First Trip to the ER

Sorry it's been a few days. Hectic at work and when I'm home...well, you know what I'd rather be doing than blogging!

Anyway...I forgot to add one important part to my daycare post. The BEST part of my day is coming home. Colt is in such a smiley mood these days and when I come through the door, he sees me and lights up. Literally lights up. If I wasn't working, I might STILL take him to daycare just to get that look everyday. It's almost as good as his look in the mornings when I go to wake him up and he's fuzzy and adjusting to the light, then sees me and starts laughing. OOOOOooooo!! Goosebumps just thinking about it.
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So, I mentioned that Colt got his 2-months shots the Tuesday before he started daycare on Wednesday. That ended up being fine. He was in a great mood until they stuck him and he started screaming (as would I) but stopped fairly quickly and spent the rest of the day in a great mood. The nurses are so good at going fast, it's over before you know it.

So, after the shots, then school for 3 days (adjusting to the noise, other babies, new people, and being away from me), then John and I spent Valentine's evening with friends at dinner and a movie and Colt stayed with his Mimi and Papa. That is a lot for anyone, even an adult, to get used to.

Sunday morning I could tell he wasn't right. There was a bad diaper that threw us off and we weren't expecting the mess so we skipped church. He was fussy all day. Very lethargic and fussy and not himself at all. I held him almost the entire day and he still didn't feel right.

After a bath that evening we met friends for coffee and he seemed to be feeling better. I went to bed around 10:00 and John was ready to give him his last feeding.

Around midnight I remember hearing John on the phone. The reason I remember this is because he kept saying the word "rectal" and who can forget that?! A few moments later John woke me up to say Colt had a temp of 101-point-something and we needed to go the the ER.

If babies under 3 months have a temp that high it is usually bad news. One of my best friends just happens to be a pediatrician, doing residency at Children's Hospital in OKC. So we bypassed our normal on-call nurse for the pediatrician and called her and luckily she was on-call.

We headed to the hospital and by the time we got there and checked in, his temp was 103. Which meant that he not only needed blood taken, but also a catheter to collect urine sample and...a spinal tap. He had a rash over most his body and combine that with a high temp and there was a chance it could be meningitis.

This whole time I remained remarkably calm and composed. I credit most of it to having 100% trust in Laura as our doctor (it helps when the doctor cares as much and has as much interest in the child as you do) but part of it I know was because I wasn't all there. I have this new migraine medicine that makes me sleepy. I can function (hear Colt if he wakes, etc) but it makes me kind of fuzzy. And so I'm convinced I was that calm because the gravity of the situation hadn't hit me!

I stayed in the room for every poke, the catheter, the IV stick, the spinal tap, and even when the IV came out of the vein and begin leaking fluid into his arm. They had to re-stick him and that's when he screamed that loudest. I've had that happen before and I remember how painful it was!

In the end, he got some IV antibiotics and fluids and we went home around 4:30 a.m. Obviously I didn't go to work the next day and we went to our regular pediatrician. They gave him another shot of antibiotics and he was as good as new.

His labs came back, all was normal. So it was probably just a virus. But I think it was his body just being overwhelmed and worn out!

I'm so, so, so thankful that Laura is my friend and took such good care of us. It's nice to know anytime we have issues and questions we can call her. I don't mind asking "stupid" first-time parent questions because...well, she's always been smarter than me and is used to it!

So...first trip to the ER is over and done with. Having a little boy, I imagine we'll be back for various injuries over the years, but hopefully nothing too serious!