We enjoyed every day and night for the next week of caring for Justin. 7 days after bringing Justin home, we noticed that he was not eating well. I randomly decided to take his temperature, even though he didn't feel the slightest bit warm. I got a reading of 94.7, and thought there was no way that was right. I took it several more times and got the same result. I decided to call the pediatrician to see what they suggested. I was told to immediately get in the car and go the ER at Primary Children's. I did this, thinking the whole way that I probably just didn't have him in enough layers, and the poor kid was probably just cold. He was wrapped in blankets in his carseat and I had the heater up to 85. I was sure that when we got to the hospital that they would say "silly girl, he's just fine." Ha! I wish! We got into the ER and they took his temperature--it had dropped to 94.1 He was immediately taken to a room with warming lights and had a swarm of doctor's, nurses, respiratory therapists, and other professionals in the room. A full workup was ordered--urine analysis, fecal analysis, blood work, and lumbar puncture. I think I was in shock. I knew how sick our little guy was, because the only time he cried, or really even moved was when they did the lumbar puncture (spinal tap). He barely even moved when they put an IV in his tiny head, and another one in his foot. I quickly called the caseworker to let her know where we were, and see if we needed to have permission for anything. As foster parents, we cannot sign for any medical procedures. This is a huge pain when you have a sick kiddo! Then I called Chad and he was able to come up. The results of the lumbar puncture indicated that Justin had Meningitis--though we weren't sure at this point if it was viral or bacterial. He was put on large doses of several broad coverage antibiotics to start treating any possible bacterial infection.
After what felt like days in the ER, we were transferred to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). They monitored Justin until the next morning, and decided that he was doing well enough to be transferred to the Infant Med/Surg Unit. Throughout this entire stay, Justin had what is a called "apneic events." This means he would completely stop breathing for significant periods of time. We spent the next 8 days enduring test after test as they tried to figure out the cause of the apnea. It was eventually determined that Justin had mild reflux, and that when the contents of his tummy would back up into the esophogus, he would stop breathing to protect his airway. He was put on Zantac, and the problem went away. We were so thrilled to go home after 9 days!
During Justin's time in the hospital, I also went to the first court date that was set to discuss his case. I had no idea what to expect from this. All that happened at this first court appearance was that the judge determined that Justin's placement with DCFS, and consequentially with us, was justified and necessary for the time being. The whole experience shook me. I was torn. We loved this sweet little baby in our care, and wished with all our hearts that he could be ours. At the same time, we knew that by wishing that he was ours, we were also wishing for his birth mother to fail. This is absolutely not what we wanted! We were concerned for her, and wanted her to be able to turn her life around. We finally decided on what we called "option 3." We prayed that if it was Heavenly Father's will, and would be best for Justin, that his birth mother would choose to place him with us through adoption, rather than having to have her rights "terminated."
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