It's been over a month since I blogged so I thought I'd write a quick post about what we've been up to. I'd say the most substantial thing that has happened is Erin was in the hospital last weekend. It was really frightening and I hope I never have to go through that again.
It was Friday morning and I woke her up as normal at 7am. She stirred, and I reached into grab her expecting those two little arms to grab for me but they didn't. I picked her up and she was pretty much still asleep. Very unusual. I put her on the changing table and turned the light on. She woke up a little but was very lethargic and her little eyelids were fluttering like she was fighting sleep. I felt her forehead and no fever but she was very clammy. I took her to the kitchen table where her breakfast was waiting and sat her on my lap. She grabbed for her pancake and took a bite, a good sign I thought. But then I noticed her hands were shaking. I immediately thought of Todd who gets like that sometimes from lack of sugar, so I went to the fridge and got her a big glass of apple juice. She chugged almost the entire glass. At this point I was pretty much freaking out and knew I needed to take her to the ER. I called Todd and told him what was going on. I woke Evan up and told him I needed him to get dressed because we needed to take Erin to the hospital. Maybe he could sense the panic in my voice but he was right up and getting dressed. On the drive to the ER Erin couldn't keep her eyes open. Evan and I tried to keep her awake as much as we could. Fifteen minutes later we were walking in the ER, Todd pulled in just when we did.
The took her blood sugar first which was only 53. They then took a few other vitals and decided to start and iv and get a clean urine sample for tests. At this point they said that Evan should leave so we decided that Todd should just take him to daycare and I would stay with Erin. Probably a good thing for Todd because I think what occurred over the next half an hour will stick with me forever. She was a trooper through the IV process, only crying a little but the catheter was just pure terrible. The nurse explained they had to do it to get a clean urine sample. And for babies it can be painful and uncomfortable because the opening is so small. Poor Erin, I could see the pain in her face and it broke my heart. There were three people holding her down and I was up by her head, telling her it was ok. It was brutal and I was just trying to keep it together so it wouldn't scare her more.
After that was done I laid on the bed with her in my arms and she fell asleep within minutes. I guess it was a couple of hours before the doctor came in and said they were admitting her because she was dehydrated and she would need fluids overnight. He wasn't sure what was causing that and the low blood sugar, he mentioned it might be an infection or virus. He didn't mention anything about diabetes which is what I was concerned with (the nurse was not really helping in that aspect because she kept bringing it up).
We got a room a couple hours later and we waited around for someone to tell us what they thought might be wrong. My parents and Todd's mom came to see Erin and she immediately showed signs of improvement. By 4pm that afternoon she was pretty much acting like her old self.
And she never really lost her appetite either as seen here. Good choices mama.
Our pediatrician came to see us at about 7pm and he advised us she was pretty much a mystery. He wanted to continue the fluids until about 10pm and then unhook her so they could do blood work in the morning after she had fasted so maybe they could recreate what had happened that morning. It was a long night for all of us but Erin did just fine with the vital checks every few hours.
The morning came and as soon as she woke up they called down to the blood lab. She couldn't eat anything so the next hour until they came by was pretty rough. My girl doesn't like to miss meals. They took the blood and all we could do was wait (and eat breakfast of course). We took lots of wagon rides and cozy coupe rides. She did not want to stay in the room!
The blood work came back and our pediatrician came in to tell us that everything looked fine. Still no answer as far as what happened but we were being discharged. But first he wanted another urine sample from her so they attached a little bag and we just had to wait. As much juice as she was drinking it didn't take too long. It would be a couple of days for the cultures to come back so home we went. It was so nice to get home. Todd went to get Evan who was staying with my parents and I tried to nap. It didn't work out so I made dinner. After dinner I started feeling a little sick to my stomach. By bedtime my stomach was cramping and I knew something was definitely wrong. I started throwing up that night and kept on until the morning. I honestly don't remember being sick like that in many many years, very unusual for me. The kids and Todd were all perfectly fine so the next day I kept my distance and stayed on the couch pretty much all day. I called into work the next day to recover but I was feeling a lot better and luckily the kids and Todd were still just fine.
Our pediatrician called with the results of the cultures and said the only thing he noticed her numbers were slightly elevated on was e.coli. He said that was what it might be, although he numbers were still low so he wasn't sure. I mentioned how I had been sick and he said that if that's what it was than it was very likely I got it from her. But no definitive answers.
Anyway, yesterday was her one week follow up and he wants to be thorough and try and eliminate a few things so he is sending us to the Children's Hospital for some more labs next week. I am fine with that and would like to get some answers, so hopefully we never have to go through this again. I'll update as soon as we get the results.
Well, so this blog post wasn't as quick as I thought. So I'll just upload some pictures from today and let them speak for themselves. The first few are the local St. Patricks Day parade and then we came home and enjoyed the 60 degree weather outside.
Even with a bruised nose and forehead and cut under here eye she's gorgeous. I love my klutzy girl.
And I love my goofy boy ;)
