Aubrey Scares the Living Daylights Out of Us!

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
I'd have posted about this much sooner, but I've had the week from heck.

Last sunday Aubrey went to a birthday party. She was healthy, happy and all was perfect. N brought her home and they helped b/f's Dad do some gardening in the yard. N kept a close eye on the baby.

A bit later they go inside. The baby out of nowhere starts violently throwing up, over and over. N and b/f run her into the bathroom and put her into the tub to clean her up. She drowns the tub. So N moves her to the sink once she thinks the bout of vomiting has passed to try to clean her up there. The baby cuts loose again.

But then her color suddenly changed. It went stark white and her lips went blue. N knew enough to look at her nailbeds. They were also blue. N of course freaked. Her Mommy instincts were screaming at her to get the baby to the hospital fast. B/f's Mom was trying to poo poo the whole thing. And b/f was riding the line. N finally got b/f to jump in the car.

The way to the hospital is past my friend's house. I was there attempting to learn algebra. N saw my car and stopped and picked me up.

I've got to tell you, I've been in many emergency life threatening situations, but this was the scariest by far. The baby was having difficulty staying concious in the car seat. Her color had turned to grey (death pallor) her lips and around them was blue. She only roused to wretch, and even then I really wouldn't say she was concious. We struggled to keep her awake not having a clue what had brought this on while b/f raced toward the hospital. I tried to get him to stop to call the rescue squad but he kept thinking he could get her there faster. (probably true)

By the time we got to the center of our small town the situation had become even more critical. My gut told me if Aubrey didn't get professional help immediately she wasn't going to make it to the ER. She needed oxygen NOW! I'd never seen an infant as limp as she was.

I told b/f we weren't going any further. It wouldn't help to get her there faster if she wasn't alive when she got there. I made him stop at the fire house and we got the life squad and peramedics. They gave her oxygen all the way to the ER.

I have to say I absolutely avoid our county hospital. It's the worst place to send your worst enemy. But at this point Aubrey wasn't going to make it as far as the next county. So it was our ER or nothing.

The baby has a guardian angel I swear. She happened to hit the one evening when the single decent doctor we have was on duty (an ER specialist from Cincy) and all of the good RN's were working.

The oxygen in the squad had pinked her color up a bit, but she had also taken on a yellow hue. She still couldn't stay concious and was as limp as a rag. B/f and N were on the verge of hysteria. I was holding it together to keep them from loosing it. Good thing as I made sure they relayed all of the facts to the ER doctor, as well as anything they thought might be related.

doctor and I kept asking the kids if Aubrey could have picked up something off the floor of the party. I'd started asking this in the car cuz I know N's friend uses/used drugs. (it was her baby's party) N said no way. The house was spotless and she never let the baby off her lap for that very reason. doctor went ahead and did blood screens for anything he could.

Aubrey's b/p was 155/57 sky high for a baby her age, her breathing was slow and labored. doctor got an IV started thinking it might be a particularily horrid virus or worse and started pumping her full of antibiotics. When blood tests came back fine he did a chest xray and a CAT scan of her head and catherized her for a urine screen. Nothing.

Nurses hovered. doctor popped in every spare moment. This worried me as the ER was busy. They had one heart attack and an accident with serious injuries. He was the only doctor on duty.

Stumped and with the baby not improving he calls for Care Flight and contacts Childrens in Cincy for transport. By now he's thinking Aubrey has ingested something, a piece of plant or something else toxic while gardening. They decided with Children's that a spinal tap is in order.

Fifteen mins later 11 month old Aubrey is loaded onto the helicopter headed for Cincy. We all load up into easy child's SUV. It's over an hour drive from here to Cincy. It's now after 9 pm.

easy child decides once we get to Cincy not to listen to me (I've been to childrens a million times) and gets us horribly lost. It's takes more than two hours for us to get to the hospital.

During that time Aubrey begins to come out of whatever had thrown her into the arms of death. By the time we get there she is still weak but can stay awake and seems alert. Children's couldn't find the cause. But her vital signs had all returned to normal, her color was good again. Their doctor also suspects that the baby got hold of something in the garden that was toxic for her.

They discharge her much to all our amazement and frustration. I had N sleep with the baby that night. The next morning you'd had never guessed what had taken place the evening before.

easy child is worried they jumped to conclusions. But the baby sees her pediatrician doctor soon and easy child works with him and has clued him in.

I tell you I've faced ALOT of things in my life. I've even watched T fight for his own life. But I've never felt so helpless and terrified as I did during that car ride to the hospital before we stopped for the squad. ER docs swear that is what saved her life.

A week ago I wasn't so sure Aubrey was going to live to see her first birthday. Yesterday was her party. OMG I hope to NEVER have to go thru something like that again. I start shaking just thinking about it!

And here's the kicker..... B/f's parents decide to go bowling while knowing their only grandchild was being careflighted to Cincy! Good grief! :nonono:
 

kris

New Member
<span style='font-size: 11pt'> <span style='font-family: Georgia'> <span style="color: #000099"> lisa, i've got tears in my eyes reading about poor aubrey. i'm so glad she's alright! how terrifying.

can't believe boyfriend's parent went bowling in the middle of a life threatening crisis. sheeesh!!!!

give her a hug from me please.

kris
</span> </span> </span>
 

skeeter

New Member
oh, my goodness!

Lisa - pm me and I'll pm you my phone number. My husband and kids say I was a taxi driver in a past life and I can give you directions to just about anything in Cincinnati. They call me all the time on "how do I get to" quesitons - just call me Mom-Mom.

I'm so glad things turned out well. I'd also be taking a really close look at the wild plants in the yard!
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Lisa,
What an extremely scary experience. How great for Aubrey that you knew she needed the oxygen and stopped at the firehouse. I'm so glad she is o.k. :angel:
 

Fran

Former desparate mom
Terrifying. I'm glad the baby is ok. There is nothing so frightening as when a child goes limp.
 

smallworld

Moderator
Lisa, how very scary! I'm glad Aubrey is OK now. Was there peanut butter at the birthday party? Has Aubrey been screened for allergens like nuts? Sometimes kids with severe anaphylactic allergies can react the way Aubrey did. Just a possibility N might want to explore.
 
My heart was thumping in my chest just reading your post. That poor baby.

I am SO relieved that she is okay. Good call, stopping at the firehouse. I do believe that YOU were Aubrey's guardian angel...
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
OMG, that must have been terrifying for you all! I am so glad she's alright now, but I'm like you - I'd want to know what caused it! I hope they can determine what happened. And isn't it amazing how fast they can bounce back when they're that age! When my daughter was a toddler she was sick enough to take her to the ER one night and well enough the next day to take her to the circus!

She used to have seizures when she was little and we made quite a few trips to the ER, and several times she ended up in the ICU for the night. We lived a ways from the hospital but right down the street from the local fire station and we stopped there more than once to have them check her over before heading for the ER. Those guys were WONDERFUL! They knew we didn't have much money - they'd check her over and then follow us all the way to the hospital in an ambulance! That way we weren't charged for the ambulance ride, but if she had gotten worse we could have pulled over and they'd have put her in the ambulance for the rest of the trip! We LOVED those guys!
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Lisa...how terrifying!

I hope you can figure out what really happened so you can take safeguards. Surely she must have gotten ahold of something she shouldnt have. It must have scared the bejeebers out of you. I would still be shaking.
 
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