So on the night of December 5th, I was nursing Mikaela and Kurt went out to get a pizza. All of a sudden she just started vomiting. While nursing! I ran from the couch into the kitchen and held my 5 week old over the sink as she emptied her stomach. I was in shock. I couldn't imagine what was going on. I took her upstairs to bathe her. After the bath as I was getting her dressed it appeared like she had a seizure. Her arms were held out stiff, her head cocked to one side and her eyes were darting around, not in the same direction at the same time, either. I called her name and rubbed her cheek and she seemed to come out of it. I wrapped her up and came downstairs. She looked so pale. There was no color in her lips, and she was a bit clammy.
I called Dr. Jay and let him know she was vomiting and very pale. He asked me about her temperature, suggested we get Pedialyte to keep her hydrated. I didn't tell him at that point about the seizure, because I wasn't sure what happened. Did I imagine it? Or was I making more out of it?
Kurt came in with the pizza. He saw how pale she was and said, "Let's take her to the hospital now." (He didn't even know about the "episode" I thought may have been a seizure.) He equated her condition to that of ET when he was all white and ready to pass away. I had absolutely no appetite, but knew it potentially could be a long night as we may end up in the hospital. I choked down one slice.
Shortly after dinner, she threw up again. And she did that thing again - I called to Kurt to see what was up and we decided to call Dr. Jay on his cell phone. He said get over to the hospital and have them call him if need be.
We rushed over to Virtua Voorhees. This was about 9 p.m. or so I think. Ugh...I think the first thing they did was get an IV in her. Not after sticking her a few times in an effort to find a vein in her tiny hands and feet. The nurses were very nice. The doctor was very concerned and thorough in questioning the events and time line of the evening. They let us know it would be best to run some tests and keep her over night for observation. However, they didn't have any beds available and suggested we head over to Children's Hospital. Not a problem, because we were planning to take her to CHOP anyway!! We had already decided that before they let us know they didn't have any room at the inn. Virtua arranged for transport. I rode in the ambulance with Mikaela and Kurt followed in the van. At this time, Justin was home with Juliana and they both were sleeping. I'd say this was maybe close to 11 p.m. or so.
We arrived to the ER and repeated the story to it seemed like another half of dozen people. It was probably close to 5 a.m. before they got us into a room. I called my mom explained where we were and she went over to stay with Juliana as Justin left for school at 7:10. It was the morning of our 10 year anniversary. Sure, some guys take their wives to a fancy restaurant....
The next few days, Mikaela was put through so many tests to find out what was happening. Lots of blood drawn, a CT scan, EEG, a spinal tap to test for herpes, meningitis and something else. I can't remember. It was hard to see her go through all the poking and prodding even though we knew it was all in an effort to make her better.
We were running on so little sleep I was finding it hard to keep up. I slept by her crib, awakened by her various alarms going off every few minutes, (okay maybe a slight exaggeration, but not by far. Then the IV alarm would go off when the meds finished going in. Nursing her without pulling on all the wires was a bit of a circus!
Thankfully Neurology cleared her the first day. They said all of the results were within "normal" range. They believed that whatever her episodes were - they were not seizures.
We asked to have her hearing test moved up from Monday to Friday - since we were in there anyway. They were able to get us an appointment! However, on Thursday morning, Mikaela woke up and her left ear was extremely swollen and leaking a clear fluid. What the heck??? Not one doctor could explain what was happening. There wasn't an apparent infection. They said it wasn't red inside or anything. So with that new development, we were going to pass on having the ABR done. We didn't want a false result due to a potential ear infection or whatever it was. Oddly enough, by the afternoon, her ear returned to normal and no fluid was leaking. We treated it like an infection anyway with some drops.
The days passed as we waited for results from the rest of the testing. They all came back negative! What a blessing. The doctors deemed it ACID REFLUX! The burning of the acid caused her to flail about in such a dramatic fashion. Could have even caused the vomitting. I was relieved for that diagnosis yet felt badly for having to put her through all that. Well better safe than sorry.
We came home that weekend and happy to have her on the road to recovery.
Christmas was wonderful! We did decide to hang close to home because of all of the commotion. Family stopped in to visit us! We truly appreciated it! Here is a picture or two!
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