35 miles back

Well... The place that people called our 2nd home that was really more like our 1st home until it became our former home is now our home again.

Yes, we're back in the hospital.

Before anyone starts sacrificing whales again, we're on a wait-and-see path.

The short version that short of the nearly debilitating lack of sleep I was suffering from, things were going swimmingly at home until yesterday. Robbie has decided he will only sleep while being held, but we were managed.

Then his G Tube started leaking AGAIN.
The home health nurse came yesterday and said it looked okay, he'd gained 4 ounces since being home and was generally thriving.

But then the G tube KEPT leaking. We were struggling to keep him warm enough as it was (finally resorted to a space heater in his room) so the fact that he was constantly wet was frustrating to say the least.

Then about 7:30 last night he didn't finish a bottle. Okay, 1 bottle a day that isn't complete is no big deal. But then he didn't finish the next. Or the next.

Finally today I called the pediatrician. He hasn't taken more than 30 cc (when he should be getting about 45) since last night. I expected the on call pedi to tell us to come in tomorrow- instead he sent us to the ER. He wanted to see if the G button needed a balloon adjustment. He'd call ahead and tell them we were coming.

We got to the ER and they were waiting on us. At in- I walked in and said that the pediatrician said he'd call ahead and before I could ask if we could wait somewhere away from all the sick people, the girl next to her said they were expecting us, they had a room and people waiting and to follow her.

We walked down the hall and there were literally about 5 people in a room waiting on us.

They got him stripped, attached to 100 monitors, asked 100 questions and called the surgeon. They decided to inflate his balloon a little more, have me feed him and see if it leaked.

Well, I fed him.. but before I could finish, he promptly vomited EVERYWHERE. Now, he shouldn't be able to puke at all- that was the point of the surgery, and this was a LOT of it. Down his blanket, soaked my pants, left a puddle in the floor.

That got us admitted. They decided that while he doesn't seem sick, dehydration is too easy and quick to happen in a baby Robbie's size.

On the way to the room, we passed one of the RTs from the NICU who gave us the "WHY ARE YOU HERE?" look. David explained.

About the time we got into our room, that RT and our favorite RT (the one that attended Robbie's birth) were in to visit. You could tell the doctor was confused about why we had to RTs in the room when she came to see us. I had to explain that Robbie is very popular. Such a burden.

In any case, the plan is basically IV pepcid, IV fluids, and slow increasing doses of pedialyte to see how it goes. He'll be getting his 2nd dose of pedialyte in the next half hour.

He'll also be getting more bloodwork because somehow the lab has lost our CBC. I won't even get into how frustrating that is, but what's done is done, so we go with it.

So far the worst thing is that they're tracking his temperatures closely- RECTALLY. Suffice it to say that Robbie is NOT a happy baby. Which makes me not a happy momma. I cried when they gave him his IV. I know I should be used to it by now, but he was crying that "I'm so very, very sad" cry and it just shreds my heart.

The good part is that as of right now, we're mostly here for observation- not really because he's sick-sick. He doesn't seem quite himself, so I'm worried and will be glad when we get the CBC back.

So for now we'll stick with prayers and good thought. But keep the whales at the ready.


--Trish