It had been a rough couple of days for the Jarbs family :(. Yesterday morning, Elle still had diarrhea and vomited a couple of times. She did not seem to be in her normal self so we got worried that she was getting dehydrated. After talking to the nurse in the doctor's office, we decided to take her to the ER at Childrens Hospital. When the ER doc saw Elle, the doc confimed that all the diarrhea and vomiting symptoms point to a stomach virus. She also thought Elle was mildly dehydrated. They gave her a tablet of zofran to stop the vomiting. They observed her for a few hours and had us give her a few sips of pedialyte every 5 minutes. While we were in the ER alone, she pooped 6x! The doc said the amount of liquid coming out of her was more than what she was taking in so she recommended her getting IV fluids. This was the last thing I wanted to hear but knew that this was for the best. We were then transferred to another private room and waited for the nurse to put a saline lock on Elle's hand. I was SO not looking forward to this. I knew Elle would freak out so I purposely did not watch her get poked by the needle. Just hearing her cry and scream was enough to make me cry :(. My poor baby :(. Minutes later, they started giving her the IV fluids. Elle just wanted to cuddle with me and she pretty much napped on my chest the entire time.
Since I did not know how long we would be in the hospital, I made sure I brought her stuffed teddy bear and baby doll to make her a tad comfortable. Also, I did not know that hospital gowns come in infant size! They're so cute. I took home one that Elle wore and will put in her memory box!
A few hours later, another ER doc stopped by our room to tell us that Elle's lab results finally came in. It showed that her body was producing more acid which was a sign that her body was starting to go in survival mode. The doc said that meant that she was more dehydrated than they initially thought. She suggested that Elle get admitted to the hospital so they can continue to monitor her and properly get rehydrated. We were then transferred to another room on another floor. It was a private room with a lazy boy and a pull out chair. Needless to say, I was lookingforward to not getting enough sleep. At this point, Elle was off the IV fluids. The doc on call (who happened to be the same doc who did Elle's discharge check up at Sibley hospital when she was born) wanted to see how her body will respond and rehydrate on its own while we gave her sips of pedialyte/apple juice mixture. Later in the night, Grandma and Grandpa Jarbs stopped by for a quick visit.
Elle's sleeping schedule was messed up and had been waking up every few hours. Later in the night, she did seem a little more energetic compared to when we arrived at the hospital earlier in the day. At one point, I saw her watching the tv (we normally do not allow her to watch tv but at that instance, she can watch all she wants! lol). They were showing some concert on the tv and Elle started clapping her hands (oblivious of her splint) lol. I felt a bit better coz I knew then that the fluids helped and she was starting to feel better. Daddy Jarbs slept on the lazy boy and I slept on the pull out chair. It was freezing in the room!
When we woke up this morning, Daddy Jarbs had to go to work (he's been off work for the last couple of days) so I stayed with Elle. She showed signs of being back to her normal self. She has been pulling up on the hospital bed/crib, crawling (again, oblivious of her saline lock and splint) and just being playful. I was running out of ideas to entertain her inside the tiny hospital room. We've played with the plastic spoon, styrofoam plate, diapers, teddy bear, baby doll, blanket, pillow and anything else I can find in the room! lol. For the first time in the last couple of days, I've seen a real smile on her face and I was able to make her laugh. I could tell she was feeling better. Her diarrhea has slowed down (went 3x vs 10x the previous day) and was still taking fluids slowly (not as much as we wanted) so I knew things were starting to slowly look up. Come late afternoon, the doc cleared us to go home. Thank God! The doc said she thinks she is well enough to be sent home although we still need to make sure she continues to get her fluids in to avoid any setbacks. She will still have some diarrhea for the next couple of days but it should slowly taper down.
Here she is hugging her teddy bear while napping in the hospital bed/crib. All the nurses loved her Hello Kitty leg warmers. The crib railing can be pulled up and down so she looks like a prisoner in there when it's pulled all the way up around her.
I knew she was feeling better when she started doing this. She kept pulling up on the railing and even bumped her head once. She also kept biting on the saline lock so I had to ask the nurse to cover it up with a sock. As you can tell, she lost a little bit of weight :(.
Now, our family is back home. Daddy Jarbs and I were glad to see our little girl happily play with her toys. As soon as we got home, I sanitized everything I could think of!! We were only in the hospital for one night but it felt like we were there for a week! To those who prayed for Elle, thank you very much. Please continue to keep her in your prayers so that her recovery will go well. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day. For now, I am looking forward to reuniting with my bed :-).
