Not the update you were all looking for...

Unfortunately we are back at Children's.  I guess you could say it all started Thursday night/ Friday morning.  Five of Bennett's diapers had blood in them.  Not really a lot of blood, but enough to be a concern.  I called the pediatrician and he was able to see us right before lunchtime.  They took a urine sample, which was interesting, and sent us off to have blood drawn for further labwork.   Rather than putting Bennett through a catheter, they attached a little collection bag to him, and then we waited.  I think it took at least half an hour for him to give a sample.  :)  We went to a more local branch of Children's for the blood work.  Since it's right down the road from where Chris works, he was able to join us.  It took over an hour and a half (and three techs) to find a vein and get a blood sample.

I think Friday night there were one or two diapers that had some blood, but that was it.  Overall, we weren't very concerned.  However, he was also being a lot fussier than usual, especially at night.  And both Saturday and Sunday nights there were points where Bennett woke up screaming and he felt very warm.  We took his temperature and it was relatively normal, so we removed a layer of clothing and he would calm down.

Then Monday I went back to work.  Chris was going to stay home for the next two weeks, then we would go to Georgia for a week, and then in January Bennett would start daycare.  Bennett's morning started off well.  Chris changed a couple of poopy diapers (normally he only goes once eveyr couple of days), they had some good non-fussy tummy time, and Bennett was napping in his molding cup.  (More on this another time, but it's something he's supposed to sleep in to fix a flat spot on his head.  He hates it.)  Everything was looking great.  And then Chris thought Bennett felt warm.  102 degree temperature and a call to the pediatrician.  They were out on lunch.

When they called back, his temperature had gone down, but they still thought it best for him to go in.  So Chris brought him to the pediatrician.  As an aside, we love this doctor.  When he went in they took his temperature again and it was still normal.  He looked  up the results of the blood test and they were normal.  For some reason the urine sample had never been tested, but they quickly did that and it showed that Bennett has a urinary tract infection.  Given Bennett's history, the pediatrician felt it best for him to go to the ER at Children's.

Chris called me as he drove home to get a couple of bottles as well as clothes and toiletries for an overnight stay.  I finished up my first day back work and met them at the ER.  They got there around 6pm.  Bennett had lots of tests.  A chest x-ray, EKG, a lumbar puncture, catheter, and an IV (which included being stuck 3 times).  Lots of screaming!  Also, when he first got there he didn't have a temperature, but later in the evening he was up to 104.6.  A dose of Tylenol brought the fever down and after the preliminary lab results came back, they started him on antibiotics.

A little after midnight we were finally admitted to the hospital.  We were expecting that we would get a less desirable space on the hallway side of a room, but we lucked out with a window side!  I must say, this hospital experience has been much better so far than last time.  I think that's mostly due to the fact that we know what to expect.  It was also nice being able to tell the nurses what his routine is in terms of feeding and meds rather than them telling us.

Today they have a little bit more info re his UTI- he has e-coli in his urine and there is also some urine reflux.  He had a renal ultrasound this morning and the cultures grew from yesterday's samples, so now they just want us to wait things out a bit.  Plebotomy was in earlier, stuck him twice, and was unable to get a sample, so they are trying to get one of the NICU nurses to come and get a sample.

Last night Chris and I both spent the night but I think tonight I'll go home and go back to work tomorrow.  The next few days will definitely be interesting!