WOW - can I just say that this winter have been super difficult?
We just got back from visiting family in Utah on Wednesday sick with colds once again (Bridger, Lincoln, and mom were the worst off). Everything was manageable until Friday. Around 1:00 pm Spencer left with a friend to go snow hiking up a mountain in New Hampshire and would not be back until Saturday LATE night (11:30pm). I was fine taking care of three without help...not stressed at all. Then at 2:00 pm Lincoln woke up from his nap SCREAMING! Emerson said, "I think you should go get Lincoln." Okay, thanks for the recommendation Emerson. I thought that possibly Lincoln got a limb stuck in his crib. I opened his room, didn't turn on the lights, saw that no limb was stuck, and went over to pick him up. When I stuck my hands under his face I felt something drip on me. First thought: Could this be his tears? Second thought: No way - too much liquid on my hands. Realization: I turn on the lights to find Lincoln pushing himself out of a massive puddle of vomit. He threw up all his lunch and half of breakfast, half digested...yeah, it was gross, you can think it. I gave him a bath while I cleaned up the mess. I remembered that he had eaten a possibly rotten clementine with breakfast and thought, it's got to be the clementine. About an hour later he vomited again, then again an hour later. I thought for sure he was done ridding his body of the rotten clementine because he gulped down some water and took some sips of ginger ale. Friday nights are our 'Popcorn/Movie' nights so of course Lincoln wanted popcorn since Emerson was eating it. He was doing great for a while, then oops! Lincoln threw up all of the popcorn right back into his bowl...and then proceeded to eat it again...yeah, GROSS; you can say it! After that I put the boys to bed. Everything was good until midnight. Lincoln woke himself up by vomiting. I changed the sheets, blankets, PJ's, and put Lincoln back to bed. Half an hour later...vomit! I change the sheets, blankets, PJ's, and put Lincoln and Emerson back to bed. Half and hour later...vomit! There wasn't much vomit, but I changes the sheets, blanket, and PJ's and put a towel down under Lincoln so I didn't have to change sheets if he vomited again. Back to bed. 3:30 am Lincoln woke up again by vomiting. Change the towel, PJ's, and put him back to bed. Half hour later...vomit. Change the towel, wipe off the little bit of vomit, and back to bed. Half hour later...vomit. Wipe it up and back to bed. Can you tell that I was exhausted? Lincoln didn't vomit again until 7:00 am. Everyone got up. Lincoln got a bath, Bridger was fed, and Emerson got himself ready for the day. I gave Lincoln some power aid to start the process of hydrating him, plus he was asking for it, "please drink?" or "please eat?" I set the clock for a half an hour to see if he could hold it down. He didn't make it. As Lincoln was throwing up my friend Amy was at the door, knocking. She was picking up Emerson to take him to a Primary activity. Once Lincoln was done throwing up I sent Emerson off with Amy. Lincoln threw up again around 10:00 am then fell asleep on the couch. He woke up an hour later asking for drink and food. I called his doctor to get some advice, like should I give him a drink if he's asking for it? The nurse asked if Lincoln was still having wet diapers. His last wet diaper was from this morning at 7:00 am otherwise his diaper has stayed dry and it was almost 12 noon. The nurse told me to take Lincoln to the hospital now. I said, "Really?" but then packed Bridger, Lincoln, and myself in the car and headed to Children's Hospital. I called Amy to let her know that I was going to the ER for Lincoln and if she would keep Emerson with her. She was super kind to keep Em for me.
The ER:
We checked into the ER Saturday at 11:30 am. The doctors gave Lincoln medicine to help his nausea. He kept that down so they offered him a popsicle. The nurse said, "Here's something he can slowly lick and hopefully keep down." Lincoln didn't lick that popsicle once. He inhaled it in a minute flat! He then shook for 5 minutes after that, most likely because he ate the pop too fast. He ended up eating a totally of 3 pops, drank 2 Pedialyte juice boxes, and 1 apple juice box. He kept it all down, but that wasn't enough. One nurse said, "Does his eyes look sunken in to you? He looks really dry." It was then that I really LOOKED at Lincoln (since I had Bridger there with me too) and noticed his eyes being really dark and his hands were stiff and wrinkled as if he were shriveling up! The nurse ordered an IV for Linc. Before the IV the doctor thought Linc's belly was protruding so he ordered an x-ray. After the x-ray came the IV. They put some numbing cream on Linc's arm and a half hour later, they put in the IV. The IV took a long time because the guy stuck it in a valve so he had to wait until all the blood was pumped out. Lincoln did such a good job. He was crying, but kept his eyes on me and would take deep breaths with me to calm down. Once the IV they pumped the fluid into him quick. The doctors came back to tell me that after running the lab tests on Lincoln's blood they discovered that Lincoln was SUPER dehydrated and his blood sugar was very low. Because of this they felt it was in our best interest to keep Lincoln over night. This was around 5:00 pm - Spencer was still climbing in NH, how was I going to handle this? I called my friend Amy who was watching Emerson and we came up with a plan. She would meet me outside the ER at 7:30 pm, pick up Bridger and the house key, take Emerson and Bridger home to my house, put them to bed, and wait till Spencer got home. SHE IS THE BEST! Amy really saved me. Spencer then called me around 6:00 pm...in a happy upbeat voice "Hi honey, how are you?" Me: "Um, you didn't get my message did you?" S: "No. What's up?" I explained where we were and how things are being handled and let him know that Amy would be waiting for him at our house...and that was that. Poor Spencer, I'm sure he didn't have a good 3.5 hour drive back from NH. Just before Amy arrived the doctor let me know that our room upstairs would be available at 7:30 pm. Great! I gave Bridger to Amy, bought some food since I hadn't eaten since 9:00 am, and hurried back to Lincoln to pack up and move upstairs. However, once I returned there was no packing up and moving upstairs..."there are complications upstairs so we will have to wait." So we waited. And waited. And WAITED! It was a good thing I grabbed our tablet, stand, and charger because that's all Lincoln did...watch movies. The bad thing was I didn't anticipate that we would be admitted overnight, therefore I didn't bring my phone charger and it died. Luckily I made all the important phone calls before that happened. My home teacher and a friend visited the ER around 9:00 pm to give Lincoln and I blessing. I needed one because I was getting more and more sick (congested) the longer we stayed in the hospital. After they left, Lincoln and I tried to fall asleep. Lincoln had a hard time in that bed. I tried lying down with him, but he would try to get comfortable by throwing his legs over me. He finally said, "I hold you?" So I picked him up and sat down on the bed with him in my arms. Lincoln was out seconds later and I soon followed (11 pm). Once I was asleep a lady came in our room letting me know that we were moving upstairs and to get my signature on paperwork. I packed up our stuff and the nurse helped us transition upstairs (11:30 pm).
Our shared room:
I was super happy to get into our room, but super unexcited about sharing a room with another patient who was confined to her room because she was contagious! Hopefully we catch a break and not further illnesses. Lincoln was super exhausted that he didn't wake up to me moving him around and laying him in his cage, oh I mean crib. The nurse let me know that the crib can hold adult weight and most of the time does hold adult weight. I resisted crawling in with Lincoln because it would be uncomfortable for both and we both needed our sleep. Sleep...what's that? I called Spencer, who was home and gave him the number to our room since my cell was dead. Then just as I was gearing up to go to bed, a resident doctor came for a visit. He asked me to tell Lincoln's story, then asked a bunch of other questions, and then left. Five minutes later, another resident doctor came in asking me to repeat the story again, followed by more questions. Good Night right? Wrong. Then the nurse came in to check vital signs on Lincoln and almost woke him up. Finally, we could get some sleep (1 am). Lincoln woke up at 3 am. It took about an hour for him to go back to sleep. Then 7 am sharp Lincoln was awake for good...and so was I. Lincoln looked and acted better and better as the day went on. He ate some bland food, like cheerios and drank some juice. By mid day they let him try milk, but he didn't really want that. By the afternoon Lincoln was super stir crazy. I guess he had enough of Pixar shorts: Burn-e and Presto, and Fantasia. He watched those over, and over, and over! Lincoln just wanted to get down and run around the room. One time I had to completely lock him in the crib with plastic topping and all so I could go to the bathroom! I was ready to leave too. I was kind of done pumping in the hospital and super excited to get home where I wouldn't starve! It's really difficult to get food in the hospital when your alone and not a patient. They keep a close eye on what the "patient" orders for food...just in case you're trying to feed others besides the patient. Our roommates were doing that and got caught. Finally, the doctor let Lincoln and I go home around 5 pm. It was so nice to come home. We were greeted with warm smiles, hugs, and kisses from Daddy and Emerson. Bridger on the other hand screamed and cried. Why? Because he heard mommy and wanted me and me only. Oh, it's so good to be home!
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| The set up |
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| So sad |
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| Look how dark his eyes were |
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| Bridger Bear, my super chill baby napping in his car seat |
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| Inhaling one of the three popsicle he ate |
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| while zoning into the tablet |
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| The IV |
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| Getting hydrated |
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| Lincoln's Crib ;-) |
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| A top view |
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| Munchin' on Cheerios |
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| Starting to feel better |
