Bruce was scheduled to fly home from Vegas on 7/13/12 ~ Friday the 13th! I was worried since there have been random thunder & lightening storms and, of course, one was moving over Seattle just as Bruce was scheduled to fly in.
When Mia went down for her nap I got her in the car to go to the airport, nothing out of the ordinary. We got to the airport in 30 minutes because, miraculously, there's no traffic, which IS out of the ordinary. Since Mia was still sleeping (strange) I was circling the garage. When the perfect spot opened up I parked. Mia was still sleeping (unusual) so I waited in the car for awhile. She finally stirred as Bruce landed so I walked towards Baggage Claim with a fussy little girl so I fed her and met up with Bruce. She didn't eat much and we walked back to the car.
On the ride home, still no traffic and we had a sleeping baby. What happened? Why was she asleep? We'll take it over a screaming ride home. She wakes and is fussy so we try to feed her again but she still wouldn't eat much. I've read about growth spurts so I thought maybe that's what she was going through. You need more rest when you have a baby growth spurt. However, after awhile she felt really warm. It was a warm day but she still felt warmer than she has on even hot hot days. We took her temperature and it was fine so instead of getting anything done, Bruce and I took turns holding a sleepy baby and trying to feed her when she was awake.
I knew she wasn't feeling right but i didn't want to be a hyper-reactive new mom and I even asked Bruce if he would laugh at me if I called the doctor. (No, he wouldn't). When I went to change her diaper I took her temperature again and it was 100.0. I took it on her head, under her arm and I made Bruce help me when I took it rectally (I'll never do that again) and everything said 100.0 degrees. All the material said not to call the doctor until 100.4 degrees so Bruce told me to cal the doctor.
I imagined they would tell us to give her Tylenol. Instead, the doctor said bundle her up and head to Mary Bridge Children's ER. When we got to the ER they took her temp (101.7) and weight (10 lbs 14.5 oz) and put us in a room to wait for a doctor. The doctor came in and discussed averages like 1% change of Meningitis, 3-5% chance of urinary tract infection, 2-3% chance of some blood borne illness. He said statistics don't mean "bullshit" unless you're on the right side of the numbers.
That means they had to run baby Mia through a series of tests that were heartbreaking to watch. I cried over and over again and, amazingly, Bruce was the strong one when all the needles and catheters were coming out. That's not to say that he wasn't affected by this, he did say "masks and gloves for everyone" and was just as gung ho about not leaving the house again with her as I was.
I didn't like watching them put in a catheter, take her temperature multiple times rectally and put in her IV> I was proud of her when she pooped on their table. Take that meanies, poking my baby! They told us most parents leave the room for the spinal tap and at bare minimum he required us to sit down. I, of course, was trying to soothe Mia and be near my baby who was breaking my heart again with her red, crying little face that looked at me pleadingly to make these people stop poking and prodding her. This image has been burned into my memory and is still making me cry when it pops into my head even though it's 4 days later. I wish they had made us leave the room even before they started prepping her. My poor baby girl. I was kind of a mess so Bruce had to take Mia and rock her to sleep repeatedly in between pokes and prods and temperature and oxygen level checks.
We had to wait an hour or so just for the results of the tests and it turns our she likely had a viral infection that could have been picked up anywhere and passed along by anyone. She was given antibiotics via an IV that they had placed. We were instructed to see the doctor again on Saturday for a second shot of antibiotics.
We went to her own pediatric practice, not her doctor though and tears were flowing again as they had to hold her legs down to give her a shot. I was instructed to keep trying to nurse and feed her as much as possible to keep her fluids up (her little soft spot was sinking in :( ) and to soothe her by being close. No problem. Bruce and I took turns holding and rocking her and sitting with her when she was asleep.
She was kind of feeling herself later that day but as the day wore on she would be screaming and crying in her sleep and when she woke. She was difficult to calm and we were exhausted since we barely slept Friday night, technically Saturday morning since we got home around 11:30pm and, of course, couldn't go right to sleep. We didn't rest Saturday and spent sleepy time giving her infant Tylenol and trying to soothe her. It was more heartbreak because we couldn't make her feel better faster and exhausting at the same time.
By Sunday late afternoon she was starting to be her normal self. She was talking with her daddy and copying him saying "OK" and she was smiling when I read her the new favorite book, Elmo's "So Big" book. She was late going to bed that night but slept 7 hours! She ate and slept another 3 hours. She was miraculously back to herself on Monday and her pediatrician was happy at her come back, as were we!
I never want to go through anything like that again. She was so tiny and I"m still sad about it. The doctor said to not try and shield her and to got out and have a life but I'm still wary.
Here are a few pictures of my poor baby sleeping with her dad while we
waited for more doctor business. A picture of her on the lookout for
anyone in scrubs and our tired baby girl when we got the news that she
didn't have any of the serious diseases that they were testing her for.
