THE HANSEN FAMILY: January 2010

Well our holidays were quite different this year but although they started out rocky all ended well and we had a wonderful time with our families. Cole unfortunately got RSV the week of Christmas. It presented like bronchiolitis and then croup but on the Tuesday before Christmas we woke up to Cole not being able to catch his breathe nor stop coughing. It lasted a total of 45 mnutes and only resolved once we got to the ER and they gave him a breathing treatment with epinephrine in it. It was then that he was tested for RSV and yes we were admitted. That evening he was having a coughing fit and the Drs. felt he may get worse as most kids do. So in order to prevent a possible helicopter ride to Pitt if he did get worse (because our hospital does not have a PICU) they opted to send him to Pitt by ambulance (non emergent). We got to Pitt at about 1am Wed. morning and we were discharged that Fri. (yes - Christmas day). Luckily Cole did well and we remained on the Peds. floor (no PICU). It was a pretty nasty few days but this silly kid never ran a fever and decided it would be a good time to cut his first tooth. Oh yes at the young age of 3 months old. We were in the hospital til Christmas day but the staff was great while we were there. Wally went back to be with Parker for Christmas eve and then they went to my parents Christmas day. Cole and I had 2 great visitors on Christmas eve. Our good friend Alison Cieszko (that meant a lot to us that you came to see us) and santa claus. While we were sleeping Santa (aka child life services) came in and delivered 2 large red bags of toys. 1 for Cole and 1 for Parker (even though he had never been to the hospital). It was one of the sweetest things that could've happened. It is a sweet service they do and it really makes being in the hospital on Christmas not so bad, at least for a little while. Our holiday became miraculous though because not only did our baby become well enough to come home but we made it home in time to go to my parents house right as the food was ready to eat. We were able to eat, open gifts and celebrate a little before getting the boys to bed. The next day we made Christmas eve at our house and Santa made a special trip to our house on Sunday when both boys were home. It was PJ's ALL day and then later, Wally's parents came over for us to celebrate with them.

It will definitely be a Christmas to remember!

Oh yes that is an IV on my baby's head. He is impossible to get blood from and get IV's started. It took the nurses 30 minutes to get an IV started in his foot only for it to come out 4 hours later. The Dr. was in the room when it happened and saw a good looking vein in his head so he went for it. We called him our "little shanghai kid" as we felt it looked like those hats with the tassles.

Cole waiting for Santa

Santa arrived in our hospital room.

These are all the toys we received from the hospital. It really provided a full Christmas for each of our kids. We were so amazed we had to take a picture.