... Keeping Up With The Bonecutter's ...: ... Berklee's Hospital Visit :( ...

It's been a VERY rough past 4 days for John, Berklee, and myself. If you haven't heard, we are in the Pediatric ICU at Cabell Huntington Hospital. We arrived on Friday and, today being Monday, we're still here :(
It started out like any other normal day in life of Berklee. John had to report back to school and Berklee was scheduled for her one month well baby visit at 10 am. The night before Berklee was very fussy and pretty much unconsolable. She wouldn't eat much and just either cried "hurt" cries or slept. She ended up sleeping from 9pm - 5 am without waking. That wasn't like her but I thought, well hey, maybe she's growing up! Anyway - I met my parents at Tudor's for some breakfast before going to her appt. She was so good just sleeping away and content with life and everyone took turns holding her. We finally went to her appt and I expressed my concerns with the doctor that I thought Berklee may have an upset belly. She checked her over and showed me Berklee's growth was great. She's up to 8 lbs 10 oz. and 23 inches :) Mommy's big girl! Then came out the stethoscope. The doctor got a concerned look on her face and then asked a nurse for a heart monitor. The monitor checked Berklee's heart rate and said 139-141, perfect. But the doctor said there was no way that was right and had me listen to Berklee's heart beat. It was the scariest noise I have ever heard. There was no way of counting her little heart beat. It was beating out of her chest! She told me to get her to Putnam General immediately as she didn't know if we'd make it to Cabell Huntington in time. This was the scariest thing someone could ever tell a mother. "Go to this close hospital because if you go 20 more minutes down the road, your daughter may not make it."
I don't remember driving to the hospital or even going through the doors but nurses and doctors were waiting on Berklee to get everything going on her. They rushed us into a room and got us both on a bed to start her on heart monitors. They then started an EKG on her to see if they could find the problem...and then they did another :/ They then started an IV in her. This was by far the worst thing I have faced as a mother. I was really hoping they would try to start one in her leg or arm, but in the head is where it went. The screams she had just broke me down. It wasn't a time for me to walk away from her because it was hard for me to handle, she needed me more then than ever so I stayed with her and tried my hardest to comfort her. Berklee finally came out of her episode and her heart rate was stable for the next hour and a half as we waited to be transported to Cabell Huntington Ped ICU by ambulance. We weren't allowed to transport her ourselves and really I don't think John or I were in a state to be driving anyway.
The ambulance finally got there and by that time, Berklee's IV had wiggled it's way out of her head :/ I was praying that she wouldn't have to have another one, BUT she did. She look at her head again. The first attempt didn't work, the second attempt didn't work, the third attempt didn't work, and the attempt in her hand didn't work, so I was done dealing with it. I had had enough and told them I was done hearing her scream and cry and didn't want it done to her anymore. Of course, she had to have an IV in her before we could go so I gave them one last try to get it in her little head and Thank God it worked! My poor baby girl had tape and a needle where her headbands and bows go. We were off and on our way to Cabell Huntington :)
Once we got to Cabell Huntington it was like a whirl wind. We rushed here and dashed there and finally put in a room, 5103. We had a little bed for Berklee and 2 chairs for visitors. John and I would become real good friends with these chairs as they were our "beds" for lack of a better word. When we got there they hooked her up to IV's and monitors and asked us a million questions. We were still in shock so the easiest of questions seemed so hard to us. Our first night was a good night. Of course, we didn't sleep much. Any time the monitors went off, we're up on our feet in record time! I got up at 6 am to feed Berklee and as soon as she started to eat, off went the monitors and it was an SVT episode. Her heart rate got up to 306 beats a minute. They tried smashing cold ice bags in her face to startle her and it didn't work. They tried stimulating the "bum" area and that didn't work, and they tried flipping her upside down, which didn't work so they had to give her some meds, which didn't immediately work. They then gave her meds that stopped it immediately. It broke my heart watch the nurses do all these "tricks" to her but she finally came out of it. So we let Berklee sleep afterwards and she started to get hungry fussy around 10 am. I went to pick her up and BAM! another episode. I was just devastated that she was in another and finally broke down. I felt like everytime I tried to feed her I made her go into these episodes. They tried the tricks again, which I hated again, and finally gave her meds to snap her out quickly. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful thank goodness. Berklee slept alot, ate some, dirty diapers, played a little with us, and we watched the monitors like crazy!
The next morning at 5 am as I was putting her to bed, she went into another SVT episode. Her heart rate got up to 260 and instead of giving her meds, they wanted to try to see if she could come out of it herself. So I tried to feed her and she did eat good but the only thing that got her out of the SVT episode was the ice pack smashing in her face :/ The rest of the day went great with no big events :) We finally went to bed and got up lots, paranoid as everything about our little Berklee. We prayed and prayed for no more episodes, for God to lay His hands on her, and angels to surround her. It worked :) God is great. The next morning, there were no episodes! We watched and waited and nothing!
So, now it's Monday around 1 pm and we're waiting to get discharged. It's been 24 hours since her last episode and the doctors seem to think the medicine she is on is working. We have to give her medicine through a syringe 4 times a day at noon, 6 pm, midnight, and 6 am. It's tough since she isn't allowed to feed until an hour after her medicine so she stays awake and gets kind of angry having to wait for food.

Here are some pictures we took of Berklee's hospital stay: