Last Monday night at about 7:30pm I called 911 to dispatch an ambulance to my house to take Lena to the Emergency Room I knew that it was not safe for me to try to take her there myself.

Since her surgery over three weeks ago my Little Lena has not been the same. We have been to the ER every weekend since surgery. Once two days after surgery because she had vomited several times and the second time one week later because she woke up from a nap crying and was inconsolable and feverish. Both times we were sent home. She was “not sick enough” to have a shunt infection and it was not blocked. Diagnosis - the first time was nausea from surgery, the second time was a possible ear infection since Kassie had just gotten over one (they could not see her ear drum for all the wax) we were sent home with antibiotics. The third time we were brought by ambulance.

After our second visit to the ER Lena woke the next morning more like herself, a bit irritable but who wouldn’t be with an ear infection. We decided to make the trip to Edmonton so that Lena could attend her appointment at the head shape clinic. Hind site, not a good choice. But hind site is 20/20 right?

Lena was wonderful the whole way there. When we pulled into Edmonton she started screaming and would not stop. We pulled into a Tim Horton’s parking lot and pulled her out of her car seat. She threw up EVERYWHERE and was warm. We went straight to our hotel which was just up the street. I cleaned her up, gave her some Tylenol and she seemed fine. We decided that she had had enough of her car seat. For the rest of the trip she was fussy and much needier than usual. We “knew” she had an ear infection so we decided that she just didn’t feel well. She has also been teething for forever. Little Lena got fussy every time we got into the car and whenever she got hot. We didn’t know how we were going to get home. We were set to leave on Friday morning. She didn’t sleep much at all Thursday night. She was very irritable, our hotel room was hot. I got up with her at 6am and started walking the hotel halls. She immediately calmed down. It was cool out there. She was calm and sleepy. When it came time for breakfast I woke the rest of the gang and we all went to the restaurant. Just as I went to sit down she threw up all over me. We left a trail as we made our way back to our room. I called our family doctor. She eventually calmed down and fell asleep. We decided to try to make the drive home.

Lena did very well all the way home, she began to fuss about 20 minutes from home. When we got home she was fine. Little Lena was happy, playing and laughing at home. We thought she just didn’t like to travel. Though she was a little grumpier than usual we figured the little bits of whining could be attributed to teeth. Boy was I wrong.

On Monday night as I was making hamburgers for supper Lena began to fuss. Wayne picked her up and snuggled her in the kitchen as I made the burgers. All of a sudden he I heard him say that she had thrown up all over him. I washed my hands and went to help. Lena was quiet, too quiet. I looked at her and she just stared at me. Pink but staring, shocked. I took her and turned her upside down and slapped her back. She didn’t cry. Every other time she had thrown up and I had done that she had cried. She was breathing though. Then she heaved again. Little bits of milk and saliva, still no cry. I was beginning to get scared. I kept slapping her back and she kept heaving. I knew she needed to get to a hospital and that it was not safe for me to drive her. I sat on my kitchen floor and called 911 with Lena in my arms, pink barley breathing and still gagging occasionally, saliva dripping from her mouth.

The ambulance took about 15 minutes to make the 25 minute drive from Saskatoon to my house. They got there just in time. Lena had been in my lap, over an arm to keep her from choking on any vomit and she had stayed pink until the ambulance pulled into my drive. As they pulled up she started to close her eyes and loose consciousness. She was turning blue. The medic took her right away and took her to the ambulance. I grabbed her things and ran after them.

I have only been that scared once before, the moment they told me that I was going to give birth at 24 weeks 6 days gestation.

Luckily Lena did not need CPR. She was breathing, though not well and her heart was beating so as soon as she was fairly stable we took off like a bat out of hell. I sat in the back with Lena while the medic kept her on large amounts of oxygen. She did not want to get pink. It was not until the medic helped her breath with a resuscitation bag to get the oxygen into her lungs that she turned a nice color of pink and opened her eyes. Boy was it good to see those eyes. However, even though her eyes were open she was not responsive. Still no cry.