Well, it's definitely been an interesting two weeks. Our first week back was pretty much as expected. Grace got to meet her grandparents, great grandfather, great grandmother, a few great aunts and several of our friends. We had an endless stream of food from friends and family in the house and were well taken care of. Good thing too since we probably slept 12 hours per day each of the first 4 days back. We were all adjusting, however, and I prepared to return to work Thursday.Trouble began, however, about half way through the week when Grace started eating less. In China she would take about 5 full 8oz bottles per day - rarely leaving much behind. About Wednesday, however, she started leaving more behind and protesting when given what she did take. She also ran a low grade fever off and on.
Nothing seemed too serious and we assumed it was just her reaction to all the change - and a couple of more teeth coming in. Also, her first well-baby visit with the doctor was scheduled for Friday and things did not seem too serious. Thursday night, however, there were orange streaks in her diapers and we started to worry.
We saw the pediatrician Friday and by then her temperature was normal. We mentioned the fever, the change in eating habits and the stains. The pediatrician didn't think it was anything specific, but ordered some tests - blood work and a urinalysis. She thought Grace might be mildly dehydrated because of her decreased eating and that the streaks were not blood, but most likely a reaction between the absorbent crystals in the diaper and her slightly more concentrated urine. Since it was late Friday afternoon and Grace didn't have any exceptional symptoms, we planned to take her to the lab for the tests on Monday.
Over the weekend, however, Grace's condition bounced between normal and very frightening. Saturday morning she had a bad case of the chills so we called the pediatrician. They had us start giving her Motrin which helped with the fever. Her appetite, however, was non-existent. We were really starting to worry about dehydration. Things continued like this through Sunday.
On Monday, Grace went to the pediatrician but her fever was not high and there was still no diagnosis. She came home and went down for her mid-afternoon nap. When she awoke, however, things were much worse. She was listless and not interacting with people so Karen made the decision to take her to the ER.
On the way to the ER Grace became completely unresponsive and since she was rear facing in her car seat, Mom could not see whether she was awake or not. Mom started to panic but managed to get Grace to the ER where her fever spiked at 105! She was very sick and somewhat dehydrated and they immediately started her on another does of Motrin and IV fluids. They too, however, thought it was a virus that would pass but took urine and blood samples just to be sure.
When the urine culture came back it confirmed not a virus, but a urinary tract infection. The blood test came back later and indicated that the infection had spread past her bladder and into her kidneys. She was immediately started on IV antibiotics and admitted to the hospital for overnight evaluation.
Grace eventually spent 3 days in the hospital with mom and dad by her side constantly. During this time she had a couple of tests to determine if there was anything about her anatomy that made her more prone to getting these kinds of infections... fortunately they found nothing. Other than being a baby girl (who tend to get these more frequently than other people), she has no particularly higher risk.
She's fully recovered now, though she didn't eat anything for several days. Much of the progress we had made in getting her weight up has been erased, but we should be able to make that up eventually. On the plus side, she was able to be evaluated by a nutritionist and various therapists. They were able to give us a lot of pointers on how to get her on track nutritionally and developmentally. We would have seen them eventually, but being in the hospital made it happen quicker.
So, we're back home now and hopefully settling in to "normal life". I have to wonder what normal is, however. I told several friends at work about what was going on; some where shocked and concerned, others just smiled and said "welcome to parenthood".
