It was early October, Jorden was only about 3 weeks old. His breathing started to sound funny so I made him an appointment. The doctor assured me that it was only in his throat and that I had to let it run it's course. Well, even though I didn't exactly think I agreed, I trusted the doctor and we were on our way. That evening we left him, and the other two boys, with our adopted niece, who was 14, while we went out for a couple hours. We arrived home to find everyone asleep, so we also went to sleep.
It was just before 7am that we were woke up by Jorden's coughing. It was non-stop, and very hard coughs. He coughed so much, and so hard, that he was unable to breath and just stopped breathing. His lips were turning purple, his whole face started to look blue. For a split moment, he had no visible life in him.
Fil quickly rushed him to the bathroom and got the steam going while I called an ambulance. He started breathing again, but it was very rough and seemed like he was struggling to do so. Before I knew it, we were surround by medical responders, most of which were German. It was decided that we would be going to the children's hospital in the downtown area, which terrified me.
Living in Germany was a great experience. The language barrier is really my only complaint. Especially in emergency situations like that, it doesn't help the stress factor when you don't feel like you are able to adequately communicate with the people caring for your child.
Jorden had some breathing treatments and was watched for a few hours before we finally went back home. We were given an inhaler to use on him until we could see a doctor again. Though, I was furious that this happened less than 24 hours from being told that it was nothing more than a throat issue. How do I trust the doctors after I KNEW something was wrong and they said otherwise. Well, like anyone else, I knew I had to get him seen again.
When we went to his follow-up appointment with the doctor who brushed us off, she still couldn't tell us anything. She had no answers for why that happened and still swore it was in his throat, not his lungs. So we waited and within 48 hours, he was in the ER for more breathing issues. This is where I was told I was killing my child.
Yep... A doctor told me that. See, I was a smoker. And this one doctor felt the need to tell me that it was my fault he was sick and that I was killing him by smoking. Which, honestly, just made me want to smoke more. It did no good, it only made me angry and caused my stress to lead me back to smoke more. (I do not smoke anymore, so yes I do now see the flaws in my thinking). However, I still didn't think my smoking has AS MUCH to do with it as she was making it sound. I didn't smoke near him, never smoked in our van and always changed and washed hands before touching him. I was doing what I thought would expose him to as little as possible without quitting.
Anyway... for months we were in and out of the ER and doctors appointments with him. I think we had them count it and at around 5 months old, he had already been seen something like 35 times between the ER and appointments. So, one more attempt at getting answers, I made an appointment for him. This time we saw a different doctor from our normal. He had no clue what to tell us either but could definitely agree that there was more to it than me smoking. So, we finally got a referral to see a pediatric pulminary specialist.
Now, this was around the time he was 6 months old. Because of all the steroids he had taken in that time, he was already 24lbs and wearing 18 month - 2T sized clothes. And he was such a happy baby. You would think that a baby having such a rough time would be miserable. Nope, he was seriously a joy and always smiling!
Lots of blood, sweat, tests and tears later, the German specialist finally had an answer for us. However, the answer didn't easily translate. There was some confusion on it. Though, it was finally determined that they believed I was GBS positive when I gave birth to him, which originally caused the issues. Though, now the damage was done so nothing could correct it. He got some strong antibiotics, which worked with the 1st dose, and we were told that he would forever have these issues.
We have a nebulizer that we have to use almost the entire fall/winter time, 3-5 times per day. He also has an inhaler that we carry around for those times that it comes out of nowhere, which is more often than not. The fall and winter are very rough in our house, and often unpredictable because of his issues. And here we are, seeing it begin again.
I pray that this year we are able to get better control of it and that we do not end up stuck home most of the cold season. I do not like seeing any of my babies sick, especially not like this. So, if you pray, please just say a prayer that he doesn't suffer much this cold season.
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