Sickies

Fevers are scary.

Yesterday, one of our wonderful pediatricians, Dr. K., followed Luke's fever very closely. He called me every two hours as promised. At 5 p.m. the fever was again climbing so he sent us to the emergency room.

When the nurse checked us in he took Luke's temperature. It was 102.2. He said, "You just earned yourself a quick trip back to the front of the line" then whisked Luke back to the pediatric ER. My poor baby.

The doctor came in an explained that because Luke is not yet vaccinated (first round is due tomorrow), fevers are very serious. Then she explained they would need to catheterize him and draw blood.

He was a very patient patient.

Luke took the cath like a champ. I had to turn my head. I can watch a lot of things but something about the penis and a catheter made me weak in the knees...

The blood draw took over 2 hours. Straight. It took 8 attempts before they could get the blood they needed. Needless to say, I have several pulled muscles in my back as I sit here and type. He was such a good boy. They attempted blood draws at every "good vein" but the vein either blew or gave trickles of blood. They were able to get an IV in his ankle but could not get blood from it (could deliver meds into it). Finally, after 2 very very long hours and lots of sugar water on the binky, they got the blood they needed.

Baby boy promptly passed out.

Late in the evening the preliminary results showed no signs of concern and we were able to go home. There are a few cultures we're waiting on but I think he's just fighting a cold virus.

I came home and put Gabe down only to hear him wake up 20 minutes later with the exact same cold...

It was a fun all-nighter with Gabe last night. A lot different than the all-nighters I pulled in college.

Say a prayer that I survive this day with two sick newborns, no sleep, pulled muscles, and my big girls.

**Oh, gotta love the prayer the nurse said on the final blood draw attempt: "Hail Mary Full of Grace put this needle in it's place." It worked.