I woke up this morning and looked at the clock. I panicked because I realized that Ella had slept for 10 hours straight without waking up to eat. I prepared for the worse and was relieved when I saw she was still sleeping but noticed she was stuffy. I called the pediatrician and made an appointment. He checked her and told me that it was just a cold and that she was too young for medication and that a humidifier and propping her up when she slept would help. (I hadn't seen my original pediatrician and I wont make that mistake again.)

Mon. February 11th

Parker asked me to go on an early Valentines date since he would be working Valentines night. He took me to a movie and my brother Scott was babysitting at the house. I took Ella out at the movie to feed her. When she was done I noticed that she was breathing really fast and then stopping, then breathing fast and stopping. I turned to Parker and told him I was nervous she was going to stop breathing, he grabbed the car seat and told me we were going to the ER. When we got there it was packed. We waited for an hour and a half just in the waiting room. By the time we got back to a room Ella's breathing was more normal. The doctor came in and listened to her chest and checked her ears. I told him I was nervous about RSV. He told me it was just a cold and that we'd have to wait it out. We left the ER and got home at 3am. Scott and Chelsey were sleeping in the guest room.

Tues. February 12th

Parker left for work at 3:15. Neither of us had gotten much sleep. About 7 pm I called my Mom to tell her that I was nervous about Ella. She had been asleep and hadn't eaten since 2. I told her I knew I sounded paranoid but I didn't want her to be like Jackson (who at 2 months had stopped breathing while up camping.) I put Jackson and Chloe to bed and gave Ella a bath. She woke up for a minute but went right back to sleep when her PJ's were on. I sat on the couch with my hand on her chest while she would just breath fast and then stop, over and over again. I was tired and worried (not a great combination) I called my Mom again and she told me to try and wake her up. I undressed her, tickled her, and even put ice on her foot. Nothing worked. Parker called when he was on his way home from work. I was so relieved to hear from him, I started crying and let him know how nervous I was. He knew how tired I was and told me that I needed to get some sleep tonight. He told me we should take her back in to the ER, but I didn't want to go to the ER, I wanted to see a pediatrician who worked solely with children. When he got home we called the after hours clinic but it was closed. Parker told me if I wasn't going to the ER I needed to go to sleep and we'd take her in tomorrow if she was still acting sick. Parker called his Mom to get her input and she told him that if we didn't feel good about her we should take her in. We decided that I would go to the ER and he would stay with the kids. I was upset because I didn't want to go in and have them send me home again. While I was getting ready Parker was holding Ella and while we were in the kitchen getting the keys she completely stopped breathing, went limp, turned purple and then grey and her eyes rolled back into her head. Parker yelled call 911, and started giving her mouth to mouth. I was in shock! I started bawling and Parker told me to run to the car. He had to yell instructions to me because I found myself not being able to even think straight. I started driving the car while Parker continued mouth to mouth. I felt like I had never driven that fast ever. I was running red lights and I could hardly see because of all the tears. I pulled up to the ER and Parker ran in. I parked the car and called my Mom I told her what happened and that I needed someone to go stay with Jackson and Chloe. When I got into the ER she was in the trauma room and there were 15 doctors and nurses running all around the room. The Pediatrician on call was walking out the door of the ER when the grabbed him to help. They had to drill into a bone in her leg to start an IV (which works faster than in a vein). The ER doctor kept explaining what they were doing but for me it was going in one ear and out the other. My Mom showed up and told me that my Dad was on his way. The ER doctor came and told us she had RSV. My Mom looked him straight in the eye and said "oh no, this can't be RSV, these kids were here less than 24 hours ago and the doctor told them it was not RSV." It took them around 2 hours to get her stable. They put her on a ventilator, and decided to keep her at UVRMC instead of sending her by life flight to Primary Children's (I was so thankful for this, we had been sent life flight with Jackson and it was an experience I didn't want to do again). When we got to the Pediatric ICU Parker and my Dad gave her a blessing. We felt so blessed that she was stable. I was personally grateful that Parker had been home when she stopped breathing, he reacted so fast and gave her mouth to mouth I know that he saved her life. Daddy's are always little girls hero's, but Ella will grow up knowing that her Daddy really is her hero!!!

Sun. February 17th

Ella came home today! She was on the ventalator for 3 1/2 days. She was sedated and they were feeding her through a tube. They put her on a CPAP early Saturday morning. She did so well that they tried her on a little oxygen and then took her off everything completly. We were so excited when we were finally able to hold her! We had been told when we brought her into the ER that it would be anywhere from a week to a week and a half before she'd go home. We were surprized when they told us Sunday morning that she was able to go home. I had really loved the 24 hour care that she'd been given from the nurses and respitory therapists. I wanted to take one home with me! Grandpa and Grandma Kemp took Jackson and Chloe to Pocatello Sunday afternoon to give Ella a little bit of time to recoop. She acts like a totally different baby! We could tell that she felt a whole lot better. It was wonderful to bring her home and not have to be back and forth to the hospital anymore, we couldn't put her down! It had been days since we held her. We really felt all the love, concern, and support that we got from family and friends and we're so thankful for the spirit in our lives and that we chose to listen to it's promptings. We are so blessed!!!