Day 2 in the hospital with Lauren

We brought her to the doc earlier in the week with an awful cough and fever, and she was diagnosed with pneumonia. A couple days later, her breathing was suspicously more intense, so we brought her to the ER and she was admitted with RSV. Her pneumonia diagnosis was based on an x-ray which they thought showed pneumonia at an early stage. But she tested positive for RSV, and that explains her symptoms and reactions better.

So we're here at PCH. Lauren is on a bi-pap machine for breathing, 24x7. We take her off to eat, and to perform extensive chest percussions(CPT) followed by several rounds on the Cough Assist and then deep suction her nose and throat to get the gunk out.

She just had another chest xray, and it looks like a little more fluid is present in her left lung. They suspect that our last round of chest percussions was so effective that it rattled around all the gunk in her lungs and it's begun to settle. So after she naps, we're doing another super-intensive round of chest percussions in hopes that we'll get all that crud ready to come out with the Cough Assist and that she'll really kick this thing fast. That extra fluid in her lung is causing her breathing rate to increase and for her belly to retract (protract? I have no idea anymore) and it's worrisome. So they're fiddling some more with the pressure settings on her bipap and we hope she gets enough rest to make up for all the wakeful time she spent today.

She's a very sick little girl. Please keep her in your prayers.

Based on his own fever and congestion, we assume now that Kyle has RSV, too, not pneumonia like we originally guessed. But so far his breathing is okay and he's managing a little better. Chris is having trouble getting him to eat and drink at home, but that's probably because he's so tired and feels so icky.

We expect that Kyle will worsen and will be admitted to the same hospital over the weekend. You know what they say about twins being double trouble and all.....