Wednesday the kids slept in which worked out because I got to take a shower and get ready for a busy day of Little Gym and Baby & Me classes. When Riley was still sleeping at 9:15, though, I started to think it wasn't such a good thing anymore - surely, he'd wake up with a fever or something.
I called and cancelled our plans and then tried to nurse him - no luck. When he took some Pedialyte from a bottle I thought we might be okay. Until he threw it up all over us. When I gave him a bath to clean him up, more blood. That and the fact that he was completely lethargic made me think this might be more than a bug. I called the pediatrician and made an appointment while Riley fell asleep on me.
After two more diapers with blood in them (more than a spot or two, for sure), I called and moved up our appointment. Joe came home to watch Evie and I took a very, very drowsy Bud Bud to the doctor. When the pediatrician checked him, he threw up again so she sent us to Children's to get an IV. While I hoped it was just a matter of getting him some fluids for a few hours, I was starting to panic a little. It was our first trip to the hospital with either of the kids.
The ER doc examed him and told me she thought there was a possibility he had something called intussusception which caused the intestines to telescope in on themselves and create major problems. She sent us to x-ray and said they would also do an air enema which would tell them if that's what it was and had an 80% chance of fixing the problem right there. If not, we'd be looking at surgery. I carried Bud Bud hooked up to an IV and said a prayer.
Riley was such a trooper through the whole thing - they took 2 x-rays, did the procedure which did not look fun to me, took 2 more x-rays, did the procedure one more time to be sure they got it and then took one final x-ray. While waiting for them to set up the last x-ray, Buddy fell asleep on the x-ray table. It just broke my heart but I was so relieved that part was over.
When we got back to the room, Joe was there and the ER doc briefed him. Riley immediately fell asleep on the hospital bed and took a nap while Joe and I processed everything and counted our blessings.
They decided to keep Riley overnight to keep giving him fluids and watch him to make sure the symptoms didn't come back - there's a 5% chance of the problem recurring. When he woke up, he was so hungry and clutched the bottle of Pedialyte. We were trying to give him a little at a time to make sure he could keep it down but as soon as we took the empty bottle away, he screamed bloody murder. So he got more. Little stinker. I was just so glad to see him hungry and eating.
By 7:00, when my cousin Lindsay came for a visit (thanks again Linds!), Riley was ready to give her his first smile of the day. That told me a lot about how he was feeling.
He had a pretty good night of sleep considering we were out of our element - it helped that we were the only people in the unit. When 6:00am rolled around, he was acting like nothing had ever happened. At that point, I was ready to get him out of there as it was getting harder to occupy him in the room. IV's don't make good play things!
We were home by 10:30 with a warm welcome from Big Sister and Daddy. After a nap, some lunch and a bath, Riley was ready to play - and I was breathing again.
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