Children's Hospital
It all started on Tuesday. I woke up at 7:30Am and Katie had yet to wake up. I thought that was weird since that would mean she would have slept for 11:30 hours. Not normal for her. I took a peak into her room and saw her rubbing her eyes and grunting. I pick her up and take her to our room, lay her in our bed and then go to warm up a bottle. All normal for our morning routine.
As I am warming it up in the kitchen I hear her SCREAM! Joe shoots up out of bed to console her. Nothing is helping. I try to feed her, she doesn't want it. So we think, OK she has gas. We started to rub her belly and pump her legs to help the gas through. After about 15 minutes she calms down. She eats about 2 oz. (Normally 4 if not 6 oz in the morning) then falls asleep. She wakes up screaming again as she poops. When I change her diaper I see some blood. Freaked me out! So I called the pediatrician to make an appointment. They schedule me in for that afternoon and I'm advised to bring in the diaper.
Up until appointment time Katie was in and out of sleep and eating only 2 oz every 2 hours. Not to mention it was 75* out so she was hot too. She would cry out in pain every 25-30 minutes for about two or three minutes. Nothing would console her.
The Dr. said Katie looked normal, she's eating adequately, even though it wasn't her normal amount and she had no fever so she summed it up to a milk allergy reaction. I was advised to dump my milk until I can get the dairy out and put her on Soy Formula also to collect stool samples. So I freeze my milk ( I just couldn't throw it out) and buy a thing of Soy formula. I didn't quite believe the Dr. however they do this every day so they must be right.
That evening she still wasn't better. 2 more bloody diapers, getting worse in increments. Sleeping on and off, which for Katie isn't normal, by the evening she didn't want to eat. The last feeding she had was at 8 PM and only 1.5 oz.
She fell asleep around 9:30 pm. She ended up sleeping on my chest throughout the whole night. She was almost constantly grunting and thrashing around. At 2:30 am I got her to eat another 2 oz and then she fell back asleep. By 5:30 she woke up screaming again. I try to feed her and then she threw up.
My gut told me that this was more than an allergic reaction. This was something major. I decided to call the on call Dr at my pediatrician's office. She advised me to go to the ER. So Joe and I quickly got dressed and hit the road.
We went to Evergreen hospital, I'm gonna summarize this since it was overall frustrating and I'd rather not rehash everything. They admitted us and saw the Dr straight away. (Mom and Naomi showed up as well) Weight looked good, no fever although they did notice that she seemed lethargic and very pale. We were there for 4 hours and in that time they drew blood and took her stool samples that I had collected. As we were waiting, the nurse gave us 2 oz of pedialyte to try to get Katie to eat. She ate 1 oz. and then with in 15 minutes it came streaming out her nose. Poor girl. The Dr. came back in with her test results, her white blood cells looked fine and her stool seemed fine with the exception of blood. He suggested I contact my pediatrician for a referral to a gastroenterology Dr. They were going to send us home.
As the Dr started to walk out of the room I stopped him and told him to sit down, he did. I asked him how was I supposed to go home when I can barely get her to eat and what she does eat she throws up. On cue Katie pukes the pedialyte out her nose. The Dr then says that they will do an x ray and possibly an ultrasound. After 20 minutes he comes back saying that he called and consulted with Children's Hospital and that he was going to transfer us there.
So we pack up a sick puking child into our car and head to Seattle from Kirkland.
The second we got to Children's they took us to a room, they were expecting us and were so great! Two nurses came in to take Katie's vitals and her weight, the Dr. came in and started to listen to her symptoms while looking over Katie. The Dr. then asked if we had ever heard of Intussusception. Joe and I were actually reading about this that morning while we were trying to figure out what was wrong. We even asked the Er Dr. at Evergreen and he didn't think that was it.
Intussusception is a problem with the intestine in which one portion of the bowel slides into the next, much like the pieces of a telescope.
She said that she was ordering an ultrasound for Katie straight away and then asked how Mom and Dad were and when we had last eaten. It was 1 pm and we last ate the night before. She brought in some Gatorade, cheese sticks, apples, oat bars, and some teddy grahams. AMAZING.
As the Ultrasound Technician was getting the images needed Katie was watching Finding Nemo and playing with a little Musical toy. They found what they were looking for quickly and in almost a blink of an eye they were preparing us for surgery. Katie had to have an air-contrast enema. It has an 80% success rate however Katie had a 10% chance of it reoccurring within the first 24 hours. They had to do the procedure in the fluoroscopic room so they could take real time imaging while doing the procedure.
Before the procedure, Joe and I spoke with the two main Drs. We were told that they had three tries to reduce the blockage before they had to result in major surgery. They don't like putting infants less than a year old under anesthesia unless absolutely necessary due to the high risk of death. Scary thought! There was also a risk of them perforating the colon which would also result in major surgery.
I'm going to cut out some details because I am getting anxious just remembering it. There must have been 20 people in that room. There was the Dr. performing the procedure, two nurses assisting, the X Ray Tech and then the whole surgical team was in the room on stand by. Oh and a few residents. It is a learning hospital after all. I know there were more people there and many more things going on however I could only focus on holding my daughters little hand. The only thing that was available to grasp as her other hand was taped up with the IV.
This was my Hell. They had to strap her down on a plank and Velcro her in. Her arms had to go above her head and they strapped those in as well. The strap went over her eyes so she couldn't see mama, which made the screaming worse. Oh my I am crying while typing this. She was SCREAMING NON STOP during the procedure. No meds at all mind you, except for the antibiotics. It took what seemed like FOREVER to get everything going. Once the Drs. got the tube placed there ended up being a leak in the pressure gage, so they had to get a new one, then once they fixed that they realized that the tube wasn't placed right. My POOR BABY, by this point she was crying so hard she was choking on her spit and tears were streaming down her face. I could do nothing but hold her little fingers and wipe away her tears. When the Drs inflate the colon they had to have her on tilted on her side. The board she was on was like a little rotisserie board. The plus side of this is that the spit in Katie's mouth ran out onto her face instead of down her throat.
During the whole procedure the Dr and the x ray tech were mumbling to each other so I could never tell what they were saying and how everything was going. Finally I heard them say, "it looks like it just reduced, go back 20 clicks". Sure enough we got to see the imaging of them inflating her colon and then right where the colon meets the small intestine there is the blockage and then the next screen showed it inflating and the next one shows it back to normal and unblocked! When It unblocked Katie stopped crying, took a deep breath and finally relaxed. They were able to reduce the blockage within 20 minutes although it felt like HOURS! It was a pretty scary thing.
I was itching for them to get Katie unhooked from everything so I could pick her up. Once they unstrap her I pretty much dive for her, as the nurse reminds me to take off my lead vest. One more delay.
Finally able to pick her up and hold her she buried her head in my neck and curled in my arms and fell asleep. We then walked back to the ER room while we waited to get into a room upstairs. Katie was them passed around between Grandmas who were so worried for her.
As the Dr started to walk out of the room I stopped him and told him to sit down, he did. I asked him how was I supposed to go home when I can barely get her to eat and what she does eat she throws up. On cue Katie pukes the pedialyte out her nose. The Dr then says that they will do an x ray and possibly an ultrasound. After 20 minutes he comes back saying that he called and consulted with Children's Hospital and that he was going to transfer us there.So we pack up a sick puking child into our car and head to Seattle from Kirkland.
The second we got to Children's they took us to a room, they were expecting us and were so great! Two nurses came in to take Katie's vitals and her weight, the Dr. came in and started to listen to her symptoms while looking over Katie. The Dr. then asked if we had ever heard of Intussusception. Joe and I were actually reading about this that morning while we were trying to figure out what was wrong. We even asked the Er Dr. at Evergreen and he didn't think that was it.
Intussusception is a problem with the intestine in which one portion of the bowel slides into the next, much like the pieces of a telescope.
She said that she was ordering an ultrasound for Katie straight away and then asked how Mom and Dad were and when we had last eaten. It was 1 pm and we last ate the night before. She brought in some Gatorade, cheese sticks, apples, oat bars, and some teddy grahams. AMAZING.
As the Ultrasound Technician was getting the images needed Katie was watching Finding Nemo and playing with a little Musical toy. They found what they were looking for quickly and in almost a blink of an eye they were preparing us for surgery. Katie had to have an air-contrast enema. It has an 80% success rate however Katie had a 10% chance of it reoccurring within the first 24 hours. They had to do the procedure in the fluoroscopic room so they could take real time imaging while doing the procedure.
Before the procedure, Joe and I spoke with the two main Drs. We were told that they had three tries to reduce the blockage before they had to result in major surgery. They don't like putting infants less than a year old under anesthesia unless absolutely necessary due to the high risk of death. Scary thought! There was also a risk of them perforating the colon which would also result in major surgery.I'm going to cut out some details because I am getting anxious just remembering it. There must have been 20 people in that room. There was the Dr. performing the procedure, two nurses assisting, the X Ray Tech and then the whole surgical team was in the room on stand by. Oh and a few residents. It is a learning hospital after all. I know there were more people there and many more things going on however I could only focus on holding my daughters little hand. The only thing that was available to grasp as her other hand was taped up with the IV.
This was my Hell. They had to strap her down on a plank and Velcro her in. Her arms had to go above her head and they strapped those in as well. The strap went over her eyes so she couldn't see mama, which made the screaming worse. Oh my I am crying while typing this. She was SCREAMING NON STOP during the procedure. No meds at all mind you, except for the antibiotics. It took what seemed like FOREVER to get everything going. Once the Drs. got the tube placed there ended up being a leak in the pressure gage, so they had to get a new one, then once they fixed that they realized that the tube wasn't placed right. My POOR BABY, by this point she was crying so hard she was choking on her spit and tears were streaming down her face. I could do nothing but hold her little fingers and wipe away her tears. When the Drs inflate the colon they had to have her on tilted on her side. The board she was on was like a little rotisserie board. The plus side of this is that the spit in Katie's mouth ran out onto her face instead of down her throat.
During the whole procedure the Dr and the x ray tech were mumbling to each other so I could never tell what they were saying and how everything was going. Finally I heard them say, "it looks like it just reduced, go back 20 clicks". Sure enough we got to see the imaging of them inflating her colon and then right where the colon meets the small intestine there is the blockage and then the next screen showed it inflating and the next one shows it back to normal and unblocked! When It unblocked Katie stopped crying, took a deep breath and finally relaxed. They were able to reduce the blockage within 20 minutes although it felt like HOURS! It was a pretty scary thing.
I was itching for them to get Katie unhooked from everything so I could pick her up. Once they unstrap her I pretty much dive for her, as the nurse reminds me to take off my lead vest. One more delay.
Finally able to pick her up and hold her she buried her head in my neck and curled in my arms and fell asleep. We then walked back to the ER room while we waited to get into a room upstairs. Katie was them passed around between Grandmas who were so worried for her.
Once we got settled into the room and met the nurse things started to settle down. The nurse found out I hadn't pumped in over 12 hours so she immediatley got me a hospital pump and all of the other necessary supplies. SO AMAZING!! I was worried what going without pumping for 24 hours was going to do to my supply. Nana and Grandma took turns rocking Katie while Joe and I went up to the family resource center to jump on the computer to update family and friends. Our phones were dead so this was our last resort. Oh and we grabbed some food.
We were only at Children's for 2.5 hours before we were brought to her room for the night. Everything there moves with such precision and speed! I can't say enough great things about this hospital.
Katie received a blanket from the Project Linus foundation. Which I accidently left there when we were discharged the next day. My one regret.
Katie also received a gift from my co workers right as we were settling in. They are amazing people.
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| It sings 'You are my sunshine' and wiggles around! So she absolutley |
Joe came back baring dessert and mom left for the night. The couch pulled out into a bed and Joe got sheets from the nurse and made it up for us and crawled in and fell asleep while I rocked Katie to sleep.
Katie shared a room with a little 8 month old boy who just had lung surgery. Poor guy had a rough night to say the least. There really is no sleep to be had in a hospital. The nurses kept coming in to check on Katie and then the little boy. One baby would cry and wake up the other, then they'd both be sleeping for a little while and then the other would wake up crying. Then they'd both fall asleep again and soon enough it was time for vitals, Oh what a night. I got maybe three hours total. Katie was so far away from me in that crib that for the most part I just laid there starring at her in the crib not sleeping. She did pretty well though considering.
By 5:30 am the nurse woke Katie up out of a sound sleep to weigh her. Man, Katie was pissed.
after that she didn't go back to sleep for another hour. Around 7:30 we all woke up again for the nurses switching and doing consultations with the new nurse coming on staff. Katie cuddled with her toys and cooing to herself. She was a very happy baby!
At 8 am the nurse took her off of her IV and she was free from all monitors!!
So what did we do? We took her to our "Bed" for a morning cuddle.
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| we had to put a sock on her hand so she wouldn't pull at the IV. |
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| Ugh, Mommy with NO Sleep and Katie pulling at my crazy hair. |
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| She got my attention! |
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| Such a love |
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| Even though this was taken in a hospital, I love this photo. |
After talking with the Drs at 9 am they said that we were good to go home! Katie was such a trooper and was recovering so well. There are no restrictions for us going home. We could continue our normal routine. This can happen again up until the age of three. So we'll just have to keep an eye out for the same symptoms. Hoping we never see them again but if we do, we're prepared and are so lucky to have such an AMAZING hospital in our backyard. We saw so many families there from out of state, some who park their RVs here while their child goes through some type of treatment. Makes us realize how lucky and blessed we are to have such a healthy child.
So we started to gather our things and picked up a prescription for Katie. While I was getting her prescription, Joe stayed with Katie while the nurse got the IV out. I just couldn't stay and watch. In this chaos her pretty quilted blanket got buried in the hospital linens. So Sad. We got many great good byes as we walked out of the hospital and it was a pleasant car ride home.
We got home to a clean house thanks to a Grandma who couldn't sleep and FOOD! Once lunch was consumed Grandma went back home. Joe and I were left alone with Katie. We were kinda hoping someone would watch Katie while we napped. Selfish I know but we were working on a combined 6 hours sleep in two nights.
Instead we all cuddled up on the couch and slept for almost three hours. My arm was dead when I woke up but other than that it was refreshing!
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| Such a brave little girl. |
In the evening we gave Katie a bath and then settled down for the night.
The next morning she was back to normal, Almost like it never happened. I will never forget how amazing Children's hospital is and how fragile life can be. Never again will I take for granted having a healthy child. We are more blessed than we realize.
Due to the antibiotics, Katie got thrush again, luckily I still have some meds left over from last time.
Katie is also very clingy. She screams in tears if no one is with her. Even if I put her in her jumper or lay her on her mat and am in the same room with her she freaks out. She can only eat about 2 oz at a time so that means more frequent feedings. We're working up on that end though. She just ate 3 oz tonight!
She's also teething now. I swear we saw a tooth pop through and then suck back in again.
Sleep training went out the window. We can't lay her in her crib and let her fall asleep on her own anymore. It just results in to hysterical tears. Maybe next week. Honestly she just wants to be held. Which unfortunately is a bit hard to do. I loaned out my Moby to a friend who needed it to bring their daughter home from Ethiopia. I normally don't use it often so I didn't think twice about loaning it out.
I'm looking forward to a normal week, I am happy to go back to work and let mom take care of Katie for a few hours. Don't get me wrong. I Love my daughter but at work I get to focus on things that aren't baby related, and I wouldn't constantly worry when ever she cried, "OMG is this it? Did it happen again?" Not my idea of fun.
So I now have a clingy, teething child, who won't fall asleep on her own and I think has some trust issues as well. Now I have to work on getting her back onto a schedule and getting her to sleep on her own again. I tried it today and she just screamed for a total of 20 minutes and kept waking up crying as well.
I can't thank Children's enough, No one wants to be in a hospital however if we had to go again, there's no where I'd rather be then in their hands. I always donate when ever I can and have been for years but now I will do more so than ever!
Thanks to everyone for their concern and well wishes. I hope to never go through that again.
