In order to avoid this being a long book and to give you insight to what all happened to Rebecca, here are the “Cliff Notes” version. 🙂 …it may still be a little long; it has been a long month.
Everything happened so fast and I know I am not “catching” everything but this is the highlights.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011 started off just like any other day. It was an extremely busy day and we were running behind.
Rebecca woke up groggy but I assumed it was because she hadn’t woke up completely yet. When I picked her up from Trisha’s house (our friend, neighbor, and babysitter during school hours) around noon, Trisha told me that Rebecca had not been her usual self and a little lethargic. She had eaten part of a sticker but thrown it up. I carried her home and her head was a little floppy, like when she was newborn and I was a little concerned. However, when we got in the house, she seemed to be better and I thought maybe it was just how I was holding her. I nursed her and laid her down for a nap around 1/1:30, keeping an eye on her. Then I put Caleb down for his nap knowing he was getting a short nap with our schedule as it was.
At 3, I woke the kids and put them straight in the car to go get Dustin from work. He had a dentist appointment at 4 and we had a field trip at the fire station scheduled for when I dropped Dustin off. We got to the fire station shortly after 4 and all the kids had fun. Rebecca seemed alert and feeling well. She was not lethargic and was holding her head up properly. I didn’t think there was any further issue.
We left the fire station and picked Dustin up. I took him and the kids home and I headed back to the dentist for my own 6 pm appointment. While I was gone, Dustin fed the kids and Rebecca ate a full container of squash. (This was impressive because over the last few months she had not been wanting to eat much.) When I got home around 7:45/8, Dustin and the kids were upstairs. Rebecca didn’t look very well to me; she looked very pale and her mouth had a bluish tinge around it. Her breathing sounded a little raspy and I was a little scared. I tried to nurse her twice and both times she threw up all over. Her lips would return to normal coloring once she threw up. I was very concerned but we’d had issues with Kimberly in the past throwing up and taken her to ER only to be sent back home so Dustin recommended we wait. We decided I would call the doctor first thing in the morning to get her in, if she didn’t get worse during the night.
I put her to bed continuing to check on her and called Trisha to let her know what was happening and inform her that Caleb would not be at school the next day. I asked her if she would watch the older kids for me while I took Rebecca in. I went back into Rebecca’s room and held her hand while watching her. I left the room at 11 to watch a show with Dustin. I went back in at midnight to check on her and she was sleeping peacefully.
The next morning, Wednesday, February 9th, Kimberly and Caleb woke me up early but Rebecca hadn’t woke up yet. It was already getting to be a busy morning. At 8 I called the doctor’s office to make sure that I could get her in, as Wednesdays are their half days. They were able to schedule us at 9:20 which meant I had to leave by 8:50. I knew I had 40 minutes to say goodbye to Dustin, get the kids fed, dressed, out the door to Trisha’s, and oh, I still had to wake up Rebecca. Yikes! So I had Kimberly help get clothes, and I went in to get Rebecca. She didn’t look any better, pale, bluish tinge, and cold. I brought her downstairs and started nursing her and called Trisha to let her know the time I was going to send the kids over. While I was nursing her, she started throwing up again. I rushed her to the bathroom.
I hurried to get the kids next door and rushed Rebecca to the doctor’s office, with so many thoughts running through my head. When I got to the doctor’s, it seemed very long. They checked us in. She weighed 13 lbs, 3 oz. (a 2 lb drop from December) and was 94.9 degrees. While I was by myself (the nurse had already left) and I was waiting for the doctor, Rebecca started throwing up again, unfortunately she had nothing in her body to throw up. She was very weak, her eyes were sunken, and I was VERY scared. The nurse was able to help a bit.
When the doctor came in, I was in tears. He said he was going to send me to the hospital but wanted to look at her first. Upon checking her, he said she was dehydrated and was going to call in to the hospital so we could go right in through ER without delay.
I rushed her to ER as fast as I could. It was 9 blocks away but it must have been lunch break at the school because the high schoolers were walking across the street. I called Dustin’s parents to have someone meet me there; I was not able to be by myself any longer. (Dustin was at work.)
When I got to ER, I ran into the building with her. They took me right back and everything was incredibly crazy. One nurse was asking me questions, another nurse was getting an oxygen mask, I was taking her out of the car seat and then held the O2 mask to her face. Soon there were more people in the room. A couple doctors came in and were working very fast. The things that were taking place (which seemed all at the same time) were: getting XRay of her chest, trying to get an IV started, pulling a blood draw, taking a rectal temperature (which read 92 degrees), and placing a catheter in her. They were doing all of this to her and she did not twitch or move at all.
Soon there were about 12 or more people in there, including the chaplain and Dustin’s mom, Donna, pumping her with antibiotics, running tests, trying to get her warm and responsive, the list goes on. I stood with Donna and the chaplain at the foot of the bed watching, crying, praying, answering questions. At one point the doctor came over to tell me they were going to intubate her (place a tube down her throat to help her breath). Another time they were getting ready to use the defibrillator her little body because of her heart rate. When I heard them call it, I just cried out loud for God to save her. Immediately afterwards I heard someone yell, “wait”. Apparently she began to struggle with the tube which caused her heart rate to go back up and they did not have to use either. At one point she finally cried out and everyone in the room started clapping.
After that, the doctors mentioned that they were going to send her to Spokane and I called Dustin to have him leave work and get to the hospital. They continued to stabilize her and get her ready for MedStar to transport her. Dustin and then his dad showed up and we decided I would fly with Rebecca, Dustin would follow in the van, and his parents would watch the other two (who were still at Trisha’s).
When MedStar arrived, we rode via ambulance to the airport, then took a plane to Spokane airport, then rode via ambulance to the hospital. They took us directly to PICU (pediatric intensive care unit), where my family was waiting in the waiting room. They hooked her up to different monitors, tried to get more lines into her. I spoke with the doctor about what had happened and Dustin showed up a little later. Her urine was showing an extreme urinary tract infection (UTI), her sodium was depleted, she was very dehydrated. They performed an EKG and ultrasound of her kidneys (she has fluid in her left kidney). They did not know what was wrong with her or the main cause and could not do any major testing until she was hydrated and starting to get better. We felt like we were on an episode of House 🙂
We stayed in a hotel the first night but they were able to get us into a Ronald McDonald room on the floor above Rebecca the next few nights. She stayed in PICU for 4 days. Therapists came in and worked with her, discovering some sensory issues and food aversions (reasons for the difficult eating the past few months). We were transferred to immediate care on Saturday, February 12th when she began to progress. (It is also the day Kimberly and Caleb came to visit so they were able to see her.) Honestly, I do not remember what it is we were waiting on to get out of PICU (blood work, eating, fluids, etc) it is kind of a blur. Once she was moved out of PICU, we stayed in her room with her.
We were on Intermediate for a couple days until the hospital filled up rather quickly with highly contagious patients. At that point we were transfered down to their overflow area (their previous children’s area). It was so nice down there. The room was very large, they had multiple playrooms for the kids (one for the younger ones and another for the teens). As she gained her strength, they began running tests on her kidneys. We worked with a dietitian, PT, OT, and speech to create a game plan to get her development up and her calorie intake in.
After 8 days, we were able to go home on Thursday, February 17th to begin therapy and care from an out-patient perspective. The days are long, appointments are many, but our baby girl is alive thanks to God. He truly is our Saviour!
Thank  you everyone for all your prayers! They are what keeps us going. God is giving us strength we do not have. We are amazed by everything that happened.
I will continue to keep updates coming as we have them!
Love Jamie
