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!)
