Abby's Hospital Trips

Abby had a rough end to the month of February.  She started running a high fever that was hanging out around 104 and when I would give her medicine would usually only come down to about 102.  She was also shivering like crazy as her fever was going up every time and I was having a difficult time getting her to stop.  On Sunday morning I called our nurse line to talk to her about her symptoms and she said she wanted to have her checked out for a few different reason.  If our doctors office had been open we would have just gone there, but alas, this was Sunday morning at 9:30am so Abs and I headed to the ER (she was under 1, so too young for a walk in clinic). Bert was getting ready to preach and took the other three with him to church.  He hated to not be there with me and Abby and offered to come many times, but since it wasn't an emergency I felt like he should definitely stay at church.  We hadn't had an ER trip in 5 years, so it was a little stressful, even if it wasn't an emergency....my baby felt terrible.  Mimi and Papa Stan left during the middle of the service at their church in Toccoa and made it to the hospital about 20 minutes after Abby and I got there.  We were very glad to have them with us!  

We were only there about an hour and a half that day and then were sent back home to manage her fever and try to keep her drinking.  

Her fever didn't come back after Monday afternoon, but I had SO MUCH TROUBLE getting this child to drink on Sunday and Monday.  By Sunday she was packed full of congestion. We could hear it as she tried to breathe and drink.  I tried everything short of standing on my head to get her to drink and I was so anxious every time I was about to try to feed her because I wanted her to drink so bad I could have cried.  She would take about one ounce at a time and fought me for that.  Both of those days I had gotten about 13 or 14 ounces in her, so she was definitely getting some, but when you take in to account he major diarrhea she was having (10+ times both days) I was super worried about her.  I took her to our pediatrician first thing Tuesday morning when she woke up from a night of sleep and still wouldn't drink two ounces.  Our pediatrician decided to do another flu test (still negative) and cath her to check for infection.  She was clear of infection but the urine sample did show that she was slightly dehydrated.  My doctor said that if she thought I could go home and pump her full of liquids for the rest of the day she would let me do that but we both knew that I couldn't.  I had done everything I could to get her to drink and she wouldn't do it.  She was drinking even less than she had on Sunday and I felt totally helpless.  So, off to the ER we went...AGAIN, but this time to get fluids in our baby girl.  Some very sweet ladies in our church dropped what they were doing and took different shifts thoughout the day to keep Hannah and Claire (E was in school) so that Bert could be with us this time. So thankful that they were able to do that so he could be there!

The children's hospital was a bit crazy/busy that day.  Tons of sick kids.  We were holding Abby close and praying that we could get out of that place without catching something else, but we knew we needed to be there  We loved our doctor and nurse.  They were wonderful!  Bert and I were praying the whole time they were working to get her IV started and were so thankful our nurse got it in on the first try.  

The whole day wore this baby out.  After she got the IV fluids she drank 4 ounces straight from her bottle, which was more than she had had in one sitting in days.  We had sent out a message on our churches prayer chain asking for people to pray that she would start drinking and we're thankful that God answered those prayers.  They weren't going to let us leave until she started drinking.  Even after she drank that first bottle the doctor was slightly hesitant about if she should be admitted or go home.  He ended up sending us home but let us know that it could still go either way....we may be right back in there the next day if she stopped drinking again.  

Thankfully the one bag of fluids and the respiratory therapist coming in with this contraption and sucking crazy amounts of stuff out of her little nose/head so that she could breathe better helped our baby girl turn the corner.  Her official diagnosis was bronchiolitis, which we since learned is usually caused by RSV.

This little smile made my heart happy.    

Two ER trips in 3 days was an adventure and I sure hope we don't have to go back for awhile, but I'm thankful for the nurses and doctors that took such great care of us, and our God who answers prayers!