Scary, scary stuff...

Yesterday, Ivy had a very routine one month check-up. She has gained so much weight and is up to 10 lbs. 3 oz!!! Considering she was only weighing 7 lbs. 6 oz three weeks before, I was super excited! After a quick exam, the doctor gave her his stamp of approval, she got her second Hep. B vaccine, and we were on our way.
That afternoon, Ivy was a bit more fussy than usual and I just shrugged it off thinking her leg was sore from the injection. That night she continued to be super fussy and right before bedtime she felt a bit warm. I took her temp (99.6) and decided to call the after-hours nurse to see if I should do anything. The nurse reassured us that most babies don't have reactions to Hep. B shots and since her fever was below 100.2, we shouldn't worry.
Well, Ivy did not sleep well at all that night. She cried and cried. She wasn't even interested in nursing which is usually the cure-all for everything. Finally around 4 am, I took her temp again. I was interrupted at 101.1 due to being pooped on! Oh the joys of motherhood and nurses insisting on rectal temps! Yuck! I knew I needed to take her in. Adam decided to stay at home and get a few more hours of sleep so he could go to work on Thursday. After all, wouldn't they just give us antibiotics and send us home?
Within 5 minutes of our arrival at Children's Mercy, I was informed that because she is only 5 weeks old, we would be admitted and staying for at least 48 hours. She would have a full work-up done: blood, urine, chest x-ray and spinal tap. A spinal tap for a newborn! Not what I wanted to hear at all. I tried to call Adam but he was sleeping and not answering his phone. Frustrating.
The nurses worked fast! Just a few minutes later she had a her blood drawn and a catheter to get a urine sample. Ivy was not enjoying this so far. Then it came time for the IV to be put in. The nurse tried so hard to find her little veins. After a few tries and enough digging in her arm, they decided to put her IV in her head. Ugh. Poor thing. Next came the spinal tap. The doctor numbed up her back and when she inserted the needle, hit a blood vessel. Blood was everywhere! I'm really not sure how I was holding up so well watching my baby being tortured. She was screaming so loud. The doctor tried again twice more and quit. Ivy was done. They would try again later.
We were moved upstairs and admitted to the hospital. Around this time, Adam arrived...nice and rested. Once upstairs, we met the doctor assigned to our case and she took Ivy to a procedure room to retry the spinal tap. It was super quick and successful! Yes! Then she took Adam and I to view the x-ray from earlier. She explained everything in the picture: face, ribs, lungs, heart, and then she pointed to another blob that was the thymus. The doctor explained that it was much bigger than most babies. Most babies are usually half the size of Ivy's. She thought that there was a tumor in it. We would need to go for a CT Scan to find out more.
Less that an hour later, we were taken to radiology. I helped while they swaddled my little girl and strapped her to the table. Ivy was totally zonked out and slept thru the entire thing. I, of course, was totally freaking out thinking my daughter has cancer. The tech told us it would take an hour to find out the results. This was 9:10 am. The waiting game begins. 10:10 am comes and goes. 11:00 am comes and goes. The longer we waited, the worse my fears became. Finally around 2:00 pm, the doctor comes in to tell us that there is NO mass! NO tumor. NO cancer! She couldn't believe it. She said in 20 years of practicing medicine she has never seen a thymus this large. We are so lucky.
Other good news is her blood, urine, and spinal fluid are all clear of bacteria. Yeah!
Ivy's not completely out of the woods yet. She still has a high fever (102ish) that we are managing with tylenol and she is on two different antibiotics to fight off any viruses that may be lurking in her body. We will be staying until Saturday so they can observe her cultures and rule out other scary diagnoses like meningitis.
It's been a pretty eventful and terrifying day. I made a list of firsts that Ivy encountered on our adventure. (Hopefully a lot of these will be a first and ONLY)

1. first fever

2. first hospital visit

3. first hospital stay

4. first IV

5. first antibiotic

6. first x-ray

7. first spinal tap

8. first cat scan

We are thankful for  all the prayers Ivy received today. We are so grateful to have such great friends and family.