Weekend at Primarys

We had quite the weekend, Kailey woke up Friday morning with a sligh cough. By the afternoon, her slight cough turned into quite the bark. We hoped that it would go away but it continued to get worse. Her breathing also worsened. She was struggling with each breath. We took her outside to get some cold air on her throat but it did not improve. She did not sleep much Friday night. She continued to have breathing problems so we decided to take her to Primary Children's Hospital at 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning.

At Primary's they put her on a breathing mist (basically just a humidifier) hoping this would improve her breathing. Unfortunately, it did not help much so they gave her an "epi" breathing treatment. The doctor said that one breathing treatment usually helps most children with Croup. They also gave her some oral steroids to open her airways. This first treatment helped for about an hour and fifteen minutes then her strained breathing came back. They gave her another breathing treatment and decided to admit her to the hospital. After another two breathing treatments, with the same results, they decided to admit her to the ICU. We were getting more and more nervous because Kailey was not responding to these breathing treatments.

In the ICU, they gave her another one or two treatments and additional steriods. They also put her on a helium/oxygen mix to help her throat open up. Kailey's voice was all but gone. When she cried, it was a very weak and sad cry. It was not a mad cry but just a "why is this happening" cry that broke our hearts. We both wished we could take her place so that she would not have to suffer so much.

By this time, Jen and I were exhausted. Jen only slept about a half hour on Friday night and I had a few hours of sleep. After spending some time with Kailey, we put her down, hoping she would sleep and knowing they would take good care of her in the ICU. We decided to try and get some sleep. We went out to the main lobby on the 3rd floor and crashed on some couches. Luckily, we were able to sleep for a good part of the night as people continually walked by all night.

We checked on her periodically through the night and were excited the next morning when we found out that she had slept for most of the night. She continued to get better and Jen was able to feed her later in the morning. Her sisters were able to come into the ICU for a brief amount of time and see their sister. They were excited to see her. They worried so much that their sister would not get better but they were excited to see that she was doing well. They were fascinated by all the wires and hoses that were attached to our Kailey.

By noon on Sunday, she was ready to be moved to a regular room on the 3rd floor. They gave her some additional steriods and Jen was able to continue to feed her. They wanted to keep her one more night to ensure that she would be okay on the second night. She did great. She still had a little bit of a croup sound when she breathed but by Monday morning, the croup sound was all but gone.

We feel very blessed to have Primary Children's Hospital so close. The doctors and nurses were great. They were always asking if there was anything they could do and they took excellent care of our Kailey. They release Kailey a little after 12:00 p.m. on Monday and we greatfully took her home. This was an experience that Jen and I hope we never have to experience again. It is very difficult to see your children suffer so much.

Morgan first time to see her sister

Megans first time to see her siter