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Back at the end of January, Bennett came down with what at first appeared to be another general upper respiratory infection. Like so many babies, his first winter was a rough one with sickness after sickness. We took him in to his pediatrician’s office and they heard a “slight squeak” in his lungs which prompted them to test him for RSV. That came back negative. Fast forward to three days later, things really escalated and we knew something wasn’t right. I took him back into the clinic and after checking vitals, it was discovered our sweet boy was hypoxic - his oxygen was only in the low 80s. They had me try a nebulizer treatment to see if that would bring his levels back up, and it actually did the opposite - he got even lower. He was having chest retractions, belly breathing, and his respiratory rate was very high. It was then decided he needed to be admitted.

Once in a room at the hospital, they checked vitals again, got him on oxygen, and ran a respiratory panel - RSV came back positive this time. The following day, Bennett spiked a high fever and his labored breathing got worse. More tests were done and a chest X-ray was completed, which showed he also had pneumonia in both lungs. Bennett had RSV, bronchiolitis, and double pneumonia. Seeing "acute respiratory failure" on his chart was very hard to see. What was meant to be a day or two in the hospital for observation and oxygen support, ended up being 8 days. It was the longest week of our lives. It was a rollercoaster of lowering his oxygen, only to increase it more an hour later. On day 4 of our stay, we did have the discussion of moving him to advanced pediatrics because he was at the highest flow of oxygen the pediatric unit could offer and he was appearing like he wanted to get worse rather than better. It’s as if he heard that and was determined to stay where he was because he made a slight turn around the next day, but it took a few more days for him to be able to keep his levels up on room air.

Seeing him so little with an IV and all the other cords hooked up to monitors was very emotional. But we knew he was in great care at Monument Health. The providers, nursing staff, respiratory team, and just everyone we encountered were true angels. We have nothing but good things to say about our time spent at Monument Health. With that said, Children’s Miracle Network helps provide so much of the equipment and services they are able to offer babies like Bennett and other children in their care. Please consider donating to CMN - your donations will help Monument Health bring even more services and comfort to patients and families of the women and children’s units. ♥️