The children’s ward

Shortly after our arrival back from New York T became unwell.

The first sign was when she wouldn’t eat her dinner and didn’t want to drink her bedtime milk. She went to bed without any other fuss though so I didn’t think too much of it.

Two hours later I went to check on her and she was writhing a little in her sleep. Shortly afterwards T called out for me and when I picked her up she started being sick, and it didn’t stop.

I put her in the empty bathtub while my mind raced. T was vomiting heavily and I was starting to get worried. I tried calling an out of hours GP service, it was almost 11pm and I was told it would take an hour to get a call back from a doctor who would assess T over the phone.

At first I thought that would be okay, but she was still vomiting and refusing water and I feared if it continued she would become dehydrated. My husband wasn’t home so, I decided to put my mind at rest and take T to A&E.

I packed up her things and we jumped in the car. I prayed she wouldn’t be sick while in the back seat as I was worried about her choking.

T was very good and waited till we got to A&E to be sick again. And again. And again. The poor little thing had nothing left in her tummy but she still kept on vomiting. My husband joined us there and T smiled for the first time when she saw her Daddy which made me feel better.

After a 3 hour wait we were seen by a doctor. They tried to give T some saline solution to settle her tummy but she couldn’t keep that down so the decision was made to admit her to hospital and put her on a drip.

I hadn’t expected that but I knew it was for the best. After the drip was administered I spent the night on the children’s ward on a fold out bed next to T’s cot. They had run out of blankets but fortunately I had one for her and I didn’t need one. The next day my husband took over and kept T company.

Fortunately T made a speedy recovery she only spent one day in hospital. The doctors and nurses were all lovely but the children’s ward was so bleak. My heart broke for all the little ones who were in a much worse state and were having to spend Christmas time stuck in hospital.

T is now back to her smiley happy self and eating everything in sight. It turns out she picked up a bug that was doing the rounds at her nursery. I’m so glad it didn’t happen while we were travelling, that nightmare doesn’t even bear thinking about…

Photo credit: Tahitian Lime

December 21, 2010. Sick baby.