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My adorable Scarlett and her fight with influenza

Scarlett is one of the happiest infants I have ever known.

She is beautiful, curious, and smiles ear to ear when she sees her mom or dad. Although I may favor her because she is my daughter I think she is possibly the cutest little girl of 2010!

Scarlett was born October 21st and weighed in at just above 7lbs 15 ounces.  I praise God everyday for our little blessing and all that he has given us. She is now four months today and even though she is fighting infant influenza she finds a way to smile. We noticed symptoms similar to what our older son had as a baby with coughing, runny nose, and fussiness. After a day these little symptoms started getting worse and she had a tough time feeding and had some wheezing.  Two nights ago I stayed up with her to carefully observe her conditions as things  were not improving and I get pretty nervous when it comes to my children. My wife took the first shift for sleeping as she had been working hard all day with Scarlett to give her the best care any mother could. When I woke up at 6am I heard a very shallow breathing baby that was very lethargic and I knew it was time to bring her in. I rushed upstairs and let my wife know what the status was and before I could get back downstairs she was following me with a jacket on ready to bring Scarlett to the ER. (I guess my wife can truly get ready in a snap!)

Altru Health System is only five minutes away from our house so my wife made it to the ER quickly. Altru triaged her appropriately and were providing care within minutes. We must always be thankful to have state of the art facilities and  access to knowledgeable providers in the U.S. As a parent it would be very difficult to

even consider not having the correct care or availability of care when your child is hurting!

Scarlett was diagnosed with influenza and immediately admitted to the hospital. She has had some wonderful nurses and doctors looking over her and she does her ear to ear smile each time a new provider stops in. It is such a relief to know that these people truly care about our daughter and are willing to share their warmth and help make Scarlett’s recovery go better.

Scarlett’s current status is stable and we wait hour by hour to see if she will improve or if this is only the beginning of more challenges down the road. Scarlett has an oxygen monitor that helps us understand how hard it is for her to breath {fluctuates from 88 to 98} and she has an iv to make sure dehydration does not become a factor. The poor little thing has had several rough hours of coughing and weezing/crackling and it is still hard for her to feed. I know there are several other parents out there going through the same thing and it just hurts not being able to make your child comfortable. I would do anything to take this illness and pain from her but I must be patient and have faith in God and all of the wonderful people at Altru.

I am writing this just after holding Scarlett from a coughing spell. My wife is sound asleep and I will enjoy some sleep when my shift is done! My wife does not like this “shift work” talk but I see it as the only way to maintain our health and still help Scarlett out in any way we can.

In closing I would like to leave you with some links on Infant Influenza. There are many dangers and several infants have had to endure long fights with the virus this year. Sadly, some have not made it.  There are  also many way to prevent exposure to this virus and I ask all of you to consider the steps below to help keep our infants safe.

Please keep Scarlett in your prayers.

1) Go get a flu shot, today!
2) Wash your hands and children’s hands often
3) Avoid large crowds or gatherings where people may not have had their flu shot
4) Make sure your baby is getting all the rest and nutrition he/she can so that  if the flu does strike they will have the strength to fight through.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/influenza/DS00081 – **Info about the Flu from the Mayo Clinic

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/summary.htm – Weekly Summary of Flu stats by CDC

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/children.htm – Good information about the Flu and your children

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