Yesterday morning I was awoken at 8am by Grace telling me that Ethan threw up in his crib. Indeed he had. I cleaned him up, stripped the bed, started a load of all the icky laundry, and sat down on the couch with Ethan. It didn't take long for him to throw up again. And again. And again. After the first couple hours it was clear that this stomach bug wasn't progressing the same way it usually does. Usually when Ethan wakes up sick he'll throw up several times in a 2-3 hour window and then he's done. Not this time.
He took his nap for about 3 hours which was the only 3 hour block of time in which he wasn't actively throwing up. He woke up by throwing up in his crib again. By dinner time it was clear that it wasn't stopping and I was starting to get worried because there was literally nothing left in his system other then the small amounts of water and Pedialyte he was drinking and promptly refunding. I called the on-call nurse after dinner and we tried their suggestion of giving him 2 Tbsp of sugary soda two to three times 5 minutes apart and then switching to 2 Tbsp of Pedialyte. The nurse said if he couldn't keep that down to go ahead and take him to the Emergency Room since there wasn't much else we could at home. We tried that method three times in ninety minutes without success. By that time we were exhausted and decided to throw in the towel since it was obvious that he couldn't keep anything down.
We quickly packed two bags and I took Ethan to the local Emergency Room at 9pm. There were quite a few people ahead of us so we had a bit of a wait which wasn't fun. Since there were so many people one of the doctors came out to look at everyone quickly (I think to make sure there were no true emergencies) and when she saw Ethan she quietly checked his pulse. Yes he looked pretty bad. He was tired but not sleeping, just staring listlessly off into space which is scary.
Once we got in a room they gave him some Zofran which is an anti-nausea drug and he instantly perked up. We stayed in that room until about 1am giving him Popsicles and little drinks of juice as the doctor monitored him. We were worried we would need to give him an IV but the Zofran made it so he was able to keep the liquids down and we were able to avoid it. I'm glad because I don't think he would have liked that so well. When they first took his vitals he just laid there without moving and let them do whatever they wanted to him. That's when you know your toddler is sick. When they're cooperative because they don't feel good enough to move. They even tried to weigh him on the regular scale but he was at the point where he couldn't even stand up by himself so we made a best guess.
My instructions as we got the paperwork to come home was to put him to bed and then wake him up at 6am to continue the Popsicle and juice every 20-30 minutes routine. Naturally Safeway closed at 1am and we drove by at about 1:19am so I had to get up just before 6am to make a run for Popsicles and more Pedialyte. I was so tired I didn't even remember to buy a Sunday paper! I did however, remember that I had a Pedialyte coupon that was a Buy One Get One Free deal and as a bonus I got a $1.50 off my next Safeway purchase coupon.
So far today Ethan has kept all the liquids and Popsicles that he's eaten down which is a great thing. He's even eaten 1/3 of a banana. He has spent most of the day on the couch or laying on his sleeping bag on the living room floor and has been sleeping a lot. He's definitely not back to normal since he's not interested in playing, but at least he's starting to recover. I just hope that nobody else gets this yucky bug. I absolutely hate to throw up and I think being thrown up on is probably up there in my Top 10 Least Favorite Parts of Motherhood list. Yesterday I think I changed clothes 5 times which has got to earn me some sort of Motherhood Survival Badge.
I didn't have my camera at the hospital with me but I did have my phone so I have some photos to share. The first is of Ethan wearing his ridiculously huge hospital gown and eating his first Popsicle which was the first thing he kept down all day!
There's not a lot of toddler friendly tv programing late at night but I did manage to find a soccer and baseball game on ESPN that kept him happy. I was happy that we didn't have to make use of the puke bucket!
He fell asleep the last hour or so that we were there. Poor little guy earned his rest!
2 comments:
Oh, you poor thing!! We've only dealt with the constant pukes one time, and it didn't end with a trip to the hospital, so I totally feel for you. Give him big loves and we'll be praying that he fully recovers soon!! Hopefully you can get some rest!! You have earned your badge.
That's the worst. Seeing a baby/toddler dry heave is SO terrible. Yes, you get a merit badge for all your hard and disgusting work. I didn't know they gave Zofran to babies. It's what I lived on when I was pregnant the first time around. It was magic! May Ethan's boundless energy be driving you crazy soon!
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