Poor Baby!

Sorry,this is a long post!
Thursday evening Charity was not acting like herself. She screamed when I changed a diaper or tried to give her a bath and wouldn't sleep well. At about 1 am she felt hot to me. I took her temperature and it was 101. Tanner had been sick earlier in the week with a viral infection- he had a slight fever and was sleepy. It only lasted like 12 hours. Ladd had also been sick with a sore throat and was on antibiotics for it. I figured Charity must have picked up something from them and figured it was Tanner's since it didn't seem like her throat was sore (she was eating OK). So, I didn't feel like it was an emergency but did take her to see the doctor on Friday. By the time she saw the doctor her temperature was down and she was not as fussy. I was certain she must have just had what Tanner had and was already getting over it.

Well, the doctor said I needed to rush her to the ER and have a lot of tests done-some of them sounded rather invasive to me. As I was driving to the ER, I was tempted to just go home. My baby was getting better so why would I want to expose her to the ER and all of those tests? But, I figured I better go and at least see what the ER doctor had to say about it. He told me that a baby that young who has a fever that high, could have meningitis, which could cause permanent damage or even be fatal. He said 10-15 per cent of babies that come in with a fever have meningitis so it is important to test them all. So, they did a million tests on my poor baby, the worst being the spinal tap. This is where they take fluid from the spinal cord to test for meningitis. I was still sure all of this would be unnecessary and we would be home in the morning. We were admitted to the hospital as we were waiting for test results.

When we got to our room, the nurse informed us that the Spinal Tap was positive and Charity did have meningitis. The room was on complete lock down, no visitors(except Ladd and I) and only the nurse and doctors were allowed in the room and they were all guarded with masks and gloves when they did come in. The nurse began to explain to us that Meningitis was a disease that people get when either a virus or bacteria enters the spinal fluid. It can put pressure on the brain and cause fevers, headaches, and stiffnecks. Bacterial Meningitis is more extreme and can cause permanent damage to the central nervous system. Babies can be exposed to a virus or bacteria and instead of fighting it off like we do, their body doesn't know what to do with it and the germ gets into their spinal fluid. Now that we knew Charity had meningitis, we had to wait to find out whether it was bacterial or viral. We had had a viral and a bacterial infection in our house that week, so it was very nerve wrecking.

By Saturday, the doctors were pretty sure it was viral-a relief-but that Charity's white blood cell count was super low, so we would probably still need to be in the hospital for 7 days. By Sunday they were certain it was viral and took her off of the antibiotics they had put her on to fight off a bacterial infection. Her white blood count was still super low but we were relieved it was a viral infection. They also started to let visitors come. The grandparents were grateful for this! By Monday, they were a little concerned about a urine test, but when she repeated it, it was perfect and her white blood cell count had gone back to a better level, so they let her go home! We were pleasantly surprised.

This weekend reminded us of just how blessed we are. Ladd and his dad were able to give Charity a priesthood blessing in the ER on Friday, Ladd's family and our ward fasted for Charity, and countless people prayed for her. I know that this is why everything was able to go so smoothly once we got into the hospital. We know that the Lord answered our prayers and blessed our baby girl. I knew that my boys were well taken care of while I was gone and I didn't need to worry about them at all. My mom even spent all day Monday disinfecting our house so that I would not have to do it when we got home. She even did all of our laundry! We are truly surrounded by people who are willing to go the extra mile to show their love for our family. I am so grateful for all the amazing people in my life and for the ever outstretched hand of our loving Heavenly Father.

Charity was all smiles when she was back at home on Monday night!