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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Rough and scary couple of days!

It all came on so fast! My head is still reeling.

On Sunday morning, I noticed that my Little felt warmer than normal. I took his temperature and it was 99.3 so I called the nurse line for the Pedi. The triage nurse told me that unless his temp hit 100.4, it wasn't considered a medical emergency and to just keep an eye on him. I took his temperature periodically throughout the day, and it didn't get much higher, but he did get steadily more fussy. When he got home from work, MyLovf pointed out a little red spot under his right nostril; didn't think much of it because he tends to scratch himself, so that's what I thought it was. On Monday morning we woke up to a VERY swollen lip and the little red spot was now an ugly red splotch between his nose to his lip and the fever had gone higher. I called the Pedi with my concerns and he scheduled us an appt for the same day. We got in at 11:45 and the Pedi looked him over. He didn't seem too worried about the fever, but the lip made him very concerned. If you lifted his top lip a little bit, you could see two large (for him) pockets of what looked like puss. The doc didn't know what they were, so he had me bring my Little to the emergency room at Phoenix Children's Hospital for an evaluation.

We got to the hospital around 1 o'clock. They took blood and swabbed some of the puss for a culture. When the blood test came back, it showed infection and that his white blood cell count was elevated. The doc was so concerned that he ordered a spinal tap for my poor sweet baby to make sure that the infection hadn't spread to his spine or his brain. OMG, the absolute terror I felt at that statement! The nurses told us that it would probably be better for the both of us to go to the waiting room for that, so we did. I feel horribly guilty looking back for leaving him all alone for a painful and probably very traumatic experience just so that I wouldn't break down and cry. I wasn't able to feed him for almost 5 hours before the spinal because they didn't want him to aspirate anything (which probably meant that they were expecting some pretty hard crying), but they did hook him up to an IV so that he was getting some nutirition. The doc decided that he needed to be admitted overnight so we waited in the ER for a room upstairs. We were there for almost 9 hours!

They finally moved us into a room where they pumped him full of antibiotics. Little wouldn't let me put him down, he was very uncomfortable! The doc hadn't given any instructions about pain management, so the nurses couldn't give him anything. And he was in a lot of pain. The doc had squeezed the puss pocket to drain some of the puss... which was green! So a screaming Little and I spent our first hour walking up and down the hall in front of the nurses' station until the doc finally said that they could give him some Tylenol. A half hour later, he was asleep and I was trying to get comfortable in the pull out chair next to his bed.

On Tuesday morning they let me know that I wouldn't be able to feed him again until an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor had a chance to check him out. They didn't want his tummy full if they decided to schedule a ::gulp:: surgery. Granted, it would've been a very minor surgery to open up the puss pocket under his lip and drain it out completely, but still, just hearing the word freaked me out. Luckily, they decided that the surgery wasn't needed after all because the pocket was draining on it's own. The no-feeding thing lasted only about an hour. The ENT doc finally got to us at 3PM and decided that we needed to stay another night and have more antibiotics administered. At 4PM, we got word that the spinal revealed nothing alarming (thank God) and that we might be able to go home the next morning. I left MyLovf and my Little for a couple of hours to go home and take a shower. Other than that little break, I haven't left the hospital since Monday afternoon!

On Wednesday afternoon we got the results of the culture back. Turns out that he had a staph infection! We have no idea were it came from, but it was a particularly nasty strain. The doc came in to check him over and ordered more antibiotics. He told us that they were doing something else with the cultures and that pending the results from that, we might be getting out by the end of the day. An hour later, we found out that the lab was backed up and that we wouldn't be getting the results until Thursday, which meant another night in the hospital and a few more rounds of antibiotics. They moved us to a different room too. Not sure why exactly, but now I have to deal with a snoring neighbor. Man, I was seriously spoiled by the private room I enjoyed when I gave birth!

So here I am, sitting on the little fold out chair next to my sleeping baby and blogging. I was going out of my mind from boredom, but didn't want to bring the laptop over. I figured that it would be just one more thing to haul to the truck when they let us go home in an hour...in another hour... in another hour... 60 hours of telling myself that over and over and I finally broke! Anyway, I'm praying that tomorrow will be the last day we have to be here. In my uneducated opinion, my Little is all better. He's been smiling and cooing all day like nothing is wrong, his temperature has been completely normal and he is eating like a little piggy. Of course, we'll probably still be here most of the day Thursday, the doctors are all so busy, but I really hope that I don't have to spend another night on this thing, it's kind of screwing up my back.

Not everything has been horrible though. The Medela breast pump that they let me use is amazing! I wish I could afford to get one. And the food in the cafeteria is soooo good and inexpensive!

Thanks to all that have been praying for my Little. I can't tell you how much it means to us to know that so many people out there care about our little family and that you'd all go out of your way to include us in your thoughts. I hope my update tomorrow will be made from the comfort of my own home!

I took a picture of him while we were in the emergency room, you can't really tell that he's swollen, but you can see the red splotch:


Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Oh my gosh, where is the time going?


Has it seriously been two months since my Little was born?! Wow. Just. Wow. He's changed so much in the last eight weeks, that if I hadn't been there to see it with my own eyes, I would doubt I was looking at the baby I brought home with me in June. My Little has outgrown the Newborn onsies and is into the 3 month ones! It was nice to open up the box to a whole new wardrobe, bittersweet, but nice. I felt a little pang while packing up the things he's outgrown, but I quickly reminded myself that it meant he's healthy and flourishing. That thought definitely put a smile on my face! The last couple of weeks have brought better head control and actual eye contact, but my favorite new things are the smiling and increase in cute little noises. OMG the cooing just melts my heart. I can't wait for him to start laughing and interacting with me more!


We have had many adventures in our two short months together, including not one, not two, but three trips to California. I'm so not one of those women that takes to confinement very well. I can't bear to stay in the house for more than a couple of days at a time. My Little and I venture out whenever we can. We run errands or go visiting; we can't do parks and stuff yet, but only because it's still so hot! Once October rolls around, we'll be able to spend more time outside. The weekends we don't go to Cali are usually spent at my parents' house. My mom and aunt (who is staying with them for a while) have been so helpful to us, I really don't know what we'd do without them. When we're over there, they're all about giving us a break. One of them will take Little in the morning and let MyLovf and I sleep in, they'll make us meals and generally just take care of us while we're there. I lovf it, I just wish we didn't have to drive an hour to get there!

MyLovf and I took Little in on Wednesday for his 2 month Well Baby check up. He has gone from 6lbs 11oz to 11lbs 3.5oz and has grown from 19 inches to 23. Grow Baby, Grow! The doctor said that he is totally perfect and that I'm doing an awesome job with him, which is always nice for a new mother to hear... but then the needles came out and oh boy, did that nice visit go downhill fast! My poor sweet baby never saw it coming. He was lying there, minding his own business, flailing his arms around and staring up at his daddy (because I'm a total wuss and couldn't stand next to him) and all of a sudden ::poke::. The corners of his little mouth turned down, his eyes got really big and he screeeeeeamed. And then ::poke:: and another scream. And then ::poke:: and another scream accompanied by the biggest crocodile tears ever. I could see his face from the other side of the exam room and it took everything in me to not totally break down. My heart broke and a few tears escaped. He cried for a few minutes, it really wasn't too bad. I, of course, made a bigger deal out of it than it was. Afterward, we ran a few errands and then headed back to the house.

We'd been home for about an hour when he woke up from his nap and started screaming bloody murder; giving me my first lesson in "after shot protocol". I was instructed to give him Tylenol for the pain every 4 hours, but not wanting to disturb his nap, I let him sleep through the 4th hour, which allowed for the pain killers to completely leave his body. Big, big, huge, gigantic mistake. I've never heard such a cry, and you could tell it was the Holy-Moly-This-Freaking-Hurts-What-Did-You-People-Do-To-Me cry. He would completely exhaust his oxygen supply, take a deeeeeep breath, and then exhaust it again. I gave him another does of Tylenol, but it took me a good half hour to calm him down and get him back to sleep, and there were more tears from me. I felt so bad that he was in pain. You can trust me when I say that I will never again skip, ignore, or otherwise deviate from the 4 hour dosing schedule!


MyLovf and I are adapting to our new roles as parents. We have our good days and our bad days, but we become more solid in our new little family unit with each day that passes. It hasn't been easy(!), but it has all been worth it. Things got much better for us when we decided that anything said between midnight and 4am would be forgotten in the morning. Frustration, exhaustion, and a crying baby can make for some pretty gnarly arguments, so I believe the "rule" is invaluable, otherwise we'd be perpetually pissed at each other!

Breastfeeding is getting much better for me, I finally had the magic feeding a few days ago where you get half way through before you realize that latch/let down didn't hurt at all! My supply is also improving, Little only takes 2-3 2oz bottles a day now, down from a 2oz supplement after every feeding. I think that may have something to do with the Mother's Milk Tea that a good friend sent to me. Thank you Sniffy! And I also nursed in public for the first time over the weekend. We were out to dinner with my parents and I was feeling pretty full, so it was kind of a necessity on my end, Little would've been fine with a bottle. It wasn't as weird or uncomfortable as I thought it would be, and I used a "hooter hider" so people passing by didn't give us a second look. I was proud *cheesy grin*.

So, overall, we're doing fantastically well. Each day brings a new experience and every day I'm home with him is a blessing. He is the brightest light of our lives and from the bottom of my heart, I thank God every day for putting him into our arms.