Parent Advocate

One of the reasons Baby C is still here is Grammy.
We asked for her help when we knew we were going to be re admitted.
It was she who noticed Baby C's tummy was getting larger.
She told Zelda and together they pointed this out to the nurse.
The nurse in turn informed the doctor.
The doctor then made it her sole goal to get the surgery team to take this case seriously and get her bumped to the top of the list.

It took persistence on Zelda's and Grammy's part.

Once we got Baby C back to the 6th floor after the ICU, Grammy broke down and we called Zelda bunny brother and his wife to take her to their house for a couple of days to rest...

Dude! This is Rough!

Lots of tests Wednesday.
MRI requires general sedation for children Baby C's age.
That put her into the PACU (Pediatric Acute Care Unit).
There is nothing "cute" about it... But she returned to her room for some rest before Thursday's procedure.

The surgeons wanted a Cat Scan prior to draining the abscess.
They didn't get it.

She took a turn for the worse over night.
At about two o'clock that afternoon I got that night mare call from Zelda.

"She needs surgery, they are placing her in ICU and They Want you here now!"

I got up to her room where she was pale, bloated, and the surgery team was taking a look at her.

I carried her down to the second floor where we met the head surgeon for Children's.

He took a look at her and agreed with the Hopsitalist (the term used for dedicated pediatricians) and she was bumped to the top of the list for surgery and she went under the knife.

45 minutes later he was back with us, smiling.

In his 20 plus years with Children's, baby C is the youngest child he has ever heard of to have appendicitis....

From recovery we were transfered to the ICU.

Her tummy is still bloated, but the color has returned.

Yesterday, Saturday, afternoon, we were transfered to the 6th floor for the week or so of antibiotics and observation.

She is on oxygen. A NG line in her nose helps drain fluids from her tummy till her intestines "wake up". Seems they don't like being handled.
She has a folley line to drain her bladder, and hasn't eatten since Wednesday morning.
In the mean time, she is on IV drip.

Emotions...

Relief to Fear to incredibly INTENSE EMOTIONAL pain that I have never experienced before.

More painful than either of my parents deaths.

Baby C would have, almost, died...Thursday...

Thanks to modern medicine,

she's ALIVE!

More later....

We like you but we really don't want to see you again

I awoke Tuesday morning...

"Oh shit! 102.2f, we have to take Baby C back to the ER".

"I'll pack my bags, you get her ready."

We like the nurses and doctors and technicians at Children's.
And they like baby C, but we really didn't want to see them again so soon.
And to be honest, as much as they like baby C, they really didn't want to see her again under these circumstances.

"I can't do this again!"

"I've got a call into your mom and I've asked her to come up and help us this week"

This time they put us in a part of the floor under the watch of a dedicated Pediatrician vs. a group of residents as happened last week.

One day to watch her "trends". High white cell counts.

Lots of tests today.

Blood work.

Urine cultures.

Nose swabs.

Heart scans.

Infectious disease specialists.

MRI.

The MRI found the problem.

A large pocket of fluid, infection, on her right side on her abdomen...

Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow.
Until then, it's IV fluids and no formula till after surgery...

Don't mess up her chances to be a swim suit model!!

sigh....

Thank you Children's for helping our baby girl!

(And thank goodness we go her covered by insurance... more about that later).

Sleep well Zelda.

Home finally

Let's see, baby C is a little over 30 days old.
She has spent 1/3 of those so far in Hospital.
But she's home now with no fever.

Little baby's tend, if they have fever, to spike temperatures at night. Baby C was right on the mark for her age.

The highest was Thursday at 101.8.
Friday she was in the 101.4 range.
So the doctors (residents) decided it was best to keep her one more night for observation.

She topped out Saturday at 100.6, no fever (for a baby).

The IVs were removed Saturday afternoon.

Zelda was able to go home both Friday and Saturday to get some sleep.

Thankfully we have Memorial Day to sleep in.

Adventures in Babies

Or is that adventures with babies?

The plan for Tuesday was relax, put baby C down early and snuggle with Zelda.
Everyone catch up on some needed sleep.

What happened instead was Zelda noticed baby C was feeling a little warm.

"What does the baby book say?"

"For new borns less than three months, a fever is anything over 100.4 f. Call your doctor".

" We need a rectal thermometer, please go to the store and pick one up, along with petroleum jelly. We need to know her temp."

30 minutes later...
"101.3 f I'll call the doctors and speak to the on call nurse."

30 minutes later...

"Mrs. Bunny? Yes, please take your baby to Children's Bright Building to the Referral Center. They close at 10:00 so you need to leave now".

30 minutes later...
"Your doctor's nurse called baby C in. What was your baby's temp?"
"101.3"
"And how did you take it?"
"Rectal".

"We are about to close and the procedure takes a couple of hours so we are going to send you across the street to Children's admitting. Please follow me".

There was additional conversation that went on prior to our leaving the Referral Center.

As we found out, any child younger than 30 days old who presents with fever, and baby c "has fever", automatically gets admitted through to Children's ER, no waiting, gets a room, and under goes blood test, urine test, and a "lumbar puncture" (spinal tap). The results take 48 hours, which means they are admitted to the hospital for at least two days.
We finally got into a hospital room by 4:30 am.

So far, things are going well. She has responded well to the fever reducer meds. She is hungry, and her short term virus results came back negative. The long term should come in by tonight.

She's unhappy. And both Zelda and I are exhausted...

I'm staying home tonight to rest up so I can work tomorrow.
I"ll stop by after work and spend some time with Z and C, give Z a break, and we will find out early Friday what the tests show.

I am optimistic.
The nurses and doctors have been great, from the on call nurse, to the Referral Center, the ER, and Children's.

Maybe I jinxed myself a week or so back while walking thru Children's on the way to the pharmacy, I told my self, "C, I hope you never see the inside of this place."

More later...

Non Stop!

Babies are NON STOP!

Zelda's mom has now gone home and it's just us...
FEED ME!
CHANGE ME! (well not really, I don't like getting my diaper changed)
BURB ME!
HOLD ME!
And when I do sleep,
I wet my second change of clothes at the last diaper change,
spit up on my third, (not to mention you),
my fourth, and need you to make up more formula,
wash and dry those clothes.
And I'll let you sleep...
some day...

Love you!
B*U*R*P !!!
sorry...