Luke Gets Sick!!

Our sweet little Luke spent four days in the hospital. He is a little trooper! Luke developed a fever and wasn't his happy smiley self, so I took him to the doctor. He was immediately sent to the ER for testing. At one point, we were told that he had a UTI, pneumonia, and a double ear infection. It got pretty scary! While he was in the ER, he had blood drawn, x-rays taken, three pokes to get an IV in place and three unsuccessful attempts for a spinal tap.

Luke was transferred to Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara. This was both mine and Luke's first trip in the ambulance. Luke seemed to enjoy it! We actually saw some smiles before he fell asleep. Upon arrival, we knew that we were in the right place. It makes a big difference when you are at a place that is use to dealing with babies. They continued with the IV antibiotics for the duration of our visit. A follow-up chest x-ray turned out to be clear and his ears also seemed fine. We are continuing with oral antibiotics for the UTI. While we were there Luke had 9 additional pokes to insert a new IV (including one in his head). Apparently, his veins were very difficult and blow out very easily. This was partly due to his age and fever. All of the nurses were super careful with the IV. I did learn that the best ones to start an IV or collect blood are the NICU nurses. On Friday, one of the doctors noticed a murmur and decided to have an Echo Cardiogram done mainly as a precaution. Thankfully, the results did not show any problems. The technician was so amazed and happy with Luke, he slept through the whole test, which allowed her to get lots of good pictures. I think he made her day!

One might ask, how does a two month old get an infection? Well, we took Luke in for a test that required catheterising and the nurse was less than skilled. She tried to use too large a catheter 4 separate times before inserting a smaller catheter. This test was done just a couple days before he came down with a fever. Every doctor we spoke to agreed that this was likely the cause. The ironic part of this is that the test came back clear, so in hindsight it was absolutely unnecessary. Yikes! I guess I learned the hard way to only deal with someone trained in pediatrics. I am sure it is a matter of experience, some know how to work with babies and others do not. I just thing professionals should know when to back off, if they are not up to the job.

Things I learned in the hospital......

• The chairs that make out into beds are really, really bad
• It is a bummer when your roommate wants to listen to Spanish TV
• Breastfed moms are provided with meals at Cottage Hospital
• Some nurses aides are sweet enough to help get your baby to sleep
• It is hard to breastfeed a baby with an IV and other cords attached to them

Thanks to all of our friends and family for praying. We appreciated your thoughts and support.