Just in case anyone is counting...out of the last week (7 nights), Brian and I have stayed in the hospital for 6 of those nights.
On Wednesday afternoon, things started to go differently with Maggie. She wasn't really acting herself (which is sometimes hard to figure out when she is only 3 days old). She appeared to be lethargic and was definitely not interested in eating. This wasn't at all like the great eater we left the hospital with. Then, after eating an afternoon snack, Maggie proceeded to throw up absolutely everything she had eaten up to that point. We talked to the doctor on-call at our physician's office and he recommended we go to the Urgent Care center at Children's Mercy.
So, we packed up a few things and flew out the door.
Little did we know we would get admitted to Children's Mercy Hospital that evening.
At first, the doctors thought it might be a high bilirubin level causing Maggie to act funny, but that turned out to be fine. They tried 6 times, unsuccessfully, to get blood from Maggie so they could run some more tests. But, they didn't want to take any chances and they transported Maggie by ambulance to our downtown Children's Mercy Hospital (the hospital that I work at).
I was pretty tearful and scared to say the least. I just sobbed and cried, not really knowing what else to do. And, they wouldn't let me ride in the ambulance to the hospital because I was only 3 days out from delivering a baby, and that was hospital policy. So, Brian took a ride in the ambulance, while Brian's parents took me back to the house to gather up a few things and head downtown. Colin was at Grammie and Grandad's house sleeping while Brian's youngest brother David was watching him.
Upon arrival, they gave Maggie an I.V., collected blood and urine, and performed a lumbar puncture on her. They wanted to make sure all of her fluids were clear for any bacterial infections. Brian and I felt so badly for her, but she has been such a trooper throughout all of this. She really is such a calm and peaceful baby, but not when people are poking and prodding all over her (I wouldn't be, either!) The results from the tests would come back periodically throughout the next 24-48 hours, but we would have to wait the full 48 hours for the bacteria culture to grow from the lumbar puncture in the spine.
As results came back, everything was looking great, tests were negative. However, our lumbar puncture did have some bacterial growth in it by Friday afternoon. The doctor, however, was not able to rule out the idea of it being contaminated though. The growth didn't really appear to be the type they would expect it to be, as well as growing & behaving the way it was. So, we're still waiting to see when we might be discharged.
On Wednesday afternoon, things started to go differently with Maggie. She wasn't really acting herself (which is sometimes hard to figure out when she is only 3 days old). She appeared to be lethargic and was definitely not interested in eating. This wasn't at all like the great eater we left the hospital with. Then, after eating an afternoon snack, Maggie proceeded to throw up absolutely everything she had eaten up to that point. We talked to the doctor on-call at our physician's office and he recommended we go to the Urgent Care center at Children's Mercy.
So, we packed up a few things and flew out the door.
Little did we know we would get admitted to Children's Mercy Hospital that evening.
At first, the doctors thought it might be a high bilirubin level causing Maggie to act funny, but that turned out to be fine. They tried 6 times, unsuccessfully, to get blood from Maggie so they could run some more tests. But, they didn't want to take any chances and they transported Maggie by ambulance to our downtown Children's Mercy Hospital (the hospital that I work at).
I was pretty tearful and scared to say the least. I just sobbed and cried, not really knowing what else to do. And, they wouldn't let me ride in the ambulance to the hospital because I was only 3 days out from delivering a baby, and that was hospital policy. So, Brian took a ride in the ambulance, while Brian's parents took me back to the house to gather up a few things and head downtown. Colin was at Grammie and Grandad's house sleeping while Brian's youngest brother David was watching him.
Upon arrival, they gave Maggie an I.V., collected blood and urine, and performed a lumbar puncture on her. They wanted to make sure all of her fluids were clear for any bacterial infections. Brian and I felt so badly for her, but she has been such a trooper throughout all of this. She really is such a calm and peaceful baby, but not when people are poking and prodding all over her (I wouldn't be, either!) The results from the tests would come back periodically throughout the next 24-48 hours, but we would have to wait the full 48 hours for the bacteria culture to grow from the lumbar puncture in the spine.
As results came back, everything was looking great, tests were negative. However, our lumbar puncture did have some bacterial growth in it by Friday afternoon. The doctor, however, was not able to rule out the idea of it being contaminated though. The growth didn't really appear to be the type they would expect it to be, as well as growing & behaving the way it was. So, we're still waiting to see when we might be discharged.
Maggie with all of her millions of wires and tubes attached to her
Sleeping peacefully.
They had to put Maggie on oxygen the first day here because she began having episodes of apnea (not breathing) while she was nursing. It happened 3 times and scared me to death each time. She would just be eating fine, then I could tell she would continue eating without stopping for air, and her face would begin to change colors. She turned grey, with purple lips and blue eyelids. Luckily, there was a nurse around each of the 3 episodes and she was able to talk me through it all (at one point she went 40 seconds without breathing and her oxygen saturations dropped to 70%). They still don't know what that was all about, but thinking it might be linked to being dehydrated, possible reflux issues, and some general breastfeeding changes. Sheesh! Enough already!!
Daddy and Maggie, hanging out...waiting for lab results
Mommy and Maggie
Right after a good burp!
Brian and I gave Maggie her first bath (in a hospital with some fancy bath wipes) and she's all dressed up in her fancy new gown. Brian called it a "dress" and I about died laughing. He'll have to make sure he gets his girl-clothing names correct over the next few years...
Such a gorgeous and beautiful young lady! We love you, our expensive little Maggie!!
Throughout this entire ordeal, we haven't really been able to spend much time with Colin. This is totally breaking our hearts. We love love love our time together, he is so much fun right now. The Urgent Care facility is just down the street from Brian's parents house, and they were able to pick him up and get him to bed on time. They have been taking him to daycare every day, which is something we had always planned on doing, even while I was on maternity leave. We figured, that is Colin's normal routine, and I should get to spend my days loving and bonding with Maggie like any new mommy should. Tiff and Chad are going to have Colin over the weekend, and hopefully we will get discharged soon so we can start our new "normal" as a family of 4. Keep your fingers crossed, we are missing our Colin!
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