Colitis

About two weeks ago, little Heidi had a mild fever and she started having some diarrhea with watery stools. We took her to the pediatrician who prescribed her some Smecta for the diarrhea. It didn't really help and on the next day, there was an appearance of some blood in the stool. We were quite alarmed, so we decided to take her to the hospital even though it was quite late at night. Good thing the pediatrician on call was already there, so he told us that we could either admit her, or he would put her on antibiotics and some other medicines to see if the diarrhea would stop. We decided to try it to prevent her from being admitted and for them to prick her unnecessarily.

The diarrhea somewhat subsided for the next couple of days, even though her stool was still watery, but on the 3rd day, in the evening, there was a lot of blood in the stool. This time, it was off to the emergency room without a second thought. The pediatrician on call (another doctor this time) diagnosed her condition as colitis and said that we had two options, either to change her antibiotics (which may or may not work) or to admit her and administer the antibiotics via IV which will cure her 100%. So after three doctors and three visits, we didn't want to take any more chances, so into the ward she had to go.

As expected, she screamed the place down when they were putting the IV in her hand, but I think it was more of the restraining that she didn't like, rather than the pain. But when it was over, she looked curiously at her hand. Initially she tried to pull and even bite it off, but eventually she got used to it.

They had no single room available for the first night, so we were in a 3-bedded room. The 3rd bed was unoccupied so just us and a little boy next to us. However, we put the request in for a single room and were so glad that there was one available the very next day.

Altogether we stayed 5 days 4 nights in the hospital because the doctor wanted to make sure that there was no more blood before he let her go home. I stayed with her the entire time, with the exception of two mornings whereby Hubby's mother came by to stay with her so I could get some time to go home, bathe, wash my hair etc.

Despite her dislike of taking medicine, Heidi was a happy baby throughout and this is what I got when I asked her to make silly faces. It sure helped cheer up the gloomy days having to stay in the hospital.

She ate, slept, watched TV, played in the pediatric ward playroom and surprisingly enough, the time went by pretty fast. Hubby came in the evening after work and so we also spent the day looking forward to his visits. Our friends and colleagues also dropped by on some evenings and brought nice food and gifts for Heidi.

Once she was all better, her doctor gave the green light to go home and we were so happy to be finally sleeping on our own bed. Bye bye hospital!