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Thursday, January 27, 2011

Poor Baby

I don't wish this on anyone.

We've had a long week.


It started Friday.  Friday we managed to have a snowstorm, regular 4-month doctor's appointment, a photo shoot in the snow (not with Amelia, with another little girl), and a cranky, cranky baby.  The scary part didn't start until after my husband got home from work.  I was holding Amelia in front of me and she vomited.  A lot.  Josh got a towel, wiped up her and the floor and I sat down with her in the craft room.  When I looked at her, she did not look right.  She was turning gray and her whole body had gone limp.  I told Josh we needed to take her to the hospital.  Then, her eyes started rolling back in her head.  (My stomach is sinking while I'm typing this, reliving it)  While Josh called the rescue, I took her on the porch, hoping the cold air would wake her up.  I kept calling her name and the ambulance seemed to take FOREVER!  She had perked up a tiny bit by the time they got there, but she was still gray, gray, gray. 

They gave her oxygen in the ambulance and checked her vitals - all fine.  By the time we got to the hospital, she had her color back and was behaving normally.  She was checked out and they conjectured that she had choked on her vomit and briefly stopped breathing.  The broad term for when a baby stops breathing is called an ALTE (Acute Life Threatening Event - probably one of the worst acronyms ever).  She was admitted and monitored overnight, but seemingly was herself and we were released on Saturday afternoon.  I wasn't too confident though.  It felt like my happy mommyhood had been violated by the fear that we didn't really know what was going on and it could possibly happen again.

Saturday evening and night she seemed to be fine, but when I woke her up on Sunday morning at 9:30, she was extremely spacey - eyes only half open, staring off, wouldn't eat.  She was pale, but not gray.  We called the pediatrician, packed her in the car, and headed off to the hospital once again.  She was looking a little better for a time, but in the ER waiting room she started the pale, staring off scariness again.  We showed the ER nurse and they quickly got us a room.  At this point, she had no fever or anything and the doctors started their barrage of tests.  Blood work, urine sample by catheter, EKG.  She had a period of about a half hour where she seemed to be herself, but mostly she was either asleep, or a spaceshot.  The tests got worse - a spinal tap that didn't work the first time, so had to be done again.  We were admitted and told that she would undergo neurological testing in the morning.  What was wrong with her???  Was it the 4 month vaccines?  Was it repercussions from the Friday night incident?  The suspicion was seizures because of her strange behavior and staring spells.  : (

When we got to our room, they decided to order fluids by IV for the poor baby.  While that was happening, she decided to give us our first concrete clue.  She vomited ALL over me.  She vomited again a little while later.  I certainly didn't want my baby to be sick, but this was a good sign.  Maybe she was just sick!  They gave her fluids by IV and then she started perking up.  She did have one more round of blood work (taken from a vein in her HEAD!).  She started eating a bit again and was less spacey.  Then came the big diaper change... it was pretty clear at that point that she had some kind of stomach bug (if you know what I mean!).  She vomited a few more times overnight, but showed vast improvement in demeanor and behavior.  Everyone sighed.  She met with the neurology team and they canceled the testing because she didn't seem to qualify.  Ahhhhhh... now we just had to be concerned with the sickness.  We stayed in the hospital most of Monday and waited.  Finally, we were discharged and sent home. 
 (the sock was because she kept trying to pull out her IV line!)

Strangely, she was dehydrated before she really started having signs of a stomach bug.  The neurologist said that babies don't always follow normal patterns.  Our baby sure doesn't!! 

Monday night and Tuesday day she still wasn't eating well and she was still vomiting, so at our follow up appointment at the pediatrician, they told us to give her pedialyte and keep trying to nurse small amounts so that we could keep her OUT of the hospital for good!  She finally turned the corner and today (Thursday), she seems quite back to normal! 

We are soooooo appreciative to all the people who prayed for us during this ordeal.  I don't think we will ever know how many people prayed, but God was faithful (as He always is!) and protected our baby girl.  Thank you, Jesus!!

Give your babies an extra squeeze today!
(Amelia on a better day!)

17 comments:

  1. We had a similar scare when our oldest was 12 weeks old. After almost a week in the hospital we were home with a healthy baby and a diagnosis of a VIRUS! It was terrifying, but I can happily report that my 3 1/2 year old is 100% healthy and has had no long-term effects from her spinal tap, IV, hospitalization nigthmare. I'm sure your little one will be just as lucky, but we will add you and your family to our prayer list!

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  2. Oh my. I am so sorry you had to go through this! Praying things go back to normal really soon. Hugs.

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  3. How scary! Poor little thing. I'm so glad she's doing better and that you're all out of the hospital.

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  4. That sounds very scary! Glad she is home safely and recovering. Hugs and prayers.

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  5. Poor thing! Both of you, really. I'm so glad to hear she's doing better. Nothing worse than not knowing.

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  6. How scary! So glad to hear that everything is ok and Amelia is starting to feel better.

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  7. That must have been so terrifying! I'm so glad to hear that little Amelia is on the mend, and I pray you won't have to undergo such a stressful adventure again. She's absolutely precious, by the way -- she definitely takes after her lovely mom! :-)

    Blessings,
    Shannon

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  8. So very happy things turned out ok, Keri! Hopefully no more scares like that, ever!

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  9. You really scared me there for a little while with the pictures and info. Whew! How relieving to find that it was only a stomach bug! Aren't hospitals the most annoying places on earth? So glad that little Amelia is back to normal. She is soooooooo adorable. (Anybody that knows me knows that I could spend my whole life with infants...they are so...so...CUTE!)

    God bless,
    Vicki

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  10. So glad Amelia is on the mend...she is sure a cutie pie!

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  11. Sweet baby girl! My heart aches just reading & even though I know you're better it makes me cry because it's so scary & because we love you so! We're glad you are better Honey Pie!!!!

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  12. Wow! I'm so sorry you had such a scary weekend and glad it was just a stomach bug!

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  13. Well timed encouragement - your post gives me hope. Glad the storm is calming down for you. I am admitting my 20-day-old son tomorrow because hes steadily losing weight so please pray for me, too. Thanks.

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  14. It's terrible!
    I'm so sorry for you parents, and for the baby Amelia!
    I hope she's all ok now!
    I'll include you in my prayes!

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  15. I am SOOO glad she's ok! I was so worried when I found out on Facebook but I was glad to hear you were going to a good hospital! :)

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  17. Oh, poor thing. What a scare!!! I will pray that she gets better all the way.

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