Kate

Late last night we took Kate to the emergency room at Primary Children's Medical Center. She had been running a fever of 101.0 degrees and after calling her pediatrician's office they told us to take her right in. We got to the ER at about 9:45 and got all checked in. As fate would have it when she was called into triage she wasn't running a fever of any kind.

They told us that they just about had a room ready for us but we ended up waiting for quite a while in the waiting room. A 3-day old Kate had come in just before us and they had mixed the two up when they were calling us back (shocker, eh? I thought ERs could do no wrong...). They inserted a catheter to get a urine sample, they put an IV into the back of her hand and drew a few blood samples and sent everything off to the lab. We were hoping for everything to come back negative so we could get home and get some sleep.

They came back and let us know that they wanted to do a lumbar puncture (i.e. spinal tap) in order to check for meningitis. The resident tried to insert the needle/catheter but was unsuccessful after which the Nurse Anethetist completed the job. Around 1:00 AM the doctor let us know that we would be staying the night in order for them to monitor her. They thought that she had a bit of a urinary tract infection and gave her some antibiotics before sending us upstairs at around 2:15 AM. I left soon after that to be home with Ada.

The plan was to do an ultrsound of Kate's kidneys and ureters to make sure that everything was connected properly and that all of the proper equipment was installed. They also planned to do a VCUG, where they inject a radioactive dye into the bladder and image it with an x-ray machine to make sure that her bladder is pumping her urine out of her body and not back into her kidneys.

This morning Kate's regular pediatrician paid her a visit and told us that they didn't think she had a urinary tract infection anymore. They weren't sure if it was a viral infection or something different and we're still waiting for the lab results on that one. Poor Alison has had to stay with Kate all night and day and has hardly gotten any sleep. Too many nurses, techs, residents and doctors all measuring the same vital signs. She would leave to sleep if Kate wasn't exclusively breastfeeding. The sacrifices she makes are overwhelming.

Kate has been mostly oblivious to the whole ordeal. She fusses a bit when they poke her and check her mouth but she's been the same happy baby throughout it all. All the nurses love her because she's not shy about flashing her gorgeous smile to all of them. It's difficult to believe that she is sick because she seems like the same little Kate to us. We're glad that they are taking everything so seriously, though. They get worried when babies so small get fevers of any kind.

Thanks to everybody for your prayers and support. Alison and I are doing great (considering the circumstances) and Ada is enjoying the extra time spent with grandparents and cousins. I'll be sure to post updates as things change.