First Trip to the ER, and All Vin got was a 2 day stay...

Okay, so we just got back from a two day hospital stay with Vincent. I noticed Wednesday morning that he was feeling a little warm so I took his temp. It was 100.1. I waited and took it again at noon and it was 1oo.5 - which I still thought was no big deal. I called the pediatrician to see if it was okay to give baby Tylenol. The nurse told me I needed to either bring him into the office right away or take him to the ER. By the time we got to the doctor his temp was lower. Apparently, a temp of 100.4 or higher is considered a medical emergency for an infant under six weeks of age. She sent us home and told me if his temp goes back up to take him to the ER.

Later that night his temp went back up to 100.9 and so we called the pediatrician who told us to take him to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh right away, and so we did. They did a barrage of tests to rule out any serious type of infection. We had to witness him getting a catheter, being probed, having multiple iv attempts made on him, having his blood drawn...etc.

He also had a spinal tap done which we did not stay in the room for. Jason verbally sparred with the doctor for 20 minutes about the necessity of having the spinal tap done and the reality of our child being in a hospital for 2 days (among other things). Finally the doctor convinced us it was absolutely necessary in order to rule out meningitis or other bacterial infections. Poor little guy - he cried so hard during the procedure that his face and head broke out in little red spots and he burst a vessel in his eye. By the time they were done with the tests early Thursday morning I can say that our nerves were completely frazzled.

They kept him in the hospital for two days, all the while administering antibiotics through his IV every 8 hours and closely monitoring him to be sure it wasn't a serious infection causing the fever. We both were able to stay with him the entire time (normally they only allow one parent to stay).

We are still waiting on some test results, but the results that have come back have been negative and his fever has subsided. They discharged us this morning on the condition that we would watch him very closely through the weekend. He is doing very well and we are so happy to have him home. Right now he is sleeping soundly with his Dad on the couch, which was just too cute of a moment to pass up without taking a pic.