July 1st I noticed during the day that Alice seemed a little warm but it wasn't enough for me to even think it was a fever. She also looked a little gray, but again I passed it off as some weird newborn coloring since that happens. That evening I went to nurse her around 10 PM. She was crying hard (very unusual for her.) When I went to latch her on, she wouldn't. Her mouth was like it was stuck open, her tongue was curled to the side, her eyes were crossed, and she was making a weird grunting noise over and over. It lasted a few minutes, then she latched right on. Dan and I were concerned but she had seemed to snap out of it so we were going to just pass it off until she did it again while she was nursing. We then decided to take her temperature and were very surprised to learn it was 101. She hardly even felt warm! We called a neighbor to come sit with our sleeping kids and rushed off the the ER. I hesitated going thinking "Maybe if I just give her some Tylenol she'll be fine." If it wasn't for her unusual behavior as well, I never would have gone, but it's a good thing we did.
The ER wanted to do a lot of tests even though it was "just a fever" because apparently sometimes that's the only symptom you get in a baby even for serious problems. They did a urine collection, blood draw, and chest x-ray when we learned that she had a bad UTI that had gone into her kidney. They then had to do a spinal tap just to make sure the infection wasn't in her blood as well. That was a sad, sad thing to witness on a little baby. She did AWESOME for all that testing, hardly saying more than a little bit of fussing to protest being awake. Everyone commented on what a good baby she was.
We were moved up to the pediatric unit around 2 AM and thought we'd just be there for the night. Once up there a nurse informed us that we'd be there at least 2 days while we waited for test results. I was shocked it would be so long! Alice's fever never returned once they gave her Tylenol and she acted fine, but we still had to stay. Dan went home while I stayed with Alice since we're joined at the breast right now. It was hard to sleep since she had so many monitors on her and when one slipped off the alarm was super loud. Nursing was also a challenge since she had so many cords and IV stuff on her. I told the nurses next time I want a baby that doesn't have to be plugged in. A battery operated baby would be easier.
The glowing oxygen monitor inside her sock reminded us of E.T.
While there, Matty and Jossy got the puking stomach virus AGAIN (they had had it less than a week before!) I also had the joy of experiencing it while in the hospital. It was not a fun week for sure and I'm glad it's just a memory now.
Me sick in Alice's hospital room pretending to feel fine.
The beautiful highlight of my week was finally capturing a smile with the camera.
No one has ever made a koala rocketship hospital gown look so good.
So the cultures eventually came back and told us it was thankfully NOT in her bloodstream. We had to have more tests done the following week on her kidneys to see if it was reflux. After an ultrasound and some x-ray testing, we were told as we left that everything looked clear . . . only to be called 2 hours later and told that she had an abnormality and we needed to see a specialist. She has a duplicated ureter on one kidney as well as some other things we didn't understand the implications of. Her appointment with the specialist is mid-August. Until then, we get to do daily antibiotics.
