Little Bella and her 5 day hospital stay

\ (Bella when she was a newborn)

We went for a weight check at the doctor for Isabella (which we do often. I was very shocked at the appointment to be sent to the hospital! Isabella was hospitalized because she had lost weight the last two times we went to the doctor. She is 19 months (on the 10th) and went from 20 pounds to 19.6 and then down to 19.4. We have not been concerned about her and could go on and on with stories of small people in the family. They took lots of blood from her (that was very sad :( ) I had to help hold her down and she kept crying, "Mama! Mama! Mama!" When she realized I wasn't "helping" her she began crying, "Dada! Dada! Dada!" And then, finally, "Papa! Papa! Papa!" They stuck her in 3 different places before they got it. She lost a pound while she was in the hospital and we were trying so hard to get her to eat and gain that she would just see me bringing food to her and shake her head no. The doctors wanted to put a feeding tube down her nose and into her belly and even send her home on it for awhile. We were not very comfortable with that (especially when all her tests that they've been running on her have been coming back fine and we think she's just little). After praying, consulting with others, and getting a second opinion from another doctor, we had the order canceled. We heard it would have been very traumatizing for her and she could have pulled it out and bled. My mom, being a nurse, has seen these first-hand. They also wanted to try giving her an antihistamine that had a drug in it that would stimulate her appetite. We didn't want to do that either. We basically just tried to feed her anything we could get her to eat at the hospital (Derrick did great bringing her food such as fried mozzarella sticks and a shake) and she was weighed every morning and waited on test results to come back (still pending on some). We are continuing to work on this at home and charting everything she eats for her follow-up appointment. Derrick, the kids, and I all stayed the night every night up at the hospital and, thankfully, they got to hang out with some of the grandparents and have some fun. The great thing about being up there was all the people that came to visit and show their love even though we had a healthy baby in the crib! We had some sweet time with many family members and some friends! We had a lot of people coming in our room such as a dietician, a social worker, a speech therapist (to see if she had any diversions to texture or anything), nurses... Many commented that she did not look like a regular "failure to thrive" child (that is her diagnosis). They watched her run around the room and some said, "She probably burns it off!" We were actually on the oncology floor and saw some, such as a baby that had cancer, being pulled around in a wagon. My heart broke for those parents and I felt so bad for worrying about something so minor as Isabella's situation.

I just realized the last post was about a trip to the emergency room! Are you beginning to think that all we do is spend time at the hospital? ;)