Sleepover in the PICU

Remember how I said that Gavin seemed to be doing fine and we weren't too worried about him while he was sick? Well, that changed. I'll spare you the details, but by Wednesday he had a lot more going out (of both ends) than coming in, and by the afternoon he became a little lethargic. This made me uncomfortable. So we made the executive decision to head to the ER. Dylan, my mom, myself, and Gavin found ourselves at the place of Gavin's birth just eight short months later.

My sweet angel

Daddy snuggles

Being treated like a caged animal is no fun.

This gown is not comfortable!

Going home.

The ER doctor said that Gavin looked okay, but since we were there, we may as well get some fluids in him. They started an IV, which was the most horrible thing I've gone through as a parent thus far. (I did not witness his circumcision.) Also, they took some blood work....which came back looking pretty bad, actually. The same doctor that said Gavin looked fine then told us that his CO2 level was 17 and that the lower limit of normal is 23 and automatic admission to the PICU is 16. Then, Gavin continued to refuse to take any fluid by mouth, and a few minutes later we found ourselves on the fourth floor.

Trying to get a strong and squirmy 8-month-old comfortable at night who is already sick and who has a needle in his arm which is tethered to a pole and who is wearing an awful polyester hospital gown is not easy. Also, the crib rails creaked so badly when they were raised that they woke him up every time. So, we took turns sleeping with Gavin in our recliners. It was awesome. (Not.) But actually, it wasn't as bad as I would have imagined. We had our first, and probably last, co-sleeping experience, and it was pretty cute. And we each slept pretty good when we didn't have Baby G with us because the recliners weren't too bad.

We were discharged this afternoon, and things are on the upswing. I never made it into work today. I aimed for a half shift...but that didn't happen. We've begun running the dishwasher, washing machine, and everything else that washes anything to sanitize this house, and Dylan and I are both crossing our fingers that we don't catch the same bug. Because it's a really bad one. Gavin is eating and drinking a little bit and peeing a lot, and he's also pushing the remote control buttons and putting things like clean diapers in his mouth, so he's almost back to normal. We are looking forward to being in our own bed tonight, even though we are still the shameful owners of that awful mattress.

Not a fun few days, but we are so thankful that our baby boy will be just fine and that we didn't wait any longer to get him to the hospital. I kept wondering in the back of my mind on the way to the hospital if I was perhaps overreacting and creating this whole situation for no reason. Well I learned my lesson...always trust your intuition!