First ER Visit

We wait to be checked out by the doctors

You can see the rash, petechia, on his cheek here. He also has a bunch
more on his legs and a few on his arms.

Hayden hated getting this IV. He screamed and screamed. I held his legs and free arm,
Travis and the nurse held his IV arm.

Hayden cheers up for awhile while we wait for antibiotics. He loves these sweet toys...Mom & Dad's empty soda bottles.

Here Hayden is just devastated that the nurse is near him. He was pretty fed up at this point, crying at anything that looked at him sideways.

Go Go Super-Drugs!

Poor guy is all tired out and finally falls asleep while we wait for the paperwork.

Hope you feel better Hayden! Mommy loves you!

When Hayden woke from his nap today, boy he was fussy and hot! I took his temp while he bellowed and it was 106!! Of course I freaked out and tried another thermometer, which only read 103, I think the first one was broken. So anyway, I tried feeding him, holding him, doing anything to make him happy and he just fussed. So I called the doctor and got an appt. The only time I could get in was 2:50, so I had to pick up Grant because I wouldn't be home in time for the bus.

We get to the dr's and all hell breaks loose as Blake releases his fury upon Grant. Apparently, Blake is the only one that can activate automatic sliding doors. If he suspects anyone else in the vicinity has tripped the door, he throws a fit. Stupid automatic doors!! I saw it coming and tried to hold Grant back so Blake could open the door (I'm carrying Hayden because dr's offices are too small for strollers). No dice. Blake suspects Grant has tripped the door and melts into a gigantic screaming fit, refusing to go inside. Meanwhile, the old people of Manassas club has just let out and they are lining up to leave the health center, only to be confronted with a door-hog who is screaming while I threaten time outs and try to drag him inside while carrying a 20 lb baby who doesn't feel well. Old guy #1 says: "It's okay, I have three of my own...I've been there!" Old guy #2 sees my desperation and hands his coffee cup to his wife. He then picks up forty pounds of screaming and writhing Blake and carries him through the doors for me. I apologize, thank him and try to get to the elevator. Blake continues to scream and wail, so I just pick him up and carry all sixty pounds of kid to the elevator. Thankfully, a lady and her two older sons have called the elevator and it opens right as we get there. My kids run on and Ms. Well-Behaved Children decides to wait for another elevator. I am totally humiliated. Blake is now throwing a fit about pressing the numbers, I'm sure Ms. Well-Behaved is rolling her eyes and we proceed to the third floor. Blake gets a big time out once we're inside. He says he's sorry. Oh and then it turns out Ms. Well-Behaved is heading to our practice as well. Double humiliation.

Back to Hayden, I fill out a report on his condition and mark down that I've noticed a rash on his face a few days back along with his fever, etc. Fast forward 20 minutes of entertaining three boys in 8 x 8 exam room with "I spy in the parking lot", peppered with "Blake stop pulling on the drapes", "Grant, put the scarf down!" and "stop rough-housing!" Dr comes in, apparently rash is much bigger deal than I thought. Calls for strep test, calls for flu test, and both come back negative. I dig through the diaper bag and pull out a few broken graham crackers to calm the troops. The dr then orders a urinalysis which includes using a catheter to collect a specimen, which turns into ten minutes and two nurses trying to get a sample from a dehydrated, urine-less, screaming baby. We're sent to the hospital lab with orders for bloodwork. I make a quick stop at home and drop off the older boys.

Side-note: Grant was adorable all through the appointment. He would overhear Hayden's symptoms and narrate the event. "Hayden has a runny nose and diaper rash" "He is hot, he has a fever" "Hayden needs to lay down on his back on the table and get better" "He needs some red medicine" "Hayden has a very sad voice" It was so cute! Blake also shaped up and spent a few minutes singing songs to cheer Hayden up. I think they behaved pretty well considering our appointment took over an hour.

While I'm gone getting the bloodwork, Travis makes an amazing dinner including fried rice and chicken curry. The kitchen is trashed, but I was glad to have something to eat after an hour doing paperwork and holding down screaming baby for a blood-draw at the hospital. Just as we're cleaning up WWIII in our kitchen, the doctor calls on our stat test results and it shows a high level of immature white blood cells in Hayden's blood, a sign of a blood infection, which is very serious. She tells us to go to the ER right away for some IV antibiotics. Thankfully, Regan and Fiona rush over to watch the boys so we can both tend to Hayden. He's fussy and won't drink or eat, he hasn't peed, and is really hot still.

So, here we are at the ER. The doctors there are also freaked out about the skin rash, and here's why (taken from Wikipedia): A petechia is a small red or purple spot on the body, caused by a minor hemorrhage (broken capillary blood vessels). The significance of petechiae in children depends on the clinical context in which they arise. Petechiae in children can occur with viral infections. In this setting they do not necessarily signify serious illness. They are the hallmark of some possibly serious illnesses, however, such as meningococcemia, various causes of thrombocytopenia, and leukemia. Therefore, their presence should not be ignored.

Umm, yeah holy crap! So another cause of petechia is an infection in the blood, which is what they suspect. Also, he has this unexplained fever, which ties back into a blood infection as well. A blood culture (done at 6pm) will tell if there is such an infection, but it takes 24 hrs to see the results. As a precaution, they give Hayden an antibiotic that should fight most sources of the blood infection. After a couple hours of observation, they give the drug and we get to go home (1am). Hayden is really tired by this point and very sad about anyone touching him. He also really has to pee, but it hurts because of the whole catheter thing earlier in the day. Thankfully, he pees on the way home from the hospital, so we've overcome one hurdle. They told us if his rash spreads, he vomits, or cries uncontrollably to call 911 immediately. So I gave him some tylenol and he fell asleep, but has just woken up. No spread of the rash, I think he's tired. He's still not drinking a lot, so I think we'll be doing a lot of pedialyte force-feeding tomorrow. We'll also follow up with our dr tomorrow afternoon about the results of the blood culture, etc.

Poor Hayden, he's so sad. He really hated when the ER doctor cleaned out his ears. He screamed until he threw up. Of course he threw up on me! It's always me! So, this time tomorrow we should have more information. Hopefully the antibiotics will fight whatever is in his blood and his fever will break. Until then, constant prayers and love sent in our direction is appreciated!! And of course, much thanks to the Burdicks who stayed with our kiddos and cleaned our disaster of a kitchen for us!