Very Sick...

Lorelei is very sick. She has the RS-virus, which is a virus that causes an infection of the repiratory system, in this case quite deep(er) into the lungs. More practically, a place in the lungs that cannot be reached by any kind of suction device. What happens is that the airways swell up which makes it harder, or in Lorelei's case impossible to get the mucus out. Apparently, pretty much everybody gets infected by the RS-virus. Adults (and older children) generally experience it as "just a cold", but babies, and especially premature babies, can get really sick...

It started on Saturday. Lorelei looked kind of pale and some of the time even blue-ish. She did drink her feeding, but not as enthusiastically as before. The last feeding of the day, around midnight, hardly got in at all. She was blue-ish at the time and felt cold. I checked her temperature and it was 34.9 (95.8 or something? 37.4 is normal body temp in centigrade). So, I called the HAP (which is basically a 24 hour GP office, the first people to talk to in such cases, at least, so we were told (I don't think I will ever call them again though, but I won't go into that now...)). They told us to come in, checked her out and told us not to worry. That sometimes happens with such young babies, especially when they have a cold (which she had...). Just put her in bed with a hot-pad (or jug is what we have here) and she will be fine. I have to admit she looked and felt fine at that time. The blue-ishness was replaced by an much more healty looking baby-pink that we were used to by then. Well, the next morning she would not drink again and she felt cold and looked blue-ish again. So, this time we called the pediatric ward in the hospital where she was born and had been the first 2.5 weeks of her life.... They also told us to come in with her and started working on her right when they saw her! They hooked her up to all sorts of stuff, gave her some oxygen, ran some bloodwork and everything. They monitored her for a few hours and then decided that she needed more support than they could give her so, she was transferred to the University Medical Center in Utrecht where they have a pediatric ICU and are specialized in airway infections. She is now hooked up to pretty much everything imaginable:

- Respirator

- Two IV lines

- Arterial line

- Catheter (urine)

- O2 saturation meter

- Feeding tube

- Thermometer

She is sedated for comfort so she sleeps pretty much the whole time. The sedation is also for preventing coughing, which can be very uncomfortable and also interferes with the respirator. Although it is really really really hard to see her like that, I am fairly confident that she is not suffering any pain right now and that she is in good hands.

I have written about Tobias' hospitalization that there is nothing harder than to see your child suffer. I have described the birth of Tobias as the ultimate high, and his ordeal with his leg as an ultimate low. Well, as you can imagine, Lorelei's birth was another ultimate high. As a matter of fact, being more susceptible to emotion since Tobias was born, one could argue that the high for me was even higher this time, emotionally anyway... But, to have another such low in such a short amount of time... It's tough...

Right now all we can do is wait and see. Her situation has been stable since Sunday when she was admitted. This can be interpreted as a good sign, which I am inclined to do. It is good because it may be an indication that she has been through the worst of it (apparently such an infection peaks before it gets better). Also it gives her time to recover somewhat. At the same time it might be that the worst (the peak) is yet to come. I try not to think about that, but the uncertainty of the situation is the most draining at this point.

I wasn't sure if I would want to add a piture to this post, but I decided to do so anyway... This picture gives you an idea of all the machines, wires, knobs and numbers she is hooked up to...

For news on Lorelei's brother Tobias visit: Tobias Quinn