"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
--Jeremiah 29:11

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Never a Dull Moment

Just when we thought Mr. Miraculous was on the mend, he decided to throw us for another loop. Last night he was very hard to get to sleep. He was so tired but seemed like he couldn't get comfortable and everytime he'd settle into sleep he startle, almost like a newborn. At 11pm he woke up for about an hour and then at 4 am he woke up and threw up all over himself, his bed and his monkey. It was his strawberry/apricot bedtime snack so I thought maybe the strawberries were just too hard for his digestive system. I didn't understand that since he had them a few weeks ago and did fine, but figured maybe it was really bothering his reflux or something. After he woke up for the day, he wouldn't have anything to do with eating breakfast. He did chug 4 oz. of milk which he never does. We're lucky if we get 1-2 oz. in at each meal so this was unusual but I figured since he didn't eat anything he was filling up on milk. I secretly made it 50% half and half so it was still a ton of calories. Well, five minutes later he coughed and puked his milk everywhere. We had our follow up at 10 so I figured I'd tell the doctor about this and she'd say he had the stomach flu and send us on our way. By the time we got there, he had diarrhea too. After looking at his labs from St. John's she decided she wanted a urinalysis and more bloodwork to try to rule out something bacterial. She was thinking of putting him on Omnicef, but didn't want to aggravate the diarrhea problems with an antibiotic so she sent us back to St. John's to the outpatient lab. She said that she most parents aren't thrilled with the techs at DePaul when it comes to drawing labs on little ones. There was a big accident that closed two lanes just north of Dorsett so we sat and sat and then finally got there around 11:30. We didn't leave until 2:30! His blood draw went great (well, as great as it can for a baby who doesn't want to have a needle stuck into his arm for the third time in five days) but when we went to collect the bag with the urine sample, his diaper was soaked and the bag empty. He had had a whole small juice box at the ped's office but refused the water he was offered at the lab to try to get him to make more urine. Then he fell asleep. Then Mookie was hungry so we went to the cafe while he slept. I bought him an V8 fruit drink and after he woke up he drank some while we played puzzles for a minute in the lab waiting area. Another bout of diarrhea later the bag had urine and we could turn it over and get home. It made for a very long day. Mookie was so good with all the waiting and such a big girl to carry her drink and her food in the cafeteria. Poor Connie fell asleep on the way to both places and woke up every time we got out of the car and then slept for about an hour at St. John's and then fell asleep again on the way home. We went to Grandma and Granpa's to visit because Grandma hadn't seen Connie in about three weeks. He wouldn't eat his late lunch but he did eat a 1/2 cup of vegetable beef soup and 1/2 a saltine. He got increasingly clingy and whiny and fell asleep again. I thought he seemed rather warm so I took his temperature a few times and it kept climbing. He normally runs in the low to mid 96's so by the time it was 98 I gave him tylenol. He started to go back down and perked up a bit. He had a blowout diarrhea diaper so we changed clothes and came home. I did get him to eat about 1/2 cup of vanilla yogurt while I gave him his meds so his overall intake today was 1/4 of what it normally is. I'm a little concerned about his weight too. At St. John's during his inpatient stay, his weight on their scale was 22 lbs. 10 oz. I was a little bummed, but chalked it up to it being a different scale. Well today at the ped's office (again a different scale) they got him at 22 lbs. 4 oz. That is the exact same weight as in the beginning of March on their scale at his 12 month check-up and this time it was with clothes and a full diaper! This illness is coming at a bad time, when his weight is being super scrutinized. The GI doc threatened that if he went below 22 lbs. 1 oz that he'd not be able to keep the tube out. Hopefully she'll either make an exception since he's been ill during his trial run or else he'll pack on some pounds before the big weigh-in on June 10.

He's resting more comfortably tonight and has not vomited since this morning so hopefully we're on the tail end of this virus. The ped's office called to say that the labwork all came back and his numbers were still dropping so that's a good sign. No antibiotics. I'll continue to monitor his temperature and if he runs anymore fever I'll call and see about the next step.

Thanks for looking in everyone. We appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

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