Thursday, July 12, 2012

Catch Up-Hadlee's Urgent Care Visit

So I'm posting about Hadlee's little urgent care visit when she was 2 months and 4 days old. I want to remember what we went through in case we ever have that happen with another child, I will know that we can make it through it and things will be fine. I have a much more important post later today! So, rewind to Friday, June 15th. Travis was at work and I laid Adrian down for his nap. Soon enough, H was ready to lay down for a nap too. So, I got her swaddled up and laid her in her nap nanny. She slept for about 40 minutes, just enough time for me to fall asleep. She woke up and I was frustrated that I didn't get any nap in. I was just exhausted that day. When she woke up, she felt warm but I associated it with her swaddle. So, I got her unswaddled and took her into the living room. She still seemed warm after 30 minutes so I took her temp, temporally. It registered 99.5. I called the pediatrician because it was 4 on a Friday and I knew they were closing soon. I knew it was low grade but just wanted to see what to do if it changes at all. They did tell me to go ahead and just take her to Cook's urgent care to get her checked out. When I would hold her, she would kind of grunt when she was breathing and I didn't like the sound of it. So, I called Travis and had him come home early. I really didn't want to take Adrian in the facility, trying to avoid getting any further illnesses. As I arrived at the urgent care, I checked her in and they immediately got me in the check in area. They took her temp rectally and it brought back a lot of emotions. I've never taken my kid's temps rectally as I've felt it's such a little area and so private. I've always felt it's so personal. The day Ainslee passed away and was in the ER, I remember holding her hand and all of a sudden a nurse came in and undid her diaper and stuck a thermometer in her bottom. No asking, just did it. And I understand why they were just working so diligently to try and save her and monitor her temp to see what the reading was. But, I vividly remember in that moment feeling so violated for her and thinking "my God, she is so little, have mercy on her please." The nurse at the urgent care taking Hadlee's said her temp was 102.4. I instantly fell apart. How could there be such a discrepancy in readings from just 30 minutes. And of course the flashbacks from the ER came in and I felt like we were back to surrendering to fear. They got us back and did a series of testing. They ended up catheterizing her, drawing blood, and doing a chest x-ray. Every initial test came back normal. They gave us the option of taking her home and treating for fever, or doing a spinal tap and giving a shot of antibiotics just in case it was a bacterial infection. I barely got through a rectal temp reading so there was no way I was going to electively consent to a spinal tap. We took her home and treated for fever. They wanted me to bring her back in the next day for a recheck. I did and they still felt they were seeing a viral infection making it's way through. That Saturday night at 8 pm was the last time we had to administer tylenol. Through this process, I ended up having to pump and bottle feed Hadlee for the first time to ensure she was getting enough fluid. The last thing I wanted was dehydration. During that, she decided it was easier to feed from a bottle than from me which made me so sad. I was able to get her back to nursing the following week but we're on a no nursing phase again this week. So, I'm pumping and feeding her the bottle. I do occasionally nurse her on one side and she will eat okay on one side and then get really angry and frustrated when I switch her and then falls apart. So, I either warm up some already pumped milk or finish pumping off what she hasn't eaten and feed her that. All the blood cultures and urine cultures came back normal so nothing bacteria wise was growing out. She sure gave us a scare. Of course 2 weeks after Ainslee had a fever, she passed away. So, the countdown began. We've passed that two weeks and she has been fine. It was such a scary time for us and I was fearful my breastfeeding days were done, but we're pushing through. I'll update with her 3 month a little later....the little stinker is waking up and ready to eat! :)

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