Saturday, February 25, 2006

Baby’s first trip to the ER

Trust me, I would have much preferred to report that Sam took his first step but this lousy milestone came first. I thought he was getting better after his undetermined illness last week when all of a sudden it came back with a vengeance on Wednesday night. By Thursday afternoon, he had virtually nothing to eat or drink all day and anything he did had certainly come flying right out. I called his doctor and she told us to go to the Emergency Room because she was concerned he was dehydrated. When we got there (in record time) we were triaged and called into the Pediatric Emergency unit in less than 30 minutes. I'm not sure if that was because we were urgent or if there was a lull in business. In any case, it was quick service for us which is more than I can say for the long time obvious smoker who was asleep on the waiting area couch when we arrived and still there when we left MANY hours later. Note to parents who find themselves in a similar predicament in the future: go to the ER late afternoon/early evening. Don't wait till bedtime because it seemed like once we got in, all the other kids started arriving.

Pretty quickly they determined the dude was indeed dehydrated and they did the battery of poking and prodding necessary to do several tests. More self-accusatory thoughts ensued. In the meantime, they hooked him up to IV fluids and he finally got to rest a bit. Bob's sister Sheila arrived, to my surprise, and I was so grateful to see her. Since Bob was traveling, he called her to let her know what was happening and she came to help me. Everything happened too quickly so I didn't call anyone besides Bob thinking I could handle it all by myself. And I could have but it was so nice to have Sheila there with whom to talk things through and to keep me company when I otherwise would have felt all alone.

We were released at 2:00 in the morning or so and after a long night, we headed home to get some sleep. When I called Bob before I went to bed, he was already on his way to the airport to catch an early flight home. Since then, Sam's had a little more appetite and a little less poop but he’s still just on the mend. Most importantly, the smiles are back and that's my best indicator that he's starting to return to his former sunny self.

This afternoon at lunch we tried our own marketing campaign called the “Sammy Challenge” whereby he drinks from each of the cups to choose his favorite. He may be a bit young but I'm keeping this tactic in my back pocket if I ever need it again. But what kid do you know chooses water? I bet it’s the same kinda kid who picks the tennis ball in the parody.

One more thing, I'm willing to share this story with whoever happens upon my website but to my dear family members, as far as Grandma is concerned, mum's the word on the whole hospital visit bit. No need to worry the 'more.
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