What happened next...

I just realised that I've been switching my date formats from UK-style to US-style. Oh dear... Don't like inconsistencies! :) Can't believe I didn't catch it. Must've been really tired...

So on Thursday, 31 Jan Juhee started coughing. I didn't think much of it at first but then in the evening she started running a fever. Then around midnight she vomited too. Not just a bit of her normal spit-up but projectile vomiting. Peter and I had been reviewing the notes from our classes on 'when to call the doctor' and referring to the baby books we have too. Her fever went past the 100.5 Fahrenheit mark which is one of the 'call immediately' signs to look out for as well as the projectile vomiting so we called the medical hotline number. The nurse I spoke to went thru a few things with us and felt that she had to wake-up the doctor. We were told to take her to the bathroom and stay with her in there for about 30 minutes with the shower running hot water to help with her congestion & breathing (we didn't have a humidifier or vaporiser), to keep an eye out on her for signs of her breathing becoming more difficult, watch for more vomiting, to try have her sleep with her body tilted upright, and to come in to the doc's 1st thing next morning. Well, needless to say, Peter and I didn't get a whole lot of sleep that night. We took turns watching over her...

We went in at 8:30am on Friday, 1 Feb and after listening to her lungs and seeing how congested she was, our paediatrician sent us to have her lungs x-rayed and blood tested. We were on our way home when our doc called to say that she had pneumonia and needed to be admitted right away as it can be fatal in babies under 6 months. She said she had already called the hospital and booked a room for us. She said we'd be there for at least 48 hours. So we continued on our way home to pack some stuff and feed her, and then went to the hospital.

The person admitting us was the same admin person who took my details when I was in ER the previous Friday. We recognised each other and joked about how Peter & I liked the place so much we kept on coming back... 2 days in Dec, 1 day in Jan, at least another 2 days in Feb... Our Juhee had spent more days at Good Sam Hospital than at our Sunnyvale home (as we lived at mum's in Almaden for the 1st few weeks of her life)!

When we got there the doctor in charge was pretty sure it was viral and not bacterial pneumonia due to the way she was coughing but they had to make sure as the treatment's very different so she had more x-rays taken, more blood tests... Her heels were poked and squeezed so often that day... They had to take blood from a vein in her arm too but because they're so small and chubby they had a hard time finding it. They kept on pulling the long needle out and putting it back in again and again and again. She was screaming!!! It was very very painful to watch... When it was time for them to put an iv needle in her other arm they took her away to do it... I'm glad they did 'cause I don't think I wud've been able to keep my tears back with that one. I could hear her screaming down the corridor and that was hard enough! The x-rays and blood test results confirmed that she had RSV viral bronchial-pneumonia and that it wasn't bacterial.

The reason why pneumonia can be fatal in babies so young is because they breathe only through their noses at this age so if it gets congested and they start having trouble breathing, then... I found out later on that with the bacterial kind babies are administered antibiotics every four hours. Sooooooo glad we didn't have to go thru that!

She was responding to the treatment & medication well, not eating a whole lot but enough for the doc to be satisfied that she didn't need to be put on iv (they stuck the needle in as a 'just in case' measure). Everyone thought we'd be good to go home after the minimum 48 hours but on Sunday morning her oxygen count started dropping (she was being constantly monitored via a machine connected to her heel which measured her red blood cell levels) so she had to be put on oxygen support. It was so painful to see her struggling to breathe... The small round plaster they used on either cheek to keep the oxygen tubes in her nose were irritating her too. Having a line from the wall to her face and then another line from her heel to a machine near the wall made maneuvering a bit difficult too.

The treatment consisted of suctioning of mostly her nose (and occasionally throat for phlegm), patting her back & chest areas to loosen phlegm, and medication given to her via a nebuliser. This happened every 4-6 hours for approx 20 minutes each time, the doc in charge came to examine her once a day, she had full stats taken (blood pressure, temperature, weight, etc) once a day, nurses & respiratory therapists came to adjust her oxygen levels as and when needed plus other stuff going on so with all that happening she didn't get a whole lot of sleep which probably didn't help her recovery. Needless to say, I didn't get a whole lot of sleep either...

Peter came and stayed when he could (even stayed the night) and mum dropped by almost everyday too to give me a break and bring me some home-made food too. Dad was visiting from Korea and so he came to visit when he could too. One day mum told Peter & I to go out and get some fresh air while Juhee was sleeping, so we took a walk through the hospital. After having been stuck in a small hospital room with a sick baby for days and days, it was nice to get out and walk. The nurses smiled and asked if we were going for a 'romantic stroll'. :) Peter's parents also visited and brought food for me to eat. I ordered a meal for every single meal as well and had most of the breakfasts but the hospital meals were usually for Peter. The hospital food at Good Sam's actually pretty good and is hotel style - you order from the menu and they deliver to your room. Sodexho does the catering for them, the same company that takes care of major hotels.

We had a sign on the door saying that warned people who entered the room that the patient inside had something viral and therefore caution must be taken when inside and leaving. The docs, nurses & respiratory therapists wore gowns, masks and gloves. Scrubbed in and out. The guy that came from our nebuliser rental company didn't even want to come into the room. The nurse made him wear a gown, mask and gloves 'cause he had to come in to show me how to use the equipment and get my signature. Poor guy, he was probably so worried.

We were there for much longer than we'd thought. Much longer than the medical staff thought too! After a very hard week, we finally left on Friday, 8 Feb. Everything happens on a Friday.

Peter just said "You're blogging again?" not in an exasperated way, just in a surprised way. Hey, I have 4 months of blogging to catch up on! :)

We went to our paediatrician's for her one-week post-discharge check-up and the doc said that I looked remarkably good for someone who's just spent a week in hospital with a very sick baby. :) It was a few days before she turned two months but seeing as we have to pay for every visit, we combined it with her two month check-up. She was doing well developmentally and she'd grown to 23 inches and weighed 11 pounds 8 ounces. She started lifting her head at about 4 weeks (very early) and she wasn't doing it as well while in hospital but she was doing it again once she regained her strength. She was also starting to really focus and stare at things around her. The doc noticed how she was mesmerised by the wallpaper and said it was a very good indication of her development. She received 5 jabs, 3 in one thigh, 2 in the other - bam bam bam bam bam! The nurse was so quick! She calmed down but then later in the evening, she started screaming with pain. We regretted not giving her infant Tylenol earlier 'cause we wanted to wait and see if she actually needed it... Ha... Our Juhee suffered 'cause of her parents' lack of experience. Poor little girl. :( But now we know so at her four month appointment (coming up next week!) we'll give her a bit before we go so it has time to work its magic before she starts feeling the pain from the shots. :)

Sometime in Feb (prob mid-Feb) I received my US Work Permit which was fab! I'd applied for it when I applied for my Permanent Resident Card (used to be called 'Green Card') as it's an option nowadays with the new system. The Permanent Resident Card overrides the Work Permit but the WP takes approx 3 months whereas the PRC takes approx 6, so if one is desperate to work or required US-government issued ID / permission to stay, then this is the way to do it.

On Monday, 3 Mar we went to the South Korean Consulate in San Francisco as we realised just the previous week while sorting out Juhee's birth certificate and social security card that my passport had just expired! So we went on Monday and then again on Thursday to pick it up. Ironically, I wouldn't have been able to make my passport without my Work Permit as I needed photo ID other than a drivers license which I didn't have prior to receiving my WP. Strange, huh?

On Friday, 7 Mar, I had my USCIS (US version of Home Office, used to be INS) interview. It was mandatory for Peter to attend as well as my permanent residency was based on my marriage to him and him 'sponsoring' me. Of course, Juhee went as well as further 'evidence' of us being a true married couple. :) We were 5 minutes late to our 8:30am appointment and got a scolding for it. No sympathy for having to bring a less than 3 month old baby with us. :) We eventually had our interview and the officer didn't ask us the questions we'd been warned about. I guess it was pretty obvious that we were married. She just went thru our docs, I gave her copies of my new passport, Juhee's Birth Certificate, gave her Juhee's social security number, etc and then she told us that there seems to be another person with the same name and birth date as me and so they'd need to check the other file before granting me permanent residency! So she said it'd take another few weeks longer than usual. Well, we got the letter from the USCIS saying that my 2-year conditional permanent residency has been approved about a week later and then the actual card a couple of weeks after that! Hurrah! :) So then it was time for us to go update my social security details with my new married name - done.

All of the paperwork is now done and all I need to do now is to get my CA drivers license. I couldn't previously as I didn't have documentation stating my residency status & time period in the US and my social security details weren't up-to-date. Well, all of that is now done so I can actually go take my test now. I'm not rushing tho as we only have one car anyway and petrol prices are rising like crazy...

The only reason why I want to get my license as soon as possible is so that I can go out and work again. It's been soooooooo long! It's such hard work being at home with Juhee all day... Going out and working would be much easier and I'd enjoy the adult company, making new friends, the challenge/stress/time constraints, the adrenalin rush... Peter would prefer to me to stay at home with Juhee and I will for the next couple of months. But then after that, depending on how our plans pan out, I'll hopefully be out working! At the moment, as she's only breastfeeding, it'd be a bit of a pain to pump at work and store the breast milk for her to be fed by someone else during the day. At her next appointment next week we'll discuss with our paediatrician her starting solids. a new adventure! :)

My finger's actually starting to hurt so I'm going to stop. Need to make a few more phone calls today and get a few other things done too.

Will upload pictures soon!

Missing you,
Jenny xxx