Right now I’m sitting on a fold out hospital couch in the PICU, watching my baby girl sleep in her daddy’s arms. We are on day 4 of being in the hospital and I want to record everything I can remember so that I can look back and remind myself of God’s blessings.

All three kids have been fighting colds, and Friday I noticed Finley’s was getting a little worse. I didn’t worry too much because she still seemed to be doing okay, but as we got later into the night her breathing got more labored and her cough got much worse. She would choke and cough every few minutes and I just held her and watched her all night, torn between if I was being a hormonal overreacting mom, or justified that she really was pretty sick.

Finally at 4 am I told Jake to get the boys in the car because I was going to take a shower and then we would head to the ER. I knew she was sick but I thought we would maybe get a breathing treatment and be sent home.

We got to the emergency room and we weren’t there but a few minutes before they said they were calling the ambulance to transport us to Wesley children’s hospital. My momma heart sank and the tears started to flow. That was the last thing I had expected to hear, but her oxygen was about 82% when we arrived, so I knew my baby girl needed more help than they could provide.

I rode in the ambulance with Finley and Jake followed behind. We got to the children’s hospital and everything was just kind of a blur. Nurses and doctors and respiratory therapists all throwing information at us. My brain was on overload and I knew I was probably asking the same questions over and over, but I felt like my brain was on autopilot all while my heart was sinking lower and lower with the more information we were given.

They had tested her at Harper for RSV and it had come back negative, but they did the full panel at Wesley and it came back positive for RSV. The doctor informed us that Finley was on day 3 of the virus, and it normally peaks at day 5. I tried to hold back the tears, but she already seemed pitiful, and I didn’t want to think about her getting worse over the next couple of days.

She’s only 6 weeks old, and even though she is a chunk, her lungs are tiny and RSV is such a nasty virus for little babies to battle.

They had her on oxygen and deep lung suctions every four hours to help keep up with all the junk in her lungs. She seemed to hang steady most of the day although her oxygen remained low, and her respirations and heart rate high.

Our chiropractor even came over to see her and adjust her, and we watched her oxygen level go up after she was adjusted for awhile!

I had originally planned on hanging out at home and watching a movie with the whole family to ring in the new year, but instead it was just Jake, Finley, and I snuggled in a hospital bed watching the ball drop in time square. What a way to end the year!