There went the wellness record.

Upon information and belief, we had a good run. Chloe is 19 months old. There were a lot of good days and only a few bad ones. The bad ones ran together this past week.

Flashback: May 18th. I go to NYC. Best.trip.ever. I will post pics of that post-chloe pics. I returned home on Monday to find a sick little baby girl (she was sick upon leaving but sicker upon return. boo.) Tuesday I worked and took Chloe to the sitter...Wednesday I was home and held her all day long. I even took her to American Idol night which has been a staple lately on Wednesday nights. It was not awesome. Chloe was lethargic and cranky. Very unhappy. We laid down the whole night and overnight she started doing the hummmming and grunting that babies do to keep their airways open when struggling to breathe (marla and nicole and other NICU familiar, do you remember in the NICU when the nurses would tell the babies just being admitted to stop the moaning or they'd end up on Cpap? It was that sound). Friday morning I called her Ped. I took her in and they were immediately concerned. Great. They did 2 breathing treatments and then we waited to see if her O2 saturation increased. It didn't. The Ped called ahead and sent us to Mercy Gilbert.

Mercy Gilbert is my new favorite hospital. We got right into the ER without waiting....They were prompt with x-rays, IV and blood draw. It did take the nurse a few tries to start an IV. She attributed it to "scar tissue" due to Chloe's NICU stay (we've not had that problem before, but whatev). When asked about her history I almost drew a blank. What history? BPD what? Vent what? infections what? PDA WHHHAATTTT? What meds was she taking when she came home? Don't know. Lots, that's for sure. Around the clock for-ev-er. I have a whole book filled with her medical history which I left at home because I thought she was going to the Ped for maybe a treatment, possibly an ear infection. Not to have her admitted to the hospital. The doctor looked like an actor from Scrubs and I think his name was Dr. Frank, which didn't make him any more respectable. He seemed like he was being cautious, which I appreciate, and said they'd keep her overnight for observation. She was on 100% O2 at a 2 liter flow. That is a lot for her. She was still lethargic and eating but very little. My good friend L came to sit with me and baby Chloe while I waited which I much appreciated and still owe dearly for (*payment coming soon*).

Once Xrays were read it was evident that there was a b-i-g issue with her left lung. Pneumonia. GREAT. It went from "lets just wait and see" to "you may be here a while." It was a good thing that the Peds Unit at Mercy Gilbert is like walking into FAO Shwartz sans the toy soldier at the door. It is colorful and kid friendly. There were like 2 kids on the floor and the nurses had all the time in the world to explain every feature they had to offer. There was an awesome snack room at the end of the hall which had lots o' uncrustables, juice boxes, milks and such.

They started antibiotics and steroids. Blood cultures came back good. Chest Xrays no good. I'm pretty sure that her chest Xrays are never good. Crappy lungs. That's what happens when you are on a vent for 10 weeks. It does damage to airway and lungs. ANYHOW.... Friday night was rough. They would wake her for breathing treatments every few hours and the nurse would do cares every few hours. I slept terribly, but I think Chloe slept fairly well. She didn't seem to be very uncomfortable other than the cough and the people bugging her every so often. Her O2 saturation was not great - but they were able to reduce her O2 to 1.5 by the next morning.

She started feeling better on Saturday and felt especially good when the girls and Nana came to visit. She was super excited to see the girls. I got to leave for a few hours to shower and pack for a few more days. I thought we would only be there over night, but by Saturday I could tell it would be a while longer. The doctor said she would need to be off O2 completely for 24 hours before going home. I'm glad they didn't make this requirement in the NICU as she may have never come home. I didn't know how quickly they'd try to reduce the O's, but I wanted them to reduce them quickly. Chloe was a trooper. She didn't try to pull at her Oxygen or her IV. Her pulse ox kept coming off because it was on her toe and she wanted to stand up and jump in her bed. By day 3 you really wouldn't know that she was sick - other than the hacking cough and sunken in eyes. She looked pale and had purple eye circles, but all together seemed to be feeling better.

Aunt Emily and Aunty V came by on Sunday to hang out which was mucho fun for mommy and Chloe. Mommy had a lot of support and is VERY grateful for all of you. You know who you are.

All of the nurses love Chloe. She would wave at them from her bed even when they were at the nurse's station. It was surprising how well she did with them all since she has such stranger danger. I think she realized that they liked it when she'd wave, so she started waving at everyone. So cute.

Sunday was a good day - they were able to reduce her O2 down to 1 liter, .5 liters and then off by 3:00 p.m. I was afraid that the night would bring more desats and they'd have to put her back on oxygen. She was able to stay relatively above 85 all night which was a big "PASS" to the doctor this morning. We waited for rounds and finally around 1:00 p.m. she came in and said Chloe could go home if I promised to keep a close eye on her. DONE. We left around 2:30 and didn't look back. Well, we did hit up the snack room for some uncrustables to go. And chocolate milk. What, I'm sure we paid about $10 grand a night to stay there.

Can't stop the clapper. Tonight she is feeling much better. We're going to fill her prescriptions and I will likely stay home this week to watch her breathe.

Takes me back a little. I don't miss those monitors or the beeping. I don't miss words like desat, Peep or BPD. I really thought that re hospitalization would be far worse for Chloe than it was. I dreaded it from the day we left the NICU but it turned out to be not awful. I think mostly in part to the fact that she showed improvement by day 2, and also in part to the terrific support system we have.

What a strong little girl. She continues to amaze me and those around her. Sweet baby Chloe.