Monday, July 16, 2012

And I'm back!

Hellooooo! I missed you all so much, though I followed your stories while I was away (not always could comment!) I will have a series of posts coming, including travelling with an 18 month old, Fabulous Cali, Cyber Friends, Apple Bug and The 10 days on my own. So stay tuned!

In this one post, I want to tell you about the scariest moment with Oliver yet.
As I landed in London from Boston on Saturday at about 6am local time, I texted Mike to let him know I had a nice flight and asked how the night went (rough time with Oliver in my absence, teething, general unsettled child, fever, indigestion etc in the space of 10 days). His text back was (with some editing to make it clear) "Don't worry- in  the hospital. Oliver had a fever of 40.4 (104.7 F) and abdominal pain (gas). Taken chest X-ray & bloods, results in 1hour. Oliver sleeping. Temp 37 (normal). He had woken due to pain in his belly and was inconsolable - hard belly. Now the belly is soft again."

Now, what would you have done? Panic of course. My connection wasn't for another 5 hours (five hours!!) but I just bought a new ticket with a different airline which got me to Dublin at about 10 am. I took a taxi and went straight to the hospital. I had not slept at all, but the adrenaline at this stage was so high it was keeping me going. By the time I got there, we knew bloods were not too bad, with a couple of values out of range indicating either a bacterial or a viral infection. It was not a surgical problem and the X-rays were clear. I sent Mike home (he was the shadow of himself at this stage) and never left Oliver out of my sight. He was sleeping, and so so small and pale in the bed. We had a single room with a bed for a parent to stay the night. When he woke later, he was so happy to see me, but too weak to stand up, my heart was in pieces. I fed him a bit while he was lying down and very slowly he got a bit of strength back. His fever spiked again though not as high as during the night, but the consultant suggested a spinal tap to rule out more dangerous conditions and also to avoid giving him antibiotics without a real need for him. I was completely on board. I assisted during the procedure and was able to hold Oliver in position while singing to him. It was over very quickly and I am sure it would have been much worse for me if I had waited outside the room. As they collected the fluid I saw immediately it was clear, and relaxed straight away. The consultant brought the sample down to the lab himself for micro-analysis and very quickly let me know that we had nothing to worry about, it was definitely something viral and we just had to keep his temp down. Oliver bounced back very quickly, had a good night sleep (a part for the nurse taking his temperature every 2 hours), no more fever and by Sunday morning he was climbing everything available in the room! When the doctor came around, he was very happy that the worse was over and sent us home! My house never felt so safe and comfortable, my bed, oh my bed! I missed you so much! And so the last couple of days between the jet lag, the sleep deprivation, the worrying and the relief, felt like they lasted a week.

Oh, by the way, I have started my FET preparation in the midst of all this too!

13 comments:

Alex said...

Welcome back! I can't wait to hear all about your trip!

That sounds awful scary about the hospital trip with Oliver. Oh my goodness! Thank God he's ok, and quickly got better, but super scary!

FET - already? Can't wait to follow along! C'mon baby #2!!!

nurslouisa said...

Wow that sounds very scary, so glad Oliver's ok!

erika said...

That is sooo scary! I hope he keeps improving fast and that you can go home very soon!!! Poor little guy(((

Anonymous said...

Oh no! Poor Oliver! I'm so glad he's better! How scary that must have been for you and Mike! I hope you all recover from the scare soon! I can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip! I have a post lined up about a few related things (wink, wink).

Glad you made it home safely!

Mina said...

Welcome back! I hope poor Oliver is feeling loads better by now and that you had a chance to rest yourself. Can't wait to hear ore about your adventures. Fingers crossed for no. dos. :-)

jill's infertility document said...

Welcome back (to home, to blogging and to treatments!!). That is quite a return! So sorry to hear about the scare and hospital stay. Hopefully you are well rested and everyone is recovering. Best wishes for the FET cycle--I'll be following!

CJ said...

I would have freaked!!! and feel awful that I wasn't there consoling him, but glad things worked out okay. He won't remember.. so you are good! :)

Valery said...

I think you are superwoman!! Hugs

Baby Smiling In Back Seat said...

Quite the welcome home!

Hopefully the rest of your trip was more relaxing. Look forward to hearing about it!

Circus Princess said...

OMG, I can only imagine! I totally get that you bought a ticket and got on the first available plane, I would've too! Happy to hear little man is doing better and excited to hear about your FET :) I've missed you terribly!

Adele said...

Oh, Fran!! My heart kind of stopped at several points during the paragraph about Oliver (and, I'll admit, there's something uncanny about reading about rough times weathered by any Oliver). How scary. You made the right decision in going home, 100%. I bet he was so damned happy to see his mama (and I bet Mike was relieved to see you, too). I'm so glad Oliver is on the mend. Scary, scary, scary, scary. Over now. (Thank goodness).

Momasita said...

Oh Fran, what a horrible thing to return to. I'm so happy that Oliver is okay. Good luck with the FET and I can't wait to hear all about your trip.

Life Happens said...

Wow, how scary!! It's so hard to see our babies in pain. I'm so glad you were able to be with him and I'm happy he's feeling better!