Making the rounds...

Miss M was born at Children's Memorial Hermann. This past weekend, we were "invited" to stay at Texas Children's Hospital after Miss M arrived on Friday night with a heart rate of 240. We are trying out all the hospitals we can to stretch our insurance dollar. Keep 'em on their toes, you know?

I woke up Friday morning and was certain that something was wrong with Miss M. I checked her heart rate and it was in the 'normal' range so we went about our day. She didn't seem to be out of sorts but after dinner and a movie (Big Sister chose "Lady and the Tramp"), I went to pick up Miss M from her swing and she was sweaty . This was one of our 'signs' from the Dr. that something might be amiss. So Mr. B and I took turns trying to get her heart rate but it was too hard, too fast. I decided to run her by our pediatrician's office for their urgent care clinic just to be sure and yes, it was 240 bpm and they immediately sent us off to Texas Children's Hospital.

By the way, have you heard about this 'swine flu'? Just a minor news story so maybe you haven't but when I pulled up to the ER at TX Children's they had triage set up in the parking lot. There were police everywhere, people directing traffic, lines and lines of people wearing masks. I felt like I was on a very special episode of ER or Grey's Anatomy. The police were blocking the entrance to the ER and were trying to make me go through the parking lot triage center. Luckily a nurse saw me and said "Is that Miss M?" and immediately grabbed her and me and brought us into the ER. They got to work immediately in the cutest little trauma room EVER. Everything was for little people. I suppose an ER trauma room shouldn't be cute but it kinda was. Within minutes they had her heart down to 130 and then the wait began. Finally, 7 hours later (at 4 a.m.), they showed us to our room and we were admitted for a 48 hour period.

The difference between this stay and the NICU? In the NICU there was a nurse for her all the time. I could come and go as needed and they'd feed her, change her, etc. This time we were in a regular patient room and I was there full-time, no leaving unless she was fed and asleep. A nurse helped me bathe her (since she had on wires and telemetry) but other than that, I was in charge (well, I didn't take her vital signs but I did learn how to reattach her wires). And every time she'd get to sleep, they'd need to poke her so then I'd have to calm her down again. Let's just say I spent 48 hours watching a lot of T.V. (Full House, Golden Girls and the movie True Lies to name a few) on the couch in the room while either feeding or holding Miss M. She had an EKG, and echo and another holter monitor. All looked well. She seemed stable on her new dose of medication so we were allowed home last night at 6:00 p.m.

Miss M is soooo not getting a pony for her birthday. That fund has been used up. If she's not careful, the cherry red Mustang convertible for her 16th is going to be out of the question, too. I've warned her if this happens again, she's grounded for life.