Her First Overnighter

As many of you have already heard, Syrie had her first overnight stay in the hospital at just under 7 months old.  While it's not what I was expecting Wednesday morning when I was advised to bring her in by her Doctor after finding out she had a high temp, I suppose I should just be grateful it turned out to be nothing.  I've always been one to look at things in the way that, if I'm going to go through all this hassle, there better be a good reason for it, dang it!  At least that's how I always looked at this sort of thing when it happened to me.  Now that I have someone else to worry about, I think about things a little differently, but the thought is always in the back of my mind-some things/attitudes are hard to change.

Before Wednesday I really had no idea what a high temperature for a child was.  Since this fiasco, I've learned that babies can stay home with a much higher temp then my little miss endured.  All I knew was that my doctor's nurse told me, and I remember this vividly, as she wrote it on the paper lining that lays on the table patients sit on when they're being seen at doctor's offices some time ago, "If her temp is ever 102 or higher, we want you to call us because she needs to come in." So Wednesday morning at around 5:30 am I went in her room for no real reason, I just had this weird feeling she was too close to her bumper that goes around her crib and I felt her and she was burning up.  Believe it or not, I hate overreacting, so I said to myself, well, she is wearing pj's that are long sleeve and cover her feet, and she's got a blanket wrapped around her, so she's probably just really warm from that.  With that being in my head, I thought, I'll let her lay in our bed with me for an hour until I get up, and by then if she's still warm I'll check her temp--not wanting to bother with a thermometer up the butt when my little girly was so tired.  At 6:30 a.m. my alarm went off on my phone and I woke up and felt her head again.  She still felt really warm, but I thought, maybe it's because she's laying so close to me, and my body heat is making the situation worse.  Then I said to myself, if she's still warm when I check her after my shower, then I'll check her temp and call Dr. Kettman.  Well, that's exactly what ended up happening after the thermometer read 102.8.  I panicked and thought oh no, what if I waited too long, what if she has brain damage?? (Ha Ha, I said I am afraid of overreacting, that doesn't mean that I don't occasionally overreact!)  I got Syrie dressed and took her into the office at 8:45 a.m.

Dr. K checked her over and with no other symptoms, he was stumped.  I guess that their procedure is to check kidneys and bladder if a baby is suffering a temp and it's not ear/nose/throat related.  I mentioned that she could be teething more and he said that wouldn't cause that high of a temp. So with that came the dreaded catheter!! Worst of all, they had to do it twice because of the difficulty they had the first time.  My poor baby screamed, and there was nothing I could do for her.  It was at this moment, I was wishing it had been David's turn to bring her to the doctor.  After getting results for the samples they collected, the doctor and nurse looked at each other, and basically debated whether or not she should be admitted. Note to any doctor out there reading this: it's not good practice to seem unsure in front of your patient especially when that patient is a baby. They opted to have her admitted overnight, so they could monitor her fluids/make sure she was staying hydrated, and do another cath and blood draw. Yippee, let's add needles to the fun!

Syrie and I headed to the hospital, and got checked in. They did another cath, and that came back normal and they did testing on the blood they drew (this took over 3 attempts to find a vein) and found nothing other than a higher than average white blood cell count. They said the high w.b.c. count could just mean a virus, but what was causing the virus was what they still wanted to know.  While Syrie and I sat there for hours, in the hospital bed they provided me with nothing to do..I wasn't about to let her on the floor of any hospital, I could hear all the other babies and young children on the Peds floor in their rooms, some crying. It brought me back to a blog I've been obsessed with that is about a family in California whose 6 month old daughter is battling a tumor in her brain, found this last December at her 2 month check up.  This little girl, along with her parents, have been in and out of hospitals and undergone over 6 surgeries since she was only 2 months old.  Their story is addicting, and at times I find myself in the worst moods, bummed out, all because of this family's unwanted circumstance.  The parents do such an amazing job of writing about what's going on, it almost feels like I'm reading a novel.  With that being said, I must say, we are so lucky to have a healthy little girl, and while it's completely unfair what this family in California has been given, I know that their little girl is giving it her all to beat the odds.  If you have the time (and a tissue or two) you should read their story, about their daughter Scarlett who is exactly 1 month younger than Syrie.  Their blog is entitled, Butterflies and can be found at http://www.brandiandchris.blogspot.com/

This is a snap shot I took of her w/ my phone right after she put on her adorable (some might say hideous) gown

Relaxing in the big girl bed--my bed. She ended up sleeping with me that night because I couldn't have her sleeping in the cage-like crib they provide:(

Naked, waiting to get the okay to go home. I thought that by keeping her without clothes on would make the process go faster when they gave us the "good to go" and we had to put her in her own clothes..I was wrong:)