Hospital, Baby

After I got home from Tres's field trip, I came right in a fed Sophie. When I burped her, she had a severe coughing spell. She had done it the night before and while I was gone also. The coughing spells took her breath away and made her really red and upset. The first time, I thought she might have gotten a little chocked while she was eating. But when it happened while I was gone and when I got there...I immediately called her pediatrician. They were going to make me come in around 4:30, until the nurse heard her coughing in the background while I was making the appointment. She told me to come right in.

I got to the pediatricians office, and the doctor came in to look at her. I told him about her cough, and the only other symptom she had was a loss of appetite (which was hurting Momma!). Her lungs sounded clear, and everything looked normal. So he took some blood, and wanted to do a chest x-ray on her. So after that, he came in and told me that the level of virus fighting antibodies in her blood were extremely low, and another level that should have been high was low. Also he said her iron level was low... and that she could possibly be anemic. I was taking all this in studiously, and was calm up until he said "I want her observed in the hospital for 48 hours." Then I could feel my heart racing and slight panic set in. He told me that he was concerned that she had the onset of Pertussis, commonly known as Whooping Cough. She had not received any vaccines for this yet, and apparently they have seen a rise in Pertussis in infants and the elderly over recent months.

So off we went to Children's... Ava and myself. My mom kept the boys at home. Hank was still at work. I got to Children's and got her registered, and they put us in a holding room while a space was being made for her. While we waited, they came to take blood AGAIN. The doctor told me that he wanted to go ahead and get her set up for an IV 'just in case.' He told me that if they couldn't get it the first time, they wouldn't try again. I left the room for this one and I wish I hadn't. I went into the lobby and heard her SCREAMING the whole time. When I went back in, she had her little IV set-up in her hand AND a band-aid on the other. When I asked them what that was, she said it was where they had tried to get it in the first time! WHAT!! I was not very happy about that. Not only did they stick her twice, but the blood they drew from her was unusable because it had clotted so they informed me that they would have to draw some more. I determined then and there that I would not be leaving her if I could help it.
They decided to observe her in the Special Care Unit. This is essentially a huge room with curtained off areas for each patient. They children are monitored constantly through-out the right. She was hooked up to a blood pressure cuff that went off every hour, another sensor measured how many breaths she took in a minute, and yet another was her oxygen level. Then a nurse came around every couple of hours and took her temperature. So she had all these wires attached to her and she had to lay in the bed unless I was feeding her or changing her diapers so that the reading were accurate. Also, because Pertussis is highly contagious, she had to wear a mask (actually one was just laid over her mouth because all of them were too big for her), all the nurses that took care of her had to wear a mask, and Hank and I had to wear masks.
In the Special Care Unit, you are not allowed to eat, drink, or sleep. They did allow me to drink bottled water since I was nursing. I stayed with her every minute I could. The only times I left were when their was a shift change. All parents were required to leave for 2 hours, so I would go a eat something, then I would go and catch a nap in the van for an hour. Then it was right back upstairs to sit with my little peanut.

The first night was exhausting, but thankfully she was fine. She coughed only occassionally and all of her levels that they were monitoring were good. Her blood work came back and that wasn't very encouraging, so the doctors wanted her to stay one more night. But this time we got to move to a private room. That meant sleep to me! The afternoon we moved into the room she was running a temperature, but after a bath, that came right down and stayed down. The doctor said that was a good sign that her body was recovering on its own.

By Sunday morning, they told us we could go home. Thank the Lord all her levels were okay...not great... but okay.

The Pertussis screening results should be back today (they couldn't run it over the weekend because the lab was closed). And she has an appointment tomorrow with our regular pediatrician.

Throughout the whole ordeal, she was very good.She smiled and cooed at all of her nurses. She cried only when provoked... you know, by a needle or something! I was a proud momma. It also gave me some one-on-one time with her. Better safe than sorry.

Last night she was more congested than she has been, and she has taken to eating in small, frequent doses today. But she acts fine and has no temp. No cough either which the main symptom in Pertussis!