Rough Draft for Image Essay

I sit here and look at this picture in front of me, of a tiny little baby. He is in a metal crib that looks like a cage, with tubes and wires everywhere. All parents should be concerned for their newborn babies between the months of November and March, so they don’t catch the Respitory Syncytial Virus (RSV). Approximately 4,500 children under 5 years old die each year from RSV. I am going to tell you a story about how I almost lost my little boy to RSV.


Jerimiah Joseph Bartow, now 5 ½ years old, was born on February 21, 2005. He was 6.2 lbs, small but very healthy. After about three days in the hospital we went home. I was only 18 years old and a first time mother. We had all kinds of visitors once we got home. Which I later found out that my sister in law brought her son over who had just gotten over the virus. After about two weeks of being home Jerimiah started to get sick, he had just normal cold symptoms. I took him to the doctor, and the doctor told me that he was fine, to just go home and wait it out. After about three days of no sleep, my mom came over to give me a break and take Jerimiah so I could get some rest. My mom brought him back to me and told me that she thought he needed to be looked at again. At this point he wasn’t eating much, he was throwing up everything that he did eat, and he was very irritable. I told Jerimiah’s dad that I was going to take him to the hospital and he said I was over reacting. At that point I didn’t care what he thought, I had a mother’s instinct, and I was on my way to the hospital.

Once we got to the hospital the triage nurse took his vitals. His oxygen levels where at 87%, for a normal baby it should be at about 99-100%. They rushed him back to get him on oxygen. After being there for a couple hours they had him on full oxygen and had an IV in him for fluids because he was very dehydrated. The doctor came in and said that he wanted to test him for RSV. At this time I was not too sure what RSV was. To test for this they had to stick a very long wire in to Jerimiah’s nostril. That was horrible, he screamed and his nose bled. Before the results ever came back, the doctor decided to admit him to the hospital. The Doctor looked at us and said, “If you wouldn’t have brought him in tonight, he may not have made it through the night.” I looked over at Jerimiah’s dad and was completely disgusted with him. For him to think that I was overreacting and my baby could have died.

We had spent 3 days in the pediatrics when things took a turn for the worse. I woke up around 2:00 a.m. to about five nurses in a panic standing over my baby. Before I could even ask what was wrong they rushed him out of the room. One nurse stayed behind to tell me, “Jerimiahs’ left lung has collapsed and they are taking him up to the ICU so he can be monitored a little closer.” I really didn’t know what to make of this. All I knew was that the ICU was for very sick people. After about two days and a bunch of breathing treatments they later sent him back to the pediatrics. We had to stay there for about 3 more days until his oxygen levels were at 99% without oxygen. We were finally cleared to go home after a week and a half in the hospital.

We have come to realize that this was just the first of many illnesses and stays at the hospital. Like I said in the beginning Jerimiah is now 5 ½ and suffers from Asthma, been to the hospital numerous times and had also spent his second birthday in there. This experience has made me not take my mommy sense for granted. Anyone who is a mother knows what I am talking about. Whether your child is 3 weeks old or 25 years old, you know when there is something wrong.