Baby Erin,
Girl, you certainly know how to celebrate your one month birthday with a bang.
Where do we even start, really? A week or so ago, I suppose, when I noticed that you'd scream any time I picked you up out of your crib, under your arms. I wasn't sure what to make of it, but just handled you like you were very very fragile. Which seemed to make no difference. You were nursing for less time, and sleeping for a lot more time. Which I thought was weird, but kind of nice - we'd gotten so used to a crying baby from 5 - 10PM that a quiet, sleeping baby was a welcome relief.
Aunt Jeanne came to visit on Friday night, and wondered if you ever were awake. No, not so much, really. Saturday I took your temperature in the morning - 99.6. Not terrible, we thought. Having, of course, no idea what a "problem" temperature is for an infant. We went about our daily fun, and in the evening I took your temperature again just for the heck of it, and because you were just incredibly fussy when nursing. 100.6. I had to look at your discharge papers from when you were born to see what a worrisome fever was. 100.4. If over 100.4, call your doctor. So call I did, thinking I was really being silly for calling. Apparently not so much. The on-call nurse said to take you to the ER. Really? The ER? Huh.
Daddy was gone for the evening at a bachelor party, so I called him to see how sober he was. The hospital (AI duPont Hospital for Children) was only 3 miles from where he was, so he was going to meet us there. I zipped in to the living room, told Aunt Jeanne I was taking you to the ER and hoped she could stay and take care of your brother. And then off we went.
Apparently a fever in a 4 week old gets you a fast-track in to the ER. Triage happened immediately, at which point a doctor came in and told us what to expect - as soon as they had a room open up in the ER they would bring us back, do a urine, blood, and spinal fluid sample. We waited maybe 20 minutes for a room, and then we were hustled back. Ahead of teenagers with lips split open, other kids in various stages of pain and discomfort. Sorry, kids. Seems this is serious.
Daddy got to the hospital just as we went back to a room. Your nurse needed two tries for a urine sample, two tries for a blood sample. You didn't make things easy. And then the doctors came in and explained why they would need to do a spinal tap. Just in case there's meningitis, and they don't take any risks with babies. Daddy and I chose to not sit in the room with you while they tried, THREE TIMES, to draw fluid from your spinal column. It's good we were not in there - had I known they were having so much trouble I'd have been very upset. The final result - they were unable to draw any fluid. They took three times to just give you one helluva a bruise on your back.
When a room opened up upstairs, we were admitted to the hospital. You were started on IV antibiotics to start killing whatever bad things might be hurting you until we got test results back from the blood and the urine samples. And the lack of spinal fluid sample was a bit of an issue. The doctors spent Sunday wavering back and forth trying to decide if another spinal tap would be needed. For a while they thought no - you just had a cold (they decided this after a nasal swab came up positive for 2 viruses. Which, on the plus side, got you moved to a different room. That we didn't have to share with anyone). But your screaming whenever you were moved, plus the fevers you spiked on Sunday night, made them want to investigate further. Mama, I will have you know, kind of lost her shit on Sunday night. Screamy babies with a fever will do that to you. I, fortunately, had a very nice nurse who talked me off the ledge.
Monday the doctors decided that, yes, you needed another try for spinal fluid. This time they would do it in a surgical suite, assisted with either x-ray or ultrasound. You went down for an ultrasound on your back, just to make sure the hematoma from the failed attempts on Saturday night would not be an issue. Unfortunately, they could not get you booked for another spinal tap until Tuesday morning. So we waited.
Poor baby girl, you were not allowed to eat anything from 3AM on Monday night. I felt like a terrible mom, popping a pacifier in your mouth every time you woke up crying and hungry. There was nothing else I could do for you. They ended up finally, after 2 more tries, getting spinal fluid. They didn't have to sedate you - just gave you some pain killers and some "baby crack" as they called it in the ER. Sugar water, on your pacifier. Amazing stuff, this baby crack. Totally calmed you down.
The very nice attending pediatrician came in a couple hours later and said they didn't find any evidence of bacteria in your spinal fluid, which was awesome news - bacteria would mean bacterial meningitis, which could deadly. No bacteria meant you could be pulled off the antibiotics. And then we would wait for the viral results to come back, to see if you had viral meningitis. Which basically means that a virus that in a regular person would just result in a runny nose, or a fever, or a sore throat, decided to instead settle in your spinal fluid. It seems bizarre, but we were hoping for a viral meningitis diagnosis. Because there's no treatment - just rest and fluids. And because it would give us a definite diagnosis, and not just a guess.
Around 2:00 the resident came in with the good news - enterovirus was in your spinal fluid. Viral meningitis, and we could go home. Yay! We walked in the house around 4:00, just as Dexter was finishing up a very cool get well picture for you. Enjoyed a nice dinner made by our nice friend Carin. And then after I put your brother to bed I went in to feed you. I took your temperature, just because. 101.6. Ummmm. Kind of high. Your discharge instructions said to call your doctor if your fever was above 101. So I did. And they told us to go BACK to the ER.
Poor kid. You'd been home for four hours. And Daddy and I packed you back in the car. Again, a fever of 101.6 gets you a fast track to the ER. I never even sat down before you were triaged and sent right back to a room. Where the doctors said, hey! Welcome back! Why are you here? We explained, and they said we were not wrong to come back to the ER, but we didn't need to. We have a sick baby. Fevers are to be expected. Well, we said - perhaps your discharge instructions needed to be a bit more clear. We just did what we were told.
We didn't have to stay. We were home and in bed sleeping by 1:15. And everyone slept soundly until 6:30, when the alarm went off and I realized that you hadn't eaten since 1AM. Ooops! Sorry, Erin.
You've been getting steadily better every day this week. Fever-free since Tuesday night. Nursing well. Sleeping more than usual, but hey - you're sick. I've been a bit protective of you - we've canceled some play dates, stayed in a lot. But we needed groceries, so we went out this morning. And I need some sanity, so we can't be shut-ins forever. We'll cross our fingers and hope you don't get sick again. But we can't keep all the germs out. Dexter goes to a good germ-infested school every day. Everyone is going to get sick.
Thanks to Aunt Jeanne and to Grandma for coming down to help with Dexter while we focused on you. And thanks to the nice nurses and doctors at AI who took good care of you. We're lucky to have a great hospital so close. I'm not psyched about having to GO there. But I am always glad it's there.
So, Happy One Month Birthday, Baby Girl. How about let's make your two month birthday a little less exciting, shall we?
Love,
Mama
Finally home, asleep in your crib on Wednesday morning
Hanging with Grandma (scream-free!) on Wednesday afternoon
Dexter playing in his box. Mere seconds before he had a bizarre allergic reaction to who-knows-what and had a red itchy eye and a rash all over his face. Shower and Benadryl took care of it. But it was weird.
With Grandma and Dexter
Dexter, Aunt Jeanne says she will no longer call you "Turkey." She shall now call you "Ham."
Sweet, snuggly, finally happy baby
Nice hair, baby. It got comments from all the nurses, all weekend long.
