Raleigh's Week Long Hospital Stay

Oh man.

This last week has been one of the worst weeks of my life!

It all started last Monday night/Tuesday morning.

Raleigh was having a really rough night which is very unusual for her.

She was waking up every hour and was very irritable.

Finally, at 3 am I decided to take her temperature and it was 103.

Holy cow!

I immediately give her some tylenol, strip her down and put a cool wash cloth on her to help cool her down.

I ended calling a 24 hour nurse line and after talking to the nurse I was told to take her to the Emergency Room.

Oh, great...

Well I check her temperature again and its come down to 101.

So I decide to try and hold her off a few hours until the doctor's office opens because I really don't want to make a trip to the ER in the middle of the night again.

I was finally able to get her back to sleep (in our bed) and as soon as the doctor opened I call and make an appointment.

Well, they couldn't see us until 3:00 that afternoon.

Great...

So I watch her temperature closely all day and keep giving her tylenol to help control the fever.

Well 2:00 rolls around and the fever has completely gone away.

So I'm feeling pretty silly about taking a child to the doctor who doesn't have a fever and doesn't seem too sick anymore.

I didn't want to be one of those moms that takes their kid to the doc when there's absolutely nothing wrong with them.

So I debate back and forth about going and finally decide to just go since I have the appointment already and I really shouldn't cancel last minute anyway.

I tell Travis I should be back home in about an hour and off Raleigh and I go.

So we get to the doctor, they take her temperature, and it's 98.

I quickly say to the nurse that it was 103 at one point.

  She gives a little courtesy laugh and says she believe me.

Well I'm definitely feeling really dumb about taking her in at this point!

So we get back to the room and wait for the doc to come in.

When the doc comes I explain everything and then she excuses herself for a minute.

Again, I'm feeling really embarrassed about bringing a non-sick child in.

Well next thing I know, there's two other doctors in the room telling me that they need to admit Raleigh to the hospital immediately.

Wait...What?!?!

They go on to explain that since she's so young (less than 2 months) that any sort of a fever warrants being put in the hospital to figure out what's causing it.

Well I guess I probably should've just taken her to the ER early that morning after all...

At this point I'm trying really hard to not just start crying because I do not want to admit Raleigh to the hospital and there's a million horrible things running through my head and I'm all alone without Travis.

So they tell me to drive over to the hospital to admit Raleigh and the nurses there will explain everything.

At this point I'm definitely crying and freaking out and Travis isn't answering his phone (it was plugged in and charging in our bedroom where he couldn't hear it...) and I'm pretty much just a wreck thinking that it's my fault for not getting her into the doctor/ER earlier.

So we get admitted to the Children's Unit and the nurses explain that they have to check Raleigh's urine, blood, and Cerebral Spinal Fluid for any infection. 

And in order to do all that they have to put a catheter in, draw multiple blood samples, and finally give her a spinal tap.

And the worst part?

They wouldn't let me be there with her when they did all this.

They said it's too traumatic for parents to be there so they don't allow it.

Oh, well that's just great!

I'm even more of a wreck now thinking of all these horrible things that my 6 week old little girl is going through all alone without her Mommy there to help her. 

And Travis still isn't answering his phone.

About an hour later, Raleigh gets finished with all of the things they need to do and they bring her back with an IV in her head.

It looked pretty scary but the nurses said that's the best place to put it on such a young baby so they can't pull it out.

Well, Travis finally calls me back after realizing he didn't have his phone with him.

I quickly filled him in and then decided to run home to pack a bag and bring Travis and Lawson back with me to visit Raleigh for a little bit. 

And then came the waiting.

And waiting, and waiting and waiting...

The majority of the tests and labs they were having run would take 24-48 hours to get conclusive results back.

And by this point her fever has returned and she had become one very sick little girl.

It's so hard to watch your child in pain and have no idea what's wrong with them.

And it awful thinking about all the possible things that it could be.

The doctors said that it could turn out to be just a simple cold/flu virus.

Or it could be something as serious as meningitis. 

So that's why it was necessary to admit her to the hospital to run all these tests.

So we could know what we were trying to deal with.

That first night in the hospital was brutal.

I think I got maybe two hours of sleep total throughout the whole night.

Raleigh was miserable and wouldn't sleep and then the nurses kept coming in at least every hour to do something.

Needless to say, I was already exhausted and we hadn't even been there for 24 hours yet!

So, long story short, after waiting for test results to come back they ended up finding an infection in her urine. 

So the fever was from getting a urinary tract infection.

And since she's so young her little body wasn't able to contain the infection and it spread to her blood which is very serious and dangerous for anyone let alone a six week old!

Luckily, they were able to catch the infection and start antibiotics before it got too serious and out of control.

The doctor said had I waited even as little as 12 more hours to bring her in the infection could've started spreading from her blood to her organs and could have started shutting her body down.

She then went on to say that by bringing her in when I did, I essentially saved her life.

Oh my goodness, I was so thankful that I had decided to take her to that doctor appointment that I felt so silly for scheduling.

I honestly don't know what I would've done with myself had I not done so.

So we lay out a plan of action with the doctors.

Raleigh needed to be on IV antibiotics four times a day for 7 days. 

Which meant that I got a lovely week long stay in the hospital!

And oh man, it was a very rough week.

And one I hope to never, ever repeat. 

I was so sleep deprived by the end of the week and had a major case of cabin fever from being in that tiny hospital room pretty much 24/7.

The first full day I was there, I tried to keep Lawson with me while Travis was busy with school and studying.

Needless to say, that was a nightmare!

A two year old cooped up in a hospital room is a sure equation for disaster.

So I decided that I need to swallow my pride and ask for help.

And oh man, we were so blessed for all the help that we recieved.

Not only was Lawson completely taken care of for the entire week but we were also fed for the entire week.

Words cannot describe how grateful we are for our Ward "family" we have here in Galveston.

Thank you, thank you!!

Yesterday was day seven of Raleigh's IV antibiotics and we were finally cleared to be discharged!

We got to bring our healthy, happy little girl back home.

Although it was a really rough and horrible week, I'm so thankful that we were able to get our little Raleigh healthy again. 

There's no where I would've rather been than right there by my little girl's side during all she went through.

She was quite the trooper and she has quite a few battle wounds to prove it!

It was so nice to be able to sleep in my own bed again and to have a peaceful night's sleep.

And it was great to have Lawson be so excited to see that Mommy was back home!

I loved spending the day with my him and just resting and recouping with Raleigh.

So now Raleigh is on seven days on oral antibiotics at home and then has a follow up doctor's appointment next week.

I'm a little paranoid about her getting sick again so I'm being extra cautious and probably over protective of her.

But that's totally allowed after the week I just had!

Let's hope that she continues to stay healthy!

 Here's a picture of her scary looking IV in her head...

She was one pretty sick little girl!

Lawson loved coming to check on baby Raleigh and holding her to help her feel better!

Finally...all healthy and happy and ready to go home!

We sure do love our little Raleigh and are so thankful to have her back!