![\"EEG](\"http:\/\/www.michellebeachy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/image4-e1415121760474.jpg\")
<\/a>It was another restless night of holding Zara on a hard couch only this time with the added benefit of knowing someone could watch all your awkward nighttime antics on video. \u00a0It wasn’t until well into it that I figured out they had sound with it and could hear everything we said.<\/p>\nZara’s leads came loose throughout the night. \u00a0By seven she was missing a few and by noon they were completely gone so we tossed the EEG box on the bed. \u00a0It didn’t have any seizures either. \ud83d\ude42 My parents picked up the boys and brought them to the hospital and what a happy reunion it was! Around 3, Neurology came back to hook Zara back up. \u00a0Motorcycle caps are the fashion of the day.<\/p>\n This time they didn’t scrub her since I’d just washed her hair so it wasn’t the loooooong drawn out process and she didn’t cry nearly as much. \u00a0They also threw her a box of leads to play with since she is so enchanted with cords and kept wanting to grab the ones they were using.<\/p>\n We had one more horrible blood draw to get through to confirm that Zara’s white count was really okay. \u00a0It felt so mean! Zara has been so normal with anything related to blood counts \u2026 no recent infections, nothing that should indicate any reason for her white count to be anything other than fine. \u00a0I agreed to do it if we could get warm packs on her for awhile first. \u00a0Saturday morning they got her labs with one stick because she was on IV fluids and they used warm packs. They totally agreed but phlebotomy breezed through the door before the nurse could even get in here. \u00a0We’ve had great nurses the entire time but our nurse on Sunday was by FAR my favorite. \u00a0They’ve all been fabulous about keeping things quiet and low key for her when she’s sleeping and they’ve all been kind and gentle. \u00a0Ellen was also very obviously Zara’s advocate. \u00a0She put the packs on quickly and told phlebotomy we needed to wait a little. \u00a0I asked if they can’t get someone else who is especially good with babies since she is notoriously such a terrible stick. \u00a0She said phlebotomy usually has to say they can’t get it. \u00a0I KNEW he wasn’t going to get it when I started to lie her back on the bed and he said, “Oh, she can just stay sitting up.” He probed and dug this way and that. \u00a0“I want to see the other side.” \u00a0Ellen said, “Only if Mom says yes.” I wanted to HUG her. \u00a0I told him he could stick her again but ONLY if he actually FELT something, not just thought he felt something. And we were going to lay her down flat on the bed so we could secure her arm better. \u00a0He didn’t see anything on the other side but went back over and claimed he was ready for her other elbow. \u00a0I watched in dismay as he dug this way, then that way, clearly NOT having a clue where her vein was. \u00a0He got a teeny flash and then nothing just like all the others had. \u00a0He kept pulling on the syringe way too hard and finally got a teeny bit of blood which looked very much as though he had blown the vein and was only collecting the blood that was gathering under her skin. \u00a0When the needle backed out and he looked as though he was going to stick it back in I said, “That’s enough.” It wasn’t a very quiet command either.<\/p>\n It was all just too much and I was completely done with needless suffering over inept attempts at blood draws. \u00a0I’m sure they’re fine most of the time but, PLEASE realize your limits and don’t keep digging on a BABY who is a hard stick. \u00a0If there are nurses who can get IV’s in two pound infants then there are nurses who could EASILY get 1\/2 cc of blood out of an 18 lb healthy child. I asked Ellen if there was no way to get one of them. \u00a0She said they typically have to go through several more steps and phlebotomy has to say they can’t get it, but she was going to make some phone calls and see if she could override the process.<\/p>\n Next thing I knew there was a fabulous vascular nurse literally dancing in the door, turning on some fun Dora music \u00a0on her phone, stamping her foot in time to the music, and finding a patent vein in her foot in less than two minutes. Oh, happiness.<\/p>\n I admitted half-guiltily to the nurse on night shift that I usually let Zara sleep on her tummy at home and I wanted to try it so we wouldn’t have to hold her through another night. \u00a0She said, “Oh, I totally get it. \u00a0I’m a mom and a nurse and my baby sleeps on his tummy, too.” Zara slept fabulously, waking only once at three.<\/p>\n The funniest part of the day was Monday morning when David was in the crib holding Zara (she had to stay in front of the video camera at all times) and the entire neurology team walked in on rounds. \ud83d\ude42 Oh the love of a daddy!<\/p>\n Once again, neurology said there were no episodes! Not only that, instead of telling us we needed to be readmitted for four days of monitoring in the epilepsy unit, they said we should make a follow up appoint for one to three months out, watch her, and if nothing happened we could call and cancel. We were absolutely ecstatically awaiting discharge papers. It felt as though we’d been given something that felt like a near death sentence Friday night to a probably clean bill of health Monday morning! At twelve I was walking down the hall to get a spoon for Zara when the med student stopped me and said, “I was just looking for you. \u00a0So it looks like neurology saw something concerning on her EEG this morning when you guys clicked.”<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n