Maggie's Scare

It all started back on Saturday, October 28 with Maggie coming down with a fever pretty quickly and a barking cough. While Matt was at work as Iowa State had a home football game, I took Maggie to Urgent Care where she was diagnosed with croup and given antibiotics. This was her third round of croup in 18 months. 

On Sunday, November 5, Matt was again working and we were back to the doctor with a horrible ear infection for Maggie. Given additional antibiotics and drops. To note: yes, her tubes are still in place. Maggie was done with antibiotics that following Saturday. 

The evening of Monday, November 13, Maggie wasn't herself. Just lethargic and low grade fever. Luckily, the following day would be spent with Nana, so extra cuddles should do the trick I thought. Matt left that Tuesday for what was supposed to be a week long trip to South Carolina for a basketball tournament. He left and that night we were in After Hours Care as something wasn't right with Maggie. She didn't have a fever, but just again wasn't herself. My mom said she spent the entire day just laying around, no life to her. The doctor said she clearly looked like she wasn't feeling good, but wasn't running a fever, ears and throat looked fine. He said if she gets a fever above 103, bring her back. 

Wednesday, November 15 was the start of a nightmare. I received a text from Amanda that while Maggie was fine most of the morning, she quickly got 104 temperature and all of a sudden wouldn't stop crying. I got to pick her up at 12:30 and called the doctor where we were able to get in with Dr. Smith at 1:50. The hour between picking her up and going to the doctor was spent rocking her and trying to get her temp down with Tylenol. She was on fire. 

We get to the doctor and while getting checked out, her temperature is 104.5 and he orders nose swab to check for the flu (negative), chest x-ray and labs. He said she looks sick. We go to get x-rays where we FaceTimed with aunt Alaina in the waiting room before the labs. Trying to get her to sit for the x-ray was rough because she was exhausted and just limp. I carried her to do labs where it all went down hill. She gave the urine sample and cried that she wanted to walk, so I let her. She just collapsed out of exhaustion and was crying. I picked her up to sit in the chair for her blood draw. We had the sweetest lab tech that I will never forget. Maggie grew more limp and just fell back on me. I said "something isn't right." The lab tech agreed and suggested we go back to the Peds room and do the blood draw from there. 

It was when I laid Maggie on the table that she became unresponsive. I kept saying "this isn't right, something is wrong" all while trying to get Maggie's attention. Her eyes were rolling, eyes closed and body limp. The lab tech yelled for help when three doctors (Smith, Hartwigsen and Paschen) ran in with nurses and told me to step out. Maggie was having a seizure. I lost it. Matt was in South Carolina and I called him. I had no idea what was going on, but I was scared and needed him to know something wasn't right. When I hung up the phone with him, I could hear a doctor say "alright, it's been five minutes" all while everyone is yelling her name, ordering medicine, getting ice packs and taking her clothes off. During all of this, that sweet lab tech is standing there with me rubbing my back as I cry and call Matt. Gosh that lady was a saint to me at that moment. It was then I needed someone and immediately called my mom. By the time my mom got there, Maggie had been seizing in the room for over 20 minutes (they believe the start of the seizure started when we sat down for the blood draw) and we were told she needs to get to the ER immediately. I was put in a room next to Maggie while our family pediatrician, Dr. Patten, came and checked on Maggie and talked me through everything. A stretcher came and Maggie was wheeled over to the ER at Mary Greely Hospital while still seizing. 

We get to the ER and the team got her first seizure to end after 30 minutes. The time in the ER was a blur to me between answering questions, asking of family history, calling Matt and trying to wrap my head around watching my daughter lay there non-responsive. At that time, they had given her the most they could of a particular seizure medicine and were manually pumping oxygen all while they have her hooked up to IVs. The ER doctor told me we needed to get to Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines and he ordered an ambulance and team to get to Ames ASAP to transport Maggie. It was after he made the call that Maggie's left side started twitching and the start of a second seizure was happening. They started a new seizure medication and because it would slow down her breathing, they needed to intubate her. To see your lifeless child laying with a breathing tube is truly terrifying and gut wrenching. 

My mom and Alaina went to our house to get me clothes while I followed the ambulance to Blank's. By this time, it is 5:30 p.m. and Matt has been told by work that they are working on getting him a flight back to Iowa first thing the next day. We get to Blank (Maggie before me as they went much faster with sirens) and I got to her room in the PICU as she was being hooked up to all new machines, new blood draws and getting the new team up to speed. In fact, they had already done a CT scan and an x-ray on her lungs by the time I got to her room. CT scan was to see if seizures were brought on by anything other than fever and the x-ray showed some fluid in/around her lungs. My mom and Alaina got there shortly after to sit with me and thankfully brought me something to eat. 

We had a team of nurses and/or doctors in our room every 30 minutes all through the night to check stats, administer new meds, etc. Even though Maggie was under heavy sedation and super drugged up, they had to tie her arms to the bed as when she got agitated from the nurses checking stats or doing blood draws, she would try and pull her breathing tube out. Oh and those blood draws....AWFUL! They did them every 10 hours and no lie, it took four nurses to pin her down for 30-45 minutes every single time. She was dehydrated and has horrible veins like her mama. Finally on the last day of the hospital, the doctor said enough and made the labs make due with what they got for her blood draw. Poor girl came home heavily bruised from her feet/ankles to her arms and hands. 

It was around 7:00 a.m. on Thursday that she started slowly coming out of sedation. I had the nurses, doctor and a Child Life Specialist all warn me what the next several hours would be like, but I had no idea it would be as bad as it was. If your child has ever come out of sedation from tubes or tonsils coming out, imagine that time 1,000 and lasting 10 hours straight. It was horrible. Imagine an angry, drunk toddler. She threw up, her body was limp and uncontrollable, she was hallucinating that there were spiders all around her and on the walls so she tried running (while falling) in her crib and climbing out. We would touch her and she thought it was a spider or water filling up around her. Nothing we could do would help her, she just needed to get the drugs out of her system. The Child Life Specialist tried to bring things to help, and it maybe lasted a few minutes. 

Matt arrived around noon and I tried my best to warn him about what he was going to encounter. Having him there was a blessing as I was near a meltdown. I held it together better than I thought, but once he got there, I just cried. I was scared and exhausted. After a few hours of Matt and I taking turns with Maggie, the nurse told us to go to the family lounge and take a 30 minute break. Upon coming back, we learned Maggie had a severe case of RSV. When she got admitted the night before, they started her on meds right away even though they didn't know what it was. Even though RSV is something that just works its way out of the system, it didn't hurt to have the antibiotics. 

In her new "crib"that protected her from climbing out and was fully enclosed. 

After being up since 7:00 a.m., Maggie finally fell asleep around 5:00 p.m. It was then that I went back to Ames to spend the evening with Emma and get some sleep. We didn't know how long we would be there, so the plan was that we would take turns being home with Emma to provide her some sort of normalcy. Luckily Maggie slept from 5:00 p.m. until the next morning. On my way back to Blank, Matt called and said the results came in and we would get to go home that day. 

What I came into on Friday morning before leaving. 

Other than being super tired, a little cranky and pretty weak, Maggie was back to "normal". The doctor came and spoke to us on everything Maggie had/went through: she had RSV and strep pneumonia. We were given antibiotics, instructions for home and told to see our pediatrician that following Monday. So at noon on Friday, we were headed back to Ames after a terrifying 48 hours. 

We couldn't have gotten through this ordeal without our caring, thoughtful family and friends that covered us with prayer and love. My mom, the saint she is, I can't even say enough about her. She was my rock when Matt couldn't be there. She is the most selfless person I know and so giving of her children and granddaughters. My sister who helped pack me a bag and constantly checked in. My dad who was in China on work travel and checked in, called and prayed hard. Jamie and Ellen Pollard who have gone through so much worse with James, made sure we were okay and taken care of. In fact, Ellen knew I would never ask her or anyone to come down and sit with me or bring me anything. So she said she "had an errand" in Des Moines and brought me fruit, yogurt, a muffin and sat with me during some of Maggie's worse. She was a God send in that hour. The Rutherfords and Lickteigs for the texts, group messages and hospital care packages. Friends, get friends like them and never let go. Blessed for their families and for our kids to grow up together. The entire men's basketball family from coaches to wives. Wow, did we ever feel the love. Again, text messages and shout outs from the games. This staff is simply the best and incredibly family oriented. Rhonda Hackmiller who had a special bag of treats/toys for the girls and food for the family. That woman is so thoughtful and sincere. The Anderson family, who without question took Emma that Wednesday evening and made sure she didn't miss a beat and felt like everything was normal. My work, Matt's work, so many friends and family members. It is true what they say, "It takes a tribe". It sure does and boy are we blessed. 

There are so many details I am sure that I am missing, but this is a high level overview of our 48 hours of hell. 

Doctor Visits

We have become regulars at the doctor's office. I swear we are constantly turning in $10 co-pays into flex.

At one of Maggie's recent visits to the pediatrician (I think when she got her yeast infection), Dr. Patten saw the major flair ups of acne that I had been talking about, but she never actually saw when it came around to appointments. She suggested seeing a dermatologist and got us in with a great one. Maggie is now on a topical treatment three times a week and we should be seeing improvement in 6-8 weeks. Should it not be cleared up in a year, she would do some hormone testing with our pediatrician.

When I went to pick up the girls on Monday, I noticed how swollen Maggie's left side of her face was. Weird I thought. My mom said her nose was like a faucet all day. Not surprising since she cut a tooth last week and has four more (including molars) that are making their way. But as we got home, she could hardly open her eye. Called the doctor and got right in.....double ear infection! You have got to be kidding me. This is the happiest she has been ever while having an ear infection, sleeping fine and eating. Meanwhile, other times I've taken her in convinced her screaming was an ear infection turned out to be teething. This girl keeps us guessing. So back on Augmenten for Mags.

Sick....Again.

I thought spring time brought sun and healthy times? Not in our house.

Thursday, March 31: After weeks of Emma holding her potty or claiming it hurt and two random accidents, I decided to believe her and take her to the doctor. Yeast infection. Makes sense after being on antibiotics from her last bout of illness. Given Nystatin cream.
Wednesday, April 6: Maggie has had what we thought was a diaper rash for a couple weeks that wasn't getting better after baking soda baths, Desitin and other creams. Take her in and yep, yeast infection for her too. Given Nystatin cream.
Thursday, April 7: Maggie starts getting a runny nose (teething).
Saturday, April 9: Emma starts getting a runny nose.
Sunday, April 10: Both girls noses are like faucets just draining.
Monday, April 11: Coughs start and the sound barky.
Tuesday, April 12: Take both girls to the doctor and both are treated for croup with steroid medicine. There's some fluid in Maggie's ear, but it isn't infected....yet. Let's be real, it will be in a couple days.

Oh and Matt's now home sick with some sort of sinus congestion and sore throat. Praying I'm not next.

Maggie: Eleven Months

Just like that, we have an almost one year old. Please take your time growing older my sweet girl.

Likes/Dislikes: She likes getting into mommy's magazines (should probably move them) and getting into the entertainment center while smiling at us as we tell her no. Maggie likes crawling over to toys and books to play or when big sister lets her play in her room with her. She also loves splashing in teh tub, chewing on toys and being outside. Our girl hates grass so much that she cries or whines til we pick her up. I hear this is the case for most kids, but Emma loved it from the beginning. 

Development: Maggie's learned to crawl up a couple of stairs, crawl over things and walk around the coffee table or couch (while still holding on). She's talking or mumbling more and getting more animated.

Sleeping: While she is currently cutting teeth and sick (hello croup and yeast infection), sleep has been off the last week. But outside of the past week, it's the normal 7pm to 6:30am with two naps during the day. The last week has been her not putting herself to sleep as well and waking multiple times a night. Crossing my fingers she's back to "normal" soon for all of us to get back to some well rested nights.

Eating: What doesn't this girl like?!?! She loves ALL food. Really, she does. Maybe strawberries is the one food we tried this last week that she spits right out. Otherwise she loves all veggies, fruit, pasta and trying what we eat for dinner.

Family Update: Matt and the team made it to Chicago for the Sweet Sixteen, so naturally, the girls and I joined them. While it wasn't the turnout we hoped for, the girls rocked the bus ride to/from Chicago and were super good at the game. Now that the season is over, we are re-adjusting (like we do every year) to having Matt around full time and enjoying the family time. The girls and Matt are battling some sinus issues and both the girls have croup, so we are looking forward to some healthy days ahead.

Two Sick Girls

I think it is a common question these days, but seriously, is it spring time yet?

Wednesday, February 17: Maggie's nine month appointment. Healthy girl.
Thursday, February 18: Emma's holding onto her potty and saying it hurts. It's red and swollen. Take her into the doctor and she has genital strep. Given amoxicillin to get rid of it.
Friday, February 19: Maggie wakes up with a raspy voice.
Monday, February 22: Maggie gets a slight cough, nothing crazy.
Wednesday, February 24: Maggie's cough is getting worse and we are hardly sleeping.
Thursday, February 25: Emma wakes up with some rasp to her voice and a little cough. Pick the girls up from Amanda's and Emma's running a low grade fever. Emma's fever gets to 102.9 in the night. Another night of Maggie not sleeping.
Friday, February 26: Take the girls to the doctor. Emma: croup and steroid medication. Maggie: ear infection in right ear along with a cold and given amoxicillin.
Monday, February 29: Maggie's not showing any sight of improvement and if anything, sounds and looks worse. Most sleep we have gotten at night is 4.5 hours since Tuesday. Take her back to the doctor and she now has a double ear infection with her left side about to burst, fever blisters in her mouth and possible thrush. Given augmenten instead and told to watch her swelling in her face.

Like I said, is it spring time yet? We need some fresh air.....and more Lysol.

Maggie: Six Months

Likes/Dislikes: The jumper/bouncer is Maggie (and ours) new best friend. She loves spending time in there bouncing around, playing and smiling. Honestly, she can sit in there for 30 minutes and be totally occupied. Maggie also enjoys putting her feet in her mouth, taking her socks off, rolling everywhere and smiling at anyone that smiles at her. Maggie hates being sick, congested and ear infections....and so do we! She extremely dislikes having to take the time to burp in the middle of her bottle or being overtired.

Development: Maggie's continuing to roll every which way and finding herself in new places quickly. She's found her feet and enjoys chewing on them, along with taking her socks off multiple times a day. Sitting up on her own is a work in progress, but she's getting stronger and lasting about a minute before getting top heavy and rolling over.

Sleeping: For the most part, Maggie is sleeping through the night. Again, being sick has thrown her off, but she is doing considerably well. She goes to bed between 7:00-7:30 and we usually go in there once to pop in her pacifier. She's been waking between 5:00-5:30 for the day. It's early, but honestly, I don't mind too bad. I know that this is the only 1:1 time I really get with her and it is nice to get up and have some coffee before everyone else is up. Emma went through something similar of waking really early. I know (at least I hope) it won't be like this forever. She's taking usually a 45 minute nap in the morning and then two to three hours in the afternoon with SOMETIMES a brief catnap in the evening.

Eating: She's still drinking six ounces every four hours and has now started solids. Last month I took some time and made homemade peaches, apples, bananas, sweet potatoes, avocados and squash. It has taken Maggie awhile to get the hang of it as she doesn't really open up her mouth and her tongue seems to be stuck out first, but she is getting the hang of it.

Family Update: Exhausted. We all are. Enough said.

On the Mend….Maybe

A couple weeks ago we heard Maggie coughing/sneezing through the monitor overnight and the next morning she sounded super congested and had a lot of junk coming out of her nose. Just thought it was the weather changes, but when I went to go pick up the girls later that day, Maggie's left eye was a bit swollen and my mom said she was constantly pulling stuff from her nose. Off to the doctor we went. Left with a sinus infection diagnosis and amoxicillin for ten days. After a few days, we still weren't seeing improvements and was occasionally running a low grade fever but knew it could take 10 days to start working. Luckily we had her four month appointment on the 14th and so we would follow up then.

At her four month well check, Dr. Patten said she clearly wasn't still feeling good and on top of that, had an ear infection. Poor girl is now off amoxicillin and on cefdinir. Because she was sick, we pushed back her four month shots to do when we did a follow up appointment on the 30th. We did measurements as well and our big girl is weighing 18 pounds 2 ounces (97th percentile) and is 27 inches (100th percentile) in length. She's the size of an average nine month old! Emma was always tall for her age, but Maggie sure does have her beat.

We are almost a week into the cefdinir and can't wait to be done with it. It is causing havoc on her tummy and she projectile spits up all day. She has seemed a lot better….until today when she sounds congested again. Grrr!! Hello cold and flu season, I have not missed you!

So happy to be seeing this girl smile again! 

Sick Baby

Poor Emma hasn't been herself lately and we are getting closer to some answers. Last Friday she started not feeling well and having terrible diarrhea. I thought I would see how it goes over the weekend and call the pediatrician's office first thing Monday morning. Monday came and it wasn't getting any better, actually it appeared to be getting worse. After not hearing from them until Tuesday, they told me that she probably has a stomach bug as it is going around and to see how it goes the next couple days. It was so hard to just wait it out as she was clearly miserable: screaming at night, clinching her fists in pain, puffy eyes and just super clingy. We were just waiting it out and hoping this bug would be done soon. It definitely wasn't getting better as yesterday she had five dirty diapers in the matter of five hours and two of which that had blood present. Called the pediatrician again and they wanted to see her. She was such a trooper and clinged to her daddy throughout the whole visit. They weighed her at 10lbs 2.5oz, so they weren't concerned yet about her losing weight. They sent us home with a kit to take some samples from her to bring back to get tested for a few different things. In the meantime, they asked for me to stop eating all milk protein products in case it ends up being an intolerance to what I eat. We should know more next week and hoping she gets better soon. Her poor eyes are so red and puffy from all the crying and not sleeping during the day because of not feeling well. As hard as the nights have been this week, it absolutely kills Matt and I seeing her like this and it just pulls at our heartstrings.