Our poor babies have been so I’ll this week but these last two days have been enough to last us a whole lifetime of worry. Yesterday we took Millie to the doctors after having had a chesty cough and cold for the past week or so, when she came in from school she was pasty, weak and whimpering back tears and fell asleep in my arms as I cuddled her.
Millie complained of stomach and ear ache and the doctor confirmed she had a horrible cold, ear infection and raised glands; one of which was behind her ear and also one in her stomach which I’d never heard of before but explained the tummy pain. So off we tottered in the rain to the pharmacy to get her prescription of antibiotics, myself, Millie and Gabriele all wrapped up like winter sausages. Naturally there is no parking for the pharmacy so I ran inside with the prescription whilst the children waited in the car and told the pharmacist that I would wait outside on double yellows with the children for five minutes to give them time to prepare it before coming back in. And just as five minutes passed Gabriele decided to start crying and fighting his carseat and pulling at his coat so I asked Millie to pop inside and collect her prescription whilst I waited on the curb.
I have never seen a child so excited to go into a pharmacy and collect their own medicine, and I wasn’t entirely sure if she would be allowed. Telling Millie to bring the pharmacist to wave at me from the window to let me know all was well as I wrestled Gabriele into taking a bottle and keeping an eye out for the traffic warden, Millie headed merrily into the pharmacy.
Several minutes passed and she hadn’t come to the window so I scouted around for the warden, scooped up Gabriele and ran into the pharmacy to find Millie in her little pink coat and shiny shoes speaking to two lovely ladies about being ill but keeping brave and they were so complimentary about her politeness and good manners. They were just about to walk her out when I came in and I felt so proud to see that Millie had been so grown up and helped to get her own medicine.
Millie Is Very Excited To Be At Home With Her Antibiotics
The doctor advised she stay off of school until she finishes her course of antibiotics from the fridge that she has to take three times a day. Her ear infection means that her head is a little sore and she can’t hear properly because of the build up of fluid in her ear, and her sore tummy means she’s not eating as well. But other than that she’s feeling very special for having her big girl medicine and super excited for being off of school. What it’s like to be young hey!
As we’ve all had colds and flu poor little Gabriele had been a little off sorts too and is now cutting his third tooth which has put him off of his solids for a while now. I was concerned that him only taking baby milk would mean that he wasn’t getting enough food or nutrients that he needed but the doctor assured us he would be fine so long as he was drinking milk and passing nappies and full of life.
But last night he went from grizzly and waking every couple of hours recently to sleeping ten hours solid, and instead of having a drenched nappy in the morning it was bone dry. The poor little pudding was burning hot and weak, and when we gave him his bottle that he would normally be gagging for and desperate to eat after a couple of hours even let alone ten, he only managed to drink 4oz before throwing it all back up everywhere.
After various phone calls, speaking to the GP and midwives we ended up in hospital in the children’s ward with poor Gabriele refusing liquids and looking like a floppy rag doll. He hadn’t eaten anything since the previous night, which was 13hrs ago, hadn’t passed any urine or stools and had a horribly high temperature after having had calpol.
We were asked to do a ‘fluids challenge’ whereby we were given a rehydration fluid that would counteract diarrhea, vomiting and fever to replenish both his fluids and electrolytes. As he had thrown up his last feed and was refusing any liquid we were told to give him a 5ml syringe of the rehydration fluid every five minutes to introduce it slowly and ensure he kept it down.
Gabriele Was Taken To Hospital Today For Dehydration
And we found out why it was called the ‘fluids challenge’ as Gabriele spat out every mouthful and screamed every time we laid him in the cot to give him a syringe. He was so weak and tired he kept falling asleep in my arms but gradually after much persuasion and persistence he managed to take 1oz of fluid in 45minutes. Finally he had his first wet nappy a couple of hours after we went in and although it wasn’t wet-wet, there was a dark yellow little patch to show that he was passing fluids.
The nurses said the reason he was throwing up his milk was down to the fact that he had a high temperature and it can make babies sick. Also because we were all ill he had caught a viral infection like Millie and his ears, chest and throat were inflamed.
Since coming home he managed to drink 3oz of milk and has been snuggling up and sleeping in my arms as he cries every time we put him down. We’re rotating him on Calpol and Nurofen to manage his temperature and inflammation and with luck, so far he’s taken more in the last five hours than he has in almost an entire day. We’ve been told to return to hospital if he doesn’t show signs of improvement or any of the following symptoms:
Not passing urine for 3 hours or more.
Dry or sticky mouth and tongue.
Cracked lips.
Skin that does not flatten when pinched and released.
Sunken fontanel – the soft spot on a baby’s head.
No tears when crying.
Listless.
Irritability.
Abnormally sleepy.
High fever.
Skin becomes cold and pale.
Pulse races and breathing becomes rapid.
Sudden loss of weight.
He hasn’t managed to poo at all today and I’m expecting him to get constipated as well from lack of fluids. All we can do is wait and keep a close eye and give the children lots of hugs and love and pray that they’re better soon. x x x
