We had nothing to do this weekend. My big plan was to do tons, and tons of laundry and just relax at home. Isaiah had different plans. Thursday night as our social worker walked in the door for our 3 month post placement visit for Ezekiel the phone rang. It was our pediatrician calling to let us know we needed to come in first thing in the morning because Isaiah's blood work was concerning. His hemoglobin was super low (a 5 when 11 or 12 is normal) and he may need a transfusion. After seeing the doctor he decided to put a call into CHOP (children's hospital of Philadelphia) and get there opinion. They wanted us in the Emergency Room.
After going through the hoops of the ER answering questions like, "does he look pale to you?" (Umm yeah but I'm not sure if that's real or b/c everyone keeps asking me if he looks pale?!?!?! (by the way is it just me or is it hard to breath right now?) ) and "Is he acting himself?" (Ummm he's 5 weeks old. He cries, eats, poops, and sometimes sleeps) Hindsight being what it is I can see the difference but at the time I couldn't. They drew some blood and then admitted us. Unfortunately the combination of antibodies in Isaiah's blood made it hard to find blood so we spent 24 hours with him getting sicker and us waiting on the blood. Finally Saturday night the blood was there and ready and the transfusions started. The plan was to give 3 transfusions over 12 hours and then send us home.
Of course that's not what happened. Around 4am and between transfusions I woke up to a room full of people. I had fallen asleep EXHAUSTED while nursing Isaiah. I was so confused. I can only hope I thought to cover up at some point since more than half the people in the room were men. I had very little shame as it was. I think that was my last ounce. I digress. Apparently Isaiah had a temperature. The nurse had taken his temp under the arm and now was taking it rectally. I saw him do it. I saw the reading. Isaiah definitely had a temp a little over 101. The docs explained to be that they needed to wipe out whatever infection was causing this immediately so they would take blood, urine, and spinal fluid. The blood and urine I could handle but a spinal tap? On my infant?!?!?!? I was internally freaking out and praying like crazy. God answered that prayer request very oddly. The doctors could not seem to draw the blood and the IV team took a little bit to get there. Since they were taking so long the docs decided to give up on the blood, let IV do it, and go straight to the spinal tap while they waited. Praise God, as they set things up the IV lady walked in so they decided to let her go first. Soon it came to someones attention that the blood was going to expire if they didn't start it soon. So the new plan was to start the blood as soon as the IV was in and vital signs could be taken. Guess what they found during the vitals? NO TEMP! Since there was no temp they decided to skip the spinal unless it came back (and it never did). The residents lack of competence at drawing blood saved us a spinal tap. So we were back on track!
By Sunday evening the transfusions were done and we thought we'd go home Monday morning. However, there was "extra" blood so they decided to transfuse a little more to "plump him up" Finally Monday around 10pm we got home.
Isaiah is looking much pinker and healthier. He needs to be followed super closely and I have to give him shots 3x a week but the hope is that his blood marrow will kick in soon and he will get rid of this antibodies and be totally healthy. That could take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Please pray it's only a few weeks and he won't need anymore transfusions!
Don't want to miss any exciting announcements? Sign up for my email list in the upper right hand corner of the page! And thanks for reading!
After going through the hoops of the ER answering questions like, "does he look pale to you?" (Umm yeah but I'm not sure if that's real or b/c everyone keeps asking me if he looks pale?!?!?! (by the way is it just me or is it hard to breath right now?) ) and "Is he acting himself?" (Ummm he's 5 weeks old. He cries, eats, poops, and sometimes sleeps) Hindsight being what it is I can see the difference but at the time I couldn't. They drew some blood and then admitted us. Unfortunately the combination of antibodies in Isaiah's blood made it hard to find blood so we spent 24 hours with him getting sicker and us waiting on the blood. Finally Saturday night the blood was there and ready and the transfusions started. The plan was to give 3 transfusions over 12 hours and then send us home.
Of course that's not what happened. Around 4am and between transfusions I woke up to a room full of people. I had fallen asleep EXHAUSTED while nursing Isaiah. I was so confused. I can only hope I thought to cover up at some point since more than half the people in the room were men. I had very little shame as it was. I think that was my last ounce. I digress. Apparently Isaiah had a temperature. The nurse had taken his temp under the arm and now was taking it rectally. I saw him do it. I saw the reading. Isaiah definitely had a temp a little over 101. The docs explained to be that they needed to wipe out whatever infection was causing this immediately so they would take blood, urine, and spinal fluid. The blood and urine I could handle but a spinal tap? On my infant?!?!?!? I was internally freaking out and praying like crazy. God answered that prayer request very oddly. The doctors could not seem to draw the blood and the IV team took a little bit to get there. Since they were taking so long the docs decided to give up on the blood, let IV do it, and go straight to the spinal tap while they waited. Praise God, as they set things up the IV lady walked in so they decided to let her go first. Soon it came to someones attention that the blood was going to expire if they didn't start it soon. So the new plan was to start the blood as soon as the IV was in and vital signs could be taken. Guess what they found during the vitals? NO TEMP! Since there was no temp they decided to skip the spinal unless it came back (and it never did). The residents lack of competence at drawing blood saved us a spinal tap. So we were back on track!
By Sunday evening the transfusions were done and we thought we'd go home Monday morning. However, there was "extra" blood so they decided to transfuse a little more to "plump him up" Finally Monday around 10pm we got home.
Isaiah is looking much pinker and healthier. He needs to be followed super closely and I have to give him shots 3x a week but the hope is that his blood marrow will kick in soon and he will get rid of this antibodies and be totally healthy. That could take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Please pray it's only a few weeks and he won't need anymore transfusions!
Don't want to miss any exciting announcements? Sign up for my email list in the upper right hand corner of the page! And thanks for reading!
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