Real Life Stories of the ER

We had a pretty eventful week last week over here at the Gardner household.

What are the chances of needing to take both children to the ER at the exact same time for different reasons?

Well, that's what happened.

Kaleb had a rough night one night and woke up really ill with diarrhea. We made it through the night.

The next morning I woke up to Brayden (6am) screaming at the top of her lungs.

She had just gone pee...and it hurt.

I thought maybe we had a problem, but we went on with our day. Kaleb seemed to be doing better. He ate well and was full of energy.

Lunch time came around and Kaleb wasn't feeling too hot...except for a fever that had developed.

Brayden needed to go to the bathroom again and by this time she went hysterical. She wouldn't go.

I called the doctor to get her in thinking she may have a UTI. I knew they really couldn't do anything for us without getting her to pee in a cup so I spent the next two hours trying to get a sample at home, but she refused after trying a few times.

We tried at the doctor for another two hours...still nothing. By this time she hadn't gone pee in 10 hours. Kaleb was miserable and screaming and sick. They sent us home with some antibiotics for Brayden as a precaution. The doctor thought for sure I would be able to get her to pee before bed that night.

He obviously doesn't know my daughter.

By 7pm she was "dancing" around but still refused to go. I thought for sure she would go in her sleep.

Nope.

She woke up every two hours saying she was ready to go....and then would refuse. It was a long night. Meanwhile we were changing Kaleb's diaper every couple hours.

By the next morning I was at my wits end. We had hit 24 hours and no pee. I had no idea what kind of infection she had or what kind of damage she was doing to her body. Believe me, we tried everything to get her to go. Including every bribe in the book.

By this point Kaleb didn't look so good. He had done well drinking until then and he was slowing down and really lethargic so off to the ER we went to get Kaleb an IV and Brayden a catheter.

Usually I could pull Brandon out of school with something like this, but on this particular day he forgot his phone and I had no idea and couldn't get a hold of him so I had to do it alone with two screaming uncomfortable/sick children. Both wanting to be held and not wanting to share me.

After trying for another 45 minutes in the ER to get her to pee they put her on the table getting the "tube" ready. It was very difficult to watch cause she was terrified...but in her terror she FINALLY chose to pee...right on the table. After 28 hours of holding it. She felt so much better obviously and while they were cleaning her up she stood up, looks at me and says,

"It didn't hurt!

See I told you, mom. If I held it for a long time it wouldn't hurt. I told you."

She then started thinking of all the bribes I had bribed her with and says,

"I get to ride a horsey!" (carousel).

"I get to have a party!"

She ended up not having a UTI and it hasn't hurt her ever since.

Kaleb was very dehydrated and once he had an IV going seemed to be doing much better.

I took both kids home and I finally got a hold of Brandon and he came home early to give me a break.

It wasn't too much longer that Kaleb appeared dehydrated again...and Brayden was "dancing" around again with the fear of going pee.

Brandon took Kaleb back to the ER and he was admitted into the hospital that night.

He stayed in for about three days getting IV fluids while the virus ran it's course and Brayden continued to refuse to go to the bathroom.

Oh the drama of having children!

It's been a very eventful week.

I kept forgetting my camera to take to the hospital to get a picture of my 'yoda baby.' As sad as it is that these gowns need to be made so small, he just looked so cute in it so we brought one home to get pictures that we didn't get in the hospital. He was such a trooper. I was so proud of how strong he was. As much as he didn't like being poked with an IV and being poked for blood he always cooperated and never tried to fight it. Being attached to an IV he could barely move around and play. I felt so bad for him but he adjusted well. He's not much of a TV watcher but as long as he was laying with me he was okay watching movies and cartoons. The crib there was like a cage so we brought his pack n play to sleep in.

Back view.

It's good to see him smiling again.

Some close friends bought him some balloons and this teddy bear. He is doing much better and back to his same old self.

Here's a picture right after we got home from the hospital.

He was so happy to be home and we are so happy to have him home!

Brayden is doing much better and slowly getting over her fears.

Life is getting back to normal again :)