Last week we went on our 2nd annual family ski trip. Two years ago, we all went to Telluride, CO and had a blast. My parents, Mikey's parents, Erin, Taylor, Patrick, Lucy, Mikey and me. This year Lucy had school and couldn't make it, so Kenny subbed as Patrick's date, and we had two little munchkins join the crew. I started packing several days prior to departure...I was nervous about taking the babies on their first plane ride. Little did I know, the plane ride would be the easiest part of the trip....
Parks wasn't feeling well the day we left, and he threw up on the plane. He had a fever and a really rough day (he just laid his head on my chest the whole time and I could tell he wasn't feeling good). We arrived in Denver, and then drove 2 hours up to Beaver Creek to our lodge. I knew he was sick, so Mikey and I took everyone's luggage and the babies and went straight to the condo.
That night was probably the worst he has ever had. He was inconsolable for hours that night, which I had never seen before. There was always something I could do to get him to stop crying. We went to Urgent Care in the morning...they checked Parks' and Marlee's oxygen levels, and both were at 82-84 (supposed to be 90+). They immediately put them on oxygen and tested them for RSV. Results came back positive, and the doctor sent us to the hospital in Vail to be admitted.
We arrived at the hospital Monday afternoon. The nurses and respiratory therapists were all wonderful. Mikey's favorite was one of the respiratory guys who had two full sleeve tattoos, neck tattoos and those giant earrings that stretch your ears out. He was shocking the first time I saw him, but he was really good at what he did, was very attentive to the kids, and took his time to explain things to us.
Each day we thought they would be better, but it takes a while to get through RSV. It damages the lungs, and being at 12,000 feet altitude...coming from almost sea level...was extremely bad timing. I would have put them in the car and drove home if they would've been safe, but we needed the doctors and nurses to keep watch.
Parks was about 2 days ahead of Marlee in the virus, so when he would start to improve or change, we would look forward to Marlee doing the same. They both stopped eating and drinking for about 2 days. We forced a little bit of pedialyte into Parks, but Marlee completely refused it for about 36 hours. She was on the verge of getting an IV for fluids (no wet diaper in over a day) and finally took 2 ounces of pedialyte mixed with rice cereal by spoon. It was just so hard for her to suck from the bottle since she was so congested, so the spoon feeding helped.
My mom, Mikey's mom and Erin were incredibly helpful. They came to the hospital and would stay with the kids while we went home to shower and get some things we needed. Then when we finally took the kids home, they were right there with us helping with whatever Parks and Marlee needed. I believe it when people say that God won't give us more than we can handle...and I know that I couldn't handle several of the phases of this last year without these women. I am so undeserving, but I am so thankful.
During the stay, they were monitored with the pulse ox tags on their toes, and had nasal canulas with varying amounts of oxygen. They monitors were eerily similar to the ones we watched for hours and hours in the NICU during their first days of life. The alarms would sound (sometimes accurate, sometimes false) and my heart would stop until the nurse would check it. The first night, we had false alarms about every 20 minutes the.entire.night. It was awful. Trying to sleep when an alarm that is probably false, but could mean your kid can't breathe is going off nonstop. Terrifying. We survived it though. Thanking God for my incredible husband who refused to leave me at the hospital. I tried to convince him to go back and get real sleep, but he wouldn't do it. I am glad he stayed though...we are much MUCH better as a team. Parks and Marlee received suction for their congestion, and Marlee had some breathing treatments of epinephrine and some other medicine I can't remember, but those didn't help much.
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| It almost looks like Parks is smiling in this pic, but neither of them had smiled in about 24 hours at this point. |
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| She was too weak to even get herself in a comfy position. She would just fall asleep however her body was placed after the breathing treatments and tests. |
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| This is the picture that breaks my heart. Marlee was like this for 2 days...completely limp. If you lifted her arm or leg, it would just fall back to the bed. She wouldn't eat or drink or move. :'( |
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| On the bright side, the hospital room had a gorgeous view of the Vail mountains. |
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| Parks had the "hood" on his crib, but they never had to use it. He was a couple of days ahead of Marlee in the virus, so he recovered earlier. |
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| FINALLY, that smile I so desperately missed. |
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| our room. mikey slept on the floor!!!! |
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| Finally!! She drank something!! |
We were discharged on Wednesday evening. Parks was free of all oxygen and Marlee had to take a tank home with 1/8 liter of oxygen, which was tested on Friday and was then removed. By the time of our flight home on Saturday, both babies were feeling much much better, and though weak still, they did great on the flight home and are doing excellent now.
Everybody has been asking if we got to do anything else on our "vacation." We did ski a day and a half (Mikey's mom and Erin watched the kids for us, and we could pop in easily since our condo was at the bottom of the lift.) Even though it was high stress and a scary experience, we did enjoy the last part of the week, and love being with all our family.
One night consisted of excellent pizza from the Blue Moose Pizza Company and then hiking up the ski run in the dark (really high...I had to lay in the snow several times to catch my breath) and then sledding down on your choice of a laundry basket, snowboard or sled. Good times!
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| Parks and Grandpa Mike watching the game during the dinner/sledding |
Wow. What an adventure. We sure won't forget this trip. :-)
So thankful to be home, happy and HEALTHY now!!
