Baby Violet Visits the Hospital

There has been a lot going on here lately. Violet began developing a weird rash just over a week ago that I thought was due to some kind of allergen. It was all over her feet, legs, arms, and stomach where she touches the carpet when laying on her stomach or sitting up. It didn't seem to bother her too much, though. It had started to scab over and kind of get better.

Then, it started to get so much worse on Thursday. The rash really began to spread to her diaper area. I was thinking it was some weird diaper rash and tried to take care of it with diaper rash cream with no luck. Friday was much the same until the late afternoon when a fever started. That is when I also noticed Ava was running a fever and developing an identical rash. That's when the warning bells started to go off for me. I actually called the dr to see what she had to say.

Anyone who knows me knows that I rarely call the dr over things since 99% of the time it is a virus that just needs time to pass. Ava is the only one that had ever had a sick visit and that was once 4yrs ago. This was different, though. I was thinking it could be either Chicken Pox (which would make me a hero with our non-vaxing playgroup) or Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease. The spots are very similar looking, but HFM is non-itching. The nurse told us to make an appointment for Saturday morning to figure out what was up.

The dr spent close to 20mins the next morning examining Violet's and Ava's spots trying to figure it out. Finally, she was able to get a good view of Violet's mouth and saw the telltale sign of HFM in the form of blisters in the back of her mouth. She told me that they do get painful and to just watch her for any dehydration. I was to give her a Maalox/Benadryl mix if she needed it to make the sores feel better. We were sent on our way after that.

So, we got home and I gave her the mixture to help her feel better. She promptly went to sleep for 4hrs after that. Then, she woke up feeling really hot. I tried giving her the medicine again only to have her began gagging and vomiting it up. Every tiny sip of any medicine resulted in this. Then, I tried nursing her only to get the exact same reaction. At that point, her temp had climbed to 104*, and she had not had a wet diaper in 8hrs. I immediately called the dr who instructed me to go ahead and take her into Texas Children's Hospital to get her checked out. I called my mom to come over to watch the kids, called my friend, Kate, to come sit with the kids until my mom got there, called Daniel at work to let him know where to meet us when he got off, and we were headed to the hospital.

Well, I don't know if you are familiar or not with the fact that any uninsured patient waits until after hours to go to the ER for standard medical treatment they would generally be instructed to see a regular dr to treat. They can't be turned away after hours. So there we sat, and sat, and sat for the ER to weed through all non-emergency patients to be seen. We arrived at the hospital at 11pm and were not seen by a dr until 4am.

By this time, Violet was refusing to nurse and had not had a wet diaper in 14hrs. They gave Tylenol with Codeine to try to ease her pain and get her to nurse. That only made her fall asleep. So, they finally decided to start IV fluids and admit her to the hospital for observation. Getting her IV started was quite the ordeal with blowing out veins, leaking pieces that needed to be replaced, and the applying and reapplying of "super glue" and tape 5 or 6 times. She was quite the trooper. Thankfully, I had sent Daniel home to rest and deal with the big girls during this because he would have lost it.

It wasn't until 10am that we got in a room. I was exhausted having been up since 7am the previous day. Of course, I was too wired by this point to rest. I just sat next to my sick little baby and waited for her to feel better. Tricia came to my rescue with food and trashy magazines and tv on DVD. LOVE YOU, TRICIA and yes, I am addicted. :P

By the evening, she was beginning to turn around a bit. She was laying there, tired and began her sleepy baby babble. That is when I started to hear her say for the first time, "Mama, mama, mama..." as if she knew exactly what would make my heart better. My sweet little baby girl. I pulled her onto the pull out bed with me and we dozed off to sleep together.

The next morning, they took her IV fluids off and waited to see how she would do. She wasn't really picking up on the nursing, so I began to pump and give her milk in a medicine cup. She only took half and ounce that way, though. I was worried we would be there another night if she didn't pick up. Finally, she began to nurse well enough for me to feel okay about leaving the hospital around 7pm just in time for shift change. It took over hours for us to get out there. We finally made it home where I promptly showered, checked my 98 email messages of well wishes, and got my butt in bed for the night. This morning she had her "well baby" visit where the dr said she is doing great and to just keep watching her fluid intake.

So much stress from such a little person. I love her so much. I am so glad she fine and not in the hospital. That is no place for a sweet little baby. It had me thinking about people I know with babies who have been or in the hospital for much more serious reasons and the stress their families are going through. My heart goes out to them.