Poor sick widdle Pip!

Luke has been sick for a week now with some kinda of stomach/intestinal bug. He either can't keep things down or it goes right through him. He pretty much refuses anything but a couple tablespoons of rice cereal or a sip of water occasionally. We had a bad night last night, which I will spare you the details of but yuck! I was really concerned at this point about dehydration so I asked Jake to take work off today since I didn't think I could handle it on my own if he needed to be hospitalized. I called the pediatricians office first thing and so happy that his regular doctor could see him early this morning. After a very brief wait, the nurse took us back, talked for minute, undressed Luke and then weighed him. He weighed 20 lbs. 15 oz at his yearly check up 6 weeks ago; today he weighed 19 lbs 13 oz. I know he gained at least a pound in the past month so that means the poor baby lost 2 lbs in a week! The doctor then came and examined Luke and visited with us and then took us to the in house lab to have some blood drawn so they could test his hydration level. The test came back that he is dehydrated but the good news was that it isn't severe enough that he needs to be hospitalized at this point. What a relief that was!! The bad news or rather the sad news for the day was that he did need to receive a fluid infusion through an IV. The doctor told us they would put an IV port in his arm and it would need to stay in until at least tomorrow when we came back to have his levels checked again. If his levels are still down, we'll need to go get another infusion but if they are good then we can have the port removed.

The dr's office sent us across the street to a local pharmacy that does the IV's. We did have to wait a little there for a nurse to return to the office, but they got us setup in a room with a recliner, a television, and beverages so we were good. The trauma for the day then commenced in putting the IV port in his arm. The nurse, the pharmacist assisting her, Jake, and I all made the decision that it would be best is mom and dad waited outside the room. Oh the sadness of his wails would have broken the hardest of hearts. I did find it interesting in the difference between mine and Jake's reactions to sitting there listening to Luke cry. Jake got angry and visibly upset while I wanted to sit there and bawl. I just found it kinda funny and probably typical for moms and dads. They brought him out of the room where they put the port in and told us that they initially tried one arm but it didn't work so they had to stick him again in the other arm. More sadness. I then held in the recliner while they started the IV drip which we were told would take about an hour. It was naptime at this point but it took quite awhile for Luke to quit crying and telling us about how upset he was, however when he did settle down he snuggled in and we both took a little nap. When the drip was finished, the nurse gave us some instructions on how to flush the line tonight and tomorrow, sent us home with some supplies, and we were on our way. Sweet freedom!


Luke is not impressed with his little wrapped, braced arm. He particularly doesn't like how it keeps him from crawling, opening the DVD cases, and basically hindering everything else he wants to do. He just wanted to be held really for the most of the afternoon so we took another little nap together. Poor little guy is just not himself and its so hard on mom to see her baby suffering. He will look at his arm and start whimpering which makes me want to whimper too. The doctor told us they weren't sure yet what is causing the sickness since we ruled out most of the common things. I have a lovely sample to take to our visit tomorrow and we'll see what the tests on it comes back with.

All in all not our best day around here. I just want my little pip to get well and back to his normal, adventurous, and happy self. I will try and update tomorrow with how things go.