Princess Carly visits the E.R.

It's been a hectic couple of days here...

It all started Wednesday night, when I took Carly's temp b/c she seemed a little hot to me. It was 100.4 She was starting to get a little congested, so I put in a call to her pedi. The on-call doc said to give her some Tylenol and bring her to the office in the a.m. The rest of that night was horrible, as Carly could not nurse very well and woke up every hour. She ended up sleeping on my chest while I was sitting in the recliner. Needless to say, I only got about 2 hrs of sleep.

So yesterday morning, I took her to see her regular pedi. He checked her out and even did a nasal swab for RSV. It all came back negative--no RSV, no ear infections, no icky sounds in her lungs, but she still had a fever of 101.4. He gave her a RX for Augmentin to ward off an ear infection and told me to keep giving her Tylenol. He said that if she seemed any worse, to call and he would send her to the hospital. Of course, the hospital where I work does not have a pedi unit...so I would have to take her to another hospital if she needed to go. And of course, as my insurance is soooooo wonderful, that hospital is not in network...oh joy.

Later that evening, she just wasn't herself. She was glassy eyed and listless. Her fever was back and her poor little nose was so blocked she couldn't nurse at all. So my friend who has worked NICU and pedi in the past came and listened to her lungs. She heard some wheezing and saw some mild retractions. Off to the ER we go

We got there at around 7:30pm. We didn't leave until 1:30 THIS MORNING. Steve had to stay home with the boys, so one of my dearest friends came to sit with me. Anyway--Carly, of course, sounded fine when we got there (you know the whole take them to the dr and the symptoms disappear thing), but the ER doc was concerned that she had a fever of unknown origin at her young age (7 weeks). So he ordered all sorts of tests. The chest xray made Carly scream at being held down--it was negative. The IV caused her and I pain--she was screaming as we all had to hold her down and I was getting upset to see my baby girl in pain. THe bloodwork was negative. On to the UA--they had to cath her to get the urine. I am so glad that Angela was there b/c this was the point that I was about to lose it. To watch my seven week old baby being held down and screaming her lungs off while her nurse sticks a catheter into her very tiny parts just broke my heart. Of course he can't get it on the first try--made me want to smack him and tell him to get out of my way and let me do it b/c I KNOW I could do a better job.) I am tearing up now thinking about it. It turns out that Carly has a UTI. Very weird for a tiny baby to have one. The doctor assured me it was nothing I had done--as I was thinking it was my fault even though I wipe front to back and change her as soon as she is dirty. He said that it might be something structural, so after this clears up, she will get a sonogram and a work up to see if something is amiss. They gave her some Rocephin IV and sent us on our way home.

At this point, I was so tired, as I only had 2 hrs sleep in a 24 hr time period...but good little Carly slept pretty well this morning and I got to sleep in to 9 AM!! (Only a mother of a new baby would think that was late...LOL!)

As soon as I knew she was OK, I took a picture couple of pictures of her first E.R. visit.

Here's poor Princess--they had to put an arm board on to protect her IV.

Here's Carly and Angela, my life-saver!