Tour of local ERs

For those of you who don't know the last few weeks have been quite the adventure. It started actually on my birthday - Nov 2 - when Hannah developed a fever in the afternoon. Everything was going okay until Tuesday evening when she had a few hours of on and off inconsolable crying. We had never experienced anything like this with her - she just had a fever and no other symptoms. With the crying in the middle of the night and fever and always considering the real possibility that she could have a UTI (common in girls under 2) there was not other choice than to go to the ER. Brent stayed home with Sam and I took Hannah. She did amazingly well and was found to have a UTI. We were given antibiotics and over the course of a couple of days showed marked improvement. During this time I felt a little like I had chills and maybe a scratchy throat. I tried my best to keep germs away from Sam but alas he developed a fever the following week - in the middle of the night on Tuesday. A fever in a child less than 3 months means an extensive workup which I didn't want but we had to have. Their immune systems are immature and so they can't fight off things like older kids and adults can. Fortunately Nana was visiting and could stay with Hannah while Brent and I took little Sam to a Peds ER in a nearby town. They drew blood, started an IV, did all the tests except a lumbar puncture and nothing showed up. So we treated the fever, had him followed up that day and watched. Unfortunately he had another fever that Thur morning so we took him back to the office for bloodwork and I took him for an xray - btw if you have never seen how they xray an infant it looked like torture - he sat on this bicycle-like seat while I had to hold his hands above his head while they put this plastic tube around this body to keep him upright - that was hard. Good news - it was negative. But we got the word in the early afternoon that his WBC (measurement of infection) had gone up so we had to go back to the ER for the lumbar puncture. To make matters worse Brent had developed a fever that morning. We are grateful for God's provisions in a lot of regards during these weeks - one way was that Opa was nearby and could come be with Hannah and Nana and Nonni were able to come and be with Hannah while I was in the hospital with Sam and Brent was under the weather. While in the ER they tried unsuccessfully twice to start the IV - that was tough as well as being with him when the LP was done. The end result though showed a mild viral meningitis - yikes! So he and I stayed in the hospital 2 nights. Fortunately he was his happy self the entire time, just with a fever. Brent was able to visit a couple of times too which was nice. Our best guess at this point is that we all had a touch of H1N1 but it was mild b/c we had been vaccinated and Sam's crossed the blood brain barrier causing the meningitis. Hannah's culture never grew out anything so she may have had the virus as well and it spilled WBC into her urine causing us to think she had a UTI. (I know this may be more technical information than you might want to read)

It was the only time outside of my first year of life and childbirth that I have been a patient. I appreciate God's grace in it being mild. I appreciate the nursing care received while we were there and the medical team as well! But I don't want to repeat it! ever! So that means that we will continue to avoid church (and Hannah in nursery) until the flu season is over - except for Sam's baptism the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We will also be avoiding other large groups of kids as well - choosing instead to have smaller playgroups and such so as not to be too lonely :) during the winter months. We appreciate your prayers during this time and thank God that everyone is on the mend - Sam turned 12 weeks old during this time and Hannah 20 months!! I will be posting pics soon of his 3 month birthday upcoming :)