ER trip #2

I'm a little surprised that in eight years of parenthood, we've only made two trips to the Emergency Room. I'm equally surprised by the children we've taken there.

Our first trip was for Jacob, when at 18 months of age (only 2 weeks after we moved to Dallas), he fell off a bed and broke his arm. Pretty uneventful as ER trips go.

Friday night, we made trip #2. Only this time it was Jace!! Not fun. He started vomiting in the evening and we couldn't get it to stop. He got really really pale and lethargic ... and despite the fact that this had only gone on for about 2 hours, I just had one of those "mom-moments" - and I felt like we needed to go to the hospital. He was one sick-lookin' little guy.

We got there around 9pm and he continued throwing up. We finally got to see a doctor, he got some medicine for nausea and I tried feeding him again. Up it came. So, then they went the IV route. Only he was already so dehydrated (and fat!), that getting the IV started was really difficult. Two sticks and LOTS of digging. It was pitiful and brought back memories of Jordan's stays in the hospital! (Right down to watching daddy run out the door the minute a needle showed up! LOL!)

Once he got the fluids and IV nausea medicine in him, he started to get some color back. He still didn't feel well, but he stopped vomiting and started to rest. The ER doc was concerned because he is breastfed, doesn't go to daycare, none of the other family members were sick, no fever and no diarrhea. It wasn't completely adding up to a virus in her mind. So, they did a complete workup - blood work, stool sample, chest and abdomen X-rays. Ugh. It quickly became a LONG night! It made me so thankful that this wasn't the "norm" for us, as it is for far too many families!

Anyway, all his tests were normal, so they decided the only other issue could be with his intestines and bowels (or something like that). It could only be detected with an ultrasound and they couldn't do an infant ultrasound. Any guesses as to what that meant? An ambulance ride and nice stay at the world-renowned Texas Children's Hospital. (The picture is of him being toted out on a gurney to the ambulance - still in his carseat!)

I'm thankful for the expertise of this hospital being so close, but it is a sad and pitiful place to be. So many hurt and really sick kids. We arrived around 4am. The docs there were far less concerned about the possibility of the intestine issue, so they had me feed Jace again and do a wait-and-see. This time he kept it down and was able to rest a little. Then, the diarrhea began and this was the "good" sign we were all looking for - this was the final piece of the puzzle to ensure a virus of some sort! His color continued to improve and after 3 or 4 hours, we were finally released. We arrived home around 9am ... just in time to start the day! He was pretty tired and didn't feel very well on Saturday, but by yesterday he was much more himself!

Praise God! He seems to be back to normal today, so I guess it was a quick little virus, and so far no one else here seems to have it!

This was one day we were especially thankful to be near family again. Ed's mom was here already, so Ed and I were able to go to the hospital together, then my mom came (in case the other kids got sick in the night) and Ed's sister, Stacey came Saturday morning. What a blessing!