What's Going on with Genevieve?

Sunday night was brutal.  Genevieve objected to being laid down at all.  I kept trying, and she kept screaming.  I figured her Daddy, who had taken to sitting on the couch with her snoozing contentedly on his chest, had spoiled her.  Neither of us slept very much. 

Monday night was more of the same.  Early Tuesday morning, I noticed that she felt warm.  I took her temperature, which was at that point over 101.  We called the pediatrician when they opened, who said what we knew they would say: Take her to the ER.  They will do a full septic work up.  Urinalysis, blood work, spinal tap.  The works.  Hearts breaking for the morning we knew little Genevieve was about to have, we packed our bags (we knew we would be admitted) and headed to Northwest Community Hospital.

By the time we got to the hospital, her fever had fallen below the threshold of what they consider a fever (100.4). Regardless, after all of the poking and prodding, they confirmed that we would be admitted.  All of her initial screens came back clear, but they wanted to keep her under observation and start antibiotics in case it was a bacterial infection.  Although Genevieve was still irritable (and really, who wouldn't be?), we were given hope that she would be fine.  "Most likely you'll sit in the hospital room and be bored for 48 hours," the doctor said. 

Recovering from her tests

Around 5 pm, the pediatrician on call came in to tell us that the reading on her spinal fluid had shown an abnormal amount of white blood cells, which indicates infection.  "We're calling this meningitis," she said.  She explained that there are a number of viruses and bacteria that could cause the infection, but that she was most concerned that I was positive for Group B Strep and had not received antibiotics during labor.  She told us that we would be staying at least for 72 hours, probably longer.  She scared me to death. 

We didn't sleep much the first night because Genevieve was so irritable.  Any time we put her down, she started crying.  Daniel stayed over night and we slept in shifts.  By yesterday, it was clear that she was feeling better, but that she wasn't her normal self. 

Feeling much better!

She must have felt much better by last night, because she slept without being held for the first time in 3 or 4 days.  Five plus hours, in fact.  We all feel much more rested this morning.  She has been napping well and happy when awake.  The doctor that saw her this morning told us that no bacteria has grown in the blood cultures they took, which means that this is probably viral.  He told us that if the final reading comes back clean (which he expects) and if she continues to make improvement, going home tomorrow is a definite a possibility.  (A possibility, because, in my experience, doctors are very cautious about letting these little ones out of their sight).  He also said that there should not be any lasting detrimental effects from the meningitis. 

So here we are.  Praying that she is well enough to go home tomorrow.  Thankful for good medical care.  Planning to have our next baby in the summer.  ;)

Thanks for all the prayers offered up for her healing and for our peace.  We have felt them.