Rotavirus

*Warning! This is a very messy post with typical words associated with a virus! ;-)

It's been a crazy few days! We just returned from our bi-annual appointments with Landen in Delaware (which I will post about later) and on Sunday Landen suddenly got sick! He was fine Sunday morning as we were getting ready for church but when we got there he wasn't acting like himself. Nana kept him during Sunday School. Near the end of Sunday school she had someone come get me because he obviously wasn't feeling well. By then he had a very fowl smelling diaper. :-/ We took him to another room away from everybody. He seemed okay but it wasn't long before he vomited.  I took him home and stayed with him the rest of the day. For the next 24 hours he vomited 12 times! :-( Based on two scares just more than a year ago we know that Landen dehydrates very easily. (Click here to read more) We felt like he was drinking fairly well and we were keeping a close eye on him. He continued to get worse and was not keeping anything down. We tried pedialyte late Sunday night but he did not like it at all. Monday morning we got up and called the doctor. They suggested to go ahead and take him to the ER. We got there mid-morning and after seeing the triage nurse we learned Landen's heart rate and blood pressure was a little high. We knew then we had made the right decision and were at the right place. Once we got back to see the doctor they started an IV and did blood work. The doctor said his blood work wasn't good but that it wasn't bad but more on the bad side. He said his blood was concentrated. All of these signs meant Landen was dehydrated. Of course we were not surprised by this. The doctor decided to admit Landen. We were really pleased with the nurses and ER doctor. It was the same ER doctor we had last time. We felt like they listened to us and took the best action plan. To top it off the nurses got Landen's IV started on the very first try with very little fuss from Landen!! That is extremely rare! Once we got upstairs we were greeted by a very special nurse from last time! It was so good to see her! She was so happy to see us but of course not under our circumstances. We got settled in the room that afternoon around 3:00. It wasn't long and Landen started getting really fussy and saying "ouch" and pulling at his IV. The nurse checked it and said his IV had infiltrated. Once they took it all off I couldn't believe how swollen his little arm was! :-( From there the IV became a huge deal. Several nurses tried six or seven times to get another IV in. They finally got one in around 10pm! It wasn't promising but it started working. Luke went home and got our stuff. When he got back we got settled in for the night. We actually slept fairly well....as well as you can sleep in a hospital! I slept in the hospital bed with Landen and Luke and Brayden slept on the couch bed. I must say WakeMed has the best hospital rooms! They are very spacious and comfortable....very nice! When I woke up the next morning I noticed my shirt and the bed was soaked. The IV had come out during the night. Instead of tortuing him again with the IV we decided to see how much he would eat and drink while taking zofran. Thankfully, he had not vomited since Monday morning but he still had diarrhea. Just a little while later it was confirmed that he had rotavirus. He drank pretty good on Tuesday so since we knew what we were dealing with and he was starting to improve we were able to go home that afternoon! We were so ready to be home! Landen actually asked several times to go home!! When we got there he played pretty much all afternoon! He still has diarrhea today but is eating and drinking a little more. He has seemed more tired today. He hasn't really played and this afternoon he crawled up in my lap and went right to sleep, which is not at all like him!! Another issue that comes with a virus is a raw bottom and his is really bad! :-( We are treating it the best we can. The hosptial gave us a prescription cream while we were there but it's not really helping. As you can imagine it is very painful for him. I think that's why he's not really playing in addition to being weak and not feeling well. He is a TOUGH little dude! We are praying the worst is behind him and that no one else gets sick!! I have since learned there is a vaccine for rotavirus. I'm not sure why but hope to find out why neither of my boys never got the vaccine. The dehydration from the rotavirus has sadly claimed the lives of many children. This breaks my heart! We are so thankful this didn't get any worse with Landen. The doctor actually said if we had not brought him in when we did he would've been much worse. We thank God for sustaining Landen and being able to get him to the hospital before his dehydration became more severe. We are so thankful for an excellent team of doctors and nurses at WakeMed. They are outstanding! We are so grateful for many of our family and friends who contacted us to check on Landen. You never know how much a text, phone call or comment on facebook means until you need them! We are also extremely grateful for the countless prayers said for Landen. The Lord heard and answered and we praise Him for that! We are ready for our little buddy to be back to his perky and rambunctious self!