Hospital Day 6 and going home

Dr. Throne (the pediatric surgeon) said that Ava could go home today as long as the hospitalist cleared her and we were comfortable taking her home. And yes we were!! Most of today was a waiting game. Waiting for the swabs to come back and the hosptialist to come and see Ava and clear her. The swabs came back negative for the viruses it was checking for. We saw the pediatric hospitalist and he told us the bug that she has is most likely the same her brother has and there isn't really any other reason to keep her. I was thankful for that news and called Andy immediately since it was about 5:30pm, so he could head up to Spokane. Just before 7pm the nurse came in, took out Ava's IV and took off her oxygen saturation monitor and gave her some tylenol for the ride home. At 7:30pm, we checked out of the pediatric unit with Ava and a lot of milk. Ava was very unimpressed with her carseat, as usual. I am sure she was more uncomfortable than normal however.

Andy didn't eat dinner, so we stopped at the A&W for a few snacks and continued our way. Shortly after stopping Ava woke up and started to cry. At the Plaza turnoff we pulled over, fed Ava and burped her, hoping it would make for a better drive home. It didn't and she still cried. So we gave up after being stopped for 1/2 an hour and just listened to her cry. We got home around 9:30pm and went to bed. We were exhausted!!

Hospital Day 5

Today has been the first good day in about a week. Ava is breastfeeding again. We started out today feeding for 2 minutes on each side. At 2:45 this morning she ate for just 2 minutes on one side, then at 7:15 ate on both sides. She had a small amount of spit up, but nothing compared to the last few days. At 12:15p, she ate for 2 minutes on each side, without problems. Then at 3:15p, she ate for 5 minutes on each side. She did GREAT! No vomiting, no spit-up, NOTHING! And the best part is she LOVED it! She was so happy when she was done eating. She just sat with me and we looked at each other.

This picture was from first thing this morning. Bright eyed and beautiful!!

Here is Ava with all her attachments, 2 IVs, electrodes, and oxygen monitor, in her little nest. I was trying to wake her up for a feeding but she never woke up enough to eat, and just cried whenever she was moved. So her and I just snuggled and she got some Tylenol, and then she began to feel better.

Since Ava hasn't eaten a whole lot today, we aren't going to go home tonight. Which I am perfectly fine with, especially since we live 2 hours away. They did a nasal swab to r/o a variety of viruses. She has a stuffy nose and cough which has gotten worse. She has been having breathing treatments today to help her breathe easier, and she has become more congested. She still has 100% oxygenation in her blood so its nothing to be worried about. Most likely just another cold to add on to her troubles. The plan is to leave sometime tomorrow afternoon as long as we have an uneventful night.

Hospital Day 4

We finally have answers!!! First thing this morning Ava had her ultrasound, it showed she has pyloric stenosis, which is a thickening of the muscle of the lower end of the stomach, wand the thick muscle prevents food from entering the intestines. So that is why she has been vomiting, because nothing is able to get out of her belly. The only way to fix the problem is surgery, so she will have a pyloromyotomy. This surgery will be done at Sacred Heart by a pediatric surgeon. So we will be heading to Spokane. Andy has pulled some strings so the Moscow Ambulance is going to transport us up. My friend and fellow nurse, Rebecca is also a Paramedic, so she is going to take us up with Phil and Bill (who are both paramedic students).

Ava in her carseat riding in the ambulance for the first time, hopefully the last as a patient.

We arrived at Sacred Heart Children Center around 2pm. Here is Ava in her tiny bed, after the LONG ambulance ride.



Ava did well in surgery, the only complication was she took a little longer to wake up from anesthesia than normal. While she was still sleeping in the recovery room, they started a new IV, so she wouldn't feel it. Here is Ava in the recovery room, our first sight of our sweet little girl. She has 2 tiny scars on either side of her belly and one in her belly button.



Around 8pm, we went back up to Ava's room on the peds floor. They gave her tylenol in the recovery room, but she still didn't seem to be very comfortable. We swaddled her up in warm blankets and she had her binkie, but she was still very fussy and she couldn't eat until 1am. The doctor specifically said she couldn't have narcotics, as in little ones it can decrease their drive to breath and keep them too sleepy, so they won't eat. So around 10:30p we got her some sugar water to dip her binkie in and that solved the problem, she slept for about 4 hours.

It has been a very stressful and busy day, but we have answers and the problem has been fixed and she is on the road to recovery.

1 Month Old

For Noah's 1st Year scrapbook, I took pictures on each of his monthly birthdays and made foot prints. These are Ava's pictures. I haven't gotten her foot prints done yet, since she has had an IV in her foot. But as soon as we get home from the hospital, the foot prints will be done.

Hospital Day 3

Ava hasn't had much change through the night. She is continuing to throw up after each feeding, whether it is breastmilk or pedialyte. So today she is allowed to have 5-10ml of breastmilk via syringe. The thought is...she may get more nutrients out of the breastmilk than she will the pedialyte, since either way she is going to puke it up. She has had some high blood pressures since her admission which we are unsure why. We are going to be doing 3 sets of arm and leg blood pressures today to see if they remain constant and may do an echocardiogram tomorrow if they are still high throughout the day. Tomorrow she will be having an abdominal ultrasound and upper GI and small bowel series. Hopefully those will give us some answers as to why she is throwing up. Please keep praying for her!!

Me giving Ava her 5ml of breastmilk. It's almost like clock work, an hour later and I am wearing it.





This balloon came from one of the patients on med-surg. He kept hearing Ava cry and wanted to give her the balloon, so that is how we ended up with it. I think I enjoyed it more than she did, and it brightened my days a lot. So, thank you stranger next door!

She is now fed, burped...

and off to sleep...for an hour or so.

Hospital Day 2

Ava threw up 3 times prior to the start of the 6am shift, even though she hadn't eaten in many hours. The doctor came in to visit her and we started her on Zantac to see if that would reduce the vomiting. The Zantac takes a full 24 hours to take effect so we won't see any results until tomorrow. The plan was to have her start breastfeeding once she was awake and ready for it. Before noon, she woke up to eat and both times threw up everything she had eaten on me. Then around 2pm, she again woke up to eat. We decided to try one last time to feed her for a few minutes then take a break to allow for some digestion, and then go a few more minutes. It was a nice idea but she was starving during the break and screamed because she was still hungry. Needless to say I ended up wearing all of it, after the trial. The doctor was informed and we were instructed to stop feeding her and begin Pedialyte by syringe for 4 hours, and if she did well, then advance to breastmilk in a syringe for 4 hours, and if she did well, then advance her to breastfeeding again. If these steps don't work, then we will start looking at other causes for her vomiting, besides a respiratory issue. Ava's IV fell out, so she got another one in her foot. Hopefully this will be the last IV poke she gets! She was all bundled up tight with her binky and barely made a peep during the IV start. She got 10ml of Pedialyte at 7:35p. She kept it down for about 20 minutes then it came back up, so at 8:35p she got 5ml, which she has kept down with the exception of a tiny spit-up. At 9:35p she got 5ml of Pedialyte and has been asleep since. At 10:35p we tried to up her to 10ml, but she was asleep and not interested at all. So that is where we are right now. At 12:20a, Ava threw up her Pedialyte. Hopefully answers or something good will happen tomorrow. Keep her in your prayers, that they figure out what is making her sick and she heals quickly.

Ava early in the day, checking out all the stuff around her.

Grandma Denise came to visit, so I could shower. This was Ava's little nest that she slept really well in.

Ava in her little bundle, after the IV was started.

IV close up.

A little decoration for the beautiful sleeping girl!

A little decoration for the beautiful awake girl. This was right after she had her first bit of Pedialyte, before she puked it back up.

Noah and Andy having some tickle time in the hospital room.

Noah playing doctor.

Another day gone by without much progress and no answers, frustrating, but we will make it through.

Ava's admission

On Monday this week Ava started having 2 episodes where she would throw up all food she had eaten. I didn't really think much of it at the time. I figured she had eaten too much, no big deal. On Tuesday a couple more times she threw up all the food she ate. Again I didn't think much of it. On Wednesday, it happened 3 times and I started to wonder about it, especially when she started screaming after each feeding. On Thursday I took her to the doctors office. They were not sure why she had been throwing up. I was instructed to feed her every 1-3 hours for about 3 minutes each time, thinking a small amount of food more often would help decrease the vomiting. And to return to the office tomorrow for a checkup. During the night she started vomiting after each time she ate, despite the smaller amounts, and usually eating every 3 hours. By the time the morning came around, Ava had not gotten any better, in fact, was more lethargic and her nice pink color had become, pale, and splotchy (mottled). I had made the appointment for Friday afternoon, but called to the office to reschedule for the morning because I felt she was worse, and couldn't wait until the afternoon. We got to the office and after being checked over by the doctor, it was decided she needed to be admitted to the hospital for IV hydration. At the doctors office they poked her a number of time for labs and a urine culture. We got to the hospital around 1:30pm. She got her IV started in her arm and the fun began.

She wasn't allowed to eat for 6 hours, then we would gradually reintroduce breastmilk to her body, first by syringe and if she tolerated that well, then on to breastfeeding. She did well with the syringe, only throwing up when she got really worked up like when her new IV was placed. Her IV in her arm went bad and then a new IV was placed in her foot right before midnight.



At this time the plan is to rehydrate the little sweet pea and, reintroduce foods, and probably go home on Saturday sometime.

Enjoying the outdoors

The sun was shining. Early in the day Noah, Ava and I took a walk to downtown Moscow in our awesome stroller. Later that evening Andy BBQed char sui pork. These pictures were Ava and I outside enjoying the nice day. Ava is growing into 3 month clothes, I can't believe how fast she is growing and changing.

Pretty in purple

Sweet Sleeper