Our Own Grey's Anatomy Episode

The fact that I have time to post this blog is encouraging as we have been at Shands UF Teaching Hospital since Tuesday night. What we thought was simple jaundice, escalated in to much more. On Monday, Sadie's pediatrician told us to keep an eye on her yellowing body. If it were to get worse, we were told to call. Aaron and I both agreed on Tuesday afternoon that things were worsening. Our debate was whether to call or wait until our Wednesday 10 AM appointment. We've learned to ALWAYS error on the side of caution.
We called peds after hours. They had us check her temperature, which read 96.3. After lots of back and forth on the phone, more temperature checks, and efforts on our end to feed and warm, we were told to take her to Shands ER. Aaron is truly amazing. He held it all together as I sobbed. Sadie was lethargic, wouldn't eat, and had absolutely no expression. It is amazing that we were already used to her "norm" by day 4. I made the call to 911 for an ambulance ride, rather than us chancing having to sit in an ER waiting room with Sadie. This is where the nightmare got even worse.
Within minutes the ER staff had inserted a catheter, given her a spinal tap, given an IV, and placed her under a warmer. A 4 day old experienced what many of us rarely experience as adults. By 3 AM they had us in an isolation room due to risk of her being infected. They put her under UV lights to treat the jaundice, gave her 3 antibiotics through the IV, an antiviral, and a fluid drip. This would be hard to handle under any circumstances, but after 5 days of little to no sleep, it became the worst night of our lives. With infants, the protocol is to treat for everything and then back off once test results narrow down the illness. Since the blood work is cultured, we knew we would be here for a few days.
The staff has been awesome. Because it is a teaching hospital, my thousands of questions are welcomed! Things are slowly getting better. Sadie has opened her eyes, held her own temperature, and has been eating. As of last night she even woke us up to feed! Its amazing how all of the little inconveniences of caring for a new born have become huge blessings!
This morning I felt like we were on an episode of Grey's Anatomy because an entire team gave us a run down of Sadie's progress. The attending quizzed the doctors, the doctors answered back- it was awesome.
Tomorrow is a BIG day. We get back the rest of the blood results which will help indicate what went wrong. The good news is that she's being treated for everything regardless of what it is. The general consensus is that she contracted a virus and we'll never know where it came from. Viruses have to run their course and we are grateful that the hospital was able to help her get through it. Needless to say, our house is now quarantined for a few weeks. If she or any other 12 week and under baby were to get a fever, they MUST do the spinal tap.
I will keep everyone posted on the progress. We have literally not stopped since we arrived here. We are all looking forward sleepless nights at home.