Maelys and Lilly-Rose

My favorite nieces are in hospital and their amazing mother and father would never ask for support, so, I’m doing it on their behalf.

the girls story:

Maelys started with hallucinations on 1/9, then a seizure (5th one following fever in the last year). Urged by paramedics to be seen in ER since she was taking longer to come out of it than previously. Waiting for second opinion with neuro, but still hoping it’s something that is benign and she will grow out of it by 6 yrs old. Chest X-rays Monday looked good but they started treatment for pneumonia. Later that day, her primary pediatrician suggested against antibiotics and said it was likely viral and needed time to clear. Not much improvement over the week so saw her pediatrician 1/12, they started her on antibiotics. Baby lilly-Rose stared coughing same day. 1/14, Maelys was sleeping a lot and breathing very fast, not very responsive at home. Took her to Ucd ER and they found she was not oxygenating well. ,admitted her to the pediatric ICU given how dependent she was on oxygen. Swabs came back positive for human metapneumovirus. As we were preparing to stay overnight with Maelys in the hospital, my mom and sister who were watching the baby said they had worry about her cough getting worse- and they took her to Ucd for evaluation. Seb was going to come the next morning because of the storm, but left our house right away to stay with us, and met us at the hospital. M was really in bad shape but doctors said LR was ok, sent her home after 9 hr in the ER. Seb stayed at the hospital with M, I went back to my mom’s with LR - who continued to breath really fast and with a lot of effort so 1/15 she went back to Er for evaluation - and just as they were planning to discharge her because she seemed ok, her oxygen saturation dropped and she too became dependent on oxygen. So, both girls were hospitalized - luckily in the same room. Maelys improved substantially after a day on high flow oxygen, and is ready for discharge. LR is stil dehydrated and after kicking out her IV Catheter, now has a nasogastric tube to try to hydrate with breastmilk that I’m pumping every 2 hr at her bedside. Had to cancel work since 1/12/23 and can go back once LR is home and on bottles again - hopefully in the next week. We don’t have any PFL from the state because I used it for my recent maternity leave and it restarts in July 2023.

Update: 1/18/23: Maelys was discharged, but Lilly-Rose is still hospitalized. Christie’s husband Sebastien stayed initially with Maëlys and never left the girls’ side. He is currently at the hospital so Christie can get a solid night sleep at her mom’s house.