Hospital Holiday

Tuesday night little miss Kennedy was her happy playing little self. Running in circles, jumping off the couch. We went to lunch with my mom, Kinlie, Elysha, and Parker. Here she is on the way there. She had to wear Mommy's hat. She looks sad but she really was bouncing off the walls.. Wednesday morning I checked on her at 730. She was a little warm but her room was warm and she was covered in blankets. So I uncovered her and changed her diaper while she slept. About 930 she woke up and Joe went in to change her. She was on fire. Her temp was 104.9. He stripped her down, gave her some Tylenol and brought her upstairs to me where it was cooler. She was SO lethargic. Just lifeless. She wasn't talking. She wanted to snuggle. There is always one sure way to tell Kennedy is sick. She wants to be held. She cuddled right into me in bed and we fell asleep watching TV... again she has only ever slept in our bed once when she didn't feel good before because she doesn't hold still... We woke up a while later and she just looked bad. She was so pale and couldn't keep her eyes open. I knew she was more than just sick. Her temp was staying right around 101. Her heart was racing and she was breathing so fast. I called the Dr and they said they could get us in around 145. It was just over 2 hours away. I was really hesitant if we could wait that long. I hurried and showered and Joe called to see if they had anything sooner. They didn't. We had about an hour left still so we got her ready and just drove slow to the Dr. I dressed her in a light fitting shirt and shorts. That was it. When we got to the Dr she was on FIRE. Couldn't keep her eyes open still.

First thing they did was check her temp. On her forehead it came back 108. In her ear it was 105. She had Tylenol less than 4 hours prior. They weighed her too.. my lil 21 lb baby :) The nurse gave her some Motrin which didn't help at all. Dr Stokes, her pediatrician who I love, came in and Kennedy's feet were purple. Her arms and legs were yellow and red blotches and she was so pale. She told us instantly she was going to admit her. Said she was worried it might be H1N1 and to head down the hall to pediatrics to admit her. (Her Dr is at Mckay Dee) I called Joe and we were off to the other end of the hospital.

It was so hard not to cry. My little girl was so sick. They were so nice when we walked into the pediatric wing. They explained all they were going to do and were so kind. She had a blood draw taken (they had to poke 2 times to get it), had a nasal suction of her nose for tests, swabbed the back of her throat, took a urine sample with a little catheter that only stays in long enough to get the sample, then she had her IV put in. They started her on antibiotics.. I think called Rotellin or something close to that. Not long after that Joe showed up and they sent us down for her chest x ray. She just cried and cried with all her little pokings.

Kennedy was also hooked up to a heart monitor and pulse ox. Initially with her fever around 104 her heart rate was 196bpm and her respirations were between 40-60. It kept fluctuating. I held her the whole time. She would not go onto the kids crib where they poked her at. That was ok with me we snuggled! Joe had to run the girls home and get some clothes for us so we just watched some TV. Dr Stokes came in several times to check on us in between patients. She told us around 6pm that if her heart rate didn't go below 170 that we were going to be sent to Primary Children's in SLC. She had a blessing around 8pm and not long after her heart rate went below 170. Thank you Adam and Jeff! When the Dr came back in around 10pm she was staying about 150bpm so just enough we could stay. They started her 2nd bolus of antibiotics and her fever was still staying at 104. Dr Stokes told us her chest x ray showed pneumonia and to be prepared for a rough night. She had no other signs of pneumonia besides a fever. No cough, chest sounds were perfectly clear.
Mommy and Kennedy the first night
She wouldn't leave my side. We slept in this little chair all night.

We also discovered the wonderful power of Mommy's boobs. The entire time she was sick she had her little face buried into my chest. It was her happy place. I'd lay down next to her in her bed and the first thing she'd do was snuggle right in and bury her face.. which I found so funny since she was never breastfed..

Poor little girl was so sick

Watching TV in the little chair... Later on she was sitting with daddy on her bed and she threw up. She has never throw up before. It was so scary. She wasn't strong enough to sit herself up so dad had to hurry and sit her up before she gagged.

When the 2nd day came around she still had a fever around 104. Her heart rate was still higher than it should have been. She was on her 3rd bolus of antibiotics. The Dr said she had a UTI also. H1N1 came back negative. The Dr was telling us that by the 2nd bolus of antibiotics we shouldn't be seeing a fever at all. Her white counts were good. There was some other test they did.. I think it was CRP test, it came back slightly elevated. Nothing was really sticking out to why she was so sick. They told us we'd have to stay at least until Friday afternoon.

On Thursday night her fever had gone down some. We had several people come visit us and bring Thanksgiving dinner. THANK YOU! She'd peaked up some and was playing. Doing really good and things were looking up. Her and I went to sleep that night. They'd brought us in a big bed. We fell asleep around 930-10pm. Nurse woke us up at 11 and Kennedy's fever was up to 104 again. Little heart was racing. We sat her up and she threw up again. She started crying and got all worked up. Her little heart rate jumped up to 220 bpm. She had been having Tylenol and Motrin off set every 4 hours since we got there. We finally figured out giving her Tylenol and then Motrin a few min later would kick the fever. We got her settled back down and her fever came back down to around 101 for while. Her heart rate was still staying in the 150's 160's while she was asleep and her respirations were saying in the 40's.

Kennedy also got a bath and went for a wagon ride!

She still wasn't a happy camperShe was poked a lot on Wednesday. On Friday they wanted to do another blood draw to check her levels. They poked her arm 4 times and no luck getting any blood. From the tourniquet used to be able to take the blood draw she broke out in petechial hemorrhage on her arm. Dr came and told us since she had a fever the night before and she was on her 3rd round of antibiotics we couldn't go home. Said we shouldn't be seeing a fever at all and it worried her. Also the urine was positive for Ecoli but not in her blood... but that just meant there was a uti. The levels weren't high but it was there.

Kennedy wanted NOTHING to do with any of the nurses. They were all so sweet and kind to her. She would scream the second they walked into the room.. she even cried "owie" at the cleaning lady. Most of the time they just took her temp, blood pressure and switched the pulse ox to the other toe. She was having none of that. Each time the nurse would get ready to leave Kennedy would tell them thank you through her tears and blow them kisses. She is so sweet. My mom came to visit and brought her Baby Brian. Its her favorite doll from my moms house. The nurses would do whatever they were going to do to him first then to her. They even wrapped his feet and hands to match her owies. The nurse did this for her.

Friday we had to get an ultra sound of her bladder and kidneys. They think she might have a urinary reflux where the urine is getting kicked back up from the bladder into the kidneys but they aren't sure. When we went down her little bladder was so full. The ultrasound guy said he's never seen a bladder that full on a kid that can pee. They left us for a little bit so she could try. I kept telling her she needed to pee and it was ok. She'd had her 2nd catheter for the urine sample that morning so I don't know if she was just sore or not. She kept saying "ok mommy. I tryin to pee" I could feel her little muscles trying but nothing was happening so they sent us back upstairs. We had the sweetest nurse named Ashley. She said we could give her a bath or take her for a walk or whatever to see if she'd go. We decided on the walk. We made it maybe 20 steps and she had explosive diarrhea. Hey it worked!! When I'd gotten back from giving her another bath Dr Stokes had called our room and said that her right kidney wasn't putting out what it should. It could have been from the infection, or the reflux or could be a kidney issue they weren't sure.

Friday night she was really really really restless. She was unhappy, whiny, full of energy, acting like she was on crack all at the same time. Mommy and daddy were exhausted. We went for a LOT of walks that night. We were excited she was feeling so much better.. but it was tiring. They also started her on another antibiotic called gentamiacin to try and battle the sickness.

The fish tank was one of her favorites She broke out in another fever Friday night. She threw up again also. Her fever only went up to 102 thank goodness. She did get a yummy popsicle out of the deal. This was the first thing she'd eaten since Tuesday night. Also her IV stopped working Friday night. So after all that poking earlier that day they had to come in and put in another one. She had just fallen asleep too. Mommy was about done and just started crying. I knew she needed her iv but she had been through so much that day. The two nurses that came in that night were really sweet and good and got it on the first poke.

Unfortunately because of the fever we had to stay Saturday morning until at least 5pm. They wanted roughly 24 hours with out a fever before they'd send us home. She was almost back to 100% on Saturday. It was hard to keep her entertained but we were so thankful. After having to get her IV back in Friday night they capped it off Saturday morning so she at least didn't have to be on fluids and hooked up.

Running on the chair/bed

We ran ALOT in the hallway back and forth..went for walks..saw the fish..watched TV..colored.. One of her favorite things to do was throw her binky under the TV stand and while mommy was getting it she'd open the door and run out of the room. Then she'd start running circles around the nurses station trying to get away from me as they laughed at her. She had them all wrapped around her little finger. They brought her in a pillow case to paint. SHE LOVED painting and had so much fun. She painted it several times.

Nap time still waiting to be sent home...

They never were really sure what was making her so sick. They believe its a mix of the start of pneumonia and the start of a UTI.

Fortunately around 5 the Dr came in and said we could go! WOO HOO! We packed up and were out of there! While Kennedy was painting we made thank you signs from her for the nurses with her hand print on it. They hung it up even before we'd left. Thank you to all our friends and family for your prayers and thoughts. We are very blessed! And thank you to a wonderful staff at McKay Dee!

Dr Stokes called today and said her 2nd urine sample came back negative for any infection at all! She is still going to have a dye test to see if she has reflux or not but she is back to normal 100% just a few short days later! They also said we didn't have to worry about pneumonia because of all the medicine she was on it should have cleared it all up.