Parker and I just got out of the hospital tonight. I don't think I have ever been so mentally and physically exhausted in all of my life. Parker's "cold" was gone.. or so I thought. A few days after his cold went away we thought we were out of the woods. His cousin came in for the weekend as planned and we all had a lovely time. They left on a Tuesday and Parker seemed to be doing great besides the lingering cough. On Thursday evening around 6 pm Cody was feeding Parker some baby cereal. Parker started coughing and then threw up everywhere. I was a bit concerned, but thought the coughing triggered a gag reflex. After a while I noticed he felt pretty warm. I took his temperature and it was a little high, but not super alarming. I breast fed him and he seemed to be eating fine. Within 6 hours he was a zombie. He was lethargic and his fever had gotten pretty high pretty fast. At 1 am I decided to take him to my local hospital. I thought about taking him to Children's Hospital but I didn't have a car, and I felt bad calling people to take me there in the middle of the night. So I called a cab that took me the 13 blocks to my hospital. Once I was there I gave them my emergency letter. We were seen very quickly and they tested his blood sugar. It was fine and he was eating fine. By 1 pm Friday afternoon we were sent home. I felt kind of uneasy, because he still had a fever. It wasn't super high but it was there, and no one had an explanation for it. At home I watched his temperature every hour, and fed him every 2 hours along with some polycose in a sippy cup. I called the metabolics team at Children's Hospital and told them what was going on. They said I did the right thing and as long as he was eating fine I was ok. But if the fever continued I should come in. I should have packed everything up and left right there, but he was eating fine. I had stayed up for 2 nights straight just so I wouldn't sleep through the alarm again.
By Saturday night I knew something was wrong, and was stuck with no money and no car to get out there. First thing in the morning we arranged a ride and a baby sitter for Jackson. We got out there and went straight into the ER with our emergency letter in hand. The ER staff said we should have called first and also called metabolics. I explained that this is all very new to us and didn't know that I should have called, I had a lot going on and phone calls were not on my priority list. Once we were in there they ran a bunch of tests. They checked his blood sugar, which was a little low, but not too bad ( because he was eating fine and every 2 hours) they took a blood test, urine test and a mucus test. They took his temperature which was 40.5 (104.9). After the blood test came back they told us he had a blood infection. He was put on an IV and give a saline/sugar solution. We were sent up to the Paediatrics wing of the hospital and met Parker's physician. He explained that Parker had a blood infection that was cause by strep and put him on some antibiotics. That was the scariest thing I have EVER ever EVER had to deal with. The parade of doctors, tests and needles was a shock to the system. BUT, that was only the beginning.
The next few days were filled with tests, needles and a whole bunch of stress for mom. Parker has always had trouble with blood tests. His veins are tiny and collapse as soon as the needle is in. The first night, his IV was in his left foot. That fell out around 9 am Monday morning. We tried his right foot and got that one in. On Tuesday morning my doctor came in and said Parker could be put on oral antibiotics and go home. About an hour later he came in and told us we couldn't go home and needed IV antibiotics for 3 more days. I was devastated. His IV lasted about 16 hours and fell out around 2 am Wednesday morning. We had some IV nurses from the nursery come in, they decided to put the IV in his head (they do that a lot with newborns because it's the biggest and easiest vein to get in to). This did not go over well with either of us. It was horrible to watch ( I helped hold him down), it bled and made it nearly impossible to breast feed. Not to mention Parker is nearly 9 months and can crawl and can reach up for the silly thing dangling from his head. It was SO hard to keep that one safe. The next morning at 8 am my nurse came in to check on it and told us to watch for swelling which would mean the IV fell out. He then told me the snot test was back and he also had Rhino virus and were now having to put Parker in respiratory isolation. Every time a doctor or nurse came in they had to wear a gown and a face mask. Not even an hour later after Parker woke up from a nice nap, I noticed he looked like a neanderthal!! His forehead was swollen so badly! So we tried again. This time in his right hand. FINALLY!!! That was the best one by far. It lasted almost 36 hours until about 8 am. When it fell out in this morning I had a break down. An IV team came in and tried his left hand and his left foot(again) and could not get it in. They dug around for a while and I could bear it. They gave up and decided to ask my doctor if Parker could get a shot of the antibiotics instead of an IV because he only had 2 more doses left. The doctor came in and said it was a great idea and we would be going home. Cody and I packed up and were ready to go. We waited 2 hours and our doctor came back in, with more bad news. He said the shots were too painful and too high of a dose to give in 2 shots. It could cause a hematoma and possibly another blood infection. The IV nurses came back in and tried to put an IV in his other hand and foot again! I had to leave before the nurses came in. I had dealt with enough needles for a life time and could stand watching them dig for veins in his tiny hands and feet. They said to Cody that they wanted to do one in his head again, but they would wait a little while to see what the doctor had to say. I was getting pretty stressed because he was already 5 hours late for his medicine and I thought for sure this would only prolong our stay. Parker looked great and was definitely on the mend. He was trying to crawl, playing with toys and smiling at everyone, even after they jabbed him with needles. But him feeling better was making it harder for me to keep the IVs in and be with him all day long with no one there for most of the day to help me. I was out of the room at the time but apparently my nurse, Ali, was stepping up to bat for me. She went over the resident doctor and asked the attending doctor if it would be ok to give him 4 smaller doses instead of 2. The doctor asked about the IV and she said that both Parker and I have been through enough and we had been told twice already that we could go home. She told him that they could NOT get the IV in and putting one in his head was out of the question. The doctor agreed with her and decided to give him the 4 shots. After that we could go home and come back the next 2 days (Friday and Saturday) for another round of 4 shots and then he would be finished all of his antibiotics. Within an hour that was done and we were on our way home.
I know this is a lot of information but we were in there from Sunday morning to Thursday evening. He had blood sugar tests done three times a day, endless temperature checks and many many needles. My main reason for posting this to prepare parents for their first stay at the hospital. To be completely honest it was very scary and very stressful. I have never been so tired in my life, and not just physically tired. It was a long time for me to be trapped in that room and being alone for most of the day. I was so scared for Parker, I missed Jackson like crazy, I missed Cody and missed being home. The ups and downs of being told I was going home and then not going home and all the medical information that was thrown at me was overwhelming. I didn't have many visitors at night and was really lonely. Children's Hospital is also the most depressing place on earth. You don't want to smile at anyone walking down the hall, because you have no idea what they have gone through that day. I tried really hard to put it into perspective that other parents are going through a harder time than me and I should be thankful. But it is so scary and upsetting to see your child go through that and not being able to do anything about. I felt so helpless. I had my fair share of breakdowns and I cried more in 5 days that I have in the last 5 years. Even Cody, my rock, broke down and cried. It's absolutely amazing how your mind shuts down and you deal with everything for your child. And when you know they are safe and going to be ok or you are alone you finally breakdown and every emotion you should have felt but didn't comes rushing at you all at once.
I am so happy Parker is safe and almost perfectly healthy again. I know now to trust my instinct. If I had listened to it, I would have had him in there right after we left our local hospital. I am so thankful for all the doctors, family members and friends who were there for us and supported us when we needed them the most. I don't think I could have done it with out them. I hope we don't have another scare that like again any time soon. I don't know if I could handle it.
