What a fiasco!

We spent WAY too much time at the doctor yesterday!

All day long Anna's diapers smelled like someone had opened them up and poured in a bottle of ammonia. I am not exaggerating! The smell was so strong I thought something had to be wrong. Now, being on baby #5, I'd like to think I've been through my share of weird stuff and not a lot phases me, but I just couldn't get over the fact that her pee smelled so strong and I figured that probably meant something . . . and that something was probably not good. So first off I call a few of my mom friends to bounce this weirdness off them, but NONE OF THEM WERE HOME! Honestly ladies, where are you when I need you? Home phones, cell phones. No one was answering me. I called my mom, but she didn't have a solid answer. But she also thought that it was weird. I called our pediatrician and they were having phone issues, so the phone was answered by a receptionist at the Woodbury branch of our pediatricians office. She took down all my info and faxed it to the St. Paul office (I guess faxing was working, but not the actual phone!) and said someone would call me back. It wasn't really an urgent need and I knew it wasn't an emergency and I didn't need to "hang up and dial 911" or anything (it always cracks me up when they say that. If my kids is about to die or is bleeding like mad or has 7 broken limbs would I really call my pediatrician? Who does that? Sorry, I digress!) But I was hoping for a call back in timely manner. Anyway, the initial call was probably at about 10 am and the return call came about 2:30. They thought it should probably be looked at (really? I feel like they always say that). So I got an appointment for 3:30. (But our pediatrician, who I love, doesn't work on Tuesdays. Bummer!)

Here's a cute picture of the patient to break up my extra-long rambling!



3:30 we show up at the office. Check in. Wait in the waiting room. I'll just say right now that I should have brought a book. Funny that this post would closely follow one all about waiting!! Hmmmmm. We finally get called back. I take all Anna's clothes off and they weigh her (18 pounds 10 oz. if you care!). I explain what's going on with her to the nurse. Nurse takes her temp (97.9 or something 98ish) and says the doctor will be in shortly but that he's a little behind. After a not-too-long wait the doctor comes in and asks what's going on. I explain, again, about the ammonia smelling pee. He says it could be some sort of an infection, but she's not showing any other signs of infection (no fever or anything) so he thinks that's not it. It also could be that she's a little dehydrated and her pee smells because it's more concentrated than usual . . . she has had a little cold and a stuffy nose and hasn't been nursing quite as well as usual, but, honestly, her pee smells just terrible! Like literal ammonia . . . have I said that yet? Anyway, he suggests they stick this bag thing on her that will catch her urine (since she is super disobedient and won't pee in a cup like I would like her to!). Then we'll hope that she pees quickly. They'll test it for infection and we'll go from there. The nurse comes in and sticks this little adhesive baggie on her and we wait. I nurse her thinking . . . liquid in, liquid out. She pees about 5 minutes later but somehow NONE of it goes in the bag! Argh! A different nurse comes in a puts on another bag and brings us some apple juice for Anna to drink. Since she has just peed quite a bit (which, incidentally went mostly all over my jeans) they are hoping the apple juice will do the same liquid in, liquid out thing again. When we've waiting quite a while with no more pee they ask where I live. When I tell them not far they send me home with the 2nd bag still on and tell me to come back when it's full. The nurse says I can just tell them at the front desk why I'm there and head right back to the nurses station. I leave.

When I get home my mom is over. She holds Anna and we talk for a while. We go down the basement because I want to show her something. She is holding Anna in the basement and Anna pees . . . on my mom. Again, none in the bag! Now I'm ticked.

I pack Anna back up (after changing her wet clothes) and return to the doctor. The lady at the front (it is now "after hours". Our clinic houses an urgent care too, so we're at the same place but all the staff has changed over) looks at me like I'm from another planet when I tell her I'm just supposed to go back to the nurses station. I explain the whole fiasco to her. She tells me she can just take my urine sample from me. Hello, weren't you listening? I don't actually have a sample, herein lies the problem!! She still looks at me like I'm from Mars and tells me to wait in the waiting room and she'll go find someone. She comes back alone and apologizes. She can't find the nurse???? Really, where could she have gone, I wonder. She comes back out again alone and after probably 5 or 7 hours minutes she returns again, with a nurse. I know this nurse. I've had her before. She's pretty good. Yes! After explaining the whole thing again . . . came at 3:30, first bag didn't work, went home with 2nd bag, 2nd bag didn't work, now what? She says we have 2 options: Try the bag again or just try a catheter, which is much more uncomfortable but if there's urine in there it'll get it out. I tell her I'm not opposed to a little discomfort . . . she's a 5th child for heaven's sake. Let's just get this thing done! She says ok and takes me back to a room. She says that since she just peed again she'll have to be rehydrated to successfully get something out of her. So, just to be safe, she puts on a 3rd bag in case she pees (and, I must note, puts it on completely differently than the other 2 nurses . . . in a way that looks like it might actually catch some urine) for her to wear while I nurse her (again . . . the 3rd time in like 2 hours . . . I feel like she is 4 days old! I haven't nursed her this frequently in . . . ever, I think!). Then when I'm done nursing her they'll do the cath. This is the plan. Amazingly, (well, not amazingly, I was praying like crazy and should have known better than to doubt) while I'm nursing her she's pees a ton and it ALL ends up in the bag. I take her out to the nurses station with much excitement. They remove the bag (you might imagine, this is not pleasant . . . especially for the 3rd time in one afternoon . . . it has adhesive . . . and you know where it is attached . . . ouch!) and test the urine. No infection. It isn't even more concentrated than usual! So, she's good . . . we can go home!

So, in the end it was a very expensive and time consuming (not to mention gas consuming) weigh in. But, she's up to almost 19 pounds . . . I guess that's good to know! What a mystery? If anyone has any idea why her pee would smell like straight-up ammonia, I would love to hear it! Weird!

"Hey lady, may I please use the bathroom?"