i'm going to post the email i just sent all my friends...
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Most of you know what's been going on this week, some of you are probably just wondering why I disappeared.. in any rate, here's the lowdown on the little man.
Monday he was acting a bit out-of-sorts for him, and was pretty cranky throughout the day. We mostly thought it was gas, as that's the only thing that really upsets him. We did a bunch of running around an dig he wasn't sleeping he was kind of whining or generally unhappy. We skipped out plans for the evening and brought him home thinking he was tired/hot/whatever and that settling in would benefit him. Most of the day he would take his bottle but not really eat anything.
By 10 or so we were knew something wasn't right as he was unable to be consoled, but I took his temperature and it was normal. We talked about calling the doctor but what would we say? He's a little crabby, no temp, he's still eating and peeing..? But still, for him it wasn't right. At any rate by midnight he was clearly getting more worked up and I took his temp again to find it was 102.9, the peditrician was called immediately who sent us to the ER.
In triage his tempt was up to 103.3 on their system and we were brought into a room. The doctor, Jake, and the nurse, Lindsay, were really great. They did some basic tests and since there wasn't really anything obvious (ear infection, etc...) they said they wanted to take some blood. At this point I was still thinking that they'd give him some medicine and we'd go home.
Next thing I know they are talking xrays and when we'd be admitted. This was a bit of a shock to us. Since he's so young and has only had some of is shots, they needed to be extra careful with him. We had to get him a chest xray (I had to hold down his arms!) and they took blood but after giving him an IV(two tries! I hope the poor kid doesn't end up with his mom's crappy veins) and a catheterization. They kept telling us they hoped to find the reason for the fever in these tests because if they didn't they had to look for worse things and no one wanted that. So when, a short time later they cheerfully told us everything was negative I didn't share the joy! Because the next item on the list was a spinal tap to rule out a bacterial infection which could be deadly to him. They tried TWICE unsuccessfully in the ER and I'm pretty certain I'm still quite traumatized by this, luckily he doesn't remember.
After this we moved up to our room. I remember looking at the pediatric unit when we were there a few months ago and hated the look of the giant metal cribs... so I wasn't too pleased to be there ourselves such a short time later!
Anyway, they needed to try the tap again and this time they took him away, but were successful at least. They had him on IV antibiotics and fluids and had given him some motrin so at least he was resting. Poor guy. That's when they told us we needed to stay a minimum of 48 hours to watch all the cultures.
Well then, that was a shock! Let's say it was a long 4 days all in all but that his fever is down, nothing ever came back positive and the most they can come up with is that it's some random virus which could have been residue from our flight, or just someone (anyone) not washing their hands well enough before touching him. He needs to stay home from daycare, and we just need to be SUPER diligent in all that comes in contact with him.
Of course the whole ordeal left the poor guy set way back in his sleep progress. At the hospital he'd only sleep when held (mostly by me) which I totally understand... but last night we was up every 2 hours. The poor dude was so tired but couldn't stay awake long enough to eat enough to stay asleep. It was like he was a newborn all over again! Oh, and as an added bonus his eczema flared from being there too. We seem to have that batter already, just from the normal routine and being home, but sheesh!
We follow up the pediatrician at 11am today to see what's up, and if there's any more news to tell I'll share.
So that's where we've been all week!
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edited to add... just got back from the doctor and all appears to be good. also? he's huge! 15.3 pounds!!! and he's all clear for daycare for monday.
