Red Light, Green Light

Do you remember the game Red Light, Green Light? Someone yells "green light" and you run as fast as possible to the finish line. But when they yell "red light", you must stop in your tracks. Well, Harper just yelled "red light" at Jared and me.

When we received the "green light" for discharge for Thursday, we immediately started making a list of everything that needed to be done: wash her sheets, pull out and assemble the baby gear that's been waiting in boxes for Harp's arrival, make a Babies R Us run for diapers/bottles/sleep gear, install the car seat, start packing up all of Harper's stuff at the hospital, get the medical supplies we need at home. I've been frantically checking off all of the items on the list to make sure we were ready. And then my phone rang at 6am this morning...

Jared and I came to the hospital yesterday morning. We had a little play time, some breakfast and then she fell asleep. My mom came up to "babysit" while we went to watch the Steelers beat the Titans. Harper slept the majority of the day and we just figured our child was preparing herself to come home since Sunday afternoon naps are a staple in the Meabon household. She was a little fussy but nothing too bad and had a temperature of 99.2 but was gassy when her temperature was taken so not alot of merit was given to the temperature.

Apparently through the night, her temperature continued to hover in the 99 range, peaking at 99.9. When you have a child in the hospital and your phone rings at 6am with the doctor's cell phone on your caller I.D., a small amount of panic runs through your body. Dr. Kenton started with, "Your baby is fine.". Whew, thank you for that. But there was concern for the lingering fever so he wanted to be cautious and start antibiotics. Nicci, one of Harper's primary night nurses, asked that they spare her head - sweet girl's gotta have her hats - and they were able to establish a line in her hand. So we're back on the IV for at least a three day course of antibiotics. They are running tests to see what's causing the fever. If it is a bacterial infection, she'll have to stay on antibiotics for 7-10 days but if it's a virus and the fever clears on it's own, it'll just be three days on the IV. Unfortunatly, she has to be off the antibiotics for 24 hours before she can be cleared to go home so our Thursday homecoming has been postponed, hopefully only by a couple of days.








Poor Harper was like a wet noodle all day. She slept the majority of the day and, when she was up, was so pitiful. My little girl just didn't feel good - it's heartbreaking to see your baby sick!



This afternoon Harper gave us a real scare and spit up bright yellow fluid. The team immediately ordered an X-ray since this could indicate distended bowels or a bigger problem with her omphalocele. The X-ray appeared normal and she seemed good after a thorough exam but since she has an IV already, Dr. Kenton wants to run a CAT Scan to take a better look.

As of tonight, Harper's fever is decreasing so I'll keep you updated over the next few days and hopefully, our girl will be snug in her own bed in no time!