RSV = Really Stinky Virus

A week ago we noticed Bennett had a bad cough and a little runny nose. We thought he just had another nasty little cold and since his 9 month wellness check was just a few days away we thought we'd just wait it out and mention it to Dr. Delaney then. At his well check he sounded clear and the doctor said we could give him a small dose of Benadryl for his runny nose. So we left the doctor's office and went and bought some Benadryl to help clear Bennett up. A week passed and he still had the runny nose and his cough wasn't getting any better. A red flag went up when Mrs. Bertha commented about his cough and how she thought it needed to be looked at. I took Bennett home and noticed he was wheezing really bad. So we called the on call nurse and she suggested we do some nebulizer treatments since we still had some left over from when he had bronchitis. We did 2 Friday night and one Saturday morning and called his doctor for an appointment. They were extremely helpful and got us an appointment quick.  We saw Dr. Guyton and after he checked him over- he looked ok- no fever and his %O2 was good.  He decided to test him for RSV. Within 2 minutes he came back to tell us it was positive.  Since we had done a few breathing treatments, he thought it would be best to give him some oral steroids because he did have some pretty bad wheezing.

Well, those oral steroids were the worst thing ever!!!  We gave him 2 doses Saturday and he literally could not go to sleep Saturday night.  You could tell he was so exhausted and wanted to go to sleep but those steroids were preventing him from being able to fall asleep.  He was wired.  Around 10:00 I thought taking him for a car ride would help because that usually soothes him and puts him to sleep.  He was asleep before we got out of our neighborhood!  Poor little fella was so tired.  We rode around for a good 30 minutes but once we got him out of his seat he was awake and mad that he was woken up.  Luckily my mom was over to help out and Jason and I got some sleep while she stayed up with him.  I woke up at 1 am and he was still awake like it was 8:00 in the morning!!  At 2:00 I decided we needed to go for another car ride and, sure enough, he was out within 1 minute of driving.  We drove around the neighborhood for about 10 minutes and then we camped out in the car for about an hour.  Yes, we slept in the car in front of our house while my sweet baby boy could get some much needed sleep.  He started to stir so I carefully got him out of his car seat and took him inside.  Luckily, he stayed asleep so I just rocked him and let him sleep in my arms.  He woke up around 5:00 so he got about 3 hours of sleep and I fed him and he went back to sleep for another 3 hours.  Whew!!  Talk about a rough night!

Sunday went pretty well.  We gave him a dose of oral steroids in the morning and 2 nebulizer treatments.  We skipped the oral steroids at night because we didn't want another occurrence of Saturday night.  I couldn't take another night like that.  Not only was it tiring, but it was scary to see Bennett act the way he was acting.  He was wired but exhausted at the same time.  He took a good nap Sunday morning and a couple catnaps in the afternoon and was down for bed at 8:00.  Poor little guy was so tired from the night before. 

I just pray that his wheezing gets better.  I'm home with him tomorrow so he can get some good rest and some breathing treatments during the day.  He goes back to the doctor on Friday so they can check his breathing again.  I'm praying he will not have to stay on those steroids.  I think he is getting better but it's just going to take a few days for it to clear up completely.

Just a couple pictures to leave you with....

His beautiful blues and some crazy hair!!

I think he gets that look from Mommy!

Sweet boy playing in his saucer