Ella Grow Strong: Just another Friday?

Well I hope anyone reading this blog is not just finding out that Ella has been in the hospital since last Friday. But since I feel like I've only given pieces and parts of the story, I figured this is a good place to document the whole event, so here goes!
Ella had "cold symptoms" most of last week, runny nose, cough, etc. On Thursday when I picked her up from school, she was running a low grade fever, 100.5. She fell asleep on the way home, I carried her to bed where she slept some more and woke up her happy, chipper self. She was smiling, playing, etc just as she always does. In fact, she had crawled (army style) all the way from the living room to the front door to see the snow coming down. She was fussy for dinner, but drank plenty, so I just figured she didn't feel like eating. Friday we couldn't send her to daycare even though the fever was gone, so Grahm stayed home with her until noon, then grandma came to take over. She was a little fussy for nap, but otherwise an uneventful morning and afternoon. I got home around 4pm to relieve grandma, and she was asleep. I transferred her to bed to let her rest some more. When I checked on her an hour later, I could tell she had a fever and her breathing was short and shallow. I called the on call doc right away, and she said the breathing was due to the low grade fever (so long as it stayed under 40 reps per minute). I got her up around 6pm to at least get some fluids in her, of which she happily obliged, then back to sleep. I then checked her around 7:30pm, and I could tell her fever had spiked and her breathing had gotten worse. I again called the doc, who agreed I should take her to the Urgent care so I didn't end up in the ER later (little did we both know).
Children's Urgent care in Westerville took us right back (dad met us there, so at least I'm not alone at this point, thank God). They tested her oxygen saturation and found it to be 79. 79...I remember from the NICU days that that number should be as close to 100 as possible. Another, more accurate oxygen saturation test was done, and 79 was still the answer. Long story short, you cannot self transport your child if the situation is critical. It took me a minute to register what "cannot self transport" really meant - we were going to take an ambulance ride. 911 was called, and we were speeding down 71 within 10 minutes. Dad was trying his hardest to keep up (there was no way I could drive a vehicle at this point and no way I was not getting in that ambulance with my daughter), but was cut off by a dump truck and delayed just a bit. Note to all, I've never really thought about it, but when you pull over to the side of the road to let an ambulance pass, wait a few extra seconds for the frantic family member following close behind to get by you as well! A "team" was awaiting our arrival at the ER. Surprisingly, I kept it together until this point. At this moment, Ella is on a table with no less than 8 people over top of her, doing all sorts of things and working frantically. I could only stand alone off to the side and count the minutes until Grahm arrived. What seemed like an hour was really only 10 minutes, and then dad was there. 4 hours later, we get admitted to the PICU with a diagnosis of RSV and Pneumonia. Ella needed to be in the PICU because she was getting assistance with breathing. We spent 3 (very restless) nights in the PICU, and upgraded to a regular room early Monday morning. She left the PICU on a nasal cannula, which we have been working to wean her from. She needs to breathe room air for 24 hours and keep her stats up before she can go home. We started the room air at 4pm yesterday, but had to have some oxygen at 11am today. I'm not sure what this means for our discharge, but I have a feeling we might be spending another night here. This room is not the four seasons, but it certainly feels like it after the PICU. Now if we could only get those nurses to stop coming in so often in the night, maybe we could all get more than 4 hours of sleep. At this point, I'm certain Ella would recover quicker at home given her own bed and piece and quiet; but doctors know best and our PICU doctor told Ella that "slow and steady wins the race". I think this is about as slow and steady as I can take though.
Thank you thank you to all of the well wishes, prayers and good vibes. I hope the next time I post it will be letting you all know we are home.

A few pictures of our last few days to share: