Saturday, July 14, 2012

Primary Children's

My little Mason has had a rough week.
I haven't had the best week either....but my mood is directly linked to my children's happiness and health...so when my baby woke up sick on Monday morning...I didn't have a chance.

It all started on Monday morning. I got both of my babies all bathed and lotioned and swaddled up for their morning nap. I placed them next to each other in their bassinet right next to my bed and headed for the shower. (not all days run this smooth...just in case you were incredibly impressed by me:) It was actually going to be my first shower in 2 days! These babies are sucking every ounce of my time!!

Then....
I heard Mason screaming like I never have before. The kind of scream that told me immediately...something was wrong. Really wrong.

I ran to him and he was COVERED in throw-up. Thick, chunky white throw up...filled the entire bassinet, his mouth and his nose and he was struggling to breathe. I immediately knew that he had inhaled or possibly aspirated the throw up and was scared to death. I may or may not have said a few choice words...then remained AMAZINGLY calm under the circumstances.

Enter = Choking phobia

but I did what I had to do....
I grabbed the bulb syringe...turned him on his side and started sucking thick vomit out of his throat, mouth, nostrils, etc. for 10 minutes. His lips started to turn blue and my adrenaline was pumping like crazy. I was determined and just kept sucking and clearing his airways begging him to catch his breath.
I then scream to Jaxson to run next door and grab my neighbor.
I knew that Mason would be ok....and I knew that he was obviously able to catch his breath every once in a while because he would let out a scream BUT I knew something was wrong.

It was TOO much throw-up.
It was too thick.
He was struggling TOO hard.

My mother's instincts were in "freak-out" mode.
I wanted him fixed. And NOW.
----
My neighbor arrived and looked at him in panic as well. She took him from me and started to calm him down and help him catch his breathe...while I attended to my other baby:) Geez...I wish on a  daily basis that I had 4 hands to do the amount of work that is required of me every day!
After about 30 minutes...we decided that we should take a picture of his little face. At this point..his eyes were still watering and his eyes were swollen shut. He was whimpering and in obvious pain. He was also exhausted from coughing and sneezing and screaming and struggling to breath for over an hour. It was the saddest thing I've ever seen.

I refuse to post the picture...becaues even looking at it makes my stomach drop and my tears start to flood.

----

I took him straight to the doctor that afternoon.
I discussed everything in detail with my Pediatrician and he did a thorough exam. He told me that Mason must have horrible reflux and that sometimes babies can projectile vomit when they have severe reflux...but assured me he would grow out of it.

It didn't sit well with me....but I was soooo happy to hear that my baby was fine and that he hadn't aspirated anything. He offered to put Mason on an antibiotic that thickened the milk in his stomach and helped keep it down and so he wouldn't spit-up as much.

I declined.

I am not much of a medicine-taker.
Therefore, I am hesitant to ever put my children on medications that need to be taken for long periods of time. It just did't feel right. So I opted out of that "fix".

---

He continued to vomit the majority of his milk after each feeding for the rest of the day. He didn't cry or scream...he would just throw up TONS each and every  time I nursed him. I continued to grow concerned because of the look of it and the way he was acting. He was getting more and more tired and instead of waking up and screaming for food every 3 hours like a healthy baby should...he slept the majority of the night.

I guess at that moment I knew it was just too good to be true:)
Moms of newborn twins don't get sleep. Plain and simple.
I knew right then that I prefer screaming and chaos at 2:30 a.m....over a lethargic and tired baby.

----

I woke up Tuesday morning and called my pediatrician. I was slightly embarrassed, but I knew that it was my job to keep pushing the issue and make certain that my little Mace was feeling ok!
I am the only person who can speak for him!!
I didn't want him to hurt or be suffering for one minute.

I left a message and waited all day. I didn't receive a call back all day...and BOY was I heated about it! Jarom got rather nervous that I would embarrass myself the next morning by calling and freaking out:) However, my phone rang at 10:00 p.m. and it was the pediatrician ON CALL for that day. Oh boy...they are so lucky they called me back:)

 He listened to an entire description of what was happening to my baby and decided to send us to the hospital the next morning to get a test and an xray of his throat, stomach, etc. and make sure that food was passing through as it should.

They decided on running some tests because my mother's instinct was CERTAIN that something was wrong with his stomach...not his throat or simple reflux.

Something just seemed "off" to me and I knew something was wrong with my baby.
I jumped on the computer and started searching and reading about pyloric stenosis.

We set an appointment for 8:00 a.m. the next morning at the hospital for some tests.

30 minutes later my pediatrician called and said that the ON-CALL doctor had called him and explained what was going on. He continued to ask me more questions about Mason and he asked me what my gut feeling was telling me.

I told him that my baby was SICK and that I felt like it was Pyloric stenosis.
He was the perfect fit to the information I had been reading online.

He told me that he was nervous about him and that Pyloric Stenosis could be very dangerous and that I needed to rush Mason to Primary Children's Emergency Room.

I was out the door SO FAST and was ready to fix my little man and have him feeling better:)

----
When we arrived at Primary Children's hospital Mason continued to throw-up every few seconds. It was only an hour or two after we arrived that he started vomiting BLOOD everywhere...all over himself, me and his dad.

Ummmm....
My baby doesn't get to vomit blood.
No Way. Never.

I freaked. Started bawling. And was really really upset.

They also refused to let me feed him. It was awful. He scream and scream and tried to latch onto any part of me that he could reach the entire night. I curled up on the gurney in the E.R. with him and just rocked him and comforted him the best I could.


The radiologists that could perform the ultrasound and diagnose him with Peloric Stenosis wouldn't be in until 8:00 a.m.

It was only 1:00 a.m.
Why do things like this always happen in the middle of the night???

----

I have NEVER had a sick kid before.
I think it's safe to say that I don't deal well with it at all:)
Every minute I was in that hospital...it felt like my heart was being ripped out.
I felt so helpless.

It was the longest night of my life.

I watched as Mason starved and barfed until he was so completely dehydrated they started IV's and had to re-balance his little body with electrolytes. I watched as Mason's eyes began to sink in and his soft spot became more sunken and pronounced. I watched as he whimpered and shook and barfed blood all over me for HOURS.



Jarom didn't make him sleep in that big horrible uncomfortable crib.
But...
the nurse wouldn't let Jarom sleep with him on the pullout bed either:)
So...Mason slept in his carseat right next to dad.

He was NOT thrilled about the IV in his arm!
We also kept hot packs on his stomach to convince him he was full. It was awful for me.

Then the E.R. doctor entered the room and told me that he didn't think my son had Peloric Stenosis because it is uncommon for it to happen this fast. Usually a child with Peloric Stenosis suffers for weeks while the parents and doctor try to treat other things or while the child is losing weight, etc.

I was ticked.

I knew that he had it.
I wanted him to have it.

Because...
there was a fix.

It could be fixed.
It HAD to be fixed. And now.
Thanks.

------

I wasn't very nice to him and shrugged off anything he had to say to me...while I waited for the ultrasound and continued to bug EVERY SINGLE PERSON who entered the room about getting one done. I kept asking when he could have surgery to fix it and throwing multiple questions about it at them! They were NOT convinced that Mason had it at all. They kept treating me like I didn't know what I was talking about.

Then 8:00 a.m. rolled around and we walked toward radiology.
2 minutes later it was confirmed: My baby had Peloric Stenosis.

I win.
Mom's know best.



-----

I was so sad for him and sick about what he must have been going through in the days and week prior....but I was SOOOO happy and relieved because it was fixable!

It was a rough few days...as we watched him beg and cry for food as we had to starve him and prepare him for surgery. He had surgery to fix the Pyloric Stenosis on Tuesday afternoon. Jarom stayed with Mason in the hospital while I came home and nursed and took care of London and Jaxson.

It was horrible...being torn between 2 of my babies.
I felt like Mason needed me so badly.
I wanted London out of that germy hospital.
I REFUSED to have Jaxson come home and find out that his parents and siblings were at the hospital again and wouldn't be coming home.

So I stayed until his surgery was complete and I could rock him and snuggle him as he awoke from anesthesia.

Then I left.

----

It's a good thing I married a great man.
It's a good think he is a phenomenol dad.
It's a good thing that Mason prefers to be held and comforted by Jarom more than anyone else.

(a few hours before surgery)
My baby was soooo sick.
My little Mason suffered through a painful and long hungry night before they started giving him tiny amounts of diluted milk and pedialyte.

----
He was finally discharged on Thursday night and we were able to bring him home!
No you cannot have him....his big eyes and  old man receding hairline are ALL MINE:)

I could just die at how cute this baby is.
Even hours after a Laparoscopy..miserable...and drugged.


...even big brother came with us to the hospital to pick him up!


He is in some pain...and doing a FABULOUS job of scaring the crap out of his mother.

Every noise he makes sends me into "freak out mode".
We have LONG nights of pooping blood and vomiting yellow stuff that has me on the phone with the Surgery residents at all hours of the night! (3:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. this morning:)

BUT

He is recovering nicely!!!
Although he is sore and his little body is working hard to learn how to digest and pass food correctly...I am so LUCKY and HAPPY that it was a completley fixable problem. Thank you thank you thank you for being a FIXABLE PROBLEM.

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Now they better both follow in their big brother's footsteps and be perfectly healthy! Or else.

I NEVER want to see another hospital again.
I think we've had enough for this year:)


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Don't worry too much about him!
He is busy being spoiled rotten and relaxing in his swing with both arms above his head:)

----

Last weekI wrote my Twins entire Birth Story...and then Mason went and pulled this little stunt!
Needless to say, I had my hands full this week.

I will be posting it tomorrow night...with beautiful pictures of them right after birth taken by Chelsea Christensen. She also just designed them a darling birth announcement. She's one of those people who knows how to do everything, It's kinda unfair.

I will be posting it soon!

xoxo

Kristin

3 comments:

Aimee & Brennen Fuller said...

Isn't a mother's intuition completely amazing?! Mother's always know best and I'm glad you stuck to your guns. I'm glad to hear he's recovering well. Mason is one lucky little boy to have a momma like you. (And so are your other two).

Callie said...

So glad to hear that Mason is on the mend!

Tara and Andrew said...

This story just made me absolutely SICK. I can't imagine how horrible that was for you! Anything about our babies that goes wrong...those mama bear claws come OUT! :) So happy that it was a fixable problem that he is getting better. So grateful for you and hope things just continue to get better. Hugs!