Our Scary Hospital Visit

Today was C's renal scan.  Last night I was very sick. My stomach was torn up and I was having a hard time holding him. I had to wake up my hubby and have him hold the baby while I ran to the bathroom over and over to be sick.  Maybe nerves, maybe food poisoning?  Finally, it subsided and I took C into my bed. We snuggled all night and he woke up with a huge smile.  He had no clue what was going to happen to him today.  I fed him and we headed off to the hospital, my mother in tow to help us.

At the hospital, the staff was very good at explaining what would happen and letting me be near him.  First, they placed the catheter into his tiny penis.  He was understandably upset by this.  They then put a beanbag pillow around him and that was used to hold him still.  He was screaming at this point.  They started the IV and he was a mess, pulling his arm from the nurse and hitting with his other one.  I held his left arm and kissed his face trying to calm him.  It was so devastating to see him so upset and not be able to hold him in my arms.  I was happy that they at least let me hold his cheeks and hand.  I was also crying to see him like this.  He finally fell asleep from exhaustion and I held his hand and face through the procedure.

They had inserted radioactive isotopes via the IV and then lasix about 15 minutes later.  We could see on the monitor the isotopes in his blood, then kidneys, then move from kidneys to bladder, and finally the diaper.  The right kidney seemed to move everything out very quickly.  The left, however, did not. At the end of the test, the left kidney was still glowing brightly.

We left the hospital and went to the doctor.  At the doctor, they told us that he has a left ureteropelvic junction obstruction.  He will need surgery to correct this.  The surgery will  be on April 27th.  My poor, unblemished baby will have an incision of about 4 inches around his left side into his back.

I am so petrified that something will go wrong.  I would not be able to survive without my brave little gou.

I have to say that this was one of the most scary days of my life, aside from the circumstances of his birth.  Wait, this was maybe more frightening because I have had time to spend with him and get to know him.  I now know what his cries mean and how his little lip quivers when he is getting ready to cry.  I know how he turns brick red when he is really angry and sometimes even stops breathing if he is really mad.  He is my guy now, and was just the hypothetical baby before.