in my life...: Hamp Hospital

Thursday, February 9, Hamp's preschool teacher mentioned that Hamp had acted tired and he continued to act tired that evening, but there was no fever and he seemed fine other than being tired. Friday, school reached out to me around lunch time to say that Hamp seemed to be in pain, kind of contorting himself while lying on the floor and just didn't seem to feel well. I picked him up and brought him home. He was definitely in pain and it appeared to be his stomach, but he's 2 and can't tell me, which was frustrating for him and for me. I called our pediatrician's office and they had an appointment at 6pm, so I held him all afternoon in my lap, as this was the only way he would calm down and appear to be at all comfortable.

Friday evening in the waiting room, he was straddling me on my lap and was laying on my chest, as he had been all day. Suddenly, he sat up and vomitted (SO. MUCH. VOMIT.) all over both of us. Despite being covered in sick and having no change of clothes even for him (way to go, me), I was quite relieved because I just knew at that point we were dealing with a stomach bug and we can handle that. Since we were already there, we saw the doctor (after the sweet office staff helped us clean up) and he confirmed via blood work that we were dealing with a virus indeed and that all we needed to do is ride it out.

We went home and I was completely ready for more vomit and it never came, but he continued to be in pain. He seemed to be mostly fine (just very tired) Saturday, so I took Jake to a birthday party at his friends house that afternoon and John stayed home with Hamp. While at the party, John called and said to get home immediately, that Hamp was in a lot of pain and maybe we should go to the ER. We left the party very quickly and rushed home. I packed up Hamp and off we went to the ER. On the way there, I called our ped's office to give them a heads up (they are in the same complex as the children's hospital), and left a message with the on-call service. Dr Guy Castles (not our regular ped, but in the same practice and we've seen him several times before with Jake) called me back while we were in the waiting room. I explained to him what was going on and he advised me to basically get the heck out of the ER (that most kids there have the flu and their parents bring them to the ER since they don't have insurance). He said to wait it out. He did ask if Hamp had been having regular bowel movements and he had up to that point. So we went home and he continued to get worse. He began having fits of pain that would last about 30 minutes and then for 30 minutes, he would go completely limp and lethargic. Off and on like that for 24 hours. I called Dr Guy back Sunday and he said to head to the ER. He suspected something with his intestines and ordered an ultrasound and xray. The ultrasound confirmed that there was nothing wrong with his intestines, but the xray revealed moderate (on a mild, moderate, severe scale) constipation. This was surprising since he had been pooping regularly and because he has never had issues with constipation. Before getting the results of the xray, we waited FOREVER. Hamp was steady with the 30 minutes in pain and 30 minutes lethargy the whole time. The pain episodes were very scary. He would writhe and scream and contort his body like crazy, but the episodes in between were what scared me the most. He even started rolling his eyes back in his head and that's when I went to the staff and demanded to be seen immediately. Soon after, we got the results and he was given an enema. We waited and waited and he never pooped, so about 2 hours after the enema, I headed home with Hamp, expecting the "relief" to happen any time. He pooped when we got home, but not a lot and I knew that wasn't enough to relieve his pain. So over Sunday afternoon and all through Monday, I gave him 2 more enemas and a suppository (all at the dr's advice), and nothing helped. His rotating episodes were not decreasing and were over night now. He wouldn't sleep without being on me. I was beginning to worry that maybe something scary and underlying was going on and that the constipation was just a coincidence.

I took him to the doctor Tuesday morning and said we were not going home until we knew exactly what was going on. So we checked into the children's hospital with the plan of evacuating his bowels and then test from there if he still wasn't better after that. This was Tuesday, February 14 (Happy Valentines Day!).

We checked in around lunch time and they hooked him up to an IV. Let me tell you that seeing your baby being hooked to an IV is no walk in the park. They let me stay with him through the process (I may or may not have insisted). Then they inserted a tube up his nose and down into his stomach that would administer the golytely (bowel cleanser commonly used prior to colonoscopies). Then they did another xray and this one revealed that the constipation was severe. They suspected that the limp noodle episodes between the pain episodes were a result of just being totally exhausted, which made sense because the pain episodes were extreme. During them, I would have to physically wrestle him the entire time to keep him in my arms (no way i was letting him writhe around on a hospital floor) and he is heavy and STRONG. It was taking it out of me and I KNEW It was taking it out of him.

There was nothing they would/could give him for pain, so for the next two days, he rotated with the pain and lethargy. No poop. He was only allowed to eat jello and he was pissed. And he was NOT happy about his IV or his tube. He kept trying to tug at both, poor thing. Even in the rare moments that he felt like doing anything but lying on my chest, he couldn't do much without getting tangled in his IV tube and nose tube. He would not sleep in his crib (who can blame him) so he slept on me all night both nights. Finally, Wednesday night, he began pooping pooping pooping. I have never been so happy to be covered in poop. He continued pooping Thursday morning and they gave me the go ahead to order him a solid breakfast, which he ate like he's never been fed in his life. Pitiful baby.

John brought Jake up Tuesday and Wednesday evenings to eat supper, bring clothes and things from home, and spend some time, which was helpful to Hamp and to me too.

With all that poop finally out and a stomach full of real food, our boy was immediately back to himself. They took out his IV and tube and he and I walked the halls for 2 straight hours. It was then determined once and for all that constipation was indeed the culprit and there was no need for further testing (Praise God), so we were discharged Thursday mid-day. They think he was a little bit "backed up" and then got a virus, which pretty much just locked his digestion system down, resulting in the constipation.

He was feeling so well and ready for action that we sent him to school Friday and I took the whole day for myself and slept all day. It had been a LOOOOONG week. I don't know when I've ever been so physically and mentally exhausted. Completely exhausted.

There was only a small window during the whole ordeal during which we were unsure of what was going on and were scared, but your mind, as a parent, goes to some frightening places during times like that. I was on my knees thanking God and praying for parents who really do have serious worries for their sick children. I cannot imagine the ongoing pain and the worry.

It took a day or two for Hamp to detach from me totally after spending basically a week physically attached to me, but he did great and was sleeping well and in his crib again all night within 2 days.

John and I are so grateful that this was nothing more than what it was and that Hamp is back to his normal, healthy self.

Throughout the whole ordeal, I had text threads going back and forth with John and with my family. Here are some of the pics I was sending them when keeping them updated.