WORST DAY

Please be prepared for me to be emotional,today was probably the worst day of my life so far and I'm not exaggerating. Audrey had her MRI today at Mary Bridge Children Hospital to check her dimple on her lower back for spinal disease. The day started off with us packing and preparing for the day trip to the hospital. I made sure that she had food for when she woke since I had strict directions to stop feeding her solid food at 7AM and formula at 9AM, extra clothes, diapers, spit rags, cash for the cafeteria and my phone charger, just in case. Once Audrey was dressed, packed in the car and the rest of the luggage loaded up we headed for downtown Tacoma. We were informed that parking was going to be terrible and it was advised to use the free valet located at any entrance. It was super convenient, free which is always nice and there was one right at our entrance. Once we got upstairs to the radiology department we checked in and filled out all the necessary paperwork and waited for the nurse to pull us back. It only took a few minutes and we were back in a room in no time. Once in the room, they had me undress Audrey so we could weigh her and get her in her hospital gown. She weighs 13 pounds 5 ounces, she is so tiny but right on target! Once she was weighed and dressed the nurses explained that they would wrap her in heat warmers and warm blankets to help define her veins to make it easier for them to administer the IV she will need for the sedation. They placed these purple little gel packs around her wrists and ankles and then placed socks over them to keep them in place and then wrapped her in 2 blankets from the warmer. Once she was all nice and wrapped we were able to walk around or walk down to the living room on the floor and watch TV. After about 30 minutes they were ready to put the IV in place. They had me lay her on the bed and take off the blankets and the heat pads so they could mark the vein they were going to use. They use this red light that when the lights are off can locate a vein that might not be visible to the eye, they place the light under the foot or hand and it illuminates the veins, which I think is pretty neat. After they chose her left hand they sterilized her hand and had me stand by her head to comfort her since we knew it would hurt. Of course Audrey was in pain instantly and crying from the poke of the needle. When she could not get the needle and IV in place they decided to have me wrap her back up and hold her while they re checked her hands and feet for veins. This took about 30 minutes, of sitting in the dark while they place this red light under her feet and hands. They kept saying things like, "her vein is too skinny or too short" and so they decided to try her right hand this time. This also was unsuccessful but what was worse was they they took their time, pulling the needle out and putting it back in and injecting salene into her vein to blow it up. Audrey was in so much pain, her face was all red, plus she was hungry since by this time it well on its way to being 3:30 and she had not eaten since 9AM. Once they decided that they were unable to successfully place the IV in her, they called the MRI doctor in for assistance. He then retried putting the IV in her left hand which did not work and then made the decision to try putting it on the top of her head. This made my heart sink knowing that they would try this and it would be terribly painful for Audrey. After about 45 minutes of poking and prodding at Audrey they attempted to put the IV in her scalp, which was once again unsuccessful. It was over an hour of these failed attempts and time after time Audrey was screaming and crying in awful pain and all I could do was cry. A nurse had to come over and hug me and calm me down. Finally they decided to do a rectal sedation which causes babies to fall asleep slower and stay asleep longer, which by this point was not a problem with me, just as long as she didn't have be poked anymore. Once they gave her the medicine she was fast asleep and it was MRI time. The MRI took about 20 minutes and it was back to the room to wait for her to wake up. It took about 45 minutes for her to wake up, she ate about 4 ounces of formula, smiled at everyone which was a relief and was coming back to life! After she was awake and responding we were allowed to go home, THANK GOODNESS. It was terrible for us to see Audrey in so much pain like that and knowing that we could not do anything for her. We should get the MRI results in a few days and I am hoping that they news is good like all the timed before! Thank you for listening I know it was long. I hope it all makes sense with all my blabbering.