The {Worst} Best Night

I could say that last night was the worst night we've had since being parents, but in reality it was the best night because while part of our night consisted of this:

(that's a picture of Teddy in the itty-bittyiest hospital gown I've ever seen lying in the Pediatric ER at St. John's Mercy)

... my morning consisted of this:

sitting at our kitchen table holding my baby boy on his 2 month birthday happy and smiling (though a little less energetic than usual) and talking to my happy and healthy (and VERY energetic little girls). 

So, yeah, last night sucked but I also got a glimpse of how much worse it could have been.  

Teddy had an "off" day yesterday -- much more fussy than usual and didn't want to do anything but sleep.  So when Scott got off work we checked his temperature.  We used the underarm method first and got 99.8 -- a little high, but not high enough to call the doctor.  I didn't really trust this reading though; he just felt warmer than that to me.  So I did things the old-fashioned way and got a rectal temperature.  100.4.  The magic number.  This was officially a fever.  And Teddy is officially under 3 months.  That officially means a trip to the ER.  I looked it up.  I called the after hours number for our pediatrician's office.  I went to the local urgent care.  I kept hoping someone would tell me I was wrong and we didn't have to go to the ER.  I wasted a lot of time with that hope.  It was going on 9:00 when Teddy and I got back from the urgent care with the inevitable referral to the ER.  Scott was ready to hop in the car and my parents were already there to watch over the girls (who, thankfully, were sleeping).  Off to the ER we went.  

We were very fortunate to have such a young child with us because as soon as we walked into the registration area and told them why we were there they prepared a room for us and escorted us right there.   Walking through the actual ER area gave me flashbacks to my days as a speech intern in the hospital.  We told our story to the admissions woman, the nurse and finally the doctor -- who was from Michigan and currently lives in the same town we do and understood the love of both the Tigers and Cards (Scott had the Tiger's game on).  She felt the same as me -- love the Tigers until they are playing the Cards :).  We were so happy to get such nice nurses and doctors.  The Doctor had pretty flat affect, but underneath that had a dry sense of humor and a good heart :).  I would guess you have to walk a fine line in a pediatric ER between too happy/chipper and too sullen.  She made us feel very comfortable and went through everything with us in a very matter-of-fact, personable and non-alarmist way.  Just what you want in a situation like that. 

Because Teddy is so young, we automatically had to do urine and blood tests as well as a nasal swab to check for RSV and flu.  If he had been much younger a spinal tap would have been added to the list.  I held it together through everything last night; I think a spinal tap would have put me over the edge.  The good news straight off the bat was that Teddy was sucking strongly, happy and alert, and charming all the nurses and doctors.  In other words, he wasn't acting like a very sick child.  There were no other worrisome symptoms, he was not high risk for being septic, he just had a darn fever (and a slight rash on his body).  It looked like "just" a virus.  But we had to be safe and do all of the tests anyway.  That was the hard part.   A little after 10 the nurses came in and got what they needed.  It was Aw.Ful. to hear Teddy screaming as they poked and prodded and to see the raw emotion in his eyes.  Awful. Awful. Awful.  The irony is that if he had been MORE sick, REALLY sick, he probably would have screamed less or not at all.  I'm guessing that would not have made the whole thing any better.  I held him as tight as I could and whispered and shhh'd in his ear, telling him it was going to be okay and it would be over soon. I'm so thankful I was right on both counts. When he had to be lying on the bed for the blood draw, I nuzzled up as close as I could and did the same.  Poor little guy has bad veins in his hands like his momma and they couldn't get the I.V. feed in.  Luckily they got the blood and decided to wait on the I.V. to give everyone a break.  Doubly lucky, they never needed to put the I.V. in. 

By 10:30 all the necessary tests were done and sent to the lab and we just had to wait for the results.  Around 11:15 the doctor came back in and gave us the good news that everything came back normal and healthy.  We were sent home around 11:30 with orders to watch the fever, give Tylenol if he's uncomfortable and to be in touch with our pediatrician to keep him up to date on everything.  She felt it's likely a virus that just needs to run it's course -- and may get worse before it gets better.  Teddy's two-month appointment is tomorrow so we'll be following up with the Dr. then.  Until then, my goal is to keep Teddy hydrated to avoid another trip to the ER (as cute as Teddy looked in his hospital gown, I never want to see him in one again...), to get some rest before Scott heads out of town for the weekend, to love on all my children a little more, and to remember how lucky we are even on the days when parenting is hard and kids are melting down and whining.  The alternative would be simply devastating.   

My heart goes out to all families who have to endure hospital stays on a regular or even daily basis.  I simply cannot imagine the stress of having a very sick child.  I am beyond grateful that I didn't have to find out yesterday.