Once a week

Hmmm... Seems like I'm just posting once a week lately. There is a reason for it this time around.

Last week, Katie got sick. She got sick in the middle of the night Wednesday into Thursday. We got her out of bed to find the yuckiness. So, we got her all cleaned up and she started getting sick again. I will spare you the grossness of the details, but she was not well.

Friday, she wasn't better.

Saturday, she wasn't better. We went to the doctor and he said to keep her drinking.

We thought she was better Sunday. Not so.

Monday I stayed home with her and she really was sick then. She hadn't had a wet diaper since Sunday and she was throwing up again. I called Ben and told him he needed to come home right away. We took her to the doctor and the doctor sent us to Children's Mercy South. Katie was dehydrated. Luckily, she wasn't severely dehydrated, just moderately. She was admitted Monday afternoon.

The staff wanted us to do oral rehydration with Katie. They said that a lot of times, children this small respond better to this treatment rather than IV. So, we were to give her 5 mL of fluid by syringe every two minutes for an hour. If she keeps it down, let her rest 15 minutes then give 10 mL every two minutes. Basically, give her 13 ounces of liquid over a two hour period. Yes, that is a lot of fluid for a tiny little tummy! She fought it real bad at first, but then Ben, my mom and I got a system down where we were able to administer the fluids without much fuss. We got about halfway into the second hour and she couldn't handle any more and got sick. All over me. In my shoes even. Yuck. But, at that time, I hardly even noticed. I was too concerned with her throwing up again.

The staff then let her rest for a couple of hours. During that time, our angels gathered around. My dad arrived, Ben's mom and sister and her boys arrived, and Bruce came. He and dad administered to Katie and I could tell she was more at peace then. Of course, she wanted grandpa to hold her instead of mom, but hey, whatever she wants!

We started to go through another round of oral rehydration with the next shift of nurses and doctors. After she got through with 100 mL of fluid, she was acting like she was going to be sick. Ben and I decided with the doctor's advice to start an IV so she could rest easier and not have to work at getting hydrated. So, the IV was started about 10:00 Monday night and she had her first wet diaper of the day just before midnight. Luckily, she had to be changed more that day than the days leading up to it combined.

We didn't rest well that night at the hospital and not much the next day either. Katie started coming around back to her regular self about lunch time on Tuesday. We could tell she was feeling much better because she kept wanting to get down and walk around. She was released late Tuesday afternoon. HALLELUIAH!

I stayed home with her again Wednesday thinking that she would be resting a lot of the day. Boy was I wrong! I wouldn't have it any other way though. It is so good to have my healthy little girl back.

The doctors and nurses and all staff in general at Children's Mercy were just wonderful. They talked to us and not at us and made us feel good about the treatments. They were very accomodating and loving to us in such a scary stressful time. I feel so fortunate that we have a wonderful hospital system dedicated to children so close to us. The facility was so bright and colorful. It was good to see something children can relate to so that it won't be as scary.