Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

036, originally uploaded by megan bauer.

Henry is in the pediatric intensive care unit at St. Louis Children's Hospital. I know a lot of you know some details thanks to the glory of facebook and we appreciate letting so many of you know because there are tons of you praying for him...and we appreciate it. He is currently stable and I 'm resting quite a bit easier, but he's still really, really sick.
Here's the rest of the details (please bear w/ me if my spelling is off....it's 2 AM and it's been a super long last 24 hours)

Henry started having diarrhea Friday morning, two times. Then, he started puking. He puked 3 times during the day, but continued to run around and play in between being sick. Eddie and I were having our fabulous day at the Ozarks. My mom was with him.

He puked 5 more times during the night and had more diarrhea. In addition, he was puny and didn't want to be put down. My mom called us to come home from the Ozarks around 645 AM.

This is were things continued to spiral down. I can't even tell you exactly how many times he puked between Saturday AM and Sunday AM. Probably 10 more ish.....in addition he add TONS of diarrhea. I was writing down every poop, every vomit, and every cc of fluid we got in him (which wasn't much and nothing stayed down).

Finally, around 730 AM, after Henry vomited two mores, I called my pediatrician and headed to the ER. At this point we were going on 48 hours of continuous diarrhea and vomiting. We were at the St. Louis Children's Hospital by 845 AM and seen right away. Initially, they told us they would give him some IV fluids and send him on his way, but then they decided he needed a nebulizer treatment (he had started coughing the night before). Then, they noticed he had an ear infection (even though he was on his 2nd antibiotic to treat that very same ear infection). Then, his blood sugars became unstable 61-81-53....THEN, he started having a crazy amount of diapers 12 super soaking ones in less then 2 hours. And, he was extremely lethargic. He didn't even pay attention when they put his IV in. So, they decided to admit him.

We got to 7E around 230 pm and he seemed to be doing better. They were giving him IV anti-nausea medication, but the pooping continued. Literally, he was losing anywhere from 200-650 cc per hour in poop and he threw up a few more times and suddenly, the IV fluids they were giving him couldn't keep up w/ the volume he was pooping/vomiting. He got super sick super quickly. He was a horrible skin color (was really mottled), blue lips, and was shaking uncontrollably. He was so irritable, he was unconsolable. His pulse and blood pressure went up. His temp went up. His oxygen saturation went down. They said he was in shock and wanted him in ICU.

So, here we are. We got here around 9 pm and he seems to be stabilizing. He has 2 IV's in. Cardiac monitors on. Catheter in. He has had an abdominal xray (to rule out an intestinal blockage), blood cultures, lots of blood sugars, labs, numerous meds, numerous nebulizer treatments. And, his ear is now leaking pus, so he's on IV antibiotics, too. He has one on one nursing care and is getting lots of attention. EVERYONE, of course, remarks on how beautiful he is and WOW! check out those eyelashes :)). His poop, finally, around 2 AM seems to be slowing down. They had even stopped putting a diaper on him for awhile and just stacked pads under him, because it was literally rolling out of him. He's getting one IV of maintenance fluids and the other IV is replacing the fluids he loses (by pooping or diarrhea) every hour.

They suspect that he has the rotavirus, although we won't have the tests back until tomorrow. They are also testing for c diff, an abdominal blockage, and other GI bugs. If it's the rotavirus, as they suspect, they can't give him medicine to stop it. They can only wait as it runs it's course and keep him stable.

I asked the attending doc, how many rotavirus kids end up in the ICU every year...this is a super busy, high acuity hospital. 1 or 2 she says. Aren't we lucky?

We were going to head back to Bville tomorrow. Not going to happen. For now, I'm praying that we can leave the ICU by sometime tomorrow and maybe leave the hospital by later this week. I don't know....that might be pressing our luck.

The ICU is a tough place for mommies and daddies, too. Because of the high acuity of the kiddos here, there are no niceties for moms and dads. (all private rooms, though). We are sitting in bolt upright chairs and the RN is in here continuously. Don't get me wrong....I want him to be looked after like that, but we're tired. And, St. Louis Children's Hospital is a wonderful, wonderful hospital. It's currently ranked as the #5 best Children's Hospital in the country. And, when I get a chance, I'll share some of the cool things about it (including the Dairy Queen and Pizza Hut in the cafeteria. YUM!).

What can you do? Continue to pray for a speedy recovery. On second thought, it doesn't even have to be speedy. Just a recovery, please. I believe in the power of prayer.