Xavier's First Trip to the Emergency Room
Greetings to everyone.
Well, not exactly Xavier's first trip to the Emergency Room. Our first visit to the hospital after learning we were pregnant was Xavier's first trip to the ER. And, he had us back there several times during the pregnancy. This was his first trip to the ER out of the womb.
It began yesterday after Xavier got up from his nap. He took a longer nap than usual, but he had a busy morning at the zoo, so it seemed natural to think he would nap longer.
When I changed his diaper, his belly was hot. I felt his head; he had a strong fever, the strongest I have ever known him to have. Rebecca and I did not think too much of it; he was in the sun more than he should have been, and he has more teeth coming in (which always has him with a low fever).
After dressing him, I let him run around the house, which he did. However, he was unusually clingy and kept checking in with either Mom or Dad, whomever he found first. He wanted held more than he wanted to run around. That is a yellow flag right there.
We took him to church. He held still in my arms the whole service. Never has he held that still for so long anywhere! His fever grew more warm; during service I estimated at about three degrees warmer than my skin, so in the neighborhood of 101°. We planned to stay after the service for a family fun night, but Xavier's lackluster demeanor counselled us otherwise.
We went home, we got Xavier into a lukewarm (emphasis on the cooler side) bath to help cool his fever, fed him a dose of Acetaminophen, then gave him a bottle. He ate some, but not much—nothing like at breakfast or lunch, which both were extraordinary by his standards. We retired to the cooler basement and turned on "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2".
Xavier sat in Rebecca's lap and watched the movie. Never did he try to gain control of the remote. Both of these were yellow flags to us. Before the movie ended, Xavier threw up much of the bottle he drank an hour prior. Both our home thermometers put his temperature between 101° and 103°. We decided to take him to the ER.
The ER registered his temperature at 101.4°. His ears were not inflamed, nor his throat. Though his nose leaked the occasional snot slug and he was a little congested, he had no cough. His lungs were clear; no inflammation in his lymphatic system. His O2 saturation was in the mid 90s and his heart rate was within normal ranges.
The PA gave Xavier an anti-nausea pill (apparently, she did not think the saltines he had started eating would do the trick), and a dose of ibuprofen. Anna (the PA) said there is a virus making its rounds; Xavier likely had caught it.
We sat around for two and a half hours for observation. It was to be less than that, but the ER was unusually busy. Xavier's fever dropped to 99° and he felt he needed to run around the ER room or the nurse's stations and open, tug on or slam everything he could get away with. And why not? It was more than two hours past his bed time, he was feeling better and he missed out on all this running around earlier.
The ER eventually released Xavier and we headed home. He has caught some upper respiratory infection. We were told to wait it out, and given instructions on what meds to give him and when to help keep the fever down.
Xavier did not sleep well through the night, and at 2:00 AM was crying. After a bottle, he went back down. At 3:00 AM he woke again, his high fever had returned. We dosed him with more Acetaminophen, but he would not go back down. Screaming both with strong discomfort and hunger, we were able to address the hunger (Rebecca correctly heard the subtle sounds I missed; I was thinking he was not hungry since he ate about an hour prior).
It took longer to calm his physical discomfort (gas). He spent the rest of the night on Daddy's chest, who spent the rest of the night on the couch not sleeping. Finding a relatively comfortable position laying on his side (a very unusual position for Xavier), Xavier took hold of my finger and moved my hand to his back. He started moving my hand up and down, letting me know he wanted his back stroked. From the earliest days in the NICU, this is how we have comforted him. Even today, gently petting his back still calms him.
For Rebecca and me, this was an interesting and educational experience. Xavier has been so healthy, it's been a great blessing to us all. This was our first truly alarming event that was not generated by a doctor or specialist. The ER trip was unnecessary, except (as Rebecca noted on the way to the ER) for our benefit. Though we knew to do and would have done the medicine regimen as prescribed, neither of us would have gotten any sleep had we not taken Xavier in; we would have lain awake listening to him, and going in to check on him all night long. This way, at least Rebecca and Xavier got some sleep last night.