Oaks' first hospital stay:(

It was a Saturday morning and we were getting ready to leave on a week long trip to NE for homecoming and to hang with family. Mike noticed Oakley feeling a little warm, but we didn't think to much of it. We just figured he had been swaddled and held for awhile which brought his body temp up. We decided to check his temp just to make sure and it was 102 axillary. I decided to call the on-call nurse to make sure everything was ok and decide what to do. She said if it's over 100.4 than it is treated very seriously. She had me check his temp rectally (most accurate with newborns) and it was 102.7. She said to go straight to the ER as fevers is newborns can be quite scary. (Oaks was about 4.5 weeks old)

This day was just a blurr....we jumped in the car as soon as we could get a few things together. We got checked in at the ER and they took us straight back and started checking Oakley out. His temperature was 99.9 when we got there. The ER Dr. explained to us how dangerous fevers in newborns under 3 months can be because they can't localize infection and can become septic quickly. It's important to determine the cause of the fever quickly and not just cover up the symptoms with tylenol. We definitely felt pretty ignorant with all this and learned a lot along the way. 

We spent the day from about 9-5 in the ER. They started an IV and started the process of doing a full septic work-up. This included blood cultures, urine and stool samples, chest x-rays, and a lumbar puncture. This was definitely a lot for me to handle. I thought seeing your little one go through monthly shots was hard, ugh! His initial urine came back with some sort of bacterial infection and chest x-ray showed a possible occlusion. The Dr. gave us the option for the lumbar puncture, and we decided it would be best to have it done incase it was something more serious that needed to be acted on quickly. His fever had fluctuated throughout the day and then around 4 climbed back up to 102.8. The Dr. then thought it would be best to be admitted to the hospital to monitor the fever and treat with antibiotics since bacterial infections can be so serious with newborns. Tyler (my brother-in-law's) sister Cherissa showed up to check up on us right after I watched him get the lumbar puncture. This couldn't have been better timing for a hug:) Then my boss' wife Michelle showed up and they took Sloane to play and she hung out with us for the evening. This was such a blessing...she is a PA and was nice enough to explain everything to us. I know bones and muscles but all this was beyond me:)

We ended up staying 5 days in the hospital with the little guy. It was a long 5 days with his temp climbing through the first 3 nights...sleep was not possible for either of us switching out cold washcloths and no blankets due to the fever along with feedings. My sister and mom were so helpful...definitely feel blessed that they were willing to drop everything to help us out. My mom kept Sloane and kept everything going so we could be at the hospital with Oaks. We found out the 48 hr blood, urine, stool cultures came back negative along with the CSF sample. He was on antibiotics the duration of the stay through IVs as a precaution but the Dr. thought it turned out to be viral. The final 2 days he maintained a normal temp and we were then able to go home. 

This was such a scary time for us all. Oakley was such a little trooper through this time. We are so thankful for all the prayers and encouragement. So thankful God took care of our little man!:)

Long day in the ER 

Poor little guy feeling just miserable:( 

Tiny little patient