Emergency Room

It all started Saturday July 24.  Early that morning and during the night Rigley hadn't been eating very well.  I checked his temperature and he had a fever.  It also seemed like he was having a hard time breathing.  He was grunting every time he would take a breath.  Ryan was gone the majority of the day with a softball tournament and helping someone move.  That afternoon I took his temperature again and his fever had gone down so I thought he was getting better even though he still wasn't eating.  Our stake had a Pioneer Day activity that evening and we made the decision to go.  We only stayed long enough to eat and let Harper play for a little while.  We came home and I tried feeding him again but he still didn't eat.  I put Harper to bed while Ryan held him.  After I put Harper to bed I did some things around the house.  I went into the living room where Ryan and Rigley were to check on him and his look had completely changed.  His skin was gray and his lips and the area around his eyes were purple.  He looked exhausted and so weak.  I told Ryan that I felt like we needed to take him to the emergency room.  We got Harper and went to the ER at the closest hospital (not where he was delivered or admitted the first time).  We got to the hospital around 10 pm.  Since he was so young they saw him right away.  They brought us back and weighed him.  The ER doctor came in to see him and after just looking at him, the doctor knew that he was very sick.  The doctor said, "We have a really sick baby."  He told the nurse to move us to a different room and he ran out.  We got to the other room and I sat on the bed. I had been holding him the whole time.  They drew blood.  After they drew the blood they told me that I was going to have to put him down because they needed to intubate him (give him a breathing tube to help him breathe).  That was the last time I held him for two and a half weeks.  I went and sat on a chair in the corner of the room where Ryan and Harper were and I just held Harper in my lap.  At this point there were seven people working on him: the ER doctor, the pediatric doctor, and five nurses and techs.  We couldn't see him because there were so many people standing around the bed.  They started giving him antibiotics through an IV that they inserted into both of his shin bones so that the medicine could get into his system faster.   After they did that the pediatric doctor came over to explain what they were doing.  She also told us that they called Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock and that there was a helicopter on its way to pick him up.  Ryan and I just looked at each other in disbelief.  Oh the tears that were shed.  The doctors did their best to give us an explanation but they told us that he really needed to get to Little Rock because they could take better care of him there.  Then they were just killing time and keeping him alive until the helicopter got there.  We made the decision to have Ryan fly with him and I would take Harper home.  There was one doctor and two nurses on the helicopter along with the pilot.  The nurses came in to the room and took charge.  They got him ready and put him into a clear plastic box.  It reminded me of the little incubators that premature babies get put into.  Before they left, one of the nurses asked me if I wanted to give him a kiss.  I got up on my toes, reached into the little hole and gave his tiny, little hand a kiss.  They all walked out and got onto the helicopter.  I walked out to the car with Harper and we watched the helicopter take off.  I remember thinking that I wished it was my brother flying the helicopter.  Watching it fly away was probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do.

The helicopter he was flown in. It's called Angel One.

The helicopter crew gave him this.

*I did my best to keep a journal during all of this. That is where I'm referring to for these posts.