Thomas was a big helper giving Elin her first in the tub bath. Elin was not a huge fan at first but then decided it wasn’t so bad. Thomas helped wash her feet and keep her warm by pouring water on her.
She has now had several more tub baths and she is a huge fan. So glad that I have 2 water babies. I can’t wait to get back to the pool with Thomas and introduce Elin as well.
Since he was born, Mike and I have called Thomas “Babaganoosh.” This has been shortened to “Noosh,” and Thomas has taken it upon himself to start calling us all “Noosh.” So we have a “Dada Noosh, Mama Noosh, Elin Noosh, Stella Noosh, Tucker Noosh, Itzy Noosh, Grandpa Noosh and Grandma Noosh.” It is about 50/50 when you ask him his last name if it is “Thomas Noosh or Thomas Laschen.” What a silly little Noosh he is!
Max and Amy came to meet Miss Elin and Thomas was so excited to see both of them after not seeing them for a few weeks. Max is his favorite big buddy and once he steps foot in the door Thomas just wants to be with Max. So much fun to watch and fun for Mike and I too to get to hang out with our friends who are so great with our kiddos!
The doctors had reassured me that Elin was in the best situation for not catching my cold. Since most colds are viral they didn’t give me any antibiotics before or during labor and with me breastfeeding we were all hoping for the best. This virus, was a nasty one and it didn’t listen and sure enough our baby got sick. It started on Thursday night with a little sniffle and then by Friday it was full blown sneezes with boogers.
She didn’t have a fever and she kept eating so the “warning signs” that we were looking for to bring her in right away were not there. Instead of each day getting better over the weekend she just continued to stay the same or get worse. It was hard to tell if she was lethargic or just a newborn in the sleepy phase.
On Monday I called her doctor and she wasn’t in but another doctor in the practice told me that it was ok to wait to bring Elin in until the next morning (her scheduled 2 week appointment). On Monday night Mike and I both were pretty nervous about how Elin sounded. Her cough was getting worse and she wasn’t able to clear her lungs like she had been. The doctor confirmed our fears after listening to her and told me to go to Children’s in Seattle right away. While she called to check us in, I called Mike at work and told him to meet us there. As you can imagine, I was a mess, but I held it together pretty well. Sweet Thomas climbed up on the chair in the doctors office and gave me a hug and kiss and then said “all better mama.” His heart is so kind and he was such a big help keeping me calm. The entire drive to Children’s Thomas held Elin’s hand and said “All better baby E.”
After getting to the ER the nurses suctioned her nose and throat and then took swabs to test for both viruses and pertussis (whooping cough). They put her on the oxygen monitors and took her vitals and then we were left to wait for the doctor. After a few minutes of watching cartoons and rocking the alarms started to go off as Elin’s oxygen levels were dropping. So out came the oxygen mask and the levels went up again. The doctor came in and talked to us about some of the courses of treatment and thought that it would be best for us to stay to have Elin monitored and to continue to receive oxygen to help her recover. After hearing her cough she was also concerned that it maybe pertussis and ordered a round of antibiotics.
Then we waited to be transferred to her hospital room. I was again a mess. It was so surreal that our little girl was only 2 weeks old and was being check back into the hospital.
Thomas was a great helper getting her all settled in and was so brave with all the doctors heading into the room. After we got settled in, Mike and Thomas went home to get clothes for us and stuff for the hospital. Kristi our beloved dog sitter/park taker came and grabbed Stella for us and we had our bases covered. It was a huge relief when I talked, well hysterically bawled, to a nurse about the fact that Thomas was not suppose to be allowed in Elin’s isolated room. She had a virus so we were under special precautions as to not transfer it to anyone else. The hospital policy is that no child under 10 is allowed in the room, however because we have no family in town and he is still nursing to sleep he was granted permission. I guess there is a golden ticket when nursing a toddler, that and a lot of questions 
From there it started to colossal balancing act between Mike and I and our two kids. Blah, what a quick lesson in mothering/fathering 2 children. It was so difficult for both of us to leave/go with Thomas or Elin and leave one another. Mike was a rock balancing all of the weight on his shoulders. I was running through all my medical experience and weighing the different scenarios in my head. Thomas had everyone in the hospital in love with him and even the cleaning lady stopped back a few times just to “see the boy.”
By Tuesday night they had determined that she had human metopneumovirus which is one of the common cold virus out there. She did not have RSV or Pertussis which could have made her even sicker. The only bad thing was that because it was a virus all they could do was supportive care. They had to let her body fight the infection while we helped by nursing her, suctioning out her nasal passages and giving her oxygen. The doctors explained that the virus peaks at day 5 or 6 and we were right in the middle of hopefully the worse of it.
So every very few hours they would try to lower the amount of oxygen she needed to be on and they even tested her on room air. The requirement for discharge was that she had to maintain oxygen saturation in the hospital for 12 hours and not need deep suction (in nose and throat) before we could be discharged. Over the night she had been able to be weaned off oxygen down to .01 L which is the lowest setting before room air. However, she was unable to keep oxygen levels up without this little bit of help. After the doctors did their rounds they also decided she would benefit from having a chest x-ray to make sure anatomically everything was within normal limits, which it was. So after we did that at about 2 they took her off of oxygen and we started the clock. She made it 3 hours before she needed to be put back on and we were granted another night in the hospital.
After dinner and some more play time with Thomas and Mommy, Thomas and I went to sleep while Mike kept watch until leaving about 10. At Midnight they again turned off the oxygen and she made it 30 minutes before being put back on. Ugh, after her 3:30 a.m. feeding I called my mom and I was pretty upset. I was starting to wonder like the doctors had been WHY she couldn’t seem to maintain her oxygen without just a little nudge of help. I was scared that we were going to be stuck in the hospital another night and I was more worried about Elin.
At 5 a.m. they turned off the oxygen again. When she made it past the 3 hour mark and I let out a little sigh, but I have to be honest 9 more hours seemed like forever. Every hour she kept keeping her levels up and not “just barely” as she had in the previous days trial she was up in the 95-100 range with a few dips into the lower 90s. Thomas and I left and went to the park and to pick up lunch before heading back to keep Elin and Mike company and nap. Then we started to get ready for our discharge at 5 p.m. as long as she kept her level up. We had lots of family and friends praying for her and it was much needed and appreciated.
Children’s was wonderful to us. When we walked into our room there was a hand knit blanket to welcome us. It was part of Project Linus, what a nice thing for people to do. I have to admit that we went through clothes, blankets, and hospital gowns pretty quickly. Thomas received bubbles, 2 stuffed bears, a stuffed pelican and treats from the volunteers and nurses. The nurses and doctors were amazingly kind and gentle to us. When Mike and Thomas were gone and I needed to run to grab a latte from the Starbucks on the 1st level Elin’s day nurse (she was the same both days) held her and rocked her for me. Not only were they kind to us but the construction workers who were building outside were in on the fun too. They were building a new wing to the hospital and everyday would move a life sized “where’s waldo” doll for the children and parents to find. They also would write in spray paint messages to the children in the oncology unit, that would forever be a part of the building. It was truly the best place to be if you need a hospital for your sick child. This is Elin after we came home snuggling in her jammies and I snuck the quilt in behind her for a picture.
Emotionally as we walked out I was hit hard. In the elevator we rode up to the 5th floor to leave and when we got off a man got off and greeted his daughter who was about Thomas’ age in a stroller hooked up to multiple IVs. Her mom was pushing her and I was so thankful that we were going home. That isn’t the case for so many in that hospital. I don’t have answers for why children get sick but it breaks my heart. I hope and pray that we don’t ever need to go to that place again not for ourselves or to visit anyone we know.
Grandpa and Grandma Laschen flew in to meet their granddaughter on Thursday night. Friday morning after getting some yummy breakfast the boys got to work on the yard overhaul. Our yard needed a lot of work and they were up for the challenge. 
Thomas was a little iffy on holding Elin at first. He liked to touch her, kiss her, and know where she was at every moment but didn’t want to get too close. This is the first time he held her and he was so proud (it was May 2nd). 
As always Stella was a great big sister from the beginning. She gets extremely worried if Elin is crying and will go into the room to make sure she is o.k. She had a week full of attention from her dog sitter, Kristi, taking her to the park and walks with Grandpa and Grandma.
The week was rough for me. I had a spinal headache from the wet epidural that made me quite a treat to be around. When I stood up I could almost black out in head pain and the coughing from my lingering cold about made my head feel like it was going to pop off. I really felt completely and was debilitated. I stayed on the couch, went to the bathroom and did the best I could to take care of my kids. Thank goodness my husband and parents were here to help.
I also had 2 trips to the ER to have blood patches placed to try to help my body replace the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). One anesthesiologist explained it like a bathtub being filled and emptied. When I was standing or sitting the bathtub (my csf) started to drain causing decreased flotation to my brain and increased strain on all my cranial nerves. When I laid down their was more pressure and therefore some relief from my symptoms. My main symptoms were neck/shoulder pain, throbbing headache, all sounds/noises/people talking had a robot sound to it, lights were difficult on my eyes and my vision was blurred. Before leaving the hospital the anesthesiologist instructed me to do conservative treatment which is drinking massive amounts of caffeine and lay reclined/flat as much as possible.
By Thursday night I was in so much pain that Mike and I decided it was time to say that the conservative treatment was not working. We put the kids to be and left them with Grandma and Grandpa and headed into the ER for a blood patch. The anesthesiologist at the hospital placed another epidural needle in my back and then drew blood from my arm and injected it into the epidural space. This was to patch the hole caused from my original epidural. I then laid flat for an hour and got up. After this procedure I felt about 50% better but still had the neck pain and robot sound in my head….boo! We decided it was time to go home and lay down and see if there was more healing.
Friday I was ok and was able to move around a little bit more but by Friday night it was getting bad again. After sleeping/laying down all night didn’t help we called my OB and 2 other anesthesiologists who all agreed that I would need to have a repeat blood patch. So we went back to the ER this time knowing it was going to be a longer trip Elin came with and Thomas went to the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa. At the ER we waited and waited and finally I got the 2nd blood patch. It was a bit trickier this time and Mike and Elin had to leave the room. Thank goodness for my male nurse Abod who let me hold his hand and would give me a hard squeeze each time she put the needle in my back and for my IV. It took her 7 rounds of lidocaine and 7 epidural needles to find just the right spot. The 7th needle went in, there was not tingling, pain, or other weird feeling and we were in the right spot. She drew the blood and put it into the epidural space. Then again I laid flat. This time I could almost immediately see things in the room clearly and the neck/shoulder pain disappeared. The robots however remained 
Long story short it took 19 days for the spinal headache to be gone. From the 2nd epidural on everyday I got a little bit better and was able to do more without needing to lay down. What a crazy headache, it almost was like going crazy because when laying down I felt mostly normal and when standing I could hardly take it. Every morning it was like a sick joke when I felt great waking up only to stand up and be hit with a slamming headache. I am so glad it is gone and will never have another epidural again my spine apparently has a little different epidural space according to the doctors.
On Monday, a week after Elin was born, we were on our own. My parents had left and Mike was back to work. Yikes, it was tricky to manage “normalcy” with my headache. To be honest, thinking back it is hard to remember and it seems like I was in a time warp. Looking at the computer was painful the same with the t.v. Listening to music was still like listening to robots sing.
Mike would start a ginormous pot of coffee before he left for work, so I could drink it before getting out of bed. I would try to time my Tylenol/Advil so that I would be in the “middle” of the medicine around 7/8 and THANK GOD for the cartoons Curious George and Clifford the Big Red Dog. I would get morning 
It was nice to have a partner in crime for our outings and having Whitney and Dahlia to help us out. Our first outing was to the beach to explore low tide. How cool, we found some big shells, saw birds eating the fish that were trapped in the tide pools, and star fish (or sea stars if we are going for accurate terminology.)
Elin was great at hanging out and just wanted to eat and sleep. So that made it easier to keep my attention on Thomas. After we got home we would eat lunch and head for nap time. Oh how I loved, and my head needed, nap time, and 6 o’clock when Mike got home from work!
Our second trip was to the zoo. Then home again for a much needed lunch and nap.
We also played outside in the back and front yards, went to the park near our house, and got lots of snuggles in. Thomas was a really big help getting diapers and playing nicely with his sister. If he could have only cleaned, done the laundry and cooked dinners he would have gotten 2 gold stars. Ha, in all seriousness he was a trooper because his mom was very different than what he was used to.
Here are some more pictures of Thomas loving on Elin from the days at home together…this big brother seriously loves his little sister.
I think Thomas and Stella appreciated having Mommy do something normal too. It was a short trip and then back onto the couch for me. Mike was a trooper and was running around with Thomas like a giant 2 year old. So grateful that Mike seems to have endless amounts of energy!
Elin got a ticket for her first bath by making a very large mess in her pants. Mike and I called it a “code blue” as we were changing her blow out, because it just kept coming.
She was not a huge fan of her bath and being cold. It was quick, pretty painless, and best of all she got squeaky clean!
