Happy, happy, happy. No ducks necessary.
As you can judge for yourself, little monkey moo is feeling significantly better. She's grinning, she's frolicking her blankets into a wad, she's laughing at Sleeping Beauty. (I don't blame her. It's a pretty goofy. Was that really what passed for plot back in '59?)
Mommy and Daddy are undeniably thankful that she seems moreso her squiggly self as days progress, but I freely admit that I'm still on edge, expecting another shoe to drop. Babies never keep their shoes on, anyway.
I suppose the question we should ask ourselves at this point is: are we willing to accept progress without definate answers? We may have to. If she has clear lungs and is feeding well without sicking it up, no doubt we'll be out of here faster than Ricky Bobby. If Ava is well and showing no signs of repeating her previous symptoms, I couldn't blame her medical team for making that decision. Still, mommy does not sleep soundly on a pillow stuffed with theories and suppositions.
Considering her progress and what she has been responsive to, these are our best guesses as to how we ended up in the hospital for a week:
- We know that her bacteria colony count was enough to indicate the onset of a UTI, and even if that number was insufficient for a full-blown diagnosis, it might've still been enough to make her feel crappy. Hence, her positive response to a round of antibiotics.
- Feeling crummy might've been enough to make her vomit. It's possible that a digestive bug might have contributed, too -- I can think of a couple that have gone around in the past month. Specifically lower GI bugs.
- I may have been pushing our luck to try to feed her in a vertical position. I truly didn't believe that she would be so prone to aspiration -- or perhaps I believed I would be able to tell that something was amiss healthwise if she couldn't handle it. I should have listened to others who called the practice into question when she would cough and sputter before she assumed a good breathing/swallowing/sucking rhythm. This factor in particular makes me feel horribly guilty, because it would mean her low O2 levels would be completely my fault. I was so encouraged by the developmental ground she had gained, it spurred me to push her too hard at the price of her safety.
While it's also possible that the junk in her lungs might also have come from sucking in while trying not to toss her cookies, I believe there were more oppurtunities for silent aspiration while feeding than while I was leaning her forward as the poor dear puked down my shirt.
This hospitalization has driven me to seek information on what health complications Ava might be prone to as a child with Down Syndrome. What I've read during this time has really forced me to put some things in perspective in view of doing all we can to keep her healthy.
Aside from simply making sure she receives medical attention on a regular basis (as you would with any infant), we need to be extra careful with her respiratory system. This means we have to protect her lungs from secondhand smoke and other potential irritants. I'm sure that mentioning this might upset some folks, but I'm laying this on the table because I know there are a lot of people who care about my daughter, and their choices affect her. Please read this article on the effects of secondhand smoke upon children in general. Then keep in mind that children with Downs are even more susceptible to contagious infections and respiratory complications, especially pneumonia. Ear infections and sleep apnea are also some things we'll have to guard against. Here is another brief read on what we're looking our for.
I'm sure it seems that we are stingy about allowing others to keep our daughter in favor of having grown-up time, and I'll own that. We don't mean to upset anyone, but events like this have demonstrated to us how easy it is for someone with the best intentions to bruise her health by mistake, whether it's through incorrect feeding or a relaxed attitude toward irritant exposure and contagious illness. I don't want to be one of those people. If something ever happened to her as a result of my ignorance or unwillingness to stand up for her health, I would count myself unfit to be this precious girl's mommy. We do get to spend time together, even if it is at home. Olive Garden will just have to wait.
Sometimes random things happen when you're raising kids, sure. But living in this age of information as a literate individual, there is no reason for me to deny the presence of avoidable risks in Ava's life. If that means we can't be as socially mobile as we'd like, then so be it. I'm gonna have a hard time trusting others with her health when I hardly trust myself.
No comments:
Post a Comment