A Big Scare

We had a big scare this past week with our little man Quin which landed us in the hospital overnight with him. The good news is that everything is okay, and he is still a happy and healthy little boy. Nothing can prepare you for the thoughts and feelings that run through you when your own child is sick, and you're not sure what is going on and what will be the outcome.

I noticed on Wednesday afternoon that Quin had a little cough and a bit of a runny nose that was running clear.  He didn't have a temprature, so I was not too worried. Through the night, however, I noticed that his breathing started to sound more gurgly, and he was not really feeding. When I got up for his 5am diaper change and usual feeding, I decided to take his temp again. 101.3! Uh oh! I knew that number was not good for an itty bitty infant, but being new to this parenting thing and never having been in charge of infant care, I really didn't know what to do. So I got on the internet for some quick guidance. Not feeling reassured by the internet, I thought it best to call the on-call nurse at the pediatrician's clinic. Because of Quin's age (6 1/2 wks) and his temp, I was told that I should take him to the emergency room. 

Feeling a bit anxious, Naeners and I threw on some clothes, packed up the baby and headed to the ER. The ER doctor said that there are typical tests that they run on infants that come in with his kind of symptoms...one of them being a lumbar puncture along with chest x-ray, blood work, RSV, and a urine sample. Lumbar puncture? Really? We said to move forward because we wanted to know that our little one was okay. 

Watching the nurses draw the blood and take his urine was difficult, but the worst part was the chest x-ray and lumbar puncture. The equipment used for a chest x-ray on an infant looks like a 17th century torture device. And the lumbar puncture was even worse as they curled him up into a little ball. And any procedure dealing with the spinal area is scary to me. 

The tests results started coming back, and they said that everything was looking good. We were waiting on the final results of the lumbar puncture, when the doctor finally got back to us and said that the white blood cell count in the spinal fluid was higher than it should be. The doctor explained that it could be a sign of meningitis. What? Meningitis? What does this mean? The doctor stated that he would need to be admitted overnight for observation and monitoring as they would also monitored the blood and spinal cultures for bacterial growth. Naeners and I were blind-sided. I thought we were going to be told that he had a cold, get some medication, and be released. Never did we expect to get the news that we got. We were scared. The doctors made sure to explain that it was probably a viral infection but with an infant his age, it was better to keep him for observation to be on the safe side. We kept our fingers crossed that everything was going to be okay.

We stayed overnight with Quin, and his temperature began to decrease and stay in the normal range. His vitals stayed steady and in the normal range, too. Good news! And the next morning we got even better news when we were told that there appeared to be no bacterial growth in his blood or spinal cultures. It looked like he just had a viral infection. We were discharged after 24-hours. We were happy, and Quin seemed to be feeling much better! Thank goodness! We were so relieved to know that he would be okay. 

One thing is for sure, though, our little Quin is a fighter. All of the nurses and doctors commented on how strong he was and how mad a he got. Seriously, though, wouldn't you be mad if if you were being poked and prodded in all sorts of places all over your body. It was terrible seeing him scream and not being able to comfort him. I never want to go through it again...NEVER!

Monitoring
Quin was closely monitored through the night.

Comfort
Daddy comforts Quin while he is all hooked up to the machines.
Attire
Quin shows off the little baby hospital gown. I don't think he liked it too much.

Happy
We're happy to have our little booger back home! We thank our lucky stars every day to have a happy and healthy little boy!

2 comments:

  1. That must have been terrifying! It is so hard to see our little ones sick and not know what to do! So glad Quin is ok and back to being your happy little boy.

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  2. So glad everything's okay! The worst part of all of that is the not knowing what's wrong. My girl had to have an abdominal x-ray when she was only a week old and I sobbed through the entire thing.

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