The Girl in the Striped Pajamas

Well, to say the least it has been an eventful week and a half. On Monday, September 14th Brooklyn started having a little bit of diarrhea. I didn't think anything of it until the next day when she started complaining of a stomach ache. I thought her tummy was hurting because she was holding in her poop. But, it quickly became apparent that that was not the case. She became lethargic, whiny, and just not herself. On Wednesday and Thursday night she threw up and then came the ultra watery diarrhea. Everything she ate or drank went right through her. She also had some intense tummy rumblings. When she would sit on my lap, I could feel and hear her insides rumbling. Needless to say, it was pretty painful for her.

Her appetite was basically non-existent for about five days. Mike kept wanting to force her to eat and drink, but I didn't think that we should force her when she didn't feel good. Looking back, I can acknowledge that I was definitely wrong.

Because Brooklyn didn't feel good and because she was so weak due to the lack of nourishment, she would have these crazy meltdowns. After a pretty intense one on Saturday, I was looking at her sleep and I remember thinking that I wouldn’t know what to do if one of my children ever had cancer or any other serious disease. In that moment, it kind of hit me that something was not right with Brooklyn and she really needed to be healed. I immediately went and said a heartfelt prayer that she would be healed. She was not miraculously healed in that moment, but I know the Lord led the way for her to get the help she needed.

On Saturday afternoon during the BYU football game she started to act mentally crazy. She would say these weird non-sense words. Then, Saturday night came, and she had another meltdown. It was at that point that I noticed that she didn't have any tears and her diaper that had been on for hours was completely dry. I called the doctor, and the nurse asked if her lips were dry, and they were. The nurse said that I should bring her in. I went to the afterhours clinic and the doctor decided that she was so dehydrated that she should be admitted to the hospital to replenish all of the fluids she had lost. On my way to the hospital, I was second guessing myself for going along with the decision to admit her. Oh how grateful I am that I decided to go!

When we got to the hospital, they wanted Brooklyn to change into the pajamas they provided. So, I put her in the jammies, which actually looked and felt really comfortable--nothing like the gowns you wear when you give birth. Then, we went into a room and they attempted to put in the IV. Her veins were so flat, due to the dehydration that they had to warm up her hand with a warm, wet diaper. They tried to hook in the IV into her hand, but they couldn't find the vein. They were poking all over in her hand. It was horrible to watch. Then, they tried her arm. They were barely able to hook in the IV there. As you can imagine, Brooklyn had such a hard time. Then, they had to insert a catheter to get a urine sample to make sure she didn't have a UTI. When they inserted the catheter, she was so dehydrated that they could barely get enough urine to get a sufficient sample. They had to push on her tummy to get more. After that ordeal, she just laid and slept in my arms. My mom and Kenzie came down to the hospital. On any other day she would be so excited to see them, but she was so sick and malnourished that she just stared at them, not saying a word.

You would think she would have slept well, but she didn't. She was so tired. The next morning around 6:00 a.m., the nurses came in and said that they needed to get another blood sample because her levels, especially her potassium, were so low. So, they poked her other arm and barely got any blood at all. (I think that nurse doing it was new or inexperienced). When I was finally able to calm her down and get her to sleep, they came back and said that they needed to get another sample because the first one was messed up! So we went for round four! Poor Brooklyn. She never went back to sleep until that afternoon, when Mike came and stayed with her.

After a particularly trying moment when Brooklyn peed on me and freaked out because I had to change her diaper, a nice couple came and gave us the sacrament. The man knelt down on the hospital floor and said the sacramental prayer. In that moment, the words of the prayer really sank deep in my heart. I needed to make that covenant more than ever to be able to have his spirit always with me. It was a cool experience. I hope I never forget it!

On a different note, while Brooklyn was in the hospital, she was on isolation, so she could not have any contact with anyone. However, they allowed us to take her on a wagon ride around the pediatric unit. Thank goodness for that!!!

At about 12:00 p.m. a doctor came and in broke us the bad news that she would probably need to stay another night because she was not eating or drinking. But, thankfully she started to eat and drink and after her nap, the doctor told us that she could go home. We were so relieved! When the nurse came to take the IV out, Brooklyn freaked out because she thought she was going to get another shot, poor girl. Anyways, we are back home and thanks to a drinking chart, much like a potty chart only she had drink water to get a sticker, Brooklyn is back to normal. Well, all except for her sleep. She will not sleep. She wakes up just screaming and won't go back to sleep. When she finally goes back to sleep, she wakes up an hour and a half later. Being sick has really wacked out her sleep schedule! Any suggestions before I literally lose my mind???