Oy Vey

The only two words I have the energy to utter tonight are, "Oy vey!" We have had a very good, yet very bad weekend. 

We went to a birthday day party for one of Bella's little friends at Gymboree. Bella had fun and it was nice to catch up with friends, many of whom we haven't seen in awhile. Bella enjoyed crawling all over the place and even took a trip down one of the slides. After Gymboree, we stopped by and visited with old friends in South Tampa. We hadn't seen these friends in a very long time and they had never met Bella. Their daughters entertained Bella with their toys, and yet again, Bella enjoyed being the center of attention. We got home pretty late, so we put Bella to bed and relaxed by watching a movie.

Ian spoiled me by letting me sleep in on both Saturday and Sunday morning. It's such a treat to sleep in and I'm very lucky that Ian takes care of Bella in the morning, thus allowing me to do so. Today I slept until almost 10:30 and Bella was napping when I woke up. We read the paper, watched Sports Center and relaxed. Around 11:30, I heard Bella babbling in her crib so I went upstairs to get her. I brought her downstairs and began to change her diaper. This is the moment that the weekend took a turn for the worse...

Bella was still in her pajamas and I wanted to get her dressed for the day. I took off her pajamas and was horrified by what I saw on her left forearm. She had this strange, bruise like rash on her inner forearm. We called the pediatrician and waited for the on-call doctor to call us back. After about 30 minutes, we received a return call, answered some questions and it was decided that Bella needed to go to the ER. We quickly got ourselves dressed, packed a diaper bag and we were on our way.

Upon arrival at the ER, I received a strange look from the receptionist at the front desk when I told him my 11-month-old daughter had unexplained bruising on her arm. My anxiety increased when he told me to have a seat in the waiting room... a waiting room full of sick people. Much to my surprise, we were paged to return to the reception area and we were quickly whisked away to the pediatric ER. Bella was given her own private exam room and we waited for Bella to be seen by the doctor. Almost immediately, the doctor came in to examine Bella and ordered blood work. She diagnosed Bella with petechiae, which is a minor hemorrhage under the skin. She now needed to find the cause of the petechiae. Bella had her blood drawn for the first time since she was a newborn and it broke our hearts. She cried, but I don’t think it was because of the needle or the pain, she simply didn’t like being held down against her will. The nurses told us that she didn’t even bat an eyelash when they inserted the needle. She was such a trooper and we loved all over when the nurses were finished. Then we waited… and waited… and waited.

The doctor returned and informed us that Bella’s blood work came back normal and this was good news, very good news. Her platelet, RBC and WBC levels were normal, which were my biggest concerns. Unfortunately, she couldn’t tell us why Bella had petechiae, which didn’t sit well with us. She discharged Bella and instructed us to follow up with our pediatrician in the morning. She would be sending Bella’s charts to our pediatrician this afternoon. She said that Bella is a beautiful, healthy baby and that this might be an isolated incident. Needless to say, we will be following up with the pediatrician tomorrow. I just hope we receive an answer because I hate not knowing what exactly is wrong with Bella.

Once we returned home, Bella took a nap and things were back to normal. We had eaten a late lunch, so Ian and I skipped dinner, but Bella enjoyed a dinner of ravioli and fruit. Bella’s bedtime routine went without a hitch and we’re enjoying watching some television. It’s nice to relax after a stressful day.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers, especially Bella. Geez! What a way to wrap up a weekend. Good night all!

Love always,

Ian, Kim and Bella