Day 35: ER Visit at Texas Children's Hospital

All through the early morning Lauren did not sleep well. She was up almost every hour crying, well actually more like screaming. She continued to vomit and looked awful. Last night we were thinking that she was constipated, but once the vomiting started we figured it was probably a stomach virus, and JJ's google searches led us in that direction as well.
At 6:00 am we woke up to change her diaper and found something that resembled red jelly. It was basically nothing but bloody mucus. When I saw that, my stomach dropped and I told JJ we needed to take her in like NOW! 
We got her ready and got on the road, the wet, icy road. Houston gets ice maybe once a year, and of course it had to be on this morning that we were taking Lauren all the way across the city. When we came up to the I-10 overpass we had to exit an on-ramp because it was closed due to all the ice. We ended up taking side roads and finally got to the hospital. The girl who checked us in asked all kinds of questions and they took her vitals. From the ER they made us go to a part of the hospital called the "Fast Track" area. I had never heard of that, but it seemed kind of serious at that point since we didn't have to wait 2 hours to see a Dr. like you normally would in an ER. 
When we got there a PA came in and looked over Lauren. She immediately told us that it could be a stomach virus, or something called Intussusception (this is where the intestine folds in on itself like a telescope). She also told us that they needed to start an IV just in case in was Intussusception since they would have to do the procedure to fix it right away if that was the case. At that point I really started to get scared, I had never heard of this condition before and certainly did not want my baby to be stuck with a needle if it wasn't necessary. So, she called in a nurse and that nurse tried to start the IV twice. Before putting the needle into Lauren's tiny veins, I could see the look of concern in her eyes. She did not seem confident and kept saying how hard it would be since Lauren was also a bit dehydrated. After two attempts and lots of crying by both Lauren and myself, she said that they would just take us to get the ultrasound to see if we even needed the IV. At that point I literally wanted to punch her in the face for hurting my baby.
After that they took us back to the ER so that we could get the ultra sound done. The tech was really nice, but she couldn't tell us the results so back to the ER we went. I was really surprised at how fast everything was happening, but thought maybe there just weren't many patients because of the icy roads. Once we were put in an ER room a surgeon came in right away and told us that the ultrasound  was positive and we would need to get an IV in and start the procedure to fix the Intussusception. I broke down at this point because I didn't know why we needed a surgery team, and it took 3 nurses over an hour of sticking my baby about a dozen times before they got the damn IV to stay put. That was the worst hour of my entire life! I would give birth without an epidural again, 100 times before watching Lauren go through that terror and pain. I was completely helpless. Oh, I forgot, after the IV was in a nurse told me that the reason we were moving so fast is because if we waited too long Lauren could lose part of her intestine. I got the feeling she wasn't supposed to tell me that, and I immediately started to panic.
When the surgeons were ready we walked Lauren down to the x-ray room and they explained what they would be doing, well they actually explained it while they were getting the IV in, but I couldn't pay attention and that whole part really is a blur. The procedure would take about 10 minutes and they would have to stick a rubber tube into her rectum, then blow air into it to make the intestines go back into place. If it didn't work then they would immediately take her in for surgery. We put on our lead covers and held our poor baby under the x-ray machine. JJ and I held hands and said a little prayer before they started. Lauren was pretty calm until they put the tube in, that's when she started to cry and squirm. They started the machine that blew air into her intestines, JJ watched the x-ray screen and actually saw the intestines straighten out. The surgeon said something that I can't remember, and then it was over. It worked, and I was so relieved. Lauren was back to normal almost instantly. We carried her back to the ER room and she fell asleep for about 3 hours.
From there they took us to the Patient Care Unit to keep her overnight for observation. It has a small chance of reoccurring , but it will usually happen within 24 hours if it's going to happen again.We actually rested well that night. JJ put the recliner up against the bench so it was like we were sleeping next to each other. Lauren slept in my arms and JJ kept his hand on her all night. The next day in the hospital was relaxing and all the doctors and nurses were amazing. They loved on Lauren and reassured us that she looked great and should be just fine. 
We finally got to go home at around 2:00 pm the next day. What I thought would be a few hours in the ER turned into such a scary ordeal. I really hope we never have to go through something like that again. I am so thankful that Lauren is better and back home today.