That one day we had to take Zach to the Hospital

There is nothing worse than when your child is sick.  Especially when the verbal communication isn’t there yet and you have no idea what is wrong.  Well two weeks ago Zach started having some tummy trouble.  Seeing how we had just gotten him the second half of his flu vaccine I figured it was just a reaction to that.

Boy was I wrong!

Tuesday, November 13^th I got the dreaded call from day care.  If you’re a full time working momma you know which one I am talking about.  The “Hey your son has pooped through all his clothes and has now thrown up so if you could come pick him up that would be great” call. Enter momma guilt for even having gone to work that day.  So I took Zach to see our favorite pediatrician and found out my little guy has a stomach virus.  My heart broke because I thought it was just a reaction to the shot but he has been feeling sick for a couple days and couldn’t tell me.

We left with instructions of give him the B.R.A.T. diet (banana, rice, applesauce & toast) and a lot of liquids just no milk.  Well that day Zach ate a little but not his normal amount of everything on his plate but he refused to drink anything.  Literally ANYTHING I gave him.  So that day he MAYBE consumed a total of 3 oz. of liquid and that is probably on the generous side.  Someone told me once that they had a doctor tell them the bare minimum a child needs to consume in a day is 8 oz.  We were a long way off from 8 oz. 

Then Wednesday came.  Zach was eating a little more, again with not as much gusto, we hadn’t had any more Big D and he hasn’t thrown up so in my mind I was thinking we were on the right track.  Until I tried to give him water.  Nope, wouldn’t drink it.  Tried pedialyte and he still wouldn’t drink it. Tried everything I could think of.  Sippy cups, I even when out a bought new sippy cups to see if he would get excited about a new one, nope wouldn’t drink it.  Bottles, he literally threw it out of my hands.  Cups, like the one CJ and I use, nope he has no interest when normally he would be all over it.  Cups with straws since he has had a fondness for straws lately, still nothing.  I was at my wits end.  I was so frustrated with myself for not being able to get him to drink anything.  Then CJ got home from work and Zach FINALLY drank a little, again a total for the day was maybe 3 oz., again being very generous in that amount.

So when Zach woke up Thursday morning and acted thirsty I was so excited and gave him some water.  He was kind of acting a little tired which was odd since he had just woken up but I figured okay let’s put him back down for a little while.  CJ had already said he would stay home with him that day and just drive me into work so he had the car in case something happened.  Well I made him a bottle of pedialyte and as he started drinking it he coughed turned his head to my shoulder and… threw up the whole one ounce of water he had just drunk!  I was crushed! I thought we were on the upswing and here we were back at square one.

Against my better judgment I went into work and placed a call with our pediatrician and waited patiently anxiously for a call back. Even though I knew what the answer to my question was going to be.  Sure enough I got the call back and was told to take him to the ER.  While I waited for CJ to come and pick me up I looked up our local children’s hospital to see if it was “in-network” for our insurance.  Thank goodness it was! So CJ arrived and off we went to the ER checking in at 11 AM.  Something you never want to do as a parent but unfortunately cannot be avoided no matter how hard I had tried.

I must say this children’s hospital was amazing, I have been in the of a normal ER for myself before and it was not this nice, you were in a partial room with a curtain separating you from everyone else.  At this hospital once we made it through registration, which was very fast, we were put into our own private room. For a second I honestly thought we had been admitted.

Zach didn’t have a temp, so still indicating it was a stomach virus and not the flu, but they were concerned about the lack of liquids.  They gave him some anti-nausea medicine and let him hang out for 20 minutes to let that settle.  They then brought him a popsicle and a sippy of Gatorade. Zach refused the popsicle and drank 2 ounces of the 4 ounces they gave him of Gatorade. Mind you he has not had a single thing to eat or drink ALL day and it was now almost 1 pm.  He just slept. 

When the doctor came back in to see how he had done she was not pleased with the amount of fluid he consumed so it was then decided to put him on an IV.  I was so upset I started crying, the sweet nurse said if it was going to be too much for me I could step outside.  I politely said no thank you, I will stay right here with my son, I can’t handle hearing him cry and not be by his side to console him, even though CJ was there and he would have done an amazing job I just knew I wasn’t strong enough to not be in there and wait outside the door.  

  

So they prepped him by swaddling his one side so he couldn’t use his arm to fight them, which I was surprised he didn’t even try to fight them out of the swaddle.  And they tried to use this thing that is call a “j-sleeve” what it does it put numbing cream under the skin to the size of about a dime.  It doesn’t have a needle it is all air compressed.  So when they used it on the top of Zach’s hand one of two things happened.  Either his skin is too delicate or they had it charged too much but it punctured his vein and so they couldn’t put the IV in on his hand, they had to do it in the crease of his arm… with no numbing cream.  Oh my poor baby, my heart broke for him.  I just wanted to make it all better and I couldn’t.  Once they got the IV in they had to put an arm board on so that he couldn’t bend his arm.

Cuddled up with Daddy.  You can see the IV tube over his shoulder & the arm board in the bottom left corner of the picture.  My poor baby...

Once it was in and he calmed down thanks to lots of love from momma and daddy he was back asleep.  They gave him two full bags of fluid through his IV, ran blood work and checked his sugar levels.  By the time the second bag was done our doctor, who had been checking in on us every hour or so, came in and asked us if we thought we could handle pushing fluids at home or if we wanted to admit him.  CJ and I both agreed that we would be able to do it at home and we did not want him admitted.  Because his dehydration level wasn’t off the chart I think that is why she gave us the choice, we got him there early enough that he didn’t have to be admitted, thank the Lord. The doctor also said if the only thing we could get him to drink is milk then give him milk, but to just give it to him in 2 ounce increments.

We got our discharge papers and headed home, at 6:15 PM!  Such a long day! 7 hours at the hospital with my sweet baby boy. They were so good to us, and I am so happy we took him to the children’s hospital and not just any ER.  We feel he got the best care he could have possibly gotten.

As we drove home and I finished calling our family and texting a few friends who had been texting all day with the update that we were finally headed home I started to get nervous.  I just prayed, Please Lord let Zach eat enough and drink enough tomorrow.  Watch over him and keep him safe.

Since he had been sleeping all day I was worried it was going to be a long night with a child who wouldn’t sleep.  But he didn’t wake up at all when we got home and he slept through the night not even stirring once.

I was so thankful the next day when Zach drank 10 ounces for the day.  This may not sound like a lot to some but after the last few days of only drinking 3 ounces if that I was thankful for the 10! Every day he has gotten better at drinking more and more. I am so happy he is now back to his old self and drinking anything and everything we give him.

I feel like I can’t thank the nurses and doctor at the hospital enough for being so patient and understanding with CJ and me, also for them taking such amazing care of our child. I am blessed to have the friends and family that I do that no matter how often crazy things happen in my life they are there if I need them or just text to say hi and see how we are doing.

I hope to never have to go through something like this again but if I do I will know I have done and will always do whatever I need to for my child.  

We are just 8 followers away from our first giveaway!  Tell your friends about My Wonderfully Imperfect Life for an upcoming chance to win a prize.  Also did you know we are on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.  Be sure to stop by and give us a like, I promise I will love forever if you do!