Think Good Thoughts!

Late Monday night we had to take baby James to the emergency room for an unusual fever. Apparently fevers in newborns are cause for pretty serious concern as their immune systems are still developing and they can't fight off infection or exhibit specific symptoms which are treatable (like headaches, body aches, etc.).

We spent eight, grueling hours in the emergency room, where they really didn't have a clue how to treat a baby so small. He suffered through six failed IV attempts, six blood draws, a catheter and four failed spinal taps. All while trying to remain strong. It was the worst thing we have ever gone through, just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.

Anyway, after this "complete mess" as the nurse so aptly deemed it, at 6 am they admitted us to the pediatric ICU. Things changed for the better then, as we had a great team of nurses and doctors who repeated all the same tests and procedures, but with successful results this time, despite scary results like an IV in the scalp. Now, the waiting begins, we're in here for at at 48 hours while they grow bacterial cultures of various scary things like meningitis to determine the cause.

For now, he's on a series of antibiotics to combat the issue and he hasn't had a fever again since, so we're happy that things are moving in the right direction.

UPDATE: we received a positive bit of news from the early lab results which seem to indicate no serious bacterial problems. The real ok comes at the end of the 48 hours when the cultures come in, but the doctors are cautiously optimistic.We still await the viral results as well.

Happily the little guy seems to have gotten his smile back (a few photos below), and we're hopeful that this will just be a newborn fever fluke.

Thank you so much to everyone who has kept us in your thoughts, called, emailed and been here for us over the past 24 hours. Its been incredibly helpful to know we've got such a great group looking out for us. Especially my Mom and Dad who stayed on the phone with me throughout the night and came down to relieve us for a bit of a break during the day and Anne and Gary who kept up the love and support via phone.

And as if there weren't enough reasons to love my husband, here's another. He was an absolute rock throughout this whole process. He held James for all of the ridiculous sticks and emergency room experimentation and stayed up the entire night taking care of the family.