sick babies

haven had been acting sort of "off" for a few days this week-spitting up more, fussing more, sleeping less, and then projectile spitting up (vomiting?). i decided to check her temperature, which turned out to be 100.4-a low grade fever right on the low line of the "call the doctor" warning signs. it was 4:45 and i wasn't about to wait it out in the off-chance things turned ugly in the wee hours (as they usually do) after instacare closed. so i rushed her in. the doctor, suspecting pyloric stenosis sent us to primary children's ER for an ultrasound. hours and hours later haven's labs were all collected: bloodwork, urinalysis, lumbar puncture, and x-rays. her fever dropped and all the labs came back negative for everything, but because she'd had the slight fever and the vomiting their protocol required us to stay a full 24 hours (to await any possible bacterial growth in her spinal fluid culture).

it was not a fun stay: construction outside our room woke haven up every time i finally got her to sleep (which was a huge feat); no window in the room left me feeling in a time warp; and the tv channels were much too kid friendly (disney, nick, etc.). haven slept a whopping four hours and pretty much screamed the rest of the time. i felt my sanity slowly slipping (good time to be in a hospital so i was forced to keep my cool!). and while it all pretty much stunk to high heavens, i do have to say that i was thoroughly impressed with the staff and their aggressiveness. although i started feeling like a paranoid mom (when she quit vomiting and her fever barely manifested by the time we got to the ER), i knew in my gut something was wrong and they believed me. i love when doctors trust a mother's instinct. haven was a little trooper-she had to have way too many temperature checks (rectal-ugh) and monitors on her and had to be down to her diaper. after going through rounds and rounds of screaming cries that i could only manage to calm for a few minutes, i finally laid her down and went to the nurses station in tears begging for the doctor to come in because i couldn't take it anymore. the doctor came and decided to try some malox and tylenol. voila. she fell asleep and has pretty much been sleeping since! most likely she had some sort of virus that was causing her to have acid reflux. (we're keeping our fingers crossed that it was temporary reflux and not GERD, which nash had.)

but while haven seems to be fine and is back home now, poor little sage (haven's three week old cousin) is back in the hospital. they haven't completely isolated the problem, but she's had a fever off and on. poor alison has been practically living in the hospital the past three weeks between this and sage's extra long stay after her birth due to underdeveloped lungs and jaundice. so, if you have a little time, say a little prayer. and if anyone lives in vegas will you please deliver some yummy chocolate cake (a la mode) to alison?