The Bentley's: Well...That Wasn't My Plan For Labor Day Weekend!

A couple of things I did not plan on for Labor Day weekend: Going to the ER, being admitted to the hospital with a very sick baby, watching them poke and prod that sweet girl, getting absolutely no sleep for two days, and not getting to see my son for those two days.

Friday morning I woke up excited that it was the start of Nathan's two days off, as well as a long weekend with Labor Day on Monday. I decided to bless Nathan and planned to let him sleep in as long as possible while trying to keep Judah and Audrey as quiet as possible. I got up as usual with Audrey when she woke up hungry. She was extremely fussy and crying throughout the whole feeding, which was definitely not like her. (She is a very happy and content baby usually.) She kept crying and I noticed that she was warmer than usual. So, I took her temperature. It was 101.7°F the first time I took it and 101.5°F 15 minutes later. I immediately called my doctor even though I knew what he would say...I had to take her to the ER.

For babies who are less than 2 months old, any temperature over 100.4°F buys you a quick trip to the ER.

Nathan initially stayed home with Judah while I loaded Audrey up in the car and headed down to Phoenix Children's Hospital as quickly as possible. Let me take just a moment to sing the praises of this hospital. From the moment I pulled into the parking lot, the staff was wonderful, and I also believe the Lord answered what I had been praying the entire drive down, that He would go before us and prepare the way and give us the right doctors and nurses. When I pulled into the ER parking lot, there were no spaces available. I pulled up to the security officer, and told him I needed to get my baby inside where should I park. He scanned the lot and then told me to park in the available spot that was reserved for an ED Doctor. I only sat in the waiting room for about 5 minutes before they called me back to register her and then 2 minutes after that they were calling me back to the triage area. After they took her vitals, they took us almost immediately back to a room. Then we only waited maybe 10 or 15 minutes before the doctor was coming in. (Seriously...I have NEVER had an ER visit go so smoothly and quickly!)

The doctor confirmed what I knew was going to have to happen and what I'd cried about before I even left the house...they were going to have to not only draw blood and use a catheter to collect urine, but they were going to have to do a spinal tap to test for meningitis. (This is standard for any baby under 2 months old with a fever.) Even though as a nurse I have witnessed and helped with these procedures before, never did I think I'd have to watch it being done to my sweet baby girl who wasn't even 5 weeks old yet. So, of course I cried as they did it. But once again, let me say how amazing the staff was. The nurse got her IV started and blood drawn on the first try, the catheter was done quickly, and the doctor got the Spinal Tap on the first try as well.

They told us if the results all came back perfectly, they would allow us to go home, since she was over 28 days old. Well, she had no UTI, no Meningitis, and the blood work was normal, except for her white count which was a little low at 4.1. Because her white count was low, they decided they wanted to keep her in the hospital for 48 hours till they could get the results of the cultures and also give her IV antibiotics around the clock. A couple of hours later, we were moved to her new room in the NICU. Luckily it was a room with a cot where I could stay with her, and they allowed me to continue breastfeeding her.

By Sunday morning at 10:30am, it had been 48 hours and there was still no grown on any of the cultures, so we knew we would get to go home. (Basically, they knew that there was no serious infection at this point and probably was just a virus, which is what it usually is 97% of the time.) Also, the last dose of Tylenol had been on Saturday night at 9:30pm, and she had not spiked a fever again by Sunday morning. I was in the car a little after noon heading home once again.

Let's just say it's exhausting enough having a newborn at home, but throw into that a two day hospital stay where I never slept longer than 45 minutes at a time, and I was more exhausted that I could ever remember being. We are finally home though and Audrey has yet to spike a fever again, and seems to be back to her normal happy self!

So, glad it seems to be all over and so thankful for all the people who prayed for us, supported us and loved on us. My sweet friend Stacy and my mother-in-law came to sit with me in the ER till Nathan could get there. My brother came to visit us that night. The next day my friend Tiffani who is a nurse at PCH came to bring me lunch and our Senior Pastor Mark came to pray over Audrey as well. I feel so blessed by the Lord who held us up during this weekend.

In the ER: