Christmas in Phoenix, Part 2

So here's why we had to extend our stay an additional day: we got to take Maggie to the ER for the first time.

Sunday night, the 23rd, right Maggie started throwing up, and we tried all night (seriously, all night) to get it to stop and get her to hold down some water, and her tummy just couldn't do it. We headed for the ER just after midnight, but on the way it seemed like she was finally able to keep some water down so we decided to head back to the house. As soon as we got back to the house she threw it all up again- of course. It was so pitiful! She got a little sleep after we got back, but every time I tried to get a little water in her, she'd throw it up.

Finally, about 5:30 a.m. Tyler went over to his parent's house there and picked up Amron; Maggie couldn't even hold down a 1/2 teaspoon of water for 5 minutes. Tyler and I were so exhausted we knew there was no way we could make the 1-hour trek from Tara & Alex's to the hospital. We got there about 6:30, and they admitted Maggie right away ahead of 3 other kids. She was so dehydrated and sick she was super pale (and she's quite a fair-skinned girl already) and her belly was really sunken in! She also hadn't made a wet diaper since 6:30p.m. on the 23rd, and that was pretty serious. The doctor's diagnosis was that she was really dehydrated and needed an IV drip to rehydrate her body and give her tummy a rest. Let me tell you, the tears fell when she said that. I was so tired I just started bawling. I know that IV was the right thing, but I just couldn't handle her having to get poked!

She handled it like a trooper, though. Tyler and I prayed for her, and the nurse used a special numbing spray and we distracted her with some chapstick, and the IV was in before she knew it. With the drip going, she was finally able to get some sleep in the waiting room. Here's Tyler holding her in the waiting area of the pediatric ER, and Maggie's IV:
About 10:45 we were discharged after Maggie got 500cc's through her IV (one whole bag of saline) and held down 3 ounces of pedialyte AND had a wet diaper. Right when the nurse came to check if she had made a wet diaper, Tyler felt something warm on his leg... all that fluid ran right on through her and filled her diaper - plus some - in one fell swoop. =)

We went home and took a nice 3-hour nap, Maggie included. That night we got to join everyone at Alex's parents for a FABULOUS dinner! Then, we had to get packed up to go to Seattle.

As of today, we've gone through about 2 bottles of pedialyte and she finally got back her appetite last night (27th). As for our plane tickets, Southwest let us change them from the 24th to the 25th at no charge! I know, not very Christmas-y to be flying on Christmas, but Maggie was better, so we continued our vacation and headed up to Seattle.