Son is in the hospital dehydrated.

[kandyflip445]

So my son got sick recently and has vomiting and diarrhea. I took him to the doctor on Monday and they said to just keep feeding him as much as he'd hold down and if it got worse to come back in. That in babies the sickness usually just has to run it's course and you just have to keep them from getting dehydrated.

Yesterday my son still had the same symptoms except his appetite was decrease greatly. He started to get less active and his lips were dry so I called and asked if they could see him, after bringing him in to the doctor he had lost a full pound, from 15lbs. 5oz. to 14lbs.5oz., and they were going to call the hospital and arrange for him to be admitted so they could start an IV.

Now the fun starts! *sarcasm*

When I get there all goes well they take him in and get us in a room. Then they need to get some blood and put an IV in. The nurse and a phlebotomist come into the room and since he's dehydrated it's hard to even see a vein that they can use. The nurse says "Well, I'll just try and get it in this arm and if I can't find it I will call for someone else." She proceeds to poke around in his right arm like she was doing liposuction and found nothing. They decide to wait till he's had some fluids.

We go into a room a couple minutes later and they try to find a place to pull blood and place an IV. The Nurse can't find a vein and goes for a visible one in the scalp. They have trouble pulling blood and they don't want to lose it trying so they place the IV thing there and secure it with tape. They ask us to go back to the room and wait while they find a pump for the IV.

Next up they bring in a nurse from the NICU, we go into the procedure room again and she tries to find a vein using a light. She tries the foot and can't get any blood. Then tries on the scalp in another spot and still can't get anything. She says that there aren't any really good options and that we should probably wait until my son has had some more fluids since he was so dehydrated. The attending nurse said that she was going to go get her supervisor and for me to wait in the room, and not to drop my baby boy off the bed while she was gone. What? I guess it's happened before. Geez. Another 2 nurses come in and they both try to find a place. The older of the two nurses finds a place in the wrist and sticks my son. Success!!! Thank you baby Jesus! They take some blood and they say that one test needs the blood to be on ice. Me and my son go back into the room where my Wife, Brother, Father-in-law, and Mother-in-law are waiting. I tell them what went on and yadda yadda. The grandparents leave and say they'll be back later so my wife and brother and I can go get something to eat and grab stuff from home or whatever.

So my Father-in-law gets(Papa from now on) back and we leave to get something to eat. We head home and my wife gets some stuff together to stay the night while I stay home and clean the house. We get a text from Papa and he has been informed that they need to take more blood. I call him and ask what happened and he said the nurses changed shifts and the new nurse came in and had to track down the blood. The blood had gone across the street but was never put on ice like it was supposed to and that the sample was bad. When we get back there is another phlebotomist in the room looking for a vein. He says he doesn't see anything he even wants to try and go for so he will have someone come back in the morning.

This morning I call my wife and she says that they came in and stuck my son a few more times trying to get blood. Left. Then a nurse came in and said that they may need to run some more tests and that they might need to take even more blood.

At this point I'm feeling sorry for my son but I do realize that it can be hard to find a vein in his condition. I'm just a little irritated that they didn't keep the sample they did get on ice like they were supposed to, and that they had lost that sample and had to track it down. If it was me I know I would be annoyed, but when it's my son it just feels more personal. Kinda weird. I'm sure the other parents on here can relate.

My son is doing better and is becoming more active but still can't hold any food down. I just hope this is over with soon!

CLIFF NOTES

Son got dehydrated.

Took him to hospital they couldn't find the veins and stuck him a bunch trying to find one.

They didn't put the blood sample they did get on ice like they were supposed to and then lost it. When they found the sample it was beyond being able to be used.

[murda-c]

hope your kid is all right, I hate to see babies in the hospital.

You should change his name to pincushion though.

[exitspeed]

It's scary when your kid is sick. My son had salmonella poisoning from something last month and he had blood just coming out of his butt. It scared the hell out of us. The dr's didn't do anything it just worked through his system.

I hope your son is ok.

[aznpoopy]

i am very sorry to hear that dude. i hope your son recovers quickly. i also hope the nurses and hospital staff get their fucking shit together.

[coww-cho!!!!!]

wow what a shitty hospital. from what i have learned (becoming a pharmacy tech) most IV's are a basic mix of what becomes to be like gatorade that is usually given whenever you visit a hospital. if a person is very dehydrated they get hooked up to an IV and then proceed to feed very low quantities of food and build up the intake from there. if the person does not eat as much there are other IV's that are more like food solutions for those that cannot eat( people that have surgery in the mouth area or others that cant keep food down the throat.

all in all im glad your baby is doing better after reading all of it

[90white240]

That hospital was really sloppy, I would of left and gone to another one. Hopefully your son gets well soon.

[1on1]

that happened to me once. the doctor told me i was dehydrated and they tried to give me IV but could not find any veins. he stuck me over 12 times and moved up to a bigger needle and still failed. he told me to just drink lots of water and i would feel better.

i hope your son gets better.

[SinGarage]

I feel your pain man as I also have a 2 year old of my own. I also had a similar ordeal as yours. I'm glad your son doing alright.

[axiomatik]

scary stuff man. I've got a 4-yr old and a 4-month old, so I know what it feels like to be in a similar situation. It's crazy that they would try to stick him that many times without even being able to see any veins.

[DrftSLowHomIe!!]

dang man sorry about your kid hope he gets well soon!

[zspeedrft]

hope the lil one gets better soon!..i hate hospitals!

[J3123MY]

Sorry about the experience your son had to go through. Finding veins in babies are pretty hard, especially if they are dehydrated. They totally fucked up when they didn't put it on ice, which is surprising since it was so hard to get the blood.

Hope your son starts eating soon.

[kandyflip445]

Originally Posted by 1on1

that happened to me once. the doctor told me i was dehydrated and they tried to give me IV but could not find any veins. he stuck me over 12 times and moved up to a bigger needle and still failed. he told me to just drink lots of water and i would feel better.

i hope your son gets better.

Thanks for sharing that story. It puts a little perspective on the whole thing. I bet that sucked.

I'm at the hospital right now staying the night with him. He puked a little this morning so they want to keep him another night. They also haven't got any of the stool cultures back yet. I wonder how long that takes till they can see if there is something.

Thanks for all the kind words everyone.

[TheWolf]

IV sticks on an infant is an art. a dehydrated infant is a mastery of that art. Most floors have a "goto" person that is the wizbang stick master.

[kandyflip445]

Originally Posted by TheWolf

IV sticks on an infant is an art. a dehydrated infant is a mastery of that art. Most floors have a "goto" person that is the wizbang stick master.

That wizbang must have been off. lol

[akina_speedstar]

hope he gets well enough to go home real soon.

[DrtyRat]

First of all, let me say my prayers go out to you, your son and your family. Secondly, I can only imagine what you must be going through. My wife and I just had a baby girl 7 days ago, and my life has been turned upside down. Every time I hear/see th slightest change in breathing pattern, body lAnguage, etc. I start to worry. I'm glad to hear your son is doing better.

Originally Posted by TheWolf

IV sticks on an infant is an art. a dehydrated infant is a mastery of that art. Most floors have a "goto" person that is the wizbang stick master.

I'm glad you chimed in on this(iirc you stated you are in the medical field). My wife s an RN and I was about to ask her if the medical staff was incompetent or was there something different with infants. I know my wife has complained to me when she went into get an IV during her pregnancy that the nurse was just digging around to find a vein in her, when there were several clearly visible.

[nismo 240sx]

Hope ur son gets better bro! Hospitals are shit... I feel like they don't do anything to help u.. my dad got two operations in august. For hernias and they operated him and took him to room and an hour later they were lits time to leave and told us pretty much we were holding up room when he could barely walk..

[kandyflip445]

Well they didn't find anything with the blood work they did. They decided to take him off the IV and see if he can eat enough to replace what is coming out. He still has diarrhea. But he really won't eat and his temperature got up to 101.2 this morning. The nurse went to get some medicine for the fever but apparently the doctor didn't have any ordered. About and hour and a half later she finally got the order to give him something for his fever.