The Princess Visits the Pink Palace ER

Here is a picture of where Claire was born, Tripler Army Medical Center. People refer to it as the Pink Palace. You can see it from most parts of the island because it's up on a hill and obviously stands out being the giant pink building on the island.

It is also the place where we spent 7 hours of Saturday...waiting, waiting, and more waiting. Claire had been sick since Wednesday with some kind of bug or infection. She was losing fluids- the only nice way to put what was happening in her diaper. It was coming out as quickly as it was going in and it was progressively getting worse. Friday we gave her milk and it came back out. No milk the rest of the day. You would never know she was sick at this point! She was still running around like a crazy little person.

By Saturday morning she was out of it. She woke up at 9, which is way past her normal wake up time. Food was pushed around and then it started...again. I'm not sure why we gave her milk again. Not smart. It was awful. She even asked to sit on the potty and we aren't even potty training! I was feeling really bad for her...and us. I ran to Target and got her crackers and pedalyte, but by the time I got home she was passed out on the couch. We woke her up to give her fluids...and when we were on our 4th or 5th diaper we made the decision to take a trip to the clinic. The clinic is not fully staffed on the weekends normally, throw in a holiday weekend and we can forget about it. They told us to take her to Tripler, so up the hill we went.

We got there and it was crowded. I've learned that they are now allowing civilian non-military people in the hospital because two hospitals on the island have been closed down. As if Tripler waiting time wasn't bad enough. No one looked too serious though so I didn't think it would take that long. Wrong. There are crazies who come in that place. We went in the triage room where Claire was traumatized with a thermometer and I wanted to cry with her. After 3 hours, thank God she napped, we were called back. 

We saw the nurse and then the doctor. The doctor ordered an IV due to her non wet diapers and a couple labs. They put numbing cream on her arm and then it was the saddest things to watch them wrap her little body up like a burrito to stick the IV in. Justin had to hold her down while I paced the room. She got popsicles, watched the IPad, and played with stickers for 4 hours. She was so good. Her parents...not so much. We were ready to go! After a few hours they got all the labs they needed and sent us home full of fluids and orders to fill her up with more fluid. 

Yesterday we went in for a follow up where we found out that she was dehydrated, her protein was low, and her glucose was low. The last two things were due to her not eating. We switched to soy milk and seem to be doing much better! I'm so glad we have a normally healthy little person.