Update

Wow, what a weekend. Poor Jenna has been through a tough few days, but we're hoping she's on the upswing. As I posted before, she woke up with a stomach bug on Friday. She seemed in decent spirits, in between "episodes," but was having a lot of episodes nontheless. By Sunday she woke up cranky and resigned, hating her current condition. Not to mention, she hadn't kept down any food or liquids since Thursday. We called the Doctor and they told us to take her to the ER. We went to GBMC around 11am Sunday morning, and that's where the real "fun" began... Jenna didn't have a temperature, and the rest of her vitals were good, so the doctor tried to get her to drink some fluids, which she wouldn't do. Finally they gave her a freeze-pop, one of those long sticks of frozen syrup/popsicle. She loved that, so they let her have another... anything to get hydration in. I also got her to take a diluted bottle of formula. The doctor said she was ok to go home, so she went to process discharge papers. In the meantime, though, Jenna had another episode and lost any benefit she gained from the formula/popsicles.

The nurse couldn't believe the doctor was releasing her, so she went to find her. They decided that, since Jenna clearly couldn't keep anything down, they were going to start an IV. In the meantime, they took her dirty diaper to test for rotavirus. Starting the IV was miserable. Because she was so dehydrated, her veins were shriveled up and very difficult to find. The nurses held her down and poked her in both hands and a foot, while she screamed and screamed. They finally gave up and Jenna passed out in her daddy's arms. She slept for about an hour, and they tried again when she woke up. The same two nurses continued poking and prodding her, but they just couldn't get an IV in. Finally Josh screamed at them, and said they weren't using her as a pin cushion anymore, and that we were leaving. The doctor came back in and said she understood our frustration, but that Jenna's bloodwork (which they obtained through the first IV nightmare) showed that she was extremely dehydrated, and that they could not release us, that it wasn't safe for Jenna. Finally they brought in another nurse with more experience (why she didn't come in in the first place, I don't know... I guess they enjoy using babies as lab rats for practicing nurses) who was able to get the IV on the first try. Because all of Jenna's wrist and foot veins had been compromised, she had to go in the inner-elbow, which meant that they had to tape a big board to the back of her arm to keep her from bending it. Try explaining that to a 10 month old. At least I was able to convince them to use her right arm, because Jenna would be lost if she couldn't suck her left thumb for comfort.

Once the IV was in, Jenna calmed down a bit and obviously benefitted from the hydration. By the time they moved us to a room in the pediatric wing (from the ER), she was much more like her old self, smiling and playful. They wanted her to stay overnight, so they brought in this crazy cage-like crib contraption. Finally, by 8pm, we realized that she was never going to fall asleep there, with a board taped to her arm, an IV in her arm, and in this torture chamber crib device. We told the doctors that we felt safe taking her home, and that, because she was willing to drink now, we could keep her hydrated. Now she's on a diet of 1oz formula mixed with 3 oz pedialyte, and pedialyte popsicles. We'll have to see how she does... last night before bed she had a 2oz formula/2oz pedialyte bottle, and, without getting graphic, I had to wash her crib sheet and mattress pad when she woke up, so hopefully the even more diluted formula will do the trick and stay down, while keeping her hydrated.

Poor baby is exahusted, worn out, and probably thinking that she's just going to be in pain forever. The test came back positive for Rotavirus, so at least we know what she's suffering from and we know that within a few more days, she should be good as new.