Miracle babe
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I thought I'd pop my head in briefly and just let you know that my son Rowan who's now nearly 14 weeks has been incredibly ill but thankfully is now making good progress. I'm posting what happened as I feel it might be helpful to other mothers and it makes you realise than you cant take mothers instint too lightly!
Rowan had been unwell for a day although he had had diarrhoea and reduced feeds for 3 weeks!!! (I'd been to the docs and seen the health visitor 6 times
)however on saturday he had been sleeping for nearly 2 hours which was totally out of character. I had been continually checking on him but when I went into his room at 2pm on Dec 30th I knew instantly there was something seriously wrong. I just grabbed him out of the cot and ran downstairs with him, he was barely consious but still breathing. I stripped him and took his temp which was 40+, tried to give him calpol and noticed his feet were blue and his fontanelle was dipped. I phoned Prime Care and they told me they was sending an ambulance immediately. We could hear the sirens as it approached, the paramedics were amazing and I cant praise them enough, they quickly got us in the ambulance and took blood from Rowan, his BM was 1.6 which means he was slipping into a coma and his oxygen level was 67 and dropping. They put him on oxygen and we were rushed to the hospital. When we got there we were rushed in and the paramedic was shouting for help and we were taken to a treatment room. They took Rowan from me and laid him on the bed where 3 peadiatricians and more nurses than I could count began working on him. My husband arrived at the hospital at this time and this was what he walked in on bless him, he was in tears. It took 8 attempts to get an IV into him as his little body was shutting down and his hands feet wrists and ankles are so bruised it makes me cry to see them. Thankfully they finally got it in and began giving him fluids and glucose and his BM raised to 6.8, his oxygen level was also increasing by this time. They also started to give antibiotics via IV as at this time they thought it could be meningitis although there was no rash. I just stood there in shock praying that God wouldnt take my little boy away from me. We were then taken to intensive care where he was given a lumbar puncture (they wouldnt let me hold him as its such a delicate procedure) before he was attached to monitors etc but because he was so little they kept coming off and everytime they did the alarm would go off and there would be a long continuous bleep, we thought we'd lost him each time! The doctor then came in and told me it was septaceamia! I just couldnt believe it, I asked the doctor if I was going to lose him and he looked at me and said "I dont know". I asked him if he did survive would he lose limbs and again he was non committal. I guess they cant offer any false hope in case we then sue them. What this doctor didnt bargain on is my little boys fighting spirit. He wasnt prepared to give up and despite them telling us that we couldnt hope to see any improvement for 24 hours by 8 o clock he seemed to be turning the corner. As the nurse leaned over his cot to check his connectors he opened his eyes looked up at him and just gave a tiny little smile like he just knew this person was trying to help him and he appreaciated it. By this time the lumbar puncture had come back clear so even if it was meningitis it hadnt spread as far as his spinal column and brain and because we had caught it early a rash had yet to appear. Apparently with the antibiotics as soon as it hits the infection in the blood it stops it dead although it takes a little longer to fight it back. They told us the infection level was at 86 and a rash doesnt appear till around 300 which is when most kids are brought in so we had got him there soon enough for it to be effective. Finally at 10pm they told us they were taking him off the critical list!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think even the docs were amazed at how quickly he was fighting back. He spent the night on IV and the next day we tried all day to feed him but he wasnt having any of it so they inserted a Nasal Gastric tube at 11pm on new years eve - hardly a happy new year for my poor little man. However they fed him through out the night every two hours and he seemed more content than he has done for 3 weeks he then fed well through that next day on the bottle and removed the NG that evening. The next day the senior peadiatrician came to see him and said no way should he be on Soya Formula as it has oestrogen in it (put it this was if in 20 years I have the only gay in the village we'll know why) so he changed it to Neonate which is the foulest tasting thing you've ever tasted (yes I tried it), its pretty much pre digested so their body has very little work to do to break it down. Unfortunatly he stopped feeding altogether and by this time he was going downhill again FAST so they decided to take him right back to basics as the peadiatric dietician wasnt going to be in until monday and put him back on SMA LF. He immediately started feeding again and its starting to look more and more like this has all been caused by a bacterial infection which has also caused the lactose intolerance but instead of treating the cause they only treated the symptoms. Sadly yesterday his poor vein gave up and collapsed and after 3 more attempts to get it in somewhere else I said enoughs enough and asked if there wasnt some other way they could give it to him so now he has to have it inter musculor which while its very painful is shorter lived than spending 20 mins trying to get a line in. Thankfully we live close to the hospital so because his vitals were steady and he's feeding better we were sent home today although not discharged and we have to return daily for antibiotic injections but my little lad is fighting tooth and nail and he's been so brave. Have to admit I've cried more than him.
Rowan had been unwell for a day although he had had diarrhoea and reduced feeds for 3 weeks!!! (I'd been to the docs and seen the health visitor 6 times
)however on saturday he had been sleeping for nearly 2 hours which was totally out of character. I had been continually checking on him but when I went into his room at 2pm on Dec 30th I knew instantly there was something seriously wrong. I just grabbed him out of the cot and ran downstairs with him, he was barely consious but still breathing. I stripped him and took his temp which was 40+, tried to give him calpol and noticed his feet were blue and his fontanelle was dipped. I phoned Prime Care and they told me they was sending an ambulance immediately. We could hear the sirens as it approached, the paramedics were amazing and I cant praise them enough, they quickly got us in the ambulance and took blood from Rowan, his BM was 1.6 which means he was slipping into a coma and his oxygen level was 67 and dropping. They put him on oxygen and we were rushed to the hospital. When we got there we were rushed in and the paramedic was shouting for help and we were taken to a treatment room. They took Rowan from me and laid him on the bed where 3 peadiatricians and more nurses than I could count began working on him. My husband arrived at the hospital at this time and this was what he walked in on bless him, he was in tears. It took 8 attempts to get an IV into him as his little body was shutting down and his hands feet wrists and ankles are so bruised it makes me cry to see them. Thankfully they finally got it in and began giving him fluids and glucose and his BM raised to 6.8, his oxygen level was also increasing by this time. They also started to give antibiotics via IV as at this time they thought it could be meningitis although there was no rash. I just stood there in shock praying that God wouldnt take my little boy away from me. We were then taken to intensive care where he was given a lumbar puncture (they wouldnt let me hold him as its such a delicate procedure) before he was attached to monitors etc but because he was so little they kept coming off and everytime they did the alarm would go off and there would be a long continuous bleep, we thought we'd lost him each time! The doctor then came in and told me it was septaceamia! I just couldnt believe it, I asked the doctor if I was going to lose him and he looked at me and said "I dont know". I asked him if he did survive would he lose limbs and again he was non committal. I guess they cant offer any false hope in case we then sue them. What this doctor didnt bargain on is my little boys fighting spirit. He wasnt prepared to give up and despite them telling us that we couldnt hope to see any improvement for 24 hours by 8 o clock he seemed to be turning the corner. As the nurse leaned over his cot to check his connectors he opened his eyes looked up at him and just gave a tiny little smile like he just knew this person was trying to help him and he appreaciated it. By this time the lumbar puncture had come back clear so even if it was meningitis it hadnt spread as far as his spinal column and brain and because we had caught it early a rash had yet to appear. Apparently with the antibiotics as soon as it hits the infection in the blood it stops it dead although it takes a little longer to fight it back. They told us the infection level was at 86 and a rash doesnt appear till around 300 which is when most kids are brought in so we had got him there soon enough for it to be effective. Finally at 10pm they told us they were taking him off the critical list!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think even the docs were amazed at how quickly he was fighting back. He spent the night on IV and the next day we tried all day to feed him but he wasnt having any of it so they inserted a Nasal Gastric tube at 11pm on new years eve - hardly a happy new year for my poor little man. However they fed him through out the night every two hours and he seemed more content than he has done for 3 weeks he then fed well through that next day on the bottle and removed the NG that evening. The next day the senior peadiatrician came to see him and said no way should he be on Soya Formula as it has oestrogen in it (put it this was if in 20 years I have the only gay in the village we'll know why) so he changed it to Neonate which is the foulest tasting thing you've ever tasted (yes I tried it), its pretty much pre digested so their body has very little work to do to break it down. Unfortunatly he stopped feeding altogether and by this time he was going downhill again FAST so they decided to take him right back to basics as the peadiatric dietician wasnt going to be in until monday and put him back on SMA LF. He immediately started feeding again and its starting to look more and more like this has all been caused by a bacterial infection which has also caused the lactose intolerance but instead of treating the cause they only treated the symptoms. Sadly yesterday his poor vein gave up and collapsed and after 3 more attempts to get it in somewhere else I said enoughs enough and asked if there wasnt some other way they could give it to him so now he has to have it inter musculor which while its very painful is shorter lived than spending 20 mins trying to get a line in. Thankfully we live close to the hospital so because his vitals were steady and he's feeding better we were sent home today although not discharged and we have to return daily for antibiotic injections but my little lad is fighting tooth and nail and he's been so brave. Have to admit I've cried more than him.
)
