The Bernardo Family: Counting our blessings, sweet baby girl

Liliana came home very early Sunday morning after spending four full days and nights hospitalized with pneumonia. Praise God for watching over our sweet baby girl. My mom had told us that Lily was not feeling well Monday afternoon and again on Tuesday, and we suspected that she may have another ear infection, since she has had so many recently. However, we were not too worried about her, and we were mainly concerned with getting home before 7:30 so that we could see Frankie before he went to sleep. When we got home, Lily was sleeping in her car seat in our bedroom. My first thought was, "oh great, this late nap is going to totally mess up her schedule, and I am going to be up all night with her." Such a horrible thought. Ten minutes after we got home, Liliana woke up and cried and when I went to pick her up, she was on fire. Her legs, her arms, and her head were SO HOT. We started searching the house for a rectal thermometer to take her temperature, and we finally find one that showed a fever of 105. I was skeptical that this was the correct reading, but we knew she was extremely hot and she was also acting very lethargic, so we decided to take her to the emergency room. She threw up on the way there, and Frank started to get very worried. He took charge, and I am so thankful that he knew something was seriously wrong and made us hurry.

The ER took her temperature as 104.5 and immediately took us to a room and began running tests. She tested negative for flu and RSV, but her chest X-ray showed what appeared to be viral pneumonia. She was already on antibiotics for her most recent ear infection, so the hospital staff decided we needed to be admitted. Lily was given an IV, and Frank and I both cried as the nurses tried multiple times to find a good vein. The Las Colinas hospital does not admit pediatric patients, so we had to be transported via ambulance to Children's hospital in Dallas. I got to ride with Liliana in the ambulance (although I had to ride in the front seat), and Frank followed behind us in his car. That 15 minute drive was probably the worst 15 minutes of my life. Liliana was connected to machines monitoring her oxygen level and heart rate, and I kept hearing the machine beep, which I knew meant that one of those measurements was dangerously high or low. I could not see her, and I was just praying over and over to God to watch over her and keep her safe. I was so relieved to finally make it to Children's. Liliana was diagnosed again with pneumonia, and she was put on oxygen with a breathing tube, given fluids through an IV, and given breathing treatments every four hours. She continued to spike extremely high fevers for the first two days in the hospital, and on Thursday morning she went back up to 104.5 and her heart rate soared above 230 and her face started to swell. The doctor was very concerned that her heart may not be handling the treatment and illness, and she ordered an EKG and another chest x-ray. This was probably the second scariest moment of this whole ordeal. By this time, Frank and I had basically been awake for almost 48 hours with our baby girl who would not sleep unless it was in our arms, and now the doctor was telling us that our sweet baby's heart may be having trouble. I started to imagine the worst possible outcome, and I completely broke down on the phone with my mom. She was originally going to fly out Wednesday, and she pushed her flight back to Thursday and then again to Friday upon hearing this news. She went up to the hospital on Thursday so that Frank and I could rest at home and get some sleep. It was a much-needed break, and while I was at home sleeping, we found out that Lily's heart was fine. Her heart rate went back to normal, and her face also went back to normal. Again, such a blessing from God.

Thursday, Lily started to get better. She was weaned from the oxygen, and by the end of the day, her fevers had almost completely subsided. On Friday, she was able to completely remove the breathing tube and her IV. She also started to smile and play a little bit, which was a huge relief. All of the nurses remarked that she was feisty, stubborn, and beautiful. But it was a shame that none of them up until then could see her sweet, silly, and joyful side. She fought the nurses on EVERYTHING, but especially the medicine. She would throw her head back, scream, kick her legs, move her arms, spit, and basically do anything to thwart their attempts to give her medicine. She quickly earned a reputation for being a fighter. And she can give a mean stink eye. One of the male doctors told us to google "ridiculously photogenic baby," because he was convinced that she looked just like the baby in that picture. I know I am biased, but I think that Lily is prettier.

On Friday and Saturday, Liliana's breathing had pretty much returned to normal, and the main thing keeping us in the hospital was Lily's very low food intake. She was completely refusing solids, and she was really struggling to consume liquids too. She learned how to shake her head "no" during this whole ordeal, and she did it frequently every time we offered her a bottle. We knew she had to pick up the liquid intake in order to leave, so we tried everything we could think of to get her to drink. Finally, by Saturday afternoon she really started to act more like herself, and she also drank a good amount of formula. My parents relieved us at the hospital from 1:30 to 7:00, and we just had a feeling that we were going to get to go home that night. Around 11:00 p.m., they finally released us. We came home and opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate.

This week was one of the hardest weeks of my life. We still do not know why or how Liliana could get so sick so quickly, but it was a very emotional and trying time as a parent. We also felt so bad for Frankie, who was scared for his sister and confused about why Mommy and Daddy were not home for so long. It was both a blessing and a curse that this happened right on the heels of our vacation. It was wonderful having my Mom here to help out. I really do not know what we would have done without her. She helped Frankie retain a sense of normalcy, and she helped relieve Frank and I at the hospital so that we could get some rest.

We are so happy that our baby girl is home and healthy!!