Monday, July 28, 2008

My sick Presley

Man, we just have one thing after another around here for bad luck. First my pregnancy was crappy, then preterm labour and babies in the hospital, then the sale of our house in Okotoks fell through on the day of possesion, and now this. On Monday night last week during the night Presley was crying and was really fussy. She wouldn't go to sleep unless we were holding her so I finally got her to sleep in my arms in bed. I noticed she was pretty warm so I took her temperature and she had a fever. She also didn't like being moved, she was very irritable and would scream everytime someone would move her, so I knew we had to take her in. I called our pediatrician and got in right away that morning. She checked her and couldn't find anything physically wrong so she knew she had some sort of an infection, since she had a fever. She said when babies are that young and preemies they don't accept a fever cuz it usually means something more serious. We took her into the hospital and they had to do a bunch of tests on her, they did blood work, unrine sample, which was sad cuz she had to get a catheder and she had to get a spinal tap done. The spinal is what checks for meningitis. It came back positive and the doctor said her white blood count was the highest she has seen in a long time. She knew it could of turned serious and she told us that. They got her on 3 different antibiotics cuz they weren't sure yet of what kind it was. It came back bacterial menigitis, so they took her off two of the antibiotics and had to be one just one. Her fever stayed for a few days and then slowly went away. It was amazing how fast the antibiotics kicked in, she was so different after about 12 hours. She was more alert and just looking way better. She looked so sick before. We didn't know what to do, Dustin had to work and I had to stay in the hospital with her. I was breastfeeding both babies and Jayci had to go home so luckily I had some in the freezer from the hospital in Edmonton still so Dustin gave her that. Thank goodness my mom and sisters came up and were here from Thursday till today. They saved us. They also went nuts in our house and finished moving us in, they even got pictures hung up! I love my house, it now feels like a home. I am so grateful for their help and I am so happy they came. I called the releif society president and she set things up for this week for help with the other 2 girls since Dustin couldn't miss anymore work. We are still catching up from being in Edmonton and him missing work. The doctor said she had to be on antibiotics for at least 10 days. Yesterday she came in with good news. She said that since she is doing so well and she isn't contagious she could come home on a pass. We have to go in 3 times a day though and get her antibiotics, her IV stays in the whole time though. She gets her meds at 8am, 4pm and midnight. I am so glad we got to bring her home. I am running low on breastmilk and pumping just isn't working to well, it's not the same as them actually nursing. We are now home and have to go back till friday for her meds. The nurses are shocked at how well she is doing. The one nurse said that she has never seen a baby with menigitis do so well and be so alert so quickly. Dustin gave her a blessing the morning we took her in, and then we had Travis and Eamon come and do a sick blessing on her in the hospital. I have a true tesitmony of the blessing and that it helped. I know that that is why she is doing so good. She had no side effects of anything and is doing amazing, she is even still nursing so well. There are so many scary things that can go wrong with meningitis, she could have seizures, deffness (sp), fluid in her brain, and can even be fatal. It was a scary week and i'm glad she is home and it's almost over. I NEVER want to go through having a sick baby again. It was the hardest thing I have ever gone through and I am so grateful I had my family here for help and support. I am thankful for all the kind words from people on facebook, it's so nice knowing people are there praying for us and are there for us even though we are far away. It's scary to think that we have no idea where she got it from and it could of been from the tiniest bacteria. I think I am turning into a bacteria clean freak, I don't want this kind of scare again. I'll keep you all updated on how our week goes.
);