‘Bachelorette’ Ali Fedotowsky-Manno Recalls Daughter’s Scary Hospitalization – What She Wished She Knew [Exclusive]
Former Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky-Manno thought that she had kept her daughter hydrated during a recent bout with the stomach flu. But in March, when 5-year-old daughter Molly became unresponsive, Ali and her husband Kevin rushed their child to the hospital.
The couple learned that Molly became dehydrated due to nonstop vomiting for more than 24 hours. And while Ali said Molly seemed to just have a garden variety stomach bug, she wished she knew sooner that her daughter actually needed an I.V.
Ali Fedotowsky recalled trying to keep her daughter hydrated when she was sick
Ali told Showbiz Cheat Sheet she’s like quick-draw with the phone to the doctor when her children are sick. “We were in close contact with the doctor,” she recalled because she always wants advice on what to do. “As soon as she got sick. I’ve dealt with a lot of bugs, but still call the doctor even when she first started getting sick.”
Initially, she was told to just keep Molly hydrated and give her fluids. So she was giving Molly some electrolyte fluids after she would vomit.
“Apparently because she threw up for so long, it was like 16 hours straight, it wasn’t just a few hours,” she recalled. “I thought, OK, she’s throwing up a lot. But I kept getting her electrolyte fluids … Pedialyte after she was done. And I thought, OK, she’s drinking it. It wasn’t doing a ton, but she was drinking. I’m like, she’s OK.”
Molly needed an IV – and Ali wished she knew that sooner
Unfortunately, Molly wasn’t getting better and was actually getting worse. “Over the next two days, she was getting worse, it almost felt like,” Ali said. “And so we took her to the doctor. At first they said, ‘Let’s give it another day.'”
But then doctors told them a home remedy wasn’t going to cut it. “Then when she went in, she kind of was like almost unresponsive, a little bit, not completely unresponsive, but just not herself,” Ali said. “They were like, ‘You need to go right to the emergency room.'”
“So we took her to the emergency room and it turns out, which I didn’t know, even if your child starts drinking after being dehydrated from the stomach bug, sometimes fluids, even electrolyte fluids, aren’t enough,” she said. “They have to get an I.V. So just because your child starts drinking fluids and you think like, oh, well, they’re drinking it, this just must be a really bad bug and they’re still fighting it. That might not be the case. Take them to the doctor, get them checked because in many cases they need the I.V. in addition to the fluids, which is so scary.”
Ali Fedotowsky said Molly is doing well today
After a full day of I.V. fluids, Molly was feeling better and went home. Ali posted on Instagram about her brave daughter. “Molly was an absolute trooper in the hospital! She got poked and pricked so many times because they were having trouble finding veins because of her dehydration and I’m just so proud of her! She’s my little rockstar!” she wrote.
Ali said Molly recalls being so sick. “She remembers a lot from it and says like the stomach bug is the worst sickness you could ever get!” Ali said.
Thankfully Molly and little brother Riley are healthy and went back to school. Ali celebrated with “mess-free” taco night thanks to Old El Paso. She loves the Old El Paso Tortilla Pockets which ensures the food gets in her kids’ stomachs and not on the floor. “It’s a tortilla pocket with a sealed bottom!” she exclaimed. “Like a cone almost, that you take all the fillings for the taco, put it inside, it’s contained. It contains the mess.” She uses the tortilla pockets for more than tacos. She’s now making the kids’ peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and even egg sandwiches to go using them.
“They’re incredible!” she said.
