"It's Normal"

We've had a crazy week. A stomach bug found its way into our house. It started with Zachary - when I went in to get him up Sunday morning, I noticed the distinct smell of vomit in the room. He had thrown up in his crib and on the floor at some point in the night. Then, the next night Brendan was complaining of feeling "queasy" which I immediately dismissed because he's a big wuss and I thought he was trying to slack off on his fatherly duties. Ha! A little while later, Easton did a little gag/cough combo and threw up quite a bit. I convinced myself that he only threw up because maybe he ate too much and that gag/cough just made it all come up. So, Brendan left for softball and I put Easton to bed.

Around 1:30 in the morning, I heard Easton cough...just one little cough but I went in to check on him anyway. Somehow, in his dark little room, I noticed that his sheet was wet. So, I reached down and moved him to check and sure enough he was laying in a puddle of vomit. I still can't figure out how that happened since he doesn't roll over but it is what it is. So, I got him up to change him and woke Brendan up to tell him what was happening. He went in and changed his sheets while I changed his jammies and tried to feed him. Easton was too tired to eat. Wait...what??? That never happens! Let the worrying begin!

So, I kept him in bed with us because I was too worried about him throwing up and choking in his room. So, it was a long night. I had already decided that we needed to call the doctor and that I'd, at best, be going in to work late. But, after I got up with him the next morning and he threw up again I knew I wouldn't be able to be away from him. His pediatrician asked if he was vomiting blood (like I'd just casually call if that was the case) and, since he wasn't, said to just "keep an eye on him". Well, I kept my eye on all-day puking. Around 2-something, I had had enough and we were off to the ER at Children's - the same "campus" we took him to when he started vomiting blood at 4 days old...I told him in the car that we would not be leaving in an ambulance this time and that he better straighten up!!

Well, he kind of listened.....the doctor ordered a "belly x-ray" and, much to my dismay, it looked "funny". Brendan met me there but had to leave to pick up the big boys - when he left, we thought everything was good but he missed the radiologist's "funny" findings. So, the radiologist thought it was best to send us to the main campus but they "let" me drive him myself this time. The ER doc was convinced that he was fine and told me that he regretted ordering the x-ray since anyone with just a stomach virus would have "funny" looking x-rays. He even went back to the radiologist and asked if he would've thought the scan looked "funny" if we hadn't been through the whole malrotation and volvulus issue and the radiologist told him "sorta". So, off to downtown Cincinnati we went for an upper GI scan.

I called my sister to see if she could take care of the big boys so that Brendan could come downtown. Luckily, she didn't have any plans and was on her way to our house within an hour. By the time Brendan got there, it had been around 2 hours....they wouldn't let me feed Easton so he was upset and crying....they stuck us in a tiny room where we had to wait and wait to see the surgeons so by that time I was crying, too. Brendan got there just as some surgical resident - a man of VERY few words who just stood there and watched me cry - came in to tell us that the the fear was that Easton's intestines were twisting again and that there appeared to be a blockage of some sort on his x-ray.

A few minutes after the silent resident left, a familiar face showed up - one of Easton's surgeons appeared. I probably scared the first guy so much that he ran back and got the other guy but regardless, we were happy to see a familiar face that remembered us and Easton...and was quite impressed with his size! He was the doctor that we saw every day for surgical rounds in the NICU - at first I wasn't that impressed, but then I ended up being a fan. He's very young - not sure of his "rank" or whatever...in fact, I'm realizing now that I don't even know his name. But, he always had confidence in Easton and he let my little Peanut guide him in his treatment plan when he wasn't really following the rules. Anyway, he said that he had seen the x-ray and wasn't that concerned but wanted to go ahead and have the GI scan done which Brendan and I both agreed with - we're all about being safe...not sorry!

So, in addition to the upper GI test, they wanted to start an IV to make sure Easton stay hydrated - they also wanted to run some blood tests. This almost put me over the edge. I so vividly remember the last time we went through this - I sat in the corner of his little ER room bawling my eyes out, listening to my 4-day-old baby screaming like I had never heard him scream before while they tried to get blood out of the poor child and start an IV. That took 5 attempts. This time, it "only" took 2 tries which actually made me quite happy .....that is, I was happy AFTER the IV was in and they got all the blood they needed (up until that point, I was absolutely miserable). Honestly, the IV and the "no eating" were the hardest parts for ME....and probably for Easton, too!! I was pretty convinced that we weren't in an emergency situation this time; however, I realized that this could all be a coincidence and the vomiting could be due to a virus and that there could be a problem with his intestines that he wasn't showing symptoms for - yet. We obviously hoped this was not the case.

So, more waiting - Easton hated being in the little exam room so we took turns walking him up and down the hall. Finally, the poor baby fell asleep.....so, of course, a few minutes later they were ready to do his GI scan. This time, they gave him the Barium via a bottle rather than a tube through his nose - since they hadn't let me feed him in close to 8 hours at this point, he was more than happy to drink the Barium solution. He laid perfectly still while they gave him the bottle and did the test. The radiologist told us "so far, so good" and then ordered an x-ray after 5 minutes and sent us back to the ER to wait. We thought it'd only be a few minutes but it ended up being closer to an hour - finally, we got the word that his test was NORMAL!!! YEA! Man...this is a long story....anyway, sounds like it was a bug of some sort but what a roller coaster. And too much deja vu - we had one of the same ER nurses as the last time and we recognized one of the downtown ER docs although (luckily) we completely bypassed him and went straight to the surgical team....can't imagine how long we would've waited if we had to go through the ER docs before the surgeons.

Obviously, we're EXTREMELY grateful for NORMAL test results! And, ironically, this puts some of my fears of a recurrence to rest. I had always wished they had done another GI test after his surgery before we brought him home - just to make sure everything was okay in there. But, it was such a great feeling to be able to bring him home from the ER this time!!! We're soooo lucky!