Ethan's 1st Hospital Visit

We had just came home from Alabama and 2 days after being home Ethan started getting sick. So I loaded him up and we went to Target to get some vapor rub, etc and before we could even make it down the aisle he started vomiting everywhere, so I took him out of the buggy and he stood there in the aisle and threw up all over the floor and was crying because he didn't understand. It broke my heart seeing him like this. All I could think is I wish it were me instead of him. I stripped him down of all his clothes and we came back home and I took him to the doctor. They said they thought it just may be the stomach bug, so we came home and he continued to throw up all day. He threw up approximately 20 times. He was so weak and we couldn't get him to drink anything. Well later that night he seemed to be feeling better, he played a little and then we all went to bed. Next morning came and I woke up and he still seemed fine, so we loaded up and took Chad to the airport for a business trip. On the way home I started feeling bad. I got back home and could barely make it in the door and I was got sick as well. I was thinking oh no how am i going to take care of a sick baby and be sick too. It was tough but we managed. I held him as I threw up and he would just cry because he didn't understand. In the meantime Ethan's vomiting had stopped, but he continued to have diarrhea and was just not acting right, so I decided that maybe we needed to try and sleep it off. Well that just what we did. After sleeping off and on all day, come 7 pm I could not really get him aroused. He had become very lethargic and I could barely walk because I was so weak from all the vomiting. I called his doctor's office and they had me check him for dehydration and sure enough he was, so we called a taxi and went to the ER. The whole time I was thinking okay I don't want my little one to be stuck, but I know an IV will make us better and tomorrow we will be good as knew. Well after attempting to stick him twice they decided to give him a break and started my IV. They resumed trying to give him his IV, yet only to stick him two more times. At this point I was getting very frustrated. He was so extremely sick that he just laid there the first two times. No crying, no fighting, nothing, but the next two times he was starting to realize what they were doing to him and it was becoming much more difficult. Finally a fifth person came in to try his IV and he finally got it. I was so thankful and was thinking okay now we can start feeling better and go home. Little did I know that about 30 minutes later they came to me and told me that his blood work came back and it was very abnormal and he was extremely sick and and IV was not gonna cure it and he would need to be transferred and admitted to Children's Hospital. So now I'm freaking out. His blood sugar was 41 (which is extremely low) and they would not allow him to transfer until it came up. So after 4 cups of apple juice and a little sugar water they rechecked his blood sugar and it was only 52 so it still was not high enough to let us transfer, so they started him on sugar water in his IV. In the meantime I called Chad and told him he needed to come home, so he booked his flight for the next day. Well about 45 minutes after the apple juice Ethan started screaming to the top of his lungs and was crying uncontrollably and I'm freaking out b/c I don't know whats wrong with him. While trying to calm him down I felt his stomach and it was hard as a rock, so I called the nurse and she said I'm not sure. Well I said I think the apple juice may be hurting his stomach, sure enough I was right, he started having diarrhea again. Well about 1:30 they finally let us transfer so the ambulance got there and loaded Ethan up and made sure he was stable enough to transfer. His blood sugar was now at 71 so they said that was good enough to let him transfer. So we all loaded up in the ambulance; however they would not let me ride in the back with him, I had to sit up front with the driver, but at least I could see him.

On the way to the Children's Hospital Ethan started vomiting again. I was so concerned because he hadn't threw up in 2 days, so I'm really beginning to worry about him. We got to the hospital and got him checked into a room. Everyone was so nice and they knew that I was sick as well so they kept bringing me crackers and Gatorade. They were some really great nurses. Ethan was in isolation, so neither of us could leave the room. The next day they rechecked his blood work and it was still low so they decided to keep him another day. The first day we were there he still was a little lethargic and slept a good bit, which was good since the IV was in his foot, I didn't want him standing on it or trying to take it out. Later that afternoon he started playing and drinking very good, so they decided to let him try some crackers and he loved that, so the next morning he got cheerios and a banana and love that. So he seemed to be doing better so the nurse had some toys brought in and he played in his crib for a little while with those. So the nurse came in for the night shift and I called her in because Ethan' IV pump had been beeping off an on for a few hours. I told her he had been messing with his IV that day so she checked it and sure enough he had pulled it loose, so she said they would have to take it out completely so we begged for it to not be put back in and she and the charge nurse agreed as long as we made sure he drank plenty of fluids or otherwise they would put it back in the next day. So we were determined to make him drink, only he would no longer drink the electrolyte drinks they had given him, so I called the nurse and asked could he please have some diluted apple juice or even water and she agreed, Yea! He drink 2 bottles. He was really thirsty. So after drinking that we laid him back down to bed and he slept for a while and the nurse came in for the middle of the night vitals. She said I would need to change his diaper so they could weigh it. I said okay, no problem. I went to change his diaper and there was no pee in it, now I'm freaking out because no pee meant IV had to go back in. So we forced him to drink some more juice and about 20 minutes later we had pee. Never been so excited about pee before!

The doctors came around for their morning report and said so I hear he pulled his IV out and we said yes, meanwhile he is standing in his crib playing with toys. They were suprised at how much he had improved and said his recent blood work was right where it needed to be, so they agreed to let us go home.

Ethan playing on the day he got to go home!

We were so excited, so we loaded up and went home. Ethan played and everything seemed normal until we put him to sleep that night. He started throwing up again. So know we are really starting to worry because we are thinking it something in our apartment or his milk because I had given him 1/2 cup of milk earlier. So we let him sleep with us and Chad stayed up all not giving him Gatorade through a dropper while he was sleeping. (Such a good husband) The next day we went to his doctor for a follow up. She put him on some antibiotics because he was still sick with a runny nose and congestion, (for about 3 weeks) so she felt it had developed into a sinus infection. We got his antibiotics and started giving them right away and kept him off of milk and gave only Pedialyte for 2 days and everything was good. Our little one was finally back to being a healthy boy. He had lost about 2 lbs while in the hospital so we were eager to get him back to eating and drinking normally and it didn't take much. Happy to report he is still doing well and back to his usual happy spoiled self! Thank you LORD!