Turtle was an unplanned pregnancy. Everything about the pregnancy was very difficult. I had a UTI the ENTIRE nine months. I suffered from severe pelvic girdle pain and contractions with no progress. I battled depression from her not being planned and then more so when my children were taken as I was five months pregnant. I spent the last third of the pregnancy without my children or husband home a majority of the time, as he was working and going to school to change careers. We also moved during the pregnancy and then again right after she was born.
Her birth was equally traumatic. She swallowed some merconium and was born sunny side up. The labor was so extreme that no amount of epidural would help. I threw HUGE clots and was treated the same way following delivery as moms who have c-sections performed. She went to the NICU for a few seconds until her APGAR scores proved she was healthy enough without it.
She struggled for WEEKS to get nursing down ... but once she did, many she went to TOWN. We had no supply issues and she nursed great until she was six months of age. That was when she discovered people food and THOUGHT that if she stopped nursing, she'd get my food. Nope, not happening. She went on formula because she refused to nurse and I wouldn't let her go hungry.
All of this sounds semi normal for pregnancy. Nothing is smooth sailing, right? Except ... I have been a mother three previous times and there were things that were NOT sitting right with me. She got sick ALL the time. Someone even sniffles around her ... she'd fall ill. I started to feel like Sheldon with the can of Lysol!
However ... the worst part was the stools. For the longest time she STRUGGLED with passing a stool. We did Miralax and fiber ... we did prune juice and high fiber foods. We landed in and out of the urgent care, ER, and doctor's office two to three times a year starting at 9 months. We tried altering her diet and saw a great deal of change in her ... but it wasn't 100% difference and we didn't have the money at the time to keep pursuing that avenue.
I finally went to Children's Mercy GI clinic and had her seen by a specialist. I asked if he thought we should make sure she wasn't just completely stopped up, he said no. He wanted to try Lactulose and if she could pass stools, she was fine. Well ... she could pass stools. She would grunt, turn red, tell everyone to go away, and have a massive anxiety attack if requested to go on the potty. Since she could go though, they said she would normalize and it would be fine.
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| Her view from Children's Mercy in July was spectacular though |
I fell ill on Friday night with the stomach bug, so when Willow threw up on Sunday, I just assumed she did as well. Except the color threw us off. We went searching all over the house for a possible toxin to find out if we needed to take her in. She swore up and down that she didn't have anything, and Peanut (who was babysitting) said the only thing she had was a sucker. She never left her sight.
It wasn't until mid-day on Monday that I started to become extremely concerned. She was unable to pass any stool, and only threw up when she ate or drank anything. I had her drink only 2 Tablespoons of water slowly through a straw ... and it still came up. As soon as Jeremy came home from work, I grabbed my baby and headed BACK to Children's Mercy ER. I told myself that I would not leave until they gave her an x-ray just to make sure.
They felt around and took a lot of notes. She had her green puke bag that she kept using, even though there was nothing left for her to throw up. She was extremely hungry and tired ... and miserable. She had her table to keep her occupied ... but she was still extremely bored.
They told me they could give her a dose of Miralax and then send us home with a regime, but I was not satisfied. I asked them to humor me and just do an x-ray. Besides ... I'm paying for it, right?
Turns out ... *I* was right. My baby was MASSIVELY impacted. They walked in and simply said, "well, that's impressive." Dude, I don't want to hear that it's impressive. I want a game plan and I want it now. It is now 10pm and my poor baby has not been allowed to eat or drink since 9am.
The first plan ... give her an enema. It worked only minimally. They told me at 11pm that they were going to admit us so that they could attack the stool (that was a huge ball in her colon and then running all the way up her intestines to her stomach) from the top and bottom. We finally got to our room at 2:25am and they started to get her set up with an IV and NG tube. She didn't mind the IV ... she ripped the first NG tube out in the 45 minutes that I was able to nap at 6am. I, however, loved the view we had from our room.
She woke again around 7am and couldn't get her mind off the NG tube. Child Life came by and set her up with a cupcake bank to paint (which she still LOVES) and she began watching Pixar's Planes ... non-stop (for the remainder of the stay at Children's Mercy).
Daddy showed up mid-morning and helped me catch a few cat naps and change diapers. We had to use some pretty heft barrier cream because her poor tushy was just being assaulted. The hospital had some awesome warm wipes that Willow was quite fond of because they had the cream in the wipe and they were warm. She also discovered that the couch was much more comfortable than the bed and stayed there the rest of the time. I didn't mind too much either since the couch was plastic and MUCH easier to clean than constantly asking for sheets.
Wednesday was SO much better. She was able to keep water down most of Tuesday so the nurse let her have popsicles Tuesday night and then the jello & slushies started on Wednesday. She wasn't allowed to leave until she was completely clear though, so it was difficult to contain her for a majority of the day. She was DEFINITELY feeling better.
Thankfully, we got the all clear around 5pm on Wednesday and the nurse came to remove everything. I gave her a shower (which she did not appreciate but I did) and then told her it was time to go. We got the thumbs up and headed home.
She was told she had to remain on clear foods for the rest of Wednesday and then Thursday she could slowly start back to her regular diet. A friend brought us a meal and cupcakes Wednesday night, so we held off on the cupcakes until Thursday when she could eat them. They were totally worth the wait ... however, recovery was still taking a toll on the poor girl.
Friday morning we had a major setback. She lost all of her breakfast only minutes after she ate it. We called Children's Mercy and waited for a reply. We headed back to the ER shortly after noon. They ran another x-ray and then gave her some Zofran. We found out after the entire ordeal that her stomach was spasming from the entire situation and we needed to give her some Zofran for the next few days.
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| sister made everything better while we were stuck there |
So ... life lesson ... if your gut tells you to pursue something ... do it. You are the parent of that child and you know what is normal and what isn't. Don't let someone else ever make you feel otherwise. I love my baby but I can't help but think about how bad things could have been had I not pressed for the x-ray that Monday night.
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