrible. She had had this done this past summer when she was sick but this time they put her in this tube where she was upright but her toes could barely touch. They closed the plastic part around her chest and Dylan had to hold her hands above her head so that she couldn't move. That was hard to hear her scream through that. She just didn't understand what was happening or why. She would cry and tell me that she wanted to go back to the hotel and that she was really scared. Poor baby! She also wasn't hesitant to tell me that she didn't like the doctor (nurse) right in front of her. So she stopped coming in unless she had to be there. We were told that she tested positive the influenza A which is way different than I ever knew the flu to be. They couldn't help her out much more at Alta View hospital so Emily and I got to go for an ambulance ride up to Primary Children's Hospital. She was so happy. She perked right up as they strapped her into her car seat and rolled her in the ambulance. She let them put the oxygen mask on her face so I didn't have to hold it. She would look over at me and smile and try to wink. It was cute and heart breaking at the same time. She watched Daddy driving his car behind us all the way to the hospital. Come to find out she thought that we were going home. They wheeled her into another ER room and she lost it. She said that she just wanted to go home and get out of the scary place. Thay monitored us for a few hours and sent us home because her her oxygen sats were staying around 92. We came right back a few hours later when her breathing got worse again. They had to give her the IV all over again. I was just a little irritated that they sent us home only to have us drive an hour back to the hospital right after grabbing some dinner. We stayed overnight in the RTU, rapid treatment unit, where the doctor told us that they were treating her for RSV. I told him that we were told that she had the flu. Well, she had both. I was irritated once again that they forgot to mention this tidbit of information to us in the ER before we were even released. That night I slept with Emily in the hospital bed and Dylan folded out the chair into a bed. It was a very comfortable night for all of us. :) Thankfully, by the next night we were released. Emily was drinking a little bit and ate some grapes. Her sats had stayed around 93% since about 11:00 am when they took the tubes out of her nose. She had it pretty rough but it seems that she got better just as quick as she got sick. We left the next morning for Boise and that night we took Emily into the urgent care to find out that she had an ear infection. That's a piece of cake compared to the rest. RSV is a virus so you just have to wait for the body to fight it off. It's too bad that she can be contagious for up to 3 weeks because we really need a play date.
Meanwhile, Dylan's mom stayed to take care of Katelyn at Kortney's house. Kortney and Nate probably got more phone calls that they would have like to on their honeymoon. Sorry guys! Poor Katelyn was getting sick and so grandma had her on tylenol to keep the fever down and snot was everywhere. She was so congested and had to sleep with a humidifier. She probably felt like her family abandoned her. I sent Dylan home to play with her and put her down for her nap. Grandma sure is alot of fun but she is always so glad when she sees her dad. The night that we brought Emily home, Katelyn just wanted me to hold her and play. Emily wouldn't let me out of her sight. She wasn't about to trust anyone else. She was a little shaken to say the least. Katelyn received a blessing in Boise and her cold has stayed up in her head and has not traveled down into her lungs.
I feel so blessed to be entrusted with these precious spirits. I love my children and I love my role as wife and mother but it isn't easy and some days are so hard. This was more emotionally trying than anything. I am so grateful for the gospel and for my own faith in our Heavely Father. The only thing that would calm Emily down at time was when I would sing "I am a child of God." I know that we are all children of God and that we all have a special purpose on this Earth. Mine is no more or less important that yours is, just different. I am grateful for my sweet daughters and that they are whole once again.
Thank you all so much for your countless prayers on our behalf. I know that it is a blessing that Emily got well so quickly. She wanted to go home so bad. We love you all for your love, support, and faith.
Sorry this turned into a novel but it's more for my journaling than for anyone else.

These pictures are from the day that we went home from the hospital. I couldn't bring myself to ask Dylan to go out to the car to get the camera earlier when our little girl was so sick. I'm sure at that point he would have done anything to help but I felt a little silly at the time to make that so important.