Cooper turned one one on Sunday. And he did it in the hospital. You read that correctly. Coop spent Easter and his birthday in the hospital. As our week long vacation to Disneyland was coming to an end, my little baby boy got sick. Very sick. So sick we had to take him to the hospital straight from the airport and he was admitted …
It was absolutely heartbreaking to watch my baby be poked and prodded. He screamed. He kicked his little arms and legs. He would look at me with the most pitiful look that seemed to say, “Why aren’t you helping me mama?”
That’s my little guy (above) hanging out in the ER. Notice the thumb sucking? He’s my little thumb sucker. He never wanted a binkie, he has always preferred his thumb. As we waited for doctors to decide what to do, Coop slept a little bit. It was one of the rare moments the staff wasn’t bothering him, so he was able to rest. My poor husband had to endure the worst of it, as I started to cry around the 3rd attempt to get an IV in. It took 5 tries total to get his IV in since he was so dehydrated. His little veins were so dry that when they did find a vein on his chubby body, it would collapse. They had to poke him a few more times after that to draw blood … so he was stuck by 7 different nurses and each of them stuck him a couple of times. There were chest x-rays, ultrasounds, temperature checks … a long night of little sleep and one fussy baby.
Horrible. Just plain horrible. I was the only one who could calm him down. Babies want their mamas when they are sick or hurt. So I spent most of the night holding Cooper and loving on him. To say I was scared would be an understatement. I knew I loved this little guy, but this experience made me realize that I love him more than anything in this world and would do anything to protect him and keep him safe. If I could have been the sick one and spared Cooper of all this pain, I would have. He’s such a sweet little soul, which makes it even harder to see him in such pain. No one deserves that, especially not Cooper.
Cooper ended up spending his first birthday in the hospital. Not exactly what we had planned. He missed his own party! However, I am so grateful we have great health insurance and access to the best care possible. The folks at UMC took wonderful care of Cooper and even helped make his 1st birthday extra special. At one point, the entire pediatric staff came into his room and sang happy birthday to him. They brought him cake, balloons and even wrapped presents. Our nanny had made Cooper the most wonderful and elaborate birthday cake, and brought it by the hospital too … along with good cheer and love for our sicky.
In the end, it was a very bad stomach bug that hit Cooper. All the vomiting, explosive diapers and high fever had beaten up on his little body. We were able to take him home and he slept the final hours of his birthday in his own crib.
Hopefully next year we'll be able to have a real party (one not at a hospital!).