Hospital Stay #2

We were home and feeling good. Turner was doing so well and I had my happy boy back. We had 3 great days and I was sure Turner was 100% better. Tuesday October 4^th we had an appointment with the Dr for a checkup after our hospital stay, all went well and he was doing great. Wednesday October 5^th was just another day. We woke up and started our day, Turner was very sleepy. I thought he was having a growing day or his body was recovering from the illness. Thursday came and yet again he was so sleepy and wouldn’t wake up, It was like pulling teeth to wake him. I thought again his body was just recovering. But as the day progressed I didn’t feel right about it. When Friday came and it happened again I was beginning to worry. He didn’t show any signs of being sick and had no fever. I would have to wake him every time he needed to eat and half way through he would fall asleep and not finish. He almost acted lethargic as I look back. I began to wondering what was going on and why he was so sleepy. That night as I was getting him ready for bed and made a bottle he felt a little warm. I took his temperature and it was 99.9 auxiliary. All night long he ran a fever of 99.8-100.5. He was restless all night and very fussy, I could tell he was tired but he just couldn’t get comfortable. I had laid in bed with him from 3:30 until 7 that morning and he just fussed and squirmed in his sleep. Once I got up I check his temp again, it was 100.6. I called the nurse hotline and she advised me to take him to the ER. I will admit I was not too keen on this. I didn’t want them to poke and prod him all over again. So I decided to call the clinic and take him in their first. We got to the Dr’s by 9:30 and were seen right away. Turner had a temp of 101.5 at this time and he was very fussy and didn’t want to be touched or moved. All this was like the prior week, I was having horrible flash backs and my poor baby was in pain. The Dr told me that he was going to be admitted to the hospital but she was going to call the on-call Dr and talk to Spokane. The Dr on-call at the hospital came over to the clinic to talk to me. He told me that we needed to re-admit Turner and run all the tests over again. It was likely that he had relapsed or got a secondary infection from within. With babies under 3 months with a temp of 100.5 or higher it is mandatory to admit them. Every pediatric Dr I talked to always said, “you can never trust babies, they can turn so quickly”. So we headed straight to the hospital. We knew we had at least 72 hours in the hospital waiting for results. I was just glad that we knew what to expect and we were close to home. Saturday was long as we sat in the hospital. Turner was poked for another spinal tap, blood work and an IV. The poor little guy was exhausted from all the trauma that day. It was so heartbreaking to listen to him cry. Our first night was long and interrupted and it wasn’t because of the nurse she was awesome. He had the worst cramps and was so gassy. His little tummy would tighten up and he would scream or whine in pain. It was horrible and there wasn’t much I could do. For 2 days he ran a fever of 99-100+. That Sunday October 9 we had planned to bless him but being in the hospital our plans changes. We had some visitors that day and it was nice to have some company. Monday morning Dr Thompson (our regular Dr) came in that morning and was just shocked to see us back in the hospital. We talked and I told her what happened. She told us that the cultures where not complete but there was no growth yet, but wanted him to go without a fever for 24 hours. So our goal was no fevers for 24 hours so we could go home. Tuesday morning was the final day and all the tests came back negative for bacteria and Turner was fever free so we could go home. We never really figured out what he got but concluded that he must have relapsed with Meningitis because he had all the same symptoms. I was just glad it wasn’t something new or more serious than what we already knew he had.

We are home and so far Turner has been doing well. He is back to his normal self again and so happy. I have been so paranoid with anyone touching him and I find myself checking his temp often. We haven’t gone out since then and I don’t plan to take him out of this house for a few more weeks. Anyone that comes over has to stay away or WASH and STERILIZE!! He is just so susceptible right now and if he gets sick and has another fever we will have to go back in the hospital.

I will say that I have grown a lot from all this. I love my children and think they are irreplaceable and so precious, but after all this I find that feeling even greater.

Visit from the worlds best aunt! Rischel

Ashlyn, Emry and Owen came to visit and made a sign and cards, we loved it.