When we arrived upstairs the pediatrician came walking into the room within about 5 minutes telling us that Hazel would need a breathing treatment and needed to be transferred to Omaha or Sioux Falls. Her blood gas numbers were not good - there was too much carbon dioxide in her body since she wasn't breathing properly due to her congestion. In case Hazel would have needed a breathing tube they wanted her to be in a safer facility where they had someone available to do that at any time.
Of course this whole situation was scary and we weren't really sure what to make of all of this but just tried to understand everything they were telling us and making sure that Hazel was getting the care she needed.
Within a half hour we heard the helicopter from Sioux Falls landing at St. Luke's. We had decided that Sioux Falls would be our best option since it would be a shorter ride for Hazel - shorter drive for us - and Kimberly lives there. The flight nurses were very nice. They were able to suction Hazel's nose and get her more comfortable which also got her stats looking good before they loaded her up. They were very nice and informative as to what would happen in flight. Before we left, the nurses at St. Luke's gave us Christmas gift bags for Hayley and Hudson and a $50 Casey's gas card for us thanks to Children's Miracle Network - so nice. We used the gift card and filled up the Tahoe on our way to Sioux Falls. We had arrived at the ER about 7pm and were on our way to Sioux Falls at 1:10am. We didn't watch the helicopter take off but rather got on the road since Hazel was already going to get there before us. Josh saw the helicopter take off as we were heading across Wesley Parkway on I-29 North.
We arrived at Sanford Children's Hospital about 2:30am. I drove and forced down a medium coffee on the way. The hospital was like a hotel - It was a castle! So pretty with blue lights outlining the whole thing. We were a bit unsure where to park and where we were going but found a spot and made our way to 1st floor - room 1973 where Hazel was all checked in and resting comfortably with oxygen and a few monitors. We met with the resident on call and finally laid down to get some sleep about 4am.
We watched her closely the next couple of days. The issue besides her congestion was her weight. She had been weighed at 4lbs 11oz at Urgent Care in Sioux City a few days before Christmas. Her weight on Christmas Day was 4lbs 15oz. (Her birth weight at 1 month old) We ended up changing to formula and it was explored as to why she wasn't gaining weight - none of the tests came back conclusive except that the congestion made it difficult to eat and the fact that it would take her 30 minutes to drink 2 oz. meant that she was expending more energy and burning the calories as fast as she was taking them in. We now only allow her to eat for about 15 minutes.
After lots of nose suctioning to clear her airways (as babies breathe primarily through their noses), improved feedings of 2oz of Similar every 3 hours and no fever or positive test results we were released on Saturday, December 28th with no medications or instructions except to keep her nose clear, listen to her breathing, and continue the feeding schedule. She weighted 5lbs 2oz when we left SF.
We are so thankful that things turned out for the best. So glad that our family was here on Christmas night when this happened, that the pediatrician at St. Luke's made the best decisions for Hazel's care and sent us where we needed to be, the excellent care we received from many pediatric residents, nurses, and doctors at Sanford Children's, the fact that Grandma Kayan hadn't been able to use her vacation until December 26 and 27 :), and that Josh had the week off and was able to just jump in the car and we had the opportunity to get through this together. As scary as it was to see Hazel's health in jeopardy it was very reassuring to have Josh with us the whole time - asking questions and helping to keep Hazel comfortable. We are also thankful for Kimberly who brought us food, had us for dinner, and let us use her shower and washer/dryer.
Hoping we never have to experience anything like that again but now know how wonderful Sanford Children's is in case we are ever faced with needing pediatric care outside of Sioux City.
Some pictures of our unexpected trip to Sioux Falls are below.
