A storm in a teacup?

Our weekend did not go as I had hoped (or planned).

It was going to be our first Spring-like weekend and I planned to take Beanie to the park which she loves but has missed out on due to the perpetual cold and rain.

But the best laid plans...

After our doctor visit on Friday, Beanie was doing well as I mentioned in my last post. The next morning she was fine - no fever, rash almost gone. I dropped her at my parents place and went for a massage which was great and sorely (pun unintended) needed!

When we got home at about 2pm she had a huge diaper explosion - and later that evening another one. I decided to put her on BRAT and she had plain rice and some white fish for dinner. She ate well.

At about 7:30pm she started getting all clingy and whiney. I asked her what was wrong and she said her back hurt (?).  I gave her some Tylenol. Then she drank her night bottle but was not getting comfortable to sleep and finally ended up sleeping on me.

At first I did not think much about the back pain. But later before bed when I asked her "where it hurt?" , she had pointed to her lower back.

After she went to bed the light bulb went off in my head - maybe her kidney's hurt.

I then realized that other than a couple of wet diapers on Sat morning, I did not get to change any other wet ones's due to her 2 blowouts. I wondered if she was even peeing - given she was off food and not really drinking much.

So there I amat 9pm getting all stressed out. I knew I had to wait until morning to see if she had peed or not but decided to ask my Mom to come spend the night, just to keep me from going bonkers.

Just as well....

At 1am Beanie rolled over in bed, gagged and had a big puke on the bed!

Poor thing!

Luckily I called for my Mom to take her so I could get her cleaned and get the bed cleaned, new sheets etc. Beanie is so sweet and helpful that whenever she pukes she wants to get in there and "help clean up" - which is the last thing I need her to do!

Between 1am -3:30pm she puked a couple of times more and had some small loose stools. Otherwise she was wide awake and alert. Oh and to add to all this, at one point when I am chaging her diaper I see a bloody nostril. It freaked me out, but it was a small bleed due to either driness or her poking her nose. When I dabbed it with a washcloth it as fine and never retrurned.

By 4am I called the advise nurse at Children's Hospital, more just to have some professional to talk to in the dead of the night.

When I was recounting the situation, I mentioned that on Thurs morning Beanie said her back hurt before she threw up, and again tonight on one occasion she told my Mom. The nurse got concerned it could be her kidneys and suggested I take her to the ER.

Normally I would have done it - but I saw how she was acting (perfectly normal and running around), she had no fever which would indicate an infection and I really did not want to subject her to an ER visit if it was not necessary.

I decided we were all exhausted and to get a couple of hours rest and regroup in the morning. Of course after my Mom and Beanie were asleep, I lay awake with heart pounding wondering if I had done the right thing!

It was a good decision after all - we all slept for about 4 hrs and the next morning Beanie was doing well and had a wet diaper. That laid one worry to rest!

She did not eat much but was running around and jumping etc during the morning. Again, I felt I had made the right decision in not rushing to the ER. However, I did not want to disregard the nurse's concern and I sure as he** did not want to have another worrisome night, so I decided to take her to urgent care and let a professional determine if she needed anything immediate.

We waited until about noon to take her to a pediatric Urgent Care - I felt I would feel more comfortable having her seen by a pediatrician. He checked her out and when he tapped on her kidney she started crying. He decided to test her for a  UTI and they bagged her, which is essentially juts sticking a  plastic bag under the diaper.

We waited and waited and no pee appeared.

Her diaper from home was wet so I knew it could be a couple of hrs before anything came out, particularly since she was not drinking a lot.  We decided to go home and come back at about 6pm. She took a nap and woke to up. She had some milk and there was pee -- yay.

Then I made a HUGE mistake!!

I was planning to take whatever pee there was and put in in the cup they gave us and stick another bag on her. Then I sort of second guessed myself and I decided to leave the bag thinking we will "get more'.

Alas, just as we were leaving - poopy. The sample got contaminated - NOOOO!!!

I clean and bag her again!

We get to the clinic and I expalin the situation to the nurse. We wait in the waiting room when again - poop! Oh no - there was some urine but it got contaminated again!!

Crap - literally!

It was almost 7pm and they were going to close, so the pediatricain suggested we go home and get some sample at night and go to the PCP on Monday.  I spke to him again and asked him what I needed to look out for at night that entailed a rush to the ER. As I suspected he said, a sudden very high fever wouldwarrant an ER trip. I felt better having got that info.

We went home.

By the time we were home and getting settled, my Mom had me check and we got a small sample - yay!  I decided to not press my luck and get what I can. I was relieved that we had something at least for Monday.

Sunday night was much better. We all slept well. We needed it after the crazy night before. I also decided to take a PTO on Monday. I just wanted to focus on Beanie. I bagged her again in the morning and an hour later - oh no potty!!!

But this time I got to her in time and it was not so loose so I got another big sample. I got an appt with her doctor and we went in about 11:30am.

The test was negative, but they still sent it in for culture.

Beanie again said it hurt when he touched her back, but when he touched her upper back and shoulder she also said it hurt. She had done that for me as well, the day before.  A two year old, even one as eloquent as Beanie,  is really not reliable to tell you things, but then again you cannot ignore it either. My Mom and I had been discussing earlier that cramping or even the feeling of wanting to throw up can be weird enough to a small child.


It seems she just has a tummy bug, as do most of the kids in her class. She is doing a bit better today. I plan to keep her home tomorrow as well since she is still not eating too well and gets tired more easily, plus still had some loose stools.

So that has been our last 72 hours!