We've been in Munchkinland:(

Jack and I just got back today from spending the last 4 days in the hospital. My sweet baby got RSV, which is rough on little ones and very scary on a 3 week old, 8 pounder! We are pretty sure that he caught it from James. The weekend before Christmas, James had a bad virus and slight pneumonia. We had spent the whole weekend keeping them separated...James and Josh on one side of the house, Jack and me on the other.

Jack started sounding congested a couple of days before Christmas, and then on Christmas Day, he developed a bad cough. We had our friend who is a doctor check him out on Christmas evening, and he told us that it was not in his lungs and that if it got worse to call our doctor the next day. Sure enough, Friday morning, I noticed him breathing faster. We went to the doctor that afternoon, he took one look at him, and sent us to the ER to have him checked out. They confirmed that it was RSV.

Thankfully, Jack did pretty well for his size. They told us on Saturday that Jack was on Day 2 and that Day 3 would be his worst day and then he'd start to get better. Jack surprised all of the nurses and started getting better after Saturday! We had to stay until today, because he was having trouble keeping his oxygen level up. I can't tell you how long I stared at those numbers, hoping it would stay in the upper 90's!

We are sooo happy to all be home together today and extremely thankful to God that he's doing better. I'm also thankful for the time I got to spend with him. I would not have chosen this, but one blessing that came out was that I got to just sit and hold him, stare at him, and bond with him over those 4 days. I'm also very grateful for Josh, my mom, and my dad rotating coming up to keep me company and watching James, and Elizabeth and Bryon watching James and making him have so much fun that he forgot all about him mama and brother that he was missing!

Here is a picture of "Munchkinland" as they call it.

It was such a cheerful place, and the nurses and staff were so friendly, which made our stay much more bearable. They made me one proud mama by making a big deal over him, and two different nurses commented on how expressive he was compared to other newborns. He has this cry that just breaks your heart, and one of the respiratory therapists, who was a tough looking woman, said he was trying to play on her sympathies to get her to stop, with his pitiful cries and faces. As one of the nurses walked us down to our car today, we ran into another nurse who said, "Aww, Lindsey (our nurse) is sad because her boyfriend, Jack, is leaving." She was slightly embarrassed, but I of course did not mind a bit!