Wow...They Have a Firetruck and an Ambulance at their house...

Yep that is what our neighbors were saying on Tuesday night. I guess I should go back a few days to when it all started. I should also state that everything is OK now so you don't have worry about that through the whole post.

On Mother's Day Malcolm threw up in church. Right in the middle of Sunday school. From there it only got worse. He continued to throw up all day and night. Monday I took him to the Dr. to make sure he was not dehydrated and to find out what I could do to help and also what to watch for. All day Monday he was tired and lethargic. Tuesday the same only he seemed to be even more lethargic. I called the nurse line at the pedi's office to talk to them about it. They said if he was still having wet diapers every 8 hours and his mouth seemed wet he was doing ok but to keep watching him. I just felt like something was wrong and was getting worried, but at the same time he seemed to be keeping more down and I thought he was getting better. Wyatt came home and we had dinner and Malcolm threw up again and then the scariest thing ever happened. Our poor little guy had a seizure.

I was holding him trying to soothe him to sleep. He was no longer crying and just relaxing. I was looking at him and his eyes seemed to glaze over and I could tell he was not really there anymore. Then his whole body tensed up and he started to breathe funny and drooling. I knew he was having a seizure and I told Wyatt to call 911. They told us what to do, even though I somehow remember what to do from all those years of CPR cert classes. After about 2 minutes he relaxed and started to come out of it. To me that was the worst part. It was like he was trying to talk and couldn't and he emitted strange moans and still was not there. After that he fell asleep which usually happens because they are so tried from the seizing. The EMS finally showed up 10 minutes after we called...damn us for living in BFE. They checked him out and said that he was OK for now and that they could take him to the hospital or we could. We opted for us to take him and gathered our things to go.

We went to the new Intermountain Hospital on 53rd cause it is just as close as any of the others to us and is much nicer. Once there they drew some blood and gave him an IV. They also did a couple of X-rays which he did really well through. They guy who gave him the IV did a great job too...got it on the first try. Once the test came back they said he was moderately dehydrated and needed more IV fluids and should be monitored overnight. They sent us to the RTU at Primary Children's. RTU stands for Rapid Treatment Unit. Basically it is an extension of the ER where your stay is usually about 24 hours but you are not technically admitted to the hospital so it costs less. There we went through the whole ER hullabaloo again and finally got into our room in the RTU at 3:00 am. At this point Wyatt went home since there was only one bed and we didn't bring anything for us anyway. I was happy to have him go so he could bring me a change of clothes and we could both get a little sleep.

We spent all day Wednesday in the RTU and it looked like we might need to stay another night when all of a sudden Malcolm decided he could eat again. After eating some graham crackers he had a lot more energy and was raring to get out of that room. The Dr's checked him and said we could go home. I was nervous to go, but at the same time very relived that we were going home. The final diagnosis ended up being Rotovirus. A nasty intestinal virus that produces the rankest gas ever, as well as diarrhea and vomiting. They said that it is not uncommon for children with Rotovirus to have a seizure whether it was from a fever spike, or a blood sugar drop, or some unknown factor. We are however going to get a some neurology tests done just in case in a couple of weeks. Better safe than sorry since the seizure technically could be from something else.

So now today Malcolm is doing much better. He is eating and breastfeeding a lot. As the day has gone on he has gotten more and more energy and I think by tomorrow he will be almost back to normal. When we went to his pedi for a check up today they said he was doing very well and expected him to get better quickly.

Anyway sorry this is the longest post in this blog's history but I just needed to get it all down and thought that this was a good place to do it. Our families were great throughout and our ward was wonderful. The RS president lives across the street and came over when she saw the ambulance and her husband and Wyatt gave Malcolm a blessing before we left. When we got back she had lined up a couple of days of meals for us. My mom had cleaned up my house and done our laundry. So all in all this whole ordeal went as well as could be expected. We are still a little shaken but know that Malcolm is going to be just fine. If you made all the way through this post congrats and we love you. Here are a couple of pics that we snapped on Wednesday at the RTU.


Here he is having some bad gas cramps and I am rubbing his belly. The big bandage is to keep him from bending his arm on the IV.



Here he is with the teddy bear the nurse gave him in his hospital crib.



Here he is all smiles post graham cracker, ready to get going home.