Infection

Just a heads up. This is pretty long, and as detailed as I can remember. But, I don’t want to forget. And since this is also my journal, you have to bear with me and all the gory details!

Today was literally a whirlwind. I keep looking back at the past 12 hours thinking… “W-O-W! That all just happened in 12 hours? But, let me first back up to Wednesday night.

Parleigh was pretty fussy on Wednesday. I just attested it to her teething. Babies are always teething…and always fussy because of it. So, if she’s fussy, most likely she’s teething. Right? They go hand in hand. And account for the majority of their first 18 months of life.

Anywho, I gave her a bath, and she didn’t want to sit down and so I rushed bath time and went to get her dressed. As I’m putting her diaper on, I notice a bump in her groin area/girly parts area that is weeping, and that that “area” has doubled in size—swollen!—and oozing. I start freaking out {I hate  zits, let alone boils!} and call Ben at work to tell him. He says I need to “pop” it, or in the least help get the fluid out by putting pressure on it. I try, nearly gagging to death, and get a bit of fluid/blood out of it. She’s screaming, I’m crying, Parker’s pale/looking like he’s about to hurl, I put a diaper on her and tell Ben that he can deal with it in the morning when he gets home.

Morning comes. It’s swollen even more, she has a slight fever, and she’s lethargic. Ben attempts to get some of the fluid out of it, she’s exhausted from screaming {you know it hurts!} and she naps off and on pretty much all afternoon. It’s still swollen, she still has a fever, and it looks like the infection is spreading even more. We put her to bed, hoping that it’s not as bad in the morning.

Parleigh wakes up around 7:20, I bring her into bed with me to nurse her: she is burning up. I check her diaper, it’s even more swollen than before. She is trembling from the pain. I check her temperature—it’s 103 degrees. I start freaking out crying, and call Ben at work to see what I should do. I call the Dr.’s office, praying someone will answer the phone at 7:28, because technically they don’t answer the phones until 7:30. Success! {I knew their clocks are faster than ours. That’s why I’m always late for appointments!} They say to come in right away. I shower super fast {ask Parker, he couldn’t believe I could shower in 1 minute!} and was dressed and ready to head out the door just as Donna was getting here so she could watch the kids. {I’ll be forever grateful to her and Benjie for helping out on such short notice. What amazing in-laws I have!} I get to the Dr.’s {Parleigh, by the way, is clinging to me, and lethargic, and burning up. Poor thing!} They check her out and inform me that I need to go to the children’s hospital so she can see a specialist/surgeon who will most likely put her “under” so they can drain the infection. She may or may not be held over night, but I need to go right away.

After stopping by home to get a few things in order {get some breakfast for me, grab the camera, cords just in case my phone dies, and get the kids situated with who’s watching them for the duration} I head out the door to downtown Norfolk to  CHKD.

We got Parleigh checked in, and were only waiting for about 10 minutes before they called us back into a room. I put a cute {tiny} hospital gown on her and waited to be seen. She was very calm, until someone would come into her line of sight and she would tense up and cling to my neck. She absolutely did NOT want anybody to touch her!

She was so pitiful. You could tell she was hurting. If I tried to stand her up, her legs would tremble from the pain and her whole body would shake. She was content, for the most part, to be held in my arms.

They came and gave her an IV. The nurses’ comments? “Boy, she is strong!” It was hard to see them hold her down on the table to get the IV in her little hand. But, they were able to get it done on the first try.

The Dr. came in examined her and determined that because of the location and the severity of it, he didn’t want to do it in the ER, so he was going to send us up to the hospital and have a specialist/surgeon do the procedure. {Which is what my Dr. said would happen. But rather than waiting forever in the hospital, it would go by much quicker if we first went through the ER. I guess they were right! I was only going to be about an hour until we would head up to the OR}

Since Ben was working, and since Robin knows me better than I know myself, she showed up even after I told her not to with food, books, and a listening ear. She really IS the best! {Even when she acts goofy when I try to take her picture. What a bugger!}

Parleigh really was exhausted. Her body was using so much energy to fight the little infection. As bad as it sounds, it was nice to have her dependent on me and let me hold her. She is at a stage that she is always moving—so independent and strong willed. This really allowed me to just hold her. And comfort her. And love on her!

It was now time to head up to the waiting area for the OR. My bottom was so sore after sitting all day long! I’m used to not sitting down until the kids are in bed…so it was a change for me!

More waiting! The procedure, {or lancing. But I like to say procedure. Not as disgusting sounding} was only to take about 5 minutes. But, she needed to be put under anesthesia, for obvious reason. That’s when it hit me—what was happening. But there really wasn’t time to think! We had to wait about 45 minutes and then it was time to head to the recovery room.

So the procedure. The infection was spreading in two directions, up towards her waist, and down into her groin area. They lanced the abscess, drained the fluid pockets {I think there were at least 2 of them} cleaned it out, and then put two drains in. I’ll have to take her back on Monday to have the drains taken out.  Meanwhile, I am instructed to give her 3 bathes a day in order to keep the area clean. FUN! {Not!}

I could hear Parleigh screaming when we opened the doors to recovery. I rushed over to her—not quite sure what the nurse is doing? Oh well. She handed her to me and I nursed her to try to calm her down. She was burning up, and figured she probably would like cold water instead of warm milk!

She looked so drunk from the anesthesia. And then her fever spiked again, and she get really red. {Which was from the anesthesia?} I didn’t realize how red she got until looking at these pictures. Holy cow! Poor thing!

She hadn’t eaten all day, but she did seem interested in eating a banana….until she fell asleep. Poor baby!

Finally after 6 hours we made it home. She wasn’t as lethargic, just exhausted now. But, don’t you blame her? She went through a lot of trauma in such a short period of time.

She is doing much better. And we’ll see what tomorrow brings. She should be a million times better without her body trying to fight off the infection. I am still not sure what kind of infection was in her abscesses, but whatever it was, it sure wrecked some havoc!

Also, I find it to be a small miracle that I was only at the hospital for 6 hours. Think about it. Really—that’s not long at all! I’m so grateful she wasn’t held over night, and I was able to be home to take care of my kids.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

I cannot even begin to say how grateful I am to my in-laws for helping out today! It is so nice to know that they are willing to be here at a drop of hat—when the unexpected happens. And I didn’t need to worry about my 3 older kids. THANK YOU!

And, to an amazing friend who insisted she spend the day with me, being my support when I really needed it! {And holding my baby so I could go to the bathroom! I am forever indebted to you!} You ROCK!