Rewind back to Saturday morning.....
Spirits were high as we loaded the minivan at 6:45 am singing "we're going to Colorado! and Family Vacation!" We even had an uneventful and pretty peaceful 12 hour drive (stopping every 3 hours to feed Abby) to Breckenridge. Rob and I were still a little wishy washy about our initial decision to bring Abby into the mountains but since her pediatrician thought she would be ok in Breckenridge (altitude 9,500 feet or so) and we wanted to be with family, we decided to try the trip. The girls colored an insane amount of pictures, we watch 2 DVD's, we read books, stopped and played outside while I fed Baby Abby and listened to music. We were so excited to get to our "big house." Honestly, the 12 hour trip couldn't have gone much smoother.
We arrived at our house in Breckenridge at 6 pm mountain time. Rob's brother and his family were already there and Grammy and Poppy arrived with us. We were all smiles as Anna and Ashley ran through the house, establishing the room with bunk beds as their and Henry's room. We were ready to have a nice and relaxed week with family....
About an hour into our stay, Rob's dad noticed that Abby's hands were turning blue. Seeing that the windows were open and she was in a little onesie we just thought she was cold. So we swaddled her and called it good. An hour later, we notice that her lips and eyelids were a little blue as well. Thinking she was just cold, I put her in a warmer onesie, swaddled her up and took her downstairs to eat and go to bed with me.
At 2:30 in the morning I go to feed Abby at her typical time and as I am feeding she projectile vomits everywhere. At that point I think that I had over fed her and really don't think much about it. I don't get up to bother Rob (he was sleeping in the girls room since they were having some problems adjusting to the altitude). Then she starts to wake up every 25-30 minutes. And this was not typical; you see our little Abby is a sleeper and has only woken once in the night to feed since she was 5 days old. So, I started to worry. I also noticed that her breathing was getting a little louder. The only way she would sleep would be to sleep in my arms. So that is what we did, or she did. I barely slept a wink. She vomits up her second feeding at 4:30, her 3rd feeding around 6:30, and 4th feeding around 8:30. At this point, we were pretty nervous and knew something wasn't right. We also noticed that morning that she was pale with a blue tint to her eyelids. So we decide to drive down to Frisco for a couple hours to help her adjust better to the altitude. At this point we were worried about altitude sickness with Abby. But we were most worried about the altitude sickness leading to dehydration and since she was having wet diapers all day, we thought we were okay. You see our house wasn't in the town of Breckenridge, like we had originally thought (we were wishy washy taking her above 9000 feet, so we really weren't that thrilled to take her much higher), it was a good 500-1000 feet up in the mountains overlooking Breck which put us above the 10,000 feet mark.
When we were in Frisco (around 9,000 feet), we took the girls on a hike. As we pulled up to the trail head, Abby puked again. Panic is starting to set in. But we decide to see how she does and walk for around 3 hours. During this time she wanted to eat twice and kept it all down. We could see her turning the corner and were excited that she was feeling better.
So around 1 we return to our house and she wants to eat again. And then again. And both times she keeps her food down. And she even takes a 3 hour nap with mommy. All seems good until that evening around 7, when she pukes for maybe the 6th time. At this point we were reaching out limit with pule tolerance and decided that what we were doing wasn't right. Parental panic sets in on me..... Why were we there? What were we doing in the mountains with an almost 4 week old? We aren't crazy parents; we are very responsible adults who have based all our decisions in the last 4 years on what is best for our children. So why were we there? I just wanted to get my baby girl home.
After the 7th puke around 8:30, we decided to go to the emergency room. All emotional and tear stricken, I still couldn't believe I put my baby in such danger going to CO, we arrive at the emergency room. We told the front desk what had happened and they got us back to a doctor faster then I ever imagined. They checked her oxygen levels and saw that she was at a 94; they want you to be at a 92 (but this was 1500 feet lower in Frisco), then they took her temperature and saw it was at 100 degrees. They then weighed her and she weighed 9 pounds. This scared us because we thought she weighed around 9 lbs at 9 days old (she was really 8 lbs 12 oz at 9 days old), but had still lost a lot of weight since she probably weighed over 9 1/2 lbs, maybe even close to 10. But at the time we thought she had lost pound and it alerted us even more. Then the doctors wanted to test for dehydration, draw blood to check for something that I forget now about and monitor her overnight as well so they tried to put an IV into her arms twice. It was so painful to watch; Abby took it like a champ even though she was crying the entire time. Since they never could get the IV in they decided that the best decision would be for us to get to Denver as soon as possible so she could get out of the high altitudes. While we waited to be discharged they put her on oxygen. She looked so helpless laying their with oxygen tubes going into her nose. It was such a hard night for everyone.
The staff at the Frisco ER was amazing. They made us feel like we did the right thing in bringing her into the ER and they didn't make us feel like selfish, irresponsible, stupid or foolish parents for bringing her up to the mountains at such a young age. I was in tears most of the time and they tried to get me to realize that you never know who is going to get altitude sickness and that professional athletes even find themselves in the ER. They made Rob and I feel confident in our decision to bring her into the ER, head to Denver and to head home asap. The pediatrician who was on call said that babies under 3 months shouldn't go over 9,000 feet and he also said something that is still sticking with me... something I already knew and hit really hard.... he said that "the first 2 months of a baby's life is just fragile." Parental guilt hit at that moment and still sits with me.... I knew that..... Why did we decide to go so high in the mountains?
Seeing your baby in an emergency room is unreal. So little, so helpless. How could I not beat myself up about our decision to come out? I had been critiquing a couple pregnant women I saw smoking on the car ride out here; putting their baby at such risk..... was I any different??? But we so badly wanted to go on a vacation, we so badly wanted to be with family (this was the only week that would work and it had to be in Colorado so that everyone could come), we so badly wanted to get away.... but EVERY DAYwe so badly want to keep our girls safe and healthy. Regrets, regrets. From now on I can promise we will be 100% confident in the big or small decisions we make for our family and we won't bend. We are still kicking ourselves....
But the important thing now is that all this is behind us and Abby is doing great. We saw her doctor the day after we got back and she weighed 9 lbs 7 ounces. She has also been eating like a champ- literally every 2 to 2 1/2 hours to put back on the weight that was lost over the weekend. And she is alert and acting like our baby girl. Yes, I still feel like an irresponsible parent for making the decision to take the trip, but who knew we'd end up in the ER? Nothing I had ever imagined would happen.....
Much Love,
Jenny
PS for the record we drove 28 hours and 30 minutes in 4 days.... horrible. just horrible.
PSS For proof that my mind was consumed and a total mess from the moment she started feeling sick, I took 0 pictures of the trip..... Rob did take one or two I think.... this being one of Ashley leading us on the hike with her walking stick! We so wish we could have been on more hikes, but at least we got this one in :)
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