Avery's August Adventure

How's that for alliteration?

Avery loves to wave now. Do I really need to say how cute it is?

Most everyone who reads this blog probably already knows that we've had a pretty crazy August. We are thinking about getting a punch card to the Emergency Room at Primary Childrens.

On August 1st, Avery started with a high fever that we couldn't lower with Tylenol or Motrin. After about 48 hours I got a little concerned because she wasn't eating well and was really lethargic. I called the pediatrician and they wanted her seen that night, but had no more appointments so they recommended taking her to Instacare. As soon as the doctor saw her vital signs there, she said to take her straight to the ER at Primary's. That really freaked me out.

When we got to Primary's her fever was 104 and her heart rate was 220. They immediately admitted her and got to work putting in an IV to give her fluids. Three tries and 30 minutes later... The drip IV wouldn't have been fast enough to get her heart rate down so they took a 50ml syringe and pushed in 140ml as fast as they could. That helped perk her up a little and took her heart rate down a little, but not enough so they gave her another 100ml. She had all the signs of sepsis shock (basically a raging bacterial infection) so they took blood and urine and a nasal swab and gave her some IV antibiotics. They were even thinking of doing a spinal tap to test for meningitis.

By now it was about midnight and I was hoping they would send us home after they stabilized us and they were debating whether to send us to the ICU or just a regular room in the hospital. We ended up staying in on the regular infant floor for a few days. Her blood and urine cultures all came back negative and she had an equivocal (fancy term for present but low titer) call for a respiratory virus called PIV, so they weren't sure what had made her so sick, but she had stabilized and her fever and heart rate were under control.

We were sent home with a warning that they hadn't really cured her, so to watch her very close. The next day her fever broke and she got a faint rash on her belly, so I am 99.44% sure she had a bad case of the roseola (a virus that most infants get at sometime, but is usually much more manageable.)

So there's our documentation of Avery and I's first Girls Days Out. I felt really weird being in the hospital with a baby, and not just having given birth. And when you're not a patient they don't give you any beverages besides water!

I wish I would have gotten a picture when Avery was in the ER. She had an IV, blood pressure cuff, O2 sensor, nose oxygen, and 3 heart rate cords. I didn't even know how to hold her. Oh and get a load of that tiny little hospital gown. I almost cried when they brought that in, its a shame they ever have to use them.

This video Dave took when he came to visit. (Shout out to a great friend who watched our boys like a champ so Dave could come see us.) You can see how sick and worn out she was. When have you ever seen a 7 month old lie so still?