Update!

Well, I guess it's time for an update. I've been meaning to update this blog, but it is not easy at all to find the time to do it now that I have 2 little munchkins that demand my attention all. the. time!! Sydney is doing great now, after our lovely trip to Texas Children's Hospital a little over a week ago.

On, sunday February 21st Sydney started getting a bit fussy and we weren't sure what was wrong. She started not eating very well and after 2 p.m. she wouldn't eat anything at all. By 10 p.m. that night Jacob and I got very concerned and called the pedi. The Dr. told us that was not normal for a newborn to go that long without eating and that we needed to go to TX Children's downtown immediately! Oh my gosh! I could not believe they told us this. I immediately felt sick and became extremely worried. We called our wonderful neighbor Michelle to see if she could come stay with Jayda while we went to the hospital and thankfully she could. We gave Sydney some more Mylicon, since we thought she might have an upset tummy and headed out. The ride to the hospital was horrible. I sat in the back with Sydney and just cried and prayed and prayed some more for her. I just kept staring at her and wondering why in the world we were being put in this situation. We were so scared and had no idea what could possibly be wrong with our sweet little 10 day old baby.

We got to the hospital around 11:30 p.m. sunday night. We checked in and took Sydney into triage. Right before they took her temperature and blood pressure she had a big poopy blow out diaper and then started nursing! Of course right! We go to the hospital because she won't eat and she starts eating right there in the ER! I immediately felt much better, even though I didn't know if that would solve the problem. The ER doc came in after a while of waiting in the room and asked us lots of questions about Sydney. After talking to the Dr. for a while he said that they would need to run lots of tests on Sydney because just being fussy and not eating in a newborn could indicate lots of different potentially very bad illnesses. They were mainly concerned about a bacterial infection, like meningitis. The dr. said there was less than a 10% chance that she would have anything, but that they have to be extra cautious with newborns since a bacterial infection can take over a newborns body very quickly. They told us that they would have to do blood and urine cultures and a spinal tap. A spinal tap?! Are you flipping kidding me? On my 10 day old baby??!! Mommy was going into panic mode! Oh, and they said we would have to stay at the hospital for at least 48 hours for the cultures to grow. I asked the Dr. if the spinal tap would hurt really bad because I have heard so many horror stories about it and he said that it supposedly wasn't too bad. He said that he thought the urine catheter would hurt worse. Later on another dr. told us that it's because you have to put them in a little tiny ball to do the spinal tap and that's what they don't like about it. Who knows, I was just freaked out! We waited in the ER for another hour or so and then the docs came in. They first did the urine catheter and poor baby cried so bad. I felt awful! They then put an IV in her foot to draw her blod and start antibiotics in case it was a bac. infection. I just held her little bitty hand as she cried and screamed. And mommy cried and cried. They then came into to do the spinal tap. I couldn't stand with her anymore but we stayed in the room with her. Let me just tell you, I would not wish this experience on ANYONE! It was the worst thing that I have ever been through. I felt so bad for Sydney and wanted to relieve her pain so bad and there was nothing I could do. I had never heard this baby cry this loud or for this long. She would just stare into my eyes and cry like "mommy help". It broke my heart and I can not even explain how bad it hurt. I literally did not think she even could cry anymore because she had cried so much. Whew, just thinking back upsets me all over again! After all the tests had been run I fed her again and thank goodness she ate again. Hallelujah, at least she was eating. Another hour or so had passed and then they came and got us to go and take Sydney to get x-rays. I was beginning to wonder when this would ever end!!

Finally around 5 a.m. they moved Sydney out of the ER and up to the Level 2 NICU upstairs. We went with Sydney to the NICU where she had a bed and we had one recliner right next to her. Jacob and I were both SO tired and Sydney was still fussy. Jacob stayed with us for most of the morning and then left to go home and get us some things. He went home and took a shower and brought us some stuff back up and then left to go to work. I stayed at the hospital with Sydney all day and it was the worst day ever! I had to hold Sydney all day because if I put her in the bed she would cry. She was hooked up to an IV, heart rate monitors, blood pressure cuff so it was hard to get her in and out of the bed and to feed her, but we managed. Poor baby! And I was such a mess. The social workers and nurses kept coming over and asking me if they could do anything for me and that I needed to take care of myself too and on and on. I just was not about to leave my crying baby with some stranger. So, I just held and fed Sydney all day Monday, and cried, and had the worst headache of my life, and didn't eat all day. Not good, at all! Jacob finally got back and relieved me so that I could go and get some lovely McDonalds from downstairs. I had never eaten a chicken wrap so fast in my life!

By about 9 p.m. that night Sydney started doing much better. I knew she was feeling better because she could be awake without crying. Since sunday afternoon if she was awake, she was crying and the only way she wouldn't cry is if she was asleep. So, I started feeling better about things. Then, the Dr. came by and told me that she thought Sydney just had a viral infection, like a common cold, and that's why she was fussy and not eating. She said she really didn't think the cultures would come back positive for a bacterial infection, but we still needed to stay in the hospital and make sure. They continueted Sydney on antibiotics just in case. So, by monday night things were looking better, and Jacob and I got a room at the Ronald McDonald house. We were SO happy!! We would have a bed to sleep in that night! I can not tell you how happy I was or how badly I wanted a place to sleep! It was wonderful and I was even able to take a shower in our room! On monday night we stayed in our room and since Sydney was doing better I went to get some sleep too. The nurse would call our room every 3 hours and I would go back to the NICU and feed her and then come back to lay down. It was heavenly to get some sleep, can not even explain!

On tuesday morning Jacob had to leave to go and take a deposition and I went back to the NICU to stay with Sydney. She was doing much better tuesday morning and I was feeling much better about everything. Around mid morning the Dr. came by and said she really thought that Sydney was fine and that if her cultures were still negative around 6 p.m. that she would be ok to let us go home that night. Hallelujah!! I was so excited since I thought we would be there at least until wednesday morning since the cultures were 48 hours at 3 a.m. Suzie and Jayda came up to see us on tuesday morning and I was so excited to see Jayda! I hadn't seen her since we'd put her to bed on sunday night and I was missing her terribly. Luckily Suzie was able to take off work and come and stay with Jayda while we were in the hospital, so that was wonderful. Thank you Nanna!! It was sad when Jayda had to leave because I so badly wanted to go home with her! My aunt Cheryl came to visit us that afternoon and stayed the rest of the day. It was so nice for her to be there and I even got to go and take a nap back at the Ronald McDonald house. That evening the cultures were still negative and they released us to go home around 8 p.m. Thank-goodness!! We were so happy to go home! It was like I was in some sort of horrible dream that I was finally waking up from! Whew, little miss Sydney, you scared us to death!

So, needless to say, it's been a little rough getting back into a routine around here. All the rest of last week was very rough becuase we were so tired from being in the hospital. Jacob was working a ton and I had both the girls at home alone for the first time! Luckily my awesome friend Lauren came into town on Saturday and stayed until Tuesday morning. She was able to help me get back in the swing of things and I am feeling much better today. It is still very crazy and not easy at all, but we are making it. We are not getting too much sleep and Jayda has decided to start throwing full on temper tantrums that we've never experienced before. But, I'm sure that after a few more weeks we'll be good. Or at least I hope, right?!


Jayda and Sydney. Can't tell you how many pics I have like just like this of Jayda holding Sydney in the boppy.


Jayda found a big stick at the park the other day and proceeded to carry it around forever!


Daddy and Jayda feeding the turtles.


Another picture of Jayda and Sydney together.


And another one! Guess who loves her sister???


Jayda and Sydney in matching big sister/little sister outfits.


So cute! This is right before Sydney starting pitching a fit!


Sweet, sweet little Sydney at 2 weeks old.


Miss Sydney in her glider. Just a few days shy of 3 weeks old.


Silly Jayda posing for the camera!