Our life over the past
couple of weeks has been up and down for all of us. Zoe made her first trip to
the hospital. On Tuesday night, June 3, Zoe had a high fever. Our pediatrician
told us to take her to a clinic. After waiting at the clinic for a while, we
were sent to the hospital for tests. Now, I was already pretty scared and upset
on the way to the hospital. We were told when we left the clinic that there
would be a room waiting for us and we would be admitted. We would just have to
talk to Erica. We went into the ER because admitting was closed. We handed the
man at reception our papers and ask to speak with Erica about getting a room.
The man goes over to Erica and talks to her and what I deciphered from their
conversation was, "I don't know anything about these people, take it to
the other ladies." The man from reception comes back out and tells us to
take a seat. There is a good deal of sick adults there and so I ask how long is
this going to take? I was promised a room. He is like well, all of these
emergency cases are before you. He walks away and I say my child is 12 weeks
old with a fever, IT IS AN EMERGENCY. Poor Nate should get a medal because the
crazy was only starting at this point. I then decided that I was not going to
wait for Zoe to catch anything else from the people around her so I went to
talk to the admitting ladies.
This is the part of the
story where I went pretty crazy. My middle school students would always tell me
that their moms were crazy. They would say things like, "My mom said I
won't be able to drive anywhere when I am sixteen." I would always tell
them that there is a switch that flips when their moms had them that made them
crazy and that I was sure that I would have it happen to me too. I. Was. Right.
I was, Sally Field in Steel Magnolias, level of emotional at this point. It's
one of those moments where you realize how crazy you sound and you don't care
at all. I went over to admitting and said that I was promised a room and I
needed one because my baby didn't need to be around all the germs. I was almost
yelling. They directed us to an empty waiting room where one other couple with
an infant joined us. After a WHILE, we were shown to a room. I thought
everything took a long time that night, I have no idea if it actually did. We
were finally taken to our room. The worst part of the whole night was next, Zoe
started getting the chills. Nate had to hold her because I was so worried and
upset, I thought I was going to throw up. I went out to the nurse and
interrupted his phone conversation to get him to give her something. I was
beside myself. I couldn't see her suffer like that. They gave her Tylenol and
she calmed down. I kept asking when we would see a doctor. The name of the
hospital we were at was Doctor's Hospital at Renaissance. I said to Nate,
"Don't hospitals employ doctors? Why are we waiting for the doctor to come?
The name of the hospital is 'Doctor's Hospital'." Again, Nate should get a
medal.
The doctor came and
ordered the tests to be run. The nurses took us to a place called the
"Procedure Room". The “Procedure Room" sucks. I don't like to
use the word sucks, but I will make an exception for this one time. They do any
procedure that causes pain in this room. In Zoe's case, they took blood, catheterized
her, and started an IV. Zoe hates this room, Mommy hates this room, I imagine
all people on Earth hate this room. At one point, she had to have her IV
redone. That was the worst part of our stay. I was crying because I couldn't
bear the pain they were putting her through. Put the IV in me! If you poke her
one more time, I am stealing all of the needles and holding them hostage. The
"Procedure Room" sucks.
At about 1:30 am, they
informed us she had a urinary tract infection. There was a relief that came
over me at this point because I knew what she had and how it could be treated.
Before that, she could have had anything. We must have been on the floor with
pediatric oncology because the scale they weighed her on when we first got
there said "pediatric oncology" and one of the nurses' ID cards said
it too. In my mind I am not thinking, "Oh my goodness, they think she has
cancer!" Yes, I was a crazy mess. Anyway, they started her on antibiotics
right away. We had to wait two days for a urine culture to return to determine
what kind of bacteria was creating the infection.
Zoe was also diagnosed
with bladder reflux. It has a fancier name, but it is hard to say and spell. If
you Google bladder reflux it will come up. It starts with the letter V. This
basically means her urine is traveling back up to her kidneys and collecting
bacteria and coming back down, creating infections. She has a severe case of
this. The most common treatment is to keep her on antibiotics and see if she
grows out of it. The other option is surgery. We have been referred to a see a
pediatric urologist to determine the course of treatment. We may have to travel
as far away as Houston to see the doctor because the Valley doesn't have a
pediatric urologist. Please keep Zoe, Nate and I in your prayers as we wait to
see the doctor. Waiting makes the mind wander.
Even though my little
girl was put through so much, she kept smiling. I love her. She really is the
best baby. The nurses kept saying how good of a baby she is. I naturally agree.
Here are some pics of her in the hospital.
Look at my IV
Her smile that she flashed at all the nurses and doctors. She loves to make friends.
They put this diaper with warm water on her arm because her IV blew. She is ready to box. She watched all five Rocky movies in her first month of life.
Sitting by our window.
Baby Hospital Gown
Now when you are in
undesirable situations, like being in the hospital, it is always good to look
for a silver lining. My silver lining was the large window right next to the
hospital bed I spent all of my time in during our s. Our apartment has no
windows in the living room. I noticed when I started staying home with Zoe that
I craved sunlight. There is no natural light in the room that I spend most of
my time in. (I would go outside if I didn't live on the surface of the sun.)
This window not only provided sunshine, it was a source of entertainment. Our
room overlooked the parking lot closest to the ER. While Zoe was sleeping or
while I held her, I would watch people in this parking lot. It was like the
mall at Christmas time. People were constantly in a Wild West type show down
over parking spots.
In our stay, we were
blessed with good doctors and nurses. We were also blessed with friends who
brought us food and other items. Our very good friend, Alan, even went to our
apartment at 1 am that first night to get our phone chargers and Zoe's teddy
bear. Alan is the man. God puts the right people in place at the right times.
Thank you for all of your prayers for Zoe, Nate and I. We appreciate all of the
love and support.
This week Nate is busy
leading VBS. Zobug and I are taking pictures. I will post about that next time because this has turned into a
novel.
That is all for now. God
is good.
