Thursday, February 09, 2006

Greta is Home


We have arrived home from Children's Hospital! Greta really improved over the last 24 hours and is at the moment snug in her bed having a well deserved nap without any interuptions from nurses or doctors listening to her chest (although I must admit that I snuck in and had a listen).
She will need careful watching over the weekend and is still on a high dose of ventolin (breathing medication) and antibiotics, but she is getting better every hour.
Thank you to everyone for your prayers. Her quick improvement is definitely heaven sent. On Monday we were preparing for a very long and scary hospital stay and then I could actually feel the prayers and instead of continuing to get worse, she started to get better around midnight.
Margaret actually had RSV AGAIN. This is the illness that she had at 9 weeks of age that caused her to be in the ICU of Children's hosital in 2004. It is unusual to get it twice and even more unusual to get so very sick with it at the age of almost 2, but because little Greta has developed Asthma from her first bout with RSV, her little lungs have a much harder time dealing with it.
The doctors, and nurses and support staff at Children's are an incredible group of people and their expertise and calm treatment was a blessing.
Now I am sure that most of you have never heard of RSV...in will manifest as a cold in those people who are normally healthy, but in tiny babies (preemies to 6 weeks of age) and ill children in is very serious. You can help to reduce the spread of RSV by simple things like washing your hands frequently and staying away from any babies (especially preemies and those under 6 weeks) if you have a ANY signs of a cold no matter how small. For the healthy people, always remember to wash your hands before holding anyone's baby. We all know how cute and cuddly they are, but our desire to touch their cute little hands, which they then put in their mouths, can spread illness! I always like to remind people to only touch babies socked feet--since there are so many babies around it is always good to be aware of our actions.
Again thank you for all of your prayers. It is so wonderful to have our baby home and continuing to get better!

6 comments:

Matthew Francis said...

Such a great picture! Glory to God for all things!

Looking forward to being with you at the end of March!

kimberley francis said...

Good. Good. Good!

myn said...

that is fabulous news!! and i promise to never touch a baby unless i know my hands are clean (and i'm not sick!)

thomasw said...

excellent news. i knew God would heal her up! any idea of what set it off?

Kassianni said...

yay! I'm so glad.
I love that picture. you guys look so happy/relieved, relieved/happy. :)

RW said...

Glory to God.

I am so glad to see you all looking just fine.

Talk to you tomorrow.