Some Lessons - Cub's First ER Visit

On Sunday morning, we took Cash cub to the ER.

Lesson One: Trust your instincts (at home).

We knew something was wrong when Cash looked like this:

Sunday morning Cash woke up around 5 AM (which is too early for him). I knew he wasn't feeling great, so I tried to feed him in bed so we could both fall back to sleep. He wasn't interested in eating, but he was VERY tired. He'd fall asleep on his back (not typical for him) and then wake up 5 minutes later fussy-crying like he was uncomfortable. After about 2- 3 minutes of this fussy-crying (it was pretty pathetic as far as crying goes), he would pass out asleep. He fell asleep when I was wiping his nose, he fell asleep sitting up - I really just thought he was exhausted from his persistent cold. Buttin and I just tried to make him comfortable.

At about 7 AM, we decided to get him ready for the day. This is when we turned on the lights and noticed how pale and white he looked. I knew instantly something was very wrong.

First, I called my mother. She said we should call our pediatric on-call line. I called that number and was placed on hold. I handed that phone to Buttin (who was holding cub) while I called our insurance company nurse line. Our insurance company nurse said to go to the ER.

Lesson Two: Trust Your Instincts (in the hospital).

We arrived at the ER around 8 AM. There was no one else around. I guess if you're going to get sick, do it early on a Sunday morning.

We saw a nurse pretty quickly and all Cash's vitals were good (also, no fever). The nurse's first thought was that he was probably dehydrated. As soon as I heard this, I was pretty convinced that's all it was and that after some fluids our little boy would be back to his playful, pink-cheeked self.

They put in an IV. I suppose this is usually quite an ordeal for some small babies (they sometimes have to restrain them), but Cash was so out of it he barely made a peep.

This is poor little Cub with his arm all stretch out (it had to be taped to a board to keep him from bending it):

It felt like FOREVER until we saw a doctor, but when we finally did he said it was probably dehydration, but that they wanted to run tests (cha-ching!). They took blood, urine in this ridiculous looking pee bag (I wonder how they do it for little girls), did a chest xray and a head CT. Everything came back good (again, I was pretty confident it was dehydration). The doctor came back in and said it was probably dehydration (it can happen very quickly for babies), but he wanted to rule out meningitis. My gut reaction was oh, hell, no. Buttin didn't immediately understand that "ruling out meningitis" meant a lumbar puncture. I called my mother and told her that I thought this was too extreme of a test at this point, (especially considering he had no fever) she agreed. We declined the test.

At this point, the doctor said we were going to be transferred to Dell Children's Hospital and that the transport team was coming to get him (this was about 1 PM).

Here is the picture that made Buttin and Dadoo (my dad) shed some tears:

Here is little cub inside the ambulance (they didn't run the siren).


Lesson Three: Be (even more) Grateful

Dell Children's Hospital was wonderful. We were immediately taken to a private room with a shower, desk area and uncomfortable pull-out couch.

We saw several nurses and a resident within about 10 minutes. Everyone was pretty sure that Cub was dehydrated. He had already started to pep up a little from the fluids he received in the ER.

We we saw the doctor (she also has a six month old), she was so sweet and thoughtful and spent quite a bit of time with us. She mentioned that there was no need for a lumbar puncture and if she had been in my position, she would have made the same choice (see lesson two). She was quite sure it was just dehydration.

Even though our son was "just dehydrated", all the nurses and doctors and staff treated us like we were very important. I'm sure they have quite a lot of experience with nervous parents.

On Sunday night, I went to find the vending machines (I needed a candy bar and Buttin needed a Dr. Pepper). While I was walking through the halls, I was hit with the sobering thought that all the rooms were filled with other sick children and other nervous parents. I KNEW our son was going to be OK, but for some of these parents, their child's recovery would take much longer. I was instantly even more grateful for our child's health, our own health, our friends & family.

By Monday morning (after a very, very sleepless night for Buttin and me), Cash was smiling and feeling better:

We saw a team of doctors and they were hopefully we'd get to go home that night or the next morning.

At noon, he was taken off of the IV fluids and was keeping down boob juice and Pedialyte (which he loves) and then at four o'clock we got the news that we could go home!

It's not a great picture, but here are Cash (IV free) and Buttin smiling while we waited for our discharge paperwork.From now on, I will try to complain less about my lack of sleep because our son has strong lungs and can cry out for me at night. Not every parent is this lucky and Buttin and I are truly fortunate.