Kaya's first (and hopefully last) trip to the ER

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November 4, 2010

Kaya's first (and hopefully last) trip to the ER

Tuesday morning went well, with Kaya having a big poopy diaper and peeing on the floor. (Hey, I cued her, so that counts as EC, right?) Morning went on as normal. We elected not to go to playgroup because it was just too hectic and I wanted to get some things done around the house (which mostly got done.) Bret left for work, and as the kids woke up from their nap I noticed that Kaya seemed a little warm. Took her temp, and sure enough, a mild fever at 99.3*. So I settle in for some extra cuddles and give up my plan of doing dishes. She started to make those whiny sounds that all kids do when they're feeling ucky. Then as the evening went on as she was making the sounds she started grunting and really straining, like she was trying to take a big poop. She's usually only a once a day person, so it didn't make any sense for her to be constipated. She ate a little at dinner (a bean dish that she usually likes) but not much. Since she was feeling under the weather I skipped our evening walk and figured a longer bath might help. I took her temp again before the bath, 100.3*. Poor girl, she was really getting lethargic and still doing the straining, so I thought maybe the bath might help relax her, since she loves a bath.

The bath went fine at first, she wasn't playing as much as usual but she seemed OK with it. Then I got her hair wet to wash it and the minute I did she started to shake like she was cold. She's never done that before, so I just got her out and dried her off and comforted her. She seemed to want to go to sleep, although it was still an hour before normal bed time. As I was trying to put her diaper back on she did the straining thing. She was pushing so hard she was holding her breath, then panting to catch her breath again. Then she would start crying. At that point I started to get really worried, and it was obvious that she was in real pain. Knowing my paranoid brain, I started picturing that she had swallowed one of the little watch size batteries from a toy or something. After I got her dressed I held her and asked Julian to finish up his bath. (I'm pretty sure he never actually came in contact with soap during that bath since I was so distracted with Kaya.). As I stood in the doorway waiting for Julian, she fell asleep with her head snuggled on my shoulder. Even when she's sick, it's highly unusual for her to fall asleep like that, so I decided to call the nurse hotline from insurance. It was just after 7, almost an hour before bedtime.

After going over everything, the nurse recommended that that we take her to Urgent Care to get her looked at. Well, of course by then all the Urgent Cares were closed, except for one that's nowhere close, and would be closed by the time Bret got home. So she recommended that we go get her checked out at the ER as soon as we could. By the time I got off the phone with the nurse, it was 20 till 8. I tried calling Bret, he didn't answer. Called again, still no answer. Called several times, left a message saying he needed to come home so I could take her in and he could stay with Julian. (It was a school night, Julian needed to get to bed!) I tried the 3 emergency numbers to directly call his work. Twice. Voicemails every time. Finally after calling 9 times I gave up and hoped he'd check his phone when he went on lunch at 8.

So I went ahead and started trying to get Julian to sleep. Bret called at 8:05, saying he wished he would have known before lunch started.... That's OK, he acknowledged that it wasn't my fault he couldn't hear his phone. So he headed home and got back about quarter to 9. I almost hated to wake Kaya up to take her in since she was finally resting, but Bret was like, "I'm home now, you'd better take her in!" Of course I was going to, I just felt bad for having to wake her up. He took over getting Julian to sleep, and later reported that Julian fell asleep around 10 after all the excitement of Daddy coming home early.

So we headed off to the ER, and when we go to check in I'm telling the nurse that although she looks fine and inquisitive now, she was screaming her head off in pain 2 hours ago! Thankfully we didn't have to wait long before going back to triage. I was shocked when they took her temp though, 103.6*! I generally don't medicate low fevers, preferring instead to let them do their work, so I hadn't given her anything since last I knew it was just around 100. Now, however, I readily agreed to give her Tylenol, and the nurse got it to us rather quickly and sent us back out to the waiting room to wait for an exam room to see the doc.

That wait wasn't too long, and it was immediately apparent that the Tylenol was helping, since she started wanting to get down and play. We got back to the exam room, registration came in, yada, yada, yada. The doc came in I guess around 10. The easy answers of ear infection or sinus infection were quickly ruled out. She was thinking maybe a urinary tract infection, pneumonia, or a virus. So she ordered a catheter for a urine sample, a chest x-ray, and blood work. Holding Kaya down for the catheter and the x-ray were experiences I would rather not repeat. She didn't fight them, she just cried and looked soooo sad, which may have made it worse than fighting them! They also checked her temp when they did the catheter and it was down to 101*. So we just waited for the results of the urine test and x-ray.

The doc came in and said both were clear, perfectly normal. Since Kaya was cheerily playing with the knobs on the bed and trying to escape the room, we decided not to prick her for the blood work and just chalk it up to a virus. She started to say there may be a rash in a few days, and as soon as she did I asked, Roseola? She said it might be. I don't know too much about it, just that it's a really high fever for a few days followed by a splotchy rash on the face and trunk, then it's done. So that was it, with directions to follow up with her regular doc in a few days if the fever continued. We came home and after playing for a bit she went back to sleep around 1, and I got up for the day at 6:45.

She was a little clingy yesterday but mostly fine, she slept in and the fever was gone. Bret said he saw her doing the straining thing in the morning, but I didn't see her doing it at all after I got home in the afternoon. She went to bed as normal at 8:05. She woke up as normal 40 minutes later, but after nursing her for a half hour (20 minutes longer than it normally takes) I gave up and brought her downstairs so I could finish my noodles. She was whiny and clingy and wanted to nurse, but would nurse for a little bit and then pop off all mad. So I gave her a snack and that seemed to help for a bit. (Must remember to buy bananas at the store this week for nighttime snack for her!) I tried to take her back up to bed, but she was super fussy and didn't want to settle down. She kept pulling the covers off of Julian, kicking him, pinching me, and doing nurse-nastics. (Gymnastics while nursing- not very fun.) She FINALLY settled down to nurse at some point, probably around 10:30. And nursed. And nursed. Nursed until 2:30, when Daddy came home. I was exhausted, my nipples were sore, and I was just D.O.N.E. Reserves were Gone. So I let Daddy eat a little bit, then took her down to him. Thankfully he took her and cuddled her, and when the alarm went off to get ready at 6:45 she and Daddy were still downstairs asleep in the chair. (Yes I know it's not safe to co-sleep in a recliner. We were desperate.)

So far today reports are that she slept in again and is back to her playful self. Hopefully she'll remain so this evening and have a restful night!!!!