The Adventure Continues

Well, yesterday at about 4pm Ben noticed that Hailey looked a little dusky. He checked her oxygen with a pulse oximeter that we have had for all of two days at her oxygen was in the 50s. At Stanford we learned that anything in the 60s can go downhill fast so we called Salt Lake right away. They asked how far away the hospital was from us, which set off alarm bells in my head. I told them it was about 10-15 min away and we started packing up Hailey's stuff. The cardiologist I talked to had also mentioned the possibility of being transferred down to SLC so I threw in a comb, a toothbrush, and a hospital kit some ladies in my ward had made for our Stanford trip that had been useful there.  

I called a dear friend down the street to come watch the kids until Keith and Jessica (my brother and sister-in-law) could get there to watch the other kids. 

When we walked into the ER in Idaho Falls we looked like we were moving in. We brought our pulse oximeter, our suctioning kit, NJ tube food pump, oxygen, Hailey in the car seat, diaper bag, and purse.  

They got us in right away, which was almost a little disconcerting. At least if you wait a while at the ER you know they don't consider you to be in mortal danger. They suspected RSV right away. We had turned Hailey's oxygen up from 1/4 of a liter to 1 1/2 liters but she was still not maintaining her 75-85 goal. She was still in the low 70s. They suctioned her nose put her on oxygen, stuck a swab up her nose to test for RSV and started trying to get an IV in her. She is so hard to get an IV into. They had to poke her three times to get the first one. 

By then they had decided that we had better just send her to Salt Lake to be on the safe side. So they needed one more IV. They poked her a fourth time but couldn't get it so they decided to just go with one. 

She had a bunch of gunk in her throat, so they went to suction her again but the wall suction had been set up wrong so it had clogged from using it the first time. So we used our suction machine.  The second time they suctioned they got some blood and I felt scared for the first time in the ordeal.  

Anyway, they strapped her into a car seat, strapped that into the gurney, and off we went.  Ben got to give her a kiss goodbye and walk us out to the ambulance. The hospital staff were awesome! They even grabbed a boxed lunch for me on my way out. 

I sat in the passenger seat of the ambulance and we drove to the airport. It was regular speed, no flashing lights or anything so I knew Hailey was doing fine. 

They loaded us into a small plane and we headed for Salt Lake. Hailey did great and slept the whole way. When we landed another ambulance picked us up and drove us to Primary Children's Hospital. Again, no lights, normal speed. We got to the ER, got checked in. They decided to put Hailey on high flow oxygen, which is warmed and humidified so it doesn't dry things out in her nose. She was looking really comfy by then. As soon as they gave her her meds she was out. 

I slept in a chair that folds down flat by the bed. It took me a while to wind down so I fell asleep at about 2am. 

When I woke up this morning they were talking about transferring us out of the CICU onto the recovery floor, so she is doing well. Ben is on his way down with the kids so we will keep you posted. 

Thanks for all your love and prayers! We really are doing all right. I felt scared for a couple of hours but by the time we landed I knew things would be okay. Love you all!