About a week ago, after I fed Peyton, she puked all over the place. Granted, I had just washed her hair, so Dave blamed it on that, thinking that I had tilted her upside down, so we didn’t think anything of it. Then again, last night around 11pm, she puked again, all over me 🙁 After cleaning up, and stripping the sheets off our bed, she appeared hungry (now around midnight). Since most of the milk probably didn’t end up in her, I fed her again. Again, shortly after she ate, she threw that up, too. Then, my red flag was up. I got on the phone with the advice nurse (who wasn’t that helpful) and emailed our pediatrician. This morning, we got a phone call at 740am. Hardly anyone uses our land line. I told Dave to get the phone, as it had woken me up (I had fed Peyton only about an hour before). Dave was getting Brandon ready to go to school. Dave handed me the phone and told me it was our doctor. She had come in to find my messages both by phone and by email. She asked me how quickly I could get into the office because she wanted to evaluate Peyton. She took our feeding history, and thought maybe she could have pyloric stenosis, which she sees in about 1 baby per year. It usually happens to babies around 2 weeks to 2 months old, but peaking in week 4. Some of the signs that were worrisome for our doctor were that Peyton had been feeding every 3 hours for 15 minutes, then suddenly it changed to every 1.5 hours for 5-6 minutes, also the regurgitation that was relatively new. Normally projectile vomiting would be a hallmark sign, but the doctor was thinking maybe she was exhibiting early signs. The doctor had told us only water. Peyton’s never had a bottle until today, so this was a bit strange for her. I also goofed and got a fast nipple, forgetting we had two different speeds.
I quickly us dressed, while Dave got Brandon to school. Brandon hurried to get his shoes on saying, “I’m going to be late for school!” I didn’t want to worry him, but I did tell Dave we had to go see the doctor right away. I was at the doctor’s in about 30 minutes. She came out to find me, not yet registered even with the desk. She had been waiting for us. She did her exam, and had already set us up with an appointment in radiology for an abdominal ultrasound (we were fortunate to have gotten the last morning appointment at 930am, otherwise the next one was at 330pm). I also mentioned to her that Peyton cries when she pees. This earned her a trip to the treatment room for a catheterization to rule out a UTI. That was pretty traumatic to watch the nurse insert this little catheter into her little urethral area. I hope the nurse didn’t introduce any other bacteria into the area, or worse, cause any physical trauma to the area. After the cath, we headed to radiology. It was strange having this tiny little baby amidst these old men sucking down electrolyte solutions to clear their bowels. It seemed all the patients down in the area were men; it reminded me of my stint at the VA, smells and all.
The ultrasound tech poked and prodded with the ultrasound wand, gel and all. Peyton didn’t like being gooey and poked. We went back to the pediatrician to review the results. The radiologist’s findings weren’t conclusive, so a further upper GI test was recommended. The pediatrician wondered why they didn’t just do it right then and there, but soon ordered the test to be done. She had also contacted the pediatric surgeon to see what course of action she wanted to take. The surgeon preferred the upper GI series be done; she also slated a surgery time later in the day if it was indeed needed. The corrective action for pyloric stenosis is laproscopic surgery to cut away at the muscle that’s restricting outflow from the stomach to the small intestine. All of this was very overwhelming. After the doctor explained what would become of the rest of our day, we were left alone to wait for our transfer up to the pediatric wing of the hospital. That’s right, she was being admitted to where we first started our journey with Peyton only 3 weeks prior. That’s when I lost it. I was pretty well-composed when we were getting the logistics, but when I realized what was really happening, I was pretty scared. I again lost it when we went up to the pedi wing and saw the little crib/hospital bed. When I was admitted with her, I held her in my hospital bed and she had a small bassinet. Here, they were putting her in this cage-like thing, and she looked so tiny in this big bed with rails. It’s one thing to be in the medical profession and give out advice, but a totally different experience being on the other end of things, especially when it’s one of your kids involved.
I called my mom and told her what was going on. I asked her to come down so she could help with Brandon later in the day should Peyton need surgery. I wanted at least one other person to be there with me. My mom called my grandma, who said she almost fainted when she heard. She said she likes girls, and they are so hard to come by in our family. I think my mom should have probably updated her a lot later than when she did. But We had also wanted to call to see if my great aunt, who we had seen on Saturday, and had been recovering from pneumonia was contagious or not, so we kinda had to tell her something. The doctor had told her she was not, but we wanted a confirmation of that since the doctor asked us if there were any sick contacts. She had minimal contact with her; she knew she wanted to stay away, but she still gave her a red envelope, so there was some contact. My grandma then called me and said, “I’m so sick, my heart is in my mouth.”
They had to put an IV in prior to the barium contrast. They also made her NPO (nothing by mouth), which she wasn’t happy about. She was already not happy about drinking water, but she was really unhappy to not get anything at all. They did give her a pacifier and dipped in sweet stuff, which she really liked. She sucked so hard, she got a ring around her mouth in the shape of the pacifier. Dave went with Peyton to get the IV, while I desperately pumped (it had been about 6 hours without a feed). Dave was better suited to go with her, I think I may have fainted. Dave said it was hard to see her cry, but technically, he was interested in seeing how they did it. He does it with rats all the time, so he was very scientific about it. They tried on one foot and couldn’t get it, so they got her in the left hand. If they couldn’t find any good veins in any of the extremities they said they’d get her in the head, which just sounds yucky. I took the time after I was done pumping to call Julie. I called her directly from the room to her extension at work. I quickly told her what was going on. As soon as I hung up with her, about 10 minutes later, I got a call from Michelle. She was in LA! What a marvel the text message is. Dave and I should really get into the 21st century!! In any case, she called to check in with us as well, but our call got cut short with the arrival of the surgeon.
The surgeon stopped by and explained all that would happen. She was very helpful and put us at ease as much as possible. She started our conversation by praising our pediatrician for her speedy response to our problem. She says sometimes the pediatricians can be in denial, not really considering pyloric stenosis as our doctor had. I’ve always liked our pediatrician from the start; she’s always taken the time to answer all our questions. She found out I worked for pharmacy and excused herself for being rude to the pharmacy recently. She said she was paged at 3am for a Colace order and was a little annoyed. She said normally she isn’t rude, but for that, she was. I excused her, told her I wasn’t in dispensing, and that I agreed with her about the Colace. She said the surgery, if it happened, would be at 9pm, but she could go home at 12pm the next day if all went well. She did talk about the complications that could occur, but she made it seem pretty routine.
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The first time she fed it was 15 minutes, then 3.5 hours later, it was another 12. In this time, Dave had gone to get Brandon and brought him into the room wtih us. Luckily my mom had some DVD’s in the car, and that kept him entertained for awhile. He was ready to go around 715pm, looking a little tired. My mom took him home (it was Brandon’s request). I got both lunch and dinner – they said that if a mom is exclusively breastfeeding, she gets meals! Yippee! I don’t mind their food at all. We got a visit from Julie and Thuy who came over after a busy Monday at work.
Another 2 hours, it was 9 minutes. We were four minutes shy!! The doctors were satisfied with that and we were free to go. The nurse freed Peyton’s arm from the splint/IV lock off; she was up and grumpy during the process. I think she was grumpy because all the commotion was affecting her sleep. Once we were ready to go, we changed her into clothes (Brandon asked us, “Why is Baby Sister naked?”), and put her in the car seat. Only then did she give us a grin. She hadn’t smiled all day (even though she was quite content in her crib/hospital bed) I realized. We’re home now and have to see the doctor again in 1-2 days for follow up. I also have to go on an elimination diet – cutting out dairy, soy, wheat, spicy foods, etc. Hmmm…plain chicken and rice. Yuck. Then I can slowly start adding things back. At least we’re back home and have her safe and sound here. Oh, and Happy Chinese New Year!
