Hospitals and Grannie and the Fourth of July and Cute kiddos (this is nothing short of a novel in length...sorry)

Well this is sort of an all encompassing sort of post. I am way behind, way way WAY behind. I had all sorts of cute posts planned for some of these pictures, but then life happened. I am not talking about the sort of life that happens when you have 2 kids and you are trying to adjust (which, by the way, is way harder than I could have ever imagined it would be, and I was imagining that it would be pretty rough. I wasn't imagining rainbows, people! I was imagining storm clouds, but instead got a hurricane I think.), but the kind that happens when your 4 week old gets sick with RSV in the middle of June and you end up in the Children's hospital for 6 days. So instead of a lot of little cute posts a long the way, I am opting for the "one really really, super long post" with a smattering of pictures.

That's right! Eli got RSV, which I wasn't even aware was an issue in June, but the poor kid caught it and it was sad, and terrifying!

Now the story of how he ended up in the Children's hospital in Columbia.

Well Eli was acting really sick. He kept having a hard time catching his breath. We took him to the urgent care on the last Monday in June. The doctor there was a complete putz and told us that there was nothing wrong with him and sent us home. I was still worried sick about him. He had to be sleeping on chests with us in an upright position for him to be able to breathe, and we had to pat his back for him to be able to breathe. He also had started to puke up everything he was eating and that night he just stopped eating altogether. This kid is an eater too, so it was really worrisome for him not to be nursing at all. The next day I decided to take him to a pediatrician. The nurse practitioner was the only person available, but I just felt like he really needed to be seen, especially since he wouldn't eat anything still. So we went in. We weren't expecting anything long, just a visit to the doc, so we brought Shiloh. The nurse practitioner didn't seem to feel comfortable diagnosing Eli. She went and talked to the pediatrician. The pediatrician then started running tests on his stomach. We did ultrasounds and blood work. They didn't find anything. Eli still wasn't eating and pulse ox was really low. So she was worried. She decided to try and feed Eli a bit of formula to see if she could get him to drink anything before we left. This is when all Hell broke loose.

Eli drank maybe a quarter of an ounce, and then he vomited, then he proceeded to turn blue and stop breathing altogether, and went completely limp. She starts yelling for nurses to bring oxygen an the crash cart. She is patting his back and blowing in his face trying to get him to breath. They had to put a bag on him and start pumping it to breath for him and start blowing oxygen in his face. They are clearing out his nose and throat of the mucus that is stuck there.

They get him to start breathing after about 30 seconds. Meanwhile, I am a complete and utter wreck. I had to walk out of the room. I collapsed on the floor and immediately start praying, half out loud. They get him stable. They call an ambulance and then we wait for them to get there. They tried to get an IV going. He was too dehydrated. They blew several of his veins, poor guy.

I ride in the ambulance with him to the hospital in Columbia. Worst. Ride. Ever. One that I do not intend on ever having to take again. We were admitted into the pediatric ICU.

Meanwhile, my great friend Kaci takes Shiloh for the night and I don't have to worry about him.

Eli makes great strides, but he was being fed through a tube down his throat to try and get him hydrated enough for an IV. Once they finally get an IV in him, 24 hours later, we were moved out of ICU. Let me tell you people that pediatric ICU is also a place I never plan to visit again. The people are nice, but poor Eli was hooked up to so many cords, it made it hard to hold him, and he just looked so miserable. I was glad that he was "upgraded".

One blessing in this disaster of a week was that Wednesday night, the night after being admitted into the hospital, Kenny's mom was already scheduled to fly into town. What a blessing!!!!! The other blessing is that there was a hotel across the street, so Kenny and his mom and Shiloh had a place to sleep and hang out for the next 5 days. Otherwise there would have been an hour and a half round trip excursion everyday, maybe a couple of times a day for Kenny. (Thanks Dad for putting them up in the hotel!)

Well we lived through it. Eli is still congested, but doing much better. I will post pics of Eli in the hospital later... I didn't bring my camera, and so Kenny's mom is going to get them to me. This is an experience I will never forget, and one that I never ever want to repeat.

We were home in time for the fourth of July and Kenny's mom was still here, so we decided to head out for a couple of hours and enjoy the festivities in Jeff City. Well it was HOT and HUMID! Like 105 degrees and like 60% humidity. We walked for a bit, but mostly just ate nasty, greasy, yummy carnival food in the shade and sipped on pure sugar shaved ice.

Here are some pics of Grannie and the boys

In the heat we have been spending some time outside lately running through the sprinklers and putting Shiloh in the pool. Shiloh seems to only enjoy the sprinklers if he can be completely soaking either Kenny or I, which I don't mind really. It is quite fun and funny to watch.

Shiloh is quite the sleeper. We often check on him before we go to bed, not to see if he is ok, but to see what positions he has gotten himself into. They are always, to say the least, interesting.

Shiloh is quite the ham, especially when he eats, but all of the time. His little personality is blossoming and he is such a sweet and funny little character. He is also into EVERYTHING! I thought he was into everything before, but now he really is, and I am sure I will say that again. The other day he asked for a piece of bread. I go to the cupboard, take the bread down and cut a slice. I was not procrastinating or taking my sweet time. I was being quick. I turn around he is gone. I yell his name. I hear water running. I found him in the bathroom in my tub with it plugged and the cold water running. He looks up at me and says, "wah-der?" Wow!!! Stellar parent of the year award goes to me. Also, when I was nursing Eli, he ran away and wouldn't come back into the room. When I was done I came into the kitchen to find a whole entire toilet paper roll spread from the bathroom to the front room. Moral of these two stories: Close the bath room door. One day I will be able to pay more attention to him, poor kid.

Another thing I failed to blog about was Shiloh's Father's day present. It is a paper weight and he put the rock in all by himself. He was sooo proud to give it to daddy. It was adorable.

Here are a few pics of Eli and how he is changing. He cries a lot, so we try to take pics when he is happy, which is rare, but there are a few. Plus, the two brothers together. A noteworthy something is, that Eli cracked his first smile last week (5 weeks and 1 day old). It is amazing such a sad little guy would smile so early on. but we will take. Warms the heart really.

Well, if you got to the end of this, consider it an accomplishment. I wish I had been able to do the cute little individual posts as I had planned, but I do feel better that I at least got it done.