A Mom Named Luna

On Tue, 12/23/08 Banana woke-up in the morning with a fever. I could tell it was too high a fever for such a little baby. So I decided to take her to the ER. I decided to make the drive to the Children's Hospital even though my parent's live closer to another Hospital. We had a bad experience with SweetPea at the closer hospital when SweetPea was a baby (older than Banana, but still a baby.) They could not get a catheter in to get a urine sample. It was torturous to watch. I did not want to go through that again.

There was almost no one there. At least in the wait room. It is rare to see an ER so empty. Her fever at home was 100.4, and was 100.3 when we got to the hospital. She weighed 9 lbs. She had been 10 lbs a few weeks ago. I knew she had lost wait because we weighed her 12/18/08 at the doctor' office and was 9 lbs 4 oz. SO we were beginning to try and supplement with formula. She won't take a bottle!

Because of her age and fever they decided to run every test there was. It was rough. They started with collecting urine. So much better than what SweetPea had gone through. Then they tried to get blood samples. Unfortunately she was so dehydrated they could not get a vein. Now, they did not stick her. They just looked and looked and looked. They finally decided the ONLY place they could get a line in was in her scalp. Most people would think this would be awful, and to some degree, it wasn't my favorite moment in her young life, but I knew the tests that were coming. She had x-rays next. She didn't enjoy them much. I left the room for the lumbar puncture. So if you want to know about an LP on a 2 mo, don't ask me. Finally, they checked for RSV. They do this by threading a tube down the nose and to the throat to suction the mucus there.

Everything came back great, except RSV. So they admitted her to the hospital. She is in isolation. Which means everyone has to wear masks and gowns to enter our room. Everyone except Hubbs and me. And no one under 13 yo is allowed at all. The doctor's were also concerned with her listlessness, weight loss and poor muscle tone. They weren't sure how much of it was from not feeling well (her fever crept up to 100.8), and how much is some other issue (like my milk supply).

She was on monitors for a bit. Her vitals all stayed within normal range for the first night. So they turned them off the next day (Christmas Eve) so I would quit studying them. However, she began crying constantly again. Similarly to how she cried before she started reflux meds. So the doctor changed her reflux meds. So they wanted us to stay another night to make sure the new meds were a fix to the crying problem. I was thankful, I was very anxious about taking her home at that point. The rehydration did help her weight, but she still is down in weight. So on Christmas Day the doctor visited again and was pleased to see the crying had stopped, but she was still concerned about how thin she was. She was also concerned about the inability to get meds because the pharmacies are closed and no follow-up appt are in place because it is Christmas. Not to mention she wanted to run a few more tests to see if there is more going on causing the weight loss. So maybe tomorrow we will go home.

She was Happy as usual. Here you can see the "cap" they made to help keep the IV in place.

Her "Rudolph" Toe

Santa did come to visit us in the hospital. We got a gingerbread house, toy keys, a bear, a penguin, a blanket, and a teething ring. We also got some healthy snacks. He also took a picture with us...sorta. Remember, we are in isolation. SO he stood at the door, and I got as close as the cords and tubes would let us.