Be Careful What You Wish/Pray For...

Remember, in a recent post, when I wrote something to the effect of, "I'd rather just sit and hold Graham all day?"  Well, my wish has come true.

On Wednesday morning, Graham woke up around 6 am and as I picked him up I realized he was burning hot.  I immediately took his temperature, and to my horror, discovered that it was 102 degrees (under his arm).  I called the on-call doctor from our physician's office and he instructed us to bring Graham to the office first thing.

I got all the kids up and fed and dressed and we made it to the doctor's office just after it opened at 8:45.  Our regular pediatrician (who is amazing) has Wednesdays off, so we met a brand new doctor.  She looked at Graham, asked a bunch of questions, then informed me that standard protocol for a newborn with a fever is to admit them to the hospital for a minimum of 48 hours, run a battery of tests (including the dreaded spinal tap and collecting a urine sample), and start them on IV antibiotics right away.

I handled the news like a champ!

What? Bursting into tears and blubbering like a fool  in front of my three older kids and a doctor I've never met before isn't champ-like?  Whatever.

I had to call Mark at work (for the second time in a week) and tell him that he needed to come get the older kids so I could go to the hospital.  At least this time we didn't have to go to the ER.

It didn't take too long for us to get admitted to the pediatrics unit, and Mark showed up and took the older kids home.  Then the really terrible stuff began... doctors and nurses took Graham away for the spinal tap and to collect the urine sample.  I was left without my baby to fret alone.  

"It won't take long," they told me.  But as the hours passed, I got more and more apprehensive.  I finally tracked down a nurse and she took me to Graham in a treatment room where NICU nurses were trying to get an IV started.  Unsuccessfully.  Over and over they stabbed him.  I could only hold his hand and try not to cry (again). 

By evening, they had started him on IV antibiotics and fluids.  Graham still had a fever and was irritable, in pain, and dehydrated.

1st day - pre-antibiotics...still so sick

By the next morning, the test results came back saying he had a bladder infection, a kidney infection, and a blood infection.  The doctor explained that in newborns, infections spread quickly and easily; that's why they take fevers so seriously.  She continued, "The good news is we caught it pretty early.  You brought him in as soon as you noticed a fever and we got the antibiotics started within 24 hours of symptoms and, ultimately, he's going to be fine.  It's a good thing you didn't wait another day."

Curious, I asked, "what would Graham have looked like if I had waited another day?  What symptoms does a blood infection in a newborn cause?"

I probably shouldn't have asked the question.  She dropped her voice and answered seriously, "he could have died."

The good news is, because we did catch it "early," there should be no long term problems.  Graham is currently doing wonderfully and is back to "normal."  The bad news is, because the infection got into his blood stream, he has to stay in the hospital for a minimum of 10 days from the first negative blood culture (which we got on Thursday). The doctors keep hinting that most babies under a month old have to stay for 14 days to complete the course of IV antibiotics, but I'm trying to convince them that 10 days is sufficient.

First day in the hospital, with IV in his hand

As the "milk cow" (as my sister-in-law so aptly described me), I'm staying in the hospital with Graham.  Obviously, that's extremely disruptive to our regularly scheduled life.  Graham doesn't care where he is, and he won't remember any of this experience.  The older kids, however, are much more aware that Mom isn't around.

 A miracle of timing is that Mark's parents were already planning to come visit for almost 2 weeks for Graham's blessing.  They were set to arrive Thursday afternoon.

What to do with the older kids on Thursday until Grandma and Grandpa arrived was a challenge.  Mark needed to go to work and pick up his parents at the airport.  It would be too long of a day to ask a friend to take 3 extra kids.  Thankfully, we were able to get an amazing babysitter who was willing to re-arrange her schedule to help us out.  The kids loved spending the day playing with Sharla.  

Dinner was another problem.  I was stuck at the hospital, Mark didn't get home till after 6 with his parents, and I was supposed to go to grocery store on Wednesday, so we didn't have much food in the house.  I had to call the Relief Society 1st counselor in our new ward and ask for help.  I felt the need to explain that, despite evidence to the contrary over the last 2 months, we really aren't the "needy" family.

Having Grandma and Grandpa Winters here makes a difficult situation much more manageable.  For the most part, I've been hanging out at the hospital, "spending all day holding Graham," just like I thought I wanted.

But it's not just my fault...I also (jokingly) blame my mom.  When she was here I asked her to pray that Graham would come.  One morning she came downstairs and told me, "I prayed that Graham would come and I also prayed that your new ward would be able to serve you."

"What?!," I exclaimed, "why did you say that??  Pray again and please tell Heavenly Father that you take it back.  Tell him we're good.  Cause if anything goes wrong now and we need help, it's your fault!" 

Love you, Mom!

Sorry no pictures...I'm writing this from our hospital room. *Updated with pictures*