My Day...

Hospital days are ALWAYS unpredictable.  Whenever a child has a consult at the hospital if I'm honest, I do everything in my power to send someone else.  I firmly dislike sitting for hours with a fidgety child in my lap never knowing if we'll get any information out of the consult that may or may not happen in the next 6 hours.  I'm a "doer", I LOVE to check things off a to do list.  And sitting for hours not knowing what the outcome will be is my idea of torture.
Point being, yesterday was a hospital day.  Our little peanut Inacio had a follow up appointment at the hospital.  We went last Friday as well...so I have already spent one day waiting to be told, "He should still be in the hospital nursery.  If he had been born here (the central hospital in the city...he wasn't he was born at another hospital), he would be with us until he weighed 2.5kg."  Right, thanks for that.  He's not.  He was discharged and now I'm doing my best to care for him.  Anyway, after I told her all we were doing for him here at the center, she was very satisfied and said we were doing great and she'd see him again in a week...that was yesterday.
I was happy and thankful to report that he has gained 300grams in one week!  That is a little more than half a pound for all you wondering.  This means our little peanut now weighs about 4 pounds (the size of me when I was born)!  Praise God!  I was also doing my best to think of all of our waiting time as bonding time between me and the little guy!
Well, let me set the scene for you.  At these amazing hospital consults, every patient to be seen that day has the same appointment time.  There is no 9am, 9:15, 9:30...nope.  There is 7am or 7:30am depending on their whim...but everyone for the day has the same time.  Yesterday that time was 7:30.  So I picked up the little stinker and we were in the car on our way by 6:30.  I was sipping coffee, eating cheerios, and avoiding MASSIVE pot holes the whole way to the hospital.  We arrived late because of crazy traffic (because parts of the roads washed away in our latest rain storm) but at least we made it safe and sound.  I scooped up my little bundle of joy and we headed inside.
From this point on we were on constant display.  Every move I made was watched and scrutinized by all the other mothers.  I don't blame them...they have to be thinking why does that white girl have a Mozambican baby, is it her's, why does she live here??  The same thing always happens if you have to wait long enough.  Someone eventually gets the guts to ask all the questions everyone else is thinking.  I answered all to their satisfaction...but in the mean time my happy sleeping little babe was getting fussy.
Fussy is probably an understatement...he was SCREAMING.  Now his little 4 pound lungs can't make a ton of noise, but they can make more than you would think!  I would just get him all settled down again and then he would crinkle up his little face and start screaming again.  Poor little guy.  I fed him (even though I knew he shouldn't be hungry).  I checked his nappy.  I even washed off my finger and let him suck it for 30 minutes or so.  Then, I discover the real issue is he has a fever.  He was burning up by this point.  I pull my handy thermometer out of my purse...HIGH temp for a little guy like him.
At this point the doctor finally walks in...it's already around 11:30...I've already made it 3 1/2 hours with a fitting baby.  So they call us into order to sit in order to see the doctor.  The nurse at these consults usually takes pity of me now because she knows me.  So I was first in line.  I walked him, explained the morning, and told her his temperature.  Within minutes he had taken tylenol and we were on our way to the pediatric emergency room for tests.
I was impressed.  Not excited for the little guy, or excited to now have to navigate and wait in the emergency room...but impressed they had reacted quickly and done exactly what we would do in the States.  Praise God, my little guy was the star of the emergency room!  They LOVED him.  He was weighed, bloods drawn, and results in the doctor's hand in less than 30 minutes.  This is a major miracle...sometimes this part takes HOURS!  The doctor and I had a long discussion, and she went back and forth between admitting him and letting him return to the center.  Eventually after looking at his blood work and overall health she decided to send him back with me.
We'll see how he goes over the weekend.  I'm bringing in some urine this morning for testing as well...possibly a urine infection caused his fever yesterday.  But, he has been fever free since yesterday!  Keep our little peanut in your prayers and our medical team as well...we did welcome back Sheri (another nurse who has been away for 2 months visiting family and friends) last night!!!!  It feels like our family is back together again...for a short while at least!