Grady update: He is doing great. He screamed the whole ride home after his surgery. I feel like that was because he was foggy from anesthesia and just ticked in general. Once we got home, he took a nap (Jarrod and I did too!), and then we went for lunch, came home and chilled until it was time to pick up Collin and Atalie from daycare. I even got some work done that afternoon. Grady was super pleasant. He was talking UP A STORM! I guess having clear ears and a "free" tongue will do that to a kid :) His absolute new favorite things are: Walking with some assistance, talking, dancing. That boy will dance to anything remotely musical!
Atalie update: Our girl is a strong girl.
When the doctor put Grady's tubes in, she noticed he had a double ear infection. Even in spite of the fact that he had just come off antibiotics a week and a half prior for a previous ear infection. Jarrod and I talked on the way home from Grady's surgery about how Atalie had seemed "off" that week too, and he suspected she might have an ear infection. Jarrod took her that afternoon and it turned out she did in fact have an ear infection. She was started on Amoxicillin.
Fast forward a week... Atalie wasn't sleeping very well last Monday and Tuesday night. When I picked her up from daycare on Wednesday, she came right over and wanted to be held. Her teachers said she had not been feeling well that day, but she didn't have a fever.
We went home, ate dinner (she ate really well), played a little before bed and during this time we noticed she had a slight temperature. It was around 99+ and she had a faint rash all over her body, so we gave her some Tylenol and put her to bed after her bottle. Around 10:30 pm she woke up, inconsolable. Jarrod held her while I worked on making a bottle for her because nothing else we tried seemed to comfort her. While Jarrod was holding her and trying to get her to quit crying, he rubbed his hand over her head trying to comfort her, and he noticed her soft spot was raised. Atalie's soft spot is still quite noticeable, even at almost 1 year of age. It is usually slightly depressed, and you can often see it pulse. Jarrod said something about it being swollen, held her over for me to feel and it immediately concerned me. We also checked her temperature again and it had gone up to 102.9.
I took her from Jarrod while he went to call our pediatrician. Our poor pediatrician. We have called him so many times this year after-hours. We are very thankful for him and his willingness to talk to us when we need it! I don't know what I expected to hear Jarrod say when he came back from talking to the ped, but I don't think it was, "We need to get her to Children's".
Praise the Lord everything came together quickly. It wasn't terribly late at this point, so Jarrod texted some girls in our small group to see if they were still awake. One of them came over immediately, and we were on the road around 11:00 pm. Of course, we needed gas and the first two gas stations we went to were not open/working for whatever reason. Talk about feeling like nothing is going your way!
We got to the ER at Children's at midnight, and we were taken back immediately (our pediatrician had called ahead). I was overwhelmed. So overwhelmed. I am so thankful for my husband and his sharp mind. I am thankful for his education and his ability to converse with doctors and to make decisions when all I want to do is ask for a time-out while I consult Google! When doctors are saying things like... meningitis...IV antibiotics....hospital for 10-14 days...spinal tap...CT scan... I tend to put a wall up. Jarrod was wonderful.
Playing the waiting game in the ER
Atalie had urine taken, blood drawn, an IV started and around 4:00 am she had a lumbar puncture. We decided that I would leave the room for that. Jarrod was there with two doctors and one nurse. I went to the bathroom and walked down a long hallway before returning. I thought it was safe to come back in but it turned out they weren't finished yet, it was just super quiet because Atalie had actually fallen asleep. That's enough to make me bawl right there! She was held down by two doctors and a nurse with a needle in her back while they extracted spinal fluid, and she was sound asleep. Thank you, Jesus.
I have to say that every time I thought we were in for a really long wait and see, results actually came back significantly quicker than I anticipated. We were treated very well, and considering the circumstances, we had a good experience.
Taking selfies for entertainment
This poor girl!
Preliminary results came back and showed that Atalie's cervical spinal fluid had an elevated white blood cell count. This told us that she did have meningitis. We were told we were being admitted, she was going to be starting IV antibiotics and they were sending her cervical spinal fluid to the lab to see whether her meningitis was viral or bacterial. Our prayer was that it was viral. Bacterial would have meant a long hospital stay on IV antibiotics and other possible issues.
We rested (as much as possible in the flipping ER). After some IV fluids and a dose of Motrin, her fever seemed better. We waited as long as possible and around 5:00 am we called Jarrod's parents and told them what was going on. Jarrod came right out and told them we needed them to come. Around 7:00 am we turned on the TV, and I remember thinking we should be at home watching cartoons with Collin before daycare, and that it just wasn't fair we were having to go through all of this.
Resting with Daddy and watching some TV
Thankfully our sweet friend who had stayed the night at the house with Collin and Grady had actually just helped us the week before when Grady got tubes. She had driven Collin and Atalie to daycare that day, so she already knew where everything was. She was able to take Collin and Grady to school and get them taken care of that morning. I cannot explain how much that put my mind at ease. I worried about Collin waking up and us not being there, but I think he enjoyed the novelty of it all! Allie was a lifesaver for coming over in the middle of the night, staying in our house all night long, getting the boys to school...oh, and I think I forgot to mention Atalie got sick right as we were leaving the house. Bless Allie for cleaning up after that!
I can't even begin to tell you how many people called/texted/Facebook messaged us. I had texted my Office Manager and good friend the night before as we were headed to Little Rock, and I had also sent a text to a couple of close friends asking for prayer. It meant so much not to have to worry about work, our house, our boys, our dog, etc.
Once we got moved up to the Infant and Toddler Unit and were settled into our room, I called my mom. I almost felt like laughing as I told her what we were going through because it has been one thing after the other this year.
The rounding team came by around 9:00 am. They had decided to skip the CT scan we were told would be necessary while down in the ER. This was another praise for us!
The only "highlight" from the whole experience was during this time on Thursday morning. A team of 7 doctors/residents/APNs came through to discuss our case with us after we got settled in to our room. We still weren't sure at this point if the meningitis was viral or bacterial. Like a scene out of Grey's Anatomy the APN read off our case and the head resident announced what he thought was going on (he said it was bacterial, and I almost punched him in the face, instead I just sat there with hot tears welling up). The lead doctor immediately corrected him without saying he was wrong. She stated all the things that were pointing toward it being viral, and helped the Mama Bear in me calm down. Well, Jarrod jumped in and started with the medical speak. Once they learned he is a P3 in pharmacy school, they immediately included him in the discussion. He was right on track with the therapy they were starting through antibiotics, and he was tracking with the doctor's assessment of it being viral versus bacterial. #proudwifemoment
Around 11:00 am we decided I would drive back to our house and get some things for us all. I needed a shower, and neither of us had eaten since dinner the night before. I drove home, made a cup of coffee, got in the shower, packed us a bag, picked up the house as best I could in preparation for Jarrod's parents and got back on the road to go back to Little Rock. I got stuck in rush-hour traffic on my way back, which really stunk since I just wanted to get back to Jarrod and Atalie. We talked on the phone, and Jarrod told me they had done a nasal swab on Atalie, which she hated! He said he was cuddled up with her and they were both resting. I ran and picked up dinner for us before returning to the hospital.
We had a few moments that night where we were worried about her fever. It went up after a dose of Motrin, so we applied some wet wash clothes and the nurse got some Tylenol ordered. The clothes helped significantly, so we didn't even use the Tylenol.
We were able to get some rest that night, which I am so thankful for because I didn't know how we were going to make it if we went another night with no sleep. We couldn't get Atalie to sleep in the crib, and we were super paranoid about her pulling her IV out. (She kept tugging on it, which would make me squeal every time! I hated imagining her pulling that out and them having to re-stick her.) So, we took turns sleeping on a pull-out chair thing with her. One of us would sleep half the night in the chair with her and the other would sleep on the couch, we would switch halfway through the night. The nurses would always tell us to put her in the crib, but we just told them all that we were exhausted and she wouldn't sleep in it - we had tried!
Friday morning during rounds they told us that it was pretty certain that the meningitis was viral. Her nasal swab came back positive for two different viruses. Normally these would have been a bad cold for someone, but our girl developed meningitis. At this point, Atalie hadn't had a fever since the night before, and she was doing alright. She had thrush in her mouth when we arrived at the ER initially, so that was being treated during our stay. Sometime on Friday she decided not to eat, and we think this was because her mouth was bothering her. The doctor for the unit told us that if Atalie was eating/drinking well, we could probably be discharged Saturday. I was surprised, in a VERY GOOD way!
Her sweet, sweet daycare teachers sent over a balloon and this bear. We didn't really have any toys with us, and she loved this bear. She would sit in the crib, hug him and pat him on the back. It was the sweetest thing!!
Of course she managed to give her sassy face to the bear as well!
Sassy lips
Hanging out with Mommy
We spent all of Friday just taking it easy. I watched Cinderella with our girl, not exactly the way I saw myself watching our first princess movie together, but that's okay! We got her to eat, and Jarrod made friends with all of our nurses and techs. Jarrod's parents visited us with lunch - bless them! That night, we Facetime'd with Collin, which was a huge treat for me and Atalie. We ate our 3rd meal in a 36 hour time period from the hospital cafeteria, and watched Toy Story.
A couple of exhausted girls
We were discharged early Saturday morning. Again, I was amazed at how early we got out of there. We were able to pick up coffee and cupcakes on the way home and made it back to our house by noon!
A little nap while we waited for discharge orders Saturday morning.
Getting her IV out - Mommy was most excited about this!!!
YAY! Headed home!!
We are so thankful she is well. At some point on Sunday night I told Jarrod that if I got still long enough, all I wanted to do was bawl. We are just exhausted. Even after getting back home, we have been struggling to catch up on rest. Grady decided to wake up 5 times Saturday night, and last night he was awake from 3:30am-5:00am. So please pray for our family to get rest, to stay well and to be kind to one another. Lack of sleep makes for sharp tongues!
Thank you for praying for Atalie!
**Note: Atalie is not a paci-baby. I bought/was given Wubbanubs for the twins before they were born. They both took them after being born, but Atalie not as well as Grady and slowly she began to not take it at all. Grady LOVES his paci, and we don't leave home without one for him. Atalie just does not take a paci, and it's never been a problem because she's pretty chill.
A couple of weeks ago, she found one in the toy basket that was leftover from Collin. It has a different nipple from the Wubbanub, and she has been attached to that thing ever since. We just looked over while she was playing, and she was sucking away! We thought she was messing around, but she was serious!
In the hospital, we were thankful several times for her paci! We even told one of the nurses about how it was a new found thing, and the nurse said, "Well, she knew she was about to need it".
Im glad your little girl is doing better :)
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