Wow - What a Week (Part 1)

It's been quite a week - there has been so much going on that it'll probably take multiple entries to catch it all - the good, the bad & the ugly. Yes, there were definitely all three.

Sophia turned 16months last Monday. What was supposed to be a semi-normal day - Dave & I going to work, the babysitter coming to play and spoil Sophia rotten, all while preparing for our big trip to London - got derailed early on in the morning when Sophia fell off the bed and was knocked unconscious. Dave picked her up and she was completely limp in his arms - we rushed downstairs to our amazing neighbor, who happens to be a nurse, for help (both mildly hysterical by this point.) Sophia was out for about 15 seconds, and was quite woozy when she came to.

We decided a trip to Children's Hospital was the right answer. I have honestly never been so scared in my life as I was that car ride. Sophia was awake, but completely dazed and thoroughly out of it. The people at Children's were wonderful - the took care of us quickly and worked with us every step of the way.

The main thing was getting a CT Scan of Sophia's head. Because she was knocked unconscious and was dazed for awhile, they just needed to make sure there were no brain bleeds. Getting the scan took 3 attempts.

Attempt 1: After giving her a neurological exam in the room, they decided we'd try to just bring her to the CT Scan with no sedation and see if that worked. As we expected, it was a failure. Once she was on the table and her head secured in the little holder, she freaked. So we took her back and they administered an oral sedative and hooked her up to some monitors, which she promptly ripped off one by one, including the pulse mechanism hooked up to her toe that made it look like Rudolph's nose. But she did indeed fall asleep.

Attempt 2: They wheeled our sleeping child to the CT room. She has never been great on the transfer (i.e. asleep in one place and being moved to another) but she made it down the hallway in all the hospital chaos with out a flicker. So we were hopeful. When the nurse went to transfer her, she abruptly awoke and again, wanted no part of the CT machine. The tech looked at me and asked we thought she'd settle down. I laughed a little and said, no. She has what you might call a stubborn streak (wonder where she got that from??)

Attempt 3: After returning to the room, we decided the best course of action was to sedate her via an IV and take her in then. The good news was that she was feisty and active, but we didn't want to take any chances with a latent brain bleed. Getting the IV in was quite the process as you can imagine and nothing pained me more than seeing my baby in pain (I am the world's biggest wuss when it comes to needles, but I knew it was 10x worse for her not knowing why these people were sticking her). When we asked if they were going to secure the IV with more than tape, the very nice nurse who put it in said to us "Oh no, most kids tend to forget about it." Again, I laughed a little and said, "Probably not ours - she's made mincemeat of most of the other things that have been put on her thus far." As I said this, Sophia was busily trying to pull off the tape and tug/chew on the IV piece. As the nurse saw this, she quickly went to get something to secure it further.

After a bit more of a painful wait, it was time to go back to the CT room. The Doctor informed us that most kids knock out with 1, maybe 2 doses of the sedative. He could administer a max of 5 doses. Sophia was clearly not happy about being back in the CT room, but as he pushed the first dose, she seemed to lull a bit. For about 10 seconds. And then she was back to full thrashing. Then, dose 2. Same thing. Dave & the tech were watching through the monitor as I stood at Sophia's side. We made it up to the fourth dose before Sophia was some what calm enough to get the scan, though, in reality, she was still very awake and making it clear she would not go under for us. Luckily, though, she stayed still enough for the pictures to be taken.

The doctor commented that she was certainly a fighter - he didn't see kids her size/age not go under often. The other doctor complimented us on her "Vigor, Spunk and independence. But good luck when she is a teenager! :)"

Happily, all checked out okay and after a long ordeal where she was more crabby from not being able to eat the whole day, we went home.

She fell off the bed because we left her unattended for 10 seconds. It was a freak accident - she is completely capable of getting on and off on her own. (We think she tripped this time.) We were racked with guilt and pain for our daughter. One of the doctors said to me (as she is also a mom) "The good news is she is fine. Don't beat yourself up. None of us are perfect and there is too much pressure to be. It was an accident, it happens. Keep an eye out and be thankful she is fine."

Whew...we also received the go ahead to head to London Wednesday. Until....Part 2